close were marked
by increased activity on the part of all the navies engaged. Several
single-ship actions took place, and the Germans pursued their
submarine tactics with steady, if not brilliant, results.

It was during this period that they sent the first submersible
merchant ship across the Atlantic and gave further proof of having
developed undersea craft to an amazing state of efficiency. On their
part the British found new and improved methods of stalking submarines
until it was a hazardous business for such craft to approach the
British coast. A considerable number were captured; just how many was
not revealed.

After a slackening in the submarine campaign against merchant ships,
due partly to a division of opinion at home and largely to the growing
protests of neutrals, Germany declared that after March 1, 1916, every
ship belonging to an enemy that carried a gun would be considered an
auxiliary, and torpedoed without warning. (For an account of the
negotiations with the United States in relation to this edict, see
United States and the Belligerents, Vol. V, Part X.)

A spirited fight took place in the North Sea on March 24, 1916, when
the _Greif_, a German auxiliary of 10,000 tons, met the _Alcantara_,
15,300 tons, a converted British merchantman. The _Greif_ was
attempting to slip through the blockade under Norwegian colors when
hailed. She parleyed with the British vessel until the latter came
within a few hundred yards of her. Then, seeing a boat put out, the
German unmasked her guns and opened fire. Broadside after broadside.
In twelve minutes the _Greif_ was on fire and the _Alcantara_ sinking
from the explosion of a torpedo. The _Greif_ might have got away had
not two other British vessels come on the scene, the converted cruiser
_Andes_ ending her days with a few long-range shots. One hundred and
fifteen men and officers out of 300 on the _Greif_ were saved, and the
British lost five officers and sixty-nine men. Both vessels went to
the bottom after as gallant an action as the war had produced. The
_Greif_ was equipped for a raiding cruise and also was believed to
have had on board a big cargo of mines. When the fire started by
exploding shells reaching her hold she blew up with a terrific
detonation and literally was split in twain. Officers of the
_Alcantara_ spoke warmly of their enemy's good showing. One of them
said that they approached to within two hundred yards of the _Greif_
before being t