ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1915, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

GERMANY'S WORD! I! OUTWARD BOUND LINER TORPEDOED. 'ANOTHER PIRATICAL OUTRAGE. : London, September 5. The Allan liner Hesperian has been torpedoed off the Fastnet. The passengers, numbering 900, and the crew were saved. (The Hesperian was a vessel of 10,920 tons, built in 1908, and had a speed of 15 knots.) The Hesperian was bound from Liverpool to Montreal and was torpedoed at 8.30 on Saturday night. She carried, 700 passengers and 250 of a crew. Several steamers assisted in the rescue, London, Later. It is now believed that the Hesperian, with 30 first-class, 117 second, and 200 steerage passengers on board, is being towed to Queenstown. Twenty of .the crew are also remaining on board. The vessel was torpedoed without warning near tho bows. The two forward Jholds are full of water. The explosion injured twenty passengers and a number of the crew. A Canadian soldier, who wa3 blinded in France, entered a boat, which capsized. While swimming he discovered that the shock had restored his eyesight, and he was overjoyed. A NARROW ESCAPE. - A SEA LIKE GLASS. NO AMERICAN PASSENGERS. Received Sept. 0, 11.15 p.m. London, September B. The Hesperian was steaming at sixteen iknots when, sudddenly, a cry of "Submarine on the starboard quarter" startled the passengers, who were promenading the decks after dinner. The shout had scarcely reached the bridge when an explosion like a cannon shot occurred. Tihe vessel trembled violently, and a column of wafer fifty feet high shot up, flooding the dock. Many passengers dashed for their cabins for lifebelts. There was much confusion, but no panic. Captain (Maine sent out the wireless "5.0.5." and fired rockets. Three warships responded. Lowering boats in the darkness was difficult, but the sea was like glass, otherwise the loss of life would have been appalling. One lifeboat capsized, and the occupants were thrown into the water. Some were swimming for fifteen minutes before being picked up. An elderly lady, wag picked up dead from shook. Others, disregarding the boats, slid down ropes or dived into the water. The result was that sixty people were often in a boat that was intended for forty, and was in danger of swamping owing to overcrowding. While awaiting rescue the passengers were in the best of spirits. Some sang ! "Tipperaiy;" arid others, "Lca'd, Kindly j Light/' They anxiously awaited the | expected final plunge of the Hesperian, but she remained afloat, and kept sending up rockets. The first warship arrived at 9.30, and took aboard the survivors from the lifeboats, including 12 Canadian officers and 38 wounded soldiers. The American Consul has not traced any United States passengers, though some of the crew are American. The submarine was within two hundred yards when she launched her missile. It missed the engineroom by twenty feet. AMERICA AWAITING. RELATIONS AGAIN ENDANGERED. Received Sept. 7, 1.15 a.m. Washington, Sept. G. President Wilson and Mr. Lansing have refused to comment oil the torpedoing of the Hesperian, and are awaiting details as to whether Americans were aboard, and confirmation that the Hesperian was not warned. There is a feeling in official circles that the Germanic relations are again endangered. ' GERMAN NAVAL PROGRAMME. PIRATICAL POLICY SHOWN UP. MR, BALFOUR'S VIEWS. London, September 5. Qlr. A. J. Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, in a letter to a correspondent, states that Germany first proclaimed the policy of building a fleet against Britain in 1900, From the standpoint of her own ambitions the policy was perfectly sound. She aimed at world domination, against which the British fleet had been the surest protection since the days of Queen Elizabeth. Germans had cveryi reason to be awaro of the fact that without the British fleet Frederick the Groat must have succumbed to his enemy and Prussia would scarcely have shaken off the Napoleonic tyranny. Whatever might bo thought of the freedom of the seas the. freedom of the land was due iu 110 small measure to the British navy. German statesmen were too wise to suppose they could call a navy into existence immediately able to contend on equal terms with the Power which was the most formidable, obstacle to (heir aggressive projects, but they calculated that a powerful, though inferior fleet, would render Britain impotent, since the British Government would not dare to risk a conflict which, however successful, might leave Britain's naval forces inferior to a third Power. This policy was clearly though cautiously expressed iu the famous preamble to the Navy Bill. So far the Gorman designs had not met with any measure of success. The British fighting fleet was relatively stronger than thirteen months ago, and there was no reason to suppose that the progress was likely to bo arrested. It was phiin tn.it Admiral von Tirpitz and the German Admiralty had arrived at the same conclusion. When the old policy broke down they had thought submarines might succeed where dreadnoughts and cruisers had failed. The change was adopted with extreme reluctance and many searehings of heart. The most reckless Government does not desire to perpetrate unnecessary crimes. We can only conjecture the feelings of the German navy. The German sailors are gallant men, and cannot like being put to a coward's Job. We know well enough that in the old days every privat-cersman would have thought himself disgraced if he sent unresisting merchant ships to the bottom with all hands, It is not an

agreeable reflection that the first notable performance of the German fleet should resemble spiracy, rather than privateering, FATE OF THE TORPEDOERS. Herein lies tho explanation of ih» amazing change which overcame the diplomatic attitude of Germany towards the United States. Men ask why the sinking of the Lusitania was welcomed 'by Germany with a shout of triumph, while tho Arabic was accepted in melancholy silence. It was not because the United States had become stronger, Germany grown weaker, or because the attitude of the President varied; not because German opinion revolted against such'lawless cruelty. The reason is found in the fact that tile authors of the submarine policy had had time to measure its effects, and deeds which at first were merely crimes may seem to be blunders in September. j We may safely assume that only hopes of decisive success induced German Ministers to inflict a new stain on the honor of their country. A decisive success was not attained, and does not seem to be in sight, while the losses inflicted on the submarines are formidable, and British mercantile tonnage is greater than at the beginning of the war. It is true that many inoffensive persons, including women, children and neutrals, as well as belligerents, have been robbed and killed, but the criminals also paid a heavy toll. Some were rescued, but the very nature of submarines often drags their crews to destruction, and those who sent them on their unhonored mission await their return in vain, A BLACK SEA SKIRMISH. RUSSIAN SUCCESS Received Sept, 7, 1.15 a.m. Petrograd, Sept. G. Official: Two Russian destroyers in the Black Sea 'damaged the cruiser Hamidch and two torpedoers in a two hours' engagement. The enemy fle4 to the Bosphorous, We sank four coal ■laden colliers, which the enemy abandoned.