No. 2, I made quickly in her direction to intercept her on
her way to England. After half an hour's pursuit we signaled for her
to stop, and we discovered she was also Dutch. The captain, seeing it
was useless to try and escape, put out a boat and came on board with
the ship's papers; he seemed thoroughly displeased at the meeting, and
hoped no doubt by coming himself to get away more easily, but of this
expectation he was to be sadly disabused. On discovering that he was
also carrying contraband of war--cases of eggs for London--I ordered
him to follow us to Zeebrugge. One officer and a stoker, for I could
not spare another sailor, accompanied him as our prize command on
board his ship, the "Zaanstroom," and after a lapse of an hour and a
half, followed by No. 2, we caught up with No. 1.

The difficulty of my task can be easily imagined, for I was obliged to
make the two steamers follow each other at a given interval and at
the same speed; like a shepherd dog herding his flock I had to cruise
round my two captives and force them to steer a straight and even
course, for one tried occasionally to outdistance the other, probably
with the desire to escape in the foggy weather, which increased my
fear of not reaching the Flemish coast before dark.

But finally I got the steamers into line, and where persuasion might
have failed the menace of my cannons was doubtless my surest reason
for success.

My second officer on the "Zaanstroom" signaled that everything was
going to his liking and that they were just sitting down to a savory
meal of dropped eggs. This was reassuring news, and I could also feel
tranquil on his behalf; besides in a few hours we should be safely
under cover of our coast artillery. We notified the Pilot Depot by
wireless to send us a pilot for each ship, and our messages having
been acknowledged we were certain of being warmly welcomed, and that
every preparation would be made for the reception of our two prizes.

The closer we got to the coast the heavier the fog lay upon the water,
a not unusual experience at sea. We had to advance with the greatest
caution; our U-boat led the way to confirm anew the assurance we had
given our two steamers that they were in no danger of mines. We had to
measure the depth of water repeatedly with the lead, and so doing we
had to stop very often; otherwise the lead being dragged by the
current draws the line to an inaccurate length. It is but too easy a
matter to run a