ends. A common sympathy and a
common enthusiasm were greatly needed at that crisis. As soon as Admiral
Sims had finished his interview with Admiral Jellicoe, he immediately
sought out the Ambassador and laid all the facts before him. Germany was
winning the war. Great Britain had only six weeks' food supply on hand,
and the submarines were sinking the ships at a rate which, unless the
depredations should be checked, meant an early and unconditional
surrender of the British Empire. Only the help of the United States
could prevent this calamity.

Page, of course, was aghast: the facts and figures Admiral Sims gave him
disclosed a situation which was even more desperate than he had
imagined. He advised the Admiral to cable the whole story immediately to
Washington. Admiral Sims at first had some difficulty in obtaining the
Admiralty's consent to doing this, and the reason was the one with which
Page had long been familiar--the fear, altogether too justified, that
the news would "leak" out of Washington. Of course there was no
suspicion in British naval circles of the good faith of the Washington
officials, but important facts had been sent so many times under the
seal of the strictest secrecy and had then found their way into the
newspapers that there was a deep distrust of American discretion.
Certainly no greater damage could have been done the allied cause at
that time than to have the Germans learn how successfully their
submarine campaign was progressing. The question was referred to the
Imperial War Council and its consent obtained. The report, however, was
sent to the Navy Department in the British naval code, and decoded in
the British Embassy in Washington.

Admiral Sims's message gave all the facts about the submarine situation,
and concluded with the recommendation that the United States should
assemble all floating craft that could be used in the anti-submarine
warfare, destroyers, tugs, yachts, light cruisers, and similar vessels,
and send them immediately to Queenstown, where they would do valuable
service in convoying merchant vessels and destroying the U-boats. At
that time the American Navy had between fifty and sixty destroyers that
were patrolling the American coast; these could have been despatched,
almost immediately, to the scene of operations; but, in response to this
request, the Department sent six to Queentown.

The next few months were very unhappy ones for Admiral Sims. He was the
representat