uarantine in the early 1900's, and carried on by
that line, by the Atlantic Transport Line, and by the German companies
with unceasing vigor. Great carrying capacity and fair speed were the
desiderata, and the studious Germans were quick to see that it was a far
more profitable battle to wage, since speed meant merely advertising,
with a more or less slight preponderance in the flow of passenger
patronage to the line which owned the latest crack greyhound, whereas
size meant ability to carry greater cargoes, and thus enhanced earning
capacity.

So great hulls were the order of the years preceding 1914. There came
the new _Baltic_, the new _Cymric_, the new _Adriatic_ of the White Star
Line, and for the Germans there came the _Amerika_ and other craft of
that type. Finally there was the _Titanic_ and her ill-fated maiden
voyage; the Cunarder _Aquitania_, and the _Vaterland_, and the
_Imperator_, which bore the German ensign. These facts, presented not
altogether in chronological order, are necessary to give the reader an
idea of the manner in which the Americans were taking back seats in the
unceasing fight for commercial maritime supremacy. It is quite likely,
so far back was our seat, that the Germans held little respect for our
ability, either to man or to fit the immense number of German vessels in
our harbors. In truth, the events that followed our entrance into the
war showed just how supreme the contempt of the Germans was for our
knowledge of things nautical.

We are about to record just how erroneous that attitude of the Germans
was, but wish first to point out that they had failed to take into
consideration the fact that at Annapolis is situated a school of the sea
that asks nothing of any similar school in the world, and that they had
also failed to note that, while we had not gone in heavily for shipping,
we have been rather effective in other lines which in event of emergency
might be brought to bear upon the problem of correcting such
deficiencies as might exist in our store of modern nautical tradition.

Well, while the German waged their unrestricted warfare on the sea,
those German vessels lay at Hoboken and at other ports of the country,
gathering the rust and barnacles of disuse. Then one day Congress spoke
definitely, and the next morning North River ferry voyagers saw lying
off the German docks a torpedo-boat destroyer flying the American flag.
Some days later the American flag floated over the taf