ther one running close under the Frisian
Islands. Ingenious traps were laid for the enemy; they were allowed no
respite. It was in vain that they frequently changed the direction of
their channels. No sooner had they prepared a new channel across the
minefields than our alert submarines discovered it and blocked it with
mines.

Some figures given by Sir Eric Geddes the other day show how effective
was the work done by our submarine mine-layers. During the first six
months of 1918 over a hundred German boats were caught by the mines
laid by our submarines off the German North Sea coast, and in one
month alone the mine barrier across the Channel below Ostend trapped
seventeen German submarines. On the other hand, the Germans also were
very vigilant. Their Zeppelin patrols, especially during last summer,
were efficient, and were successful in discovering the position of the
channels which we had swept across the German minefields.

There can be no doubt that the Zeppelins were of considerable service
to the Germans in the North Sea; not that they did much damage with
the bombs that they dropped--indeed, I have heard of one instance
only of a bomb falling on a ship of the Harwich Force--but for a time
our patrols were persistently followed by these scouting aircraft,
flying overhead out of range of our guns, signalling our movements to
the Huns. To our submarines working on the further side of the North
Sea they were also a source of trouble, for over there the sea is much
clearer than on our side, and a submarine below the surface is, as a
rule, easily to be distinguished by a Zeppelin hovering above it.
Before the end of the war, however, the activities of the Zeppelins
were much reduced by the action of our own aircraft.

The fact remains that, in the long struggle between the German and
British submarines in the North Sea, the work done by the latter was
the most efficient and destructive, and broke the nerve of the enemy
submarine crews, whereas the _moral_ of our men remained unshaken to
the end. The men of the soulless German Navy were brave enough at
first, with the bravery inspired by an ineffable conceit and
arrogance. They had been taught that the German Navy was in every
respect superior to the British--in ships, guns, personnel, and
skilful leadership. It had been impressed upon their submarine crews
that within a few months the unrestricted piracy of the German
submarine would bring England to her knees. Un