THE PROWLING CRUISERS.

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 2464, 5 October 1914, Page 4

THE PROWLING CRUISERS.

DIFFICULTY OF RUNNING THEM DOWN.

It seems somewhat remarkable that none of the German raiding cruisers Has yet been captured, but the ocean is an immensely wide place and once a ship gets out upon it —particularly a steamer —it needs a long, patient, systematic search to find her, even if she has merly suffered a breakdown, much more if she is actually trying to keep hidden. One historic case proved that point for all time. Many people even now in New Zealand can remember the Alabama.

The Alabama, or No. 290 (because she was the 290 th shin built by Messrs Laird, of Birkenhead, and shipbuilders number their ships in that way), was a barquentine-rigged steamer, with a propeller which she could lift out of the water when she wanted to sail. She was only 1040 tons displacement, 220 ft. long, she could steam U_ knots which was slow even for her day, and she sailed from Liverpool on July 29, 1862. The war between the Northern and Southern States -of North America was going on, and the attention of the English Government had . been drawn to her by the Northern States, and instructions had been sent by the British Government to the local authorities at Liverpool to detain her until they were sure where she was going. Sho got out of port under the pretence that she was going out for her trials, and the authorities were negligent enough to let her go. For that negligence England paid heavily. The Alabama cleared British waters on July 29, 1862. It was Sunday, June 19, 1864, before she was finally run down at tho French port of Cherbourg, in the' English Channel, and sunk by tho U.S. sloop-of-war Kearsargc. During that time she had sailed nearly all round the world, up and down tho Atlantic, round the Gulf of Mexico, down the coast of South America, round tho Capo, not scTfar from Australia, up to China, past Ceylon, and back along most of the same course She had captured 68 vessels and sunk a gunboat. .Fifty-three of the ships were destroyed, nine were ransomed, two were released, one was used as a cruiser, and in four cases the cargo was taken out and destroyed, but the ship unharmed. United 'States- warships were looking out for Captain Semmes during most of this time. The Yanderbilt, a swift Northern waiship, was expressly dispatched to look after him. But he-was careful. He made good use of neutral haroours, and not infrequently infringed neutrality. And it was not until tho United States Minister in Franco telegraphed to .-the Kearsarge, lying at Flushing, that tho hated Alabama had at last run into Cherbourg, that Semmes was finally run to earth. The tight m the English Channel was watched all through by the English yacht Deerhoun'd, whose owner wanted to show his children a nay -j battle. The Alabama was v sunk after ti reo hours. The Deerhound saved soiiio ol the crew. And England had to pay £3,100,000 for tho damage which tlio Alabama principally had done It may be wondered where commerce destroyers manage to got ilu-h coal. In the first place, tha* V.Ac it from their prizes before thsv sinL them. Li tho (second, they usually manage to arrange with sonw c< Iher to meet them at sea with oral Irom a neutral port. Of course, the firststep towards finding them is to capture all their own ports, and Miat the British havo iiow done both iv the Atlantic and the Pacific—it least in the Atlantic such ports as Gorui'iuv retains arc blockaded—in the Pacific she no longer has any. The-second is to find out where the eb.p i<s. To some extent tho xise of wireless would act as a clue—tho wir >1 -ss operator coidd probably tell to within '200 miles the distance."of the enemy's ship from him if lie heard her sneaking. This is one reason why wireless, which most people had expected to bo enormously used in war time, ie probably used as rarely a.s possible, and with extreme care. Neither sido would wish to let the other know that it is in the neighbourhood. The only remaining way to find out the whereabouts of a commerce destroyer is to wait until merchant ships, which ought to be turning up, fail to turn up, and it becomes clear that somebod - is on the trade route interfering with them. -Sooner or later oiie of them put into port with tlio creww of all tho others, for, of course, no commerce destroyer would sink the crew of a, merchant ship in cold blood. Tliis process is lengthy. The t Germans have still stix modern cruisers, and five or six small ancient craft in the Pacific.; and five swift, modern light cruisers, and no one knows how many merchant cruisers, in the Atlantic. We have out off all their own bases, «nd sunk two merchant cruisers. It is slow work, but Aye shall gradually get rid of the rest.

The Einden was sunk (oii paper) early in the war by the Askold. Then tihe disappeared for some weeks, to turn up again in the Bay of Bengal, where she settled six British steamers

before impudently bombarding Ma-| dras. She is still amok, seeking fchip- f pin-- in the Indian Ocean, but the I grey ships must now be hot on kr I trail. -| I

J. AND K. ! I At the French Ministry of War, ' after the last manoeuvres, General Joffre (now Generalissimo of the forces of the Allies in France) broke no less than five generals in one day, and made a clean sweep of the HasBeenß who had encumbered the French army. In 1870, at 18 years of age, he fought the Germans as an artillery subaltern during the siege of Pans. He designed the forts at Enghein, and Marshal McMahou, after examining them, put his hand on his shoulder and said, "I congratulate, Captain Joffre." That swift promotion opened the way to his present proud position.: K. of K. is making things hum at the War Office (says a London correspondent writing late in August). It has been the pride of this department of State that no letter addressed to it has ever been replied to under a week. " The conqueror of Khartoum has altered this. No Government office is more efficiently discharging its functions than that over which he presides. The staff hag been greatly augmented and divided into three shifts, so that the departmnet is speeding up the wholo 24 hours. - It is related that the first d «-y K. of K. took over control of the War Office, he asked tho hall porter "Is there a bed here?" and when that official shook his head and responded in the' negative the new Minister of War curtly said, "Got one v This is the spirit in which ho is running the army throughout all its ramifications-- Unhastiug, vot I unresting, he has,, with his native genius for organisation, brought every division up to concert pitch without the slightest hitch anywhere. A GARIBALDIAN'S OFFER.

The Chevalier Ricci, a veteran who i fought against the Austrians in 18G0 and against Germany in 1870, serving in the Garibaldi Guides and as a cap" tain 238 th Battalion at the siege of Paris, wrote to the War Of- ' fico, after Great Britain declared war on Germany, suggesting the formation of a Foreign Legion. His letter was as follows: "Having, during the last 44 years, enjoyed the liberal hos-. pitahty of this happy and glorious land, and being a veteran who had the privilege of fighting against Aus- ' tna in 1866 and against Germany in ! 1870, I feel it my duty, as it is mv [ pleasure, to offer my service-in the defence of the country. I therefore ask your permission, and authority to enrol a Foreign Legion, enlisting •••• volunteers all foreigners resident in the United Kingdom." The Chev**- ' her Ricci asked the Standard to pub- ' hsh the following appeal: "I appo.il to all foreigners resident in England to join me in forming a Foreign Legion to serve in the defence of this hospitable, liberal, and glorious country."

n Wx c mg from B -" ac *ford in the midale ot August, a correspondent says • 1 here has been a good deal said 'recently about England.profiting greatly trom this war, that is, in the textile industries. It lias been pointed out that whereas France and Germany are unable to execute orders they have received from other countries, England stands a fair chance of securing the trade of those countries, and it is stated that already some orders given to irench mills have been transferred to Bradford. Certainly the French and German houses cannot deliver abroad, but we are afraid English firms are also looked on as somewhat uncertain until ■ the seas have been cleared of enemies' warships. ■ The colonies of the two Continental nations mentioned no doubt realise the impossibility of trade with their peoples in Europe, but that is not tc "-ay they will give 'orders to England, It is far more prcjbable that they will withhold them altogether, if possible till the oyer, and then, if they aro still colonies of France and Germany, "give them to those countries. We must give French and Germans in their overseas dominions credit for similar loyalty to what our colonies 'have shown to us. We do stand a chance of some immediate foreign trade. If tiie Continental Governments give out any weight of military cloth orders we are as likely to get our share as anybody else, and undoubtedly America has placed much bxisiness on tho Continent in recent months, the urgent orders of which we shall probably secure. But it is after tho war that' wo must look to expansion of trade. It cannot take > place while hostilities continue; It is apparent to every man that the present war is costing an enormous sum, in suspension of trade and rupture of connections, with other nations, probably more than its prime cost. The bonds of trade between various countries have been growing stronger and for scores of years, and when this" war is over and confidence restored we think we may expect even more international trade than hitherto.