ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1916, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

LIFTING |THE VEIL. ■ '' ON THE BRITISH BLOCKADE. j 1 CONTRABAND RUSES. London, April 30. j ! Rear-Admiral Dudley de Chair, who commanded the British blockading squadron until March, lifts the veil in an interview with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. v ,He says that the blockading force is concentrated principally east and north

•. of Scotland. The squadron has grown ' steadily, and consists of a complicated network of cruisers, through which it is f impossible for a vessel to pass unfobserved*.

The cruisers are fully converted merchantmen,, officered by naval reservists, with an adequate sprinkling of Royal Navals. They are generally 20 miles apart. Every vessel is boarded, often !ht great risk. Many of the boarding boats have 'been smashed and the crews immersed.

The chief ruse* for smuggling are

double bottoms and decks, copper keels on siilers, hollow masts, rubber and cotton concealed in flour and coffee, and sometimes rubber disguised in real honeyeojhl). Rubber as onions was diseovetid, and when an officer dropped oneVlt bounced in the air. tflie commonest ruse is a bogus manifesto On several occasions the captains, realising that the game was up, humorously produced the genuine manifest to assist the inspectors. Admiral de Chair personally saw cruisers sink four German submarines whiclt weri to torpedo neutral •MP-