apers a few days later an accurate description
of the sinking of the "Leuwarden," and the English captain was fain to
acknowledge how well we had treated him; every captain of an English
steamer might have been treated in like manner had not the English
Government wished it otherwise.

VI

THE CAPTURE OF TWO PRIZE STEAMERS

The next day an opportunity offered itself to us which opened to
submarines a new field of activity in the commercial war. It was a
gray, misty morning, the sea was becalmed, and over the still waters a
heavy vapor hung low like a veil before the rising sun. But little
could be seen, and we had to keep a sharper lookout than usual to
avoid running unawares into a hostile ship, and we also had to be
ready for a sudden submersion. We strained all the more an attentive
ear to every sound; for it is well known that in a fog, during a calm,
we sailors can perceive the most distant noise that comes over the
water. In time of peace fog horns and whistles give warning of any
approaching vessel, but in time of war, on the contrary, no vessel
wishes to betray its presence. It is essential for us to have two men
down below, at listening posts, with their ears glued to the sides of
the boat, to catch the throbbing of a propeller, or the rush of waves
dashing against the prow of a ship, or any suspicious vibrations, for
these noises are easily discernible under sea, water being an
excellent sound conductor.

On this March morning we were all keenly intent on the approach of
some ship; many times already as we stood on the bridge we had been
deceived by some unreal vision or some delusive sound; our
overstrained nerves transformed our too lively fancy into seeming
reality; and in a thick fog objects are strangely magnified and
distorted: a floating board may assume the shape of a boat, or a motor
launch be taken for a steamer.

I remember a little story about a man-of-war seeking to enter a harbor
in a heavy fog; every one on board was looking in vain for a buoy to
indicate the channel when the captain himself called out, "It is for
me then to point out the buoy; there it is!" but as they drew near,
the buoy floating on the water spread but a pair of wings and flew
away in the shape of a gull, and many a gull in a fog may have
deceived other experienced seamen.

But to return to our own adventures on this misty morning; we not only
saw gulls rising from the sea, and boards floating on the water, bu