ch singled out for
especially harsh and brutal treatment. The invincible High Seas Fleet
upon one of its sporadic ventures into salt water during the very
earliest days of the war, stumbled across a fleet of Grimsby trawlers
unconcernedly pursuing their usual peaceful occupation. The whole of the
fishermen were made prisoners and were dispatched to Sennelager.

But Major Bach stedfastly refused to believe that they were simple
fishermen pursuing their ordinary tasks. To his narrow and distorted
mind a man on a trawler was only toiling in the sea for one or both of
two purposes. The one was laying mines; the other was mine-sweeping.
Consequently he decided to mark these unfortunate hardened sea-salts in
a distinguishing manner which was peculiarly his own, thereby rendering
them conspicuous and possible of instant recognition, while in the event
of an escape being attempted, no difficulty would be experienced in
identifying and catching the runaways. Each man was submitted to the
indignity of having one half of his head shaved clean, one half of his
moustache removed, or one half of his beard cut away. The men branded in
this manner presented a strange spectacle, and one which afforded Major
Bach endless amusement. In addition a flaming big "Z" was printed boldly
upon the back of the coat of each man. This letter comprises the initial
of the German word "zivil," and means that the wearer is neither a
criminal nor a military prisoner. It will be observed, however, that
the Commandant declined to recognise these fishermen as being naval
prisoners, which somewhat contradicted his assertion concerning their
alleged crime. At a subsequent date, I might mention, every civilian
prisoner was branded with the "Z" in a similar manner.

These fishermen were watched very closely, were hunted and harassed at
every turn without mercy, and all things considered, experienced an
abnormally hard time. Up to the day of my release from Ruhleben on
December 6, 1915, but one of those old salts had been released, and had
been returned to his country. We were informed at Sennelager that the
authorities were determined, at all hazards, to keep these "diabolical
fiends" as they were termed, in durance vile, until the termination of
the war. However, one of them fell seriously ill after his transference
from Sennelager to Ruhleben. His condition became so serious as to bring
about his hurried exchange, the authorities dreading that he would die
w