war. She was formerly G. W. Childs Drexel's yacht _Alcedo_,
and Anthony J. Drexel Paul, an officer in the Naval Reserve, was on her
at the time. The vessel was the flag-ship of one of the
patrol-flotillas, and for months had performed splendid service in the
North Sea.

The torpedo that sunk the vessel came without warning, and so true was
the aim that the war-ship went down in four minutes, carrying with her
one officer and twenty of the crew. Commander William T. Conn, U.S.N.,
who commanded the vessel, in telling later of the experience, paid a
high testimonial to the coolness and bravery of the crew. Eighty per
cent of the men were reserves, but regulars could have left no better
record of courage and precision.

"Here," said Commander Conn, "is a story that indicates the kind of men
we have in the navy. I had a young lad in my crew, a yeoman, and one day
I sent for him and told him that if we were ever torpedoed he was to
save the muster-roll, so that when it was all over it would be possible
to check up and find who had been saved. Well, the _Alcedo_ was
torpedoed at 2 o'clock one morning, and in four minutes she disappeared
forever. Hours afterward, when we were waiting to be picked up, I saw my
yeoman, and I said:

"'Son, where is my muster-roll?'

"'Here it is,' he replied, as he reached inside his shirt and pulled it
out.... And that same boy, in the terrible minutes that followed the
loss of our ship, found a broken buoy. He was holding on to it when he
saw one of our hospital stewards, who was about to give in. He struggled
to the side of the steward and with one hand held him above the water
while with the other he clung to the buoy. He held on until both were
saved."

While the _Alcedo_ was the first war-vessel to be sunk by a submarine,
the first war-ship to be stricken in torpedo attack was the destroyer
_Cassin_, one of the vessels that raced out of Newport to rescue the
victims of the ravages of the German U-boat off Nantucket, in October,
1916. The _Cassin_ was on patrol duty and had sighted a submarine about
four miles away. The destroyer, in accordance with custom, headed for
the spot, and had about reached it when the skipper, Commander Walter H.
Vernon, sighted a torpedo running at high speed near the surface, and
about 400 yards away. The missile was headed straight for the midship
section of the war-ship. Realizing the situation, the commanding officer
rang for the emergency full speed ahe