ye. My luck was with me again, for the enemy was made
useless and at once began sinking by the head. Then it careened far
over, but all the while its men stayed at the guns looking for their
invisible foe.

"They were brave and true to their country's sea traditions. Then it
eventually suffered a boiler explosion and completely turned turtle.
With its keel uppermost it floated until the air got out from under it
and then it sank with a loud sound, as if from a creature in pain.

"The whole affair had taken less than one hour from the time of shooting
off the first torpedo until the Cressy went to the bottom.

"I set my course for home. Before I got far some British cruisers and
destroyers were on the spot and the destroyers took up the chase.

"I kept under water most of the way, but managed to get off a wireless
to the German fleet that I was heading homeward and being pursued. But
although British destroyers saw me plainly at dusk on the 22d and made
a final effort to stop me, they abandoned the attempt, as it was taking
them too far from safety and needlessly exposing them to attack from our
fleet and submarines."

MERCHANTMEN CAPTURED AND SUNK

During the first months of the war a large number of merchant vessels,
principally German and British, were captured or sunk. According to a
British Admiralty return, issued September 28, twelve British ships with
an aggregate tonnage of 59,331 tons had been sunk on the high seas by
German cruisers up to September 23. Eight other British ships, whose
tonnage aggregated 2,970, had been sunk by German mines in the North
Sea, and 24 fishing craft, with a tonnage of 4,334, had been captured or
sunk by the Germans in the same waters. British ships detained at German
ports numbered 74, with a total tonnage of 170,000.

On the other side the Admiralty reported 102 German ships, with a total
tonnage of 200,000, detained in British ports since the outbreak of the
war; while 88 German ships, of an aggregate tonnage of 338,000, had been
captured since hostilities began.

The return also showed that 168 German ships, with an aggregate tonnage
of 283,000, had been detained or captured by the Allies. Fifteen ships,
with a tonnage of 247,000, were detained in American ports, while
fourteen others, with a tonnage of 72,000, remained in the Suez Canal.

The German mines in the North Sea had also destroyed seven Scandinavian
ships, with a tonnage of 11,098.

GERMAN CRUISERS ACTIVE