was overtaken and nearly sank the _Prinz
Eitel Friedrich_ before being boarded. As the German ship passed
across the stern of the other at a short distance the British captain,
knowing that the end of his own ship was near, decided to take his
captor down with him. He tried to ram the German ship with the
stern of his ship, but failed in the attempt.

On the evening of February 20, 1915, the wireless operator of the
_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ heard British cruisers "talking" with each
other, one of them being the _Berwick_. The German captain now saw
that his long raiding cruise was up, for though he could replenish
his stores and bunkers from captured ships he could not make the
many repairs which his vessel needed. To put them off at a neutral
port or to let them go in one of the ships he captured would mean
that his position would be reported to British ships within a week.
He therefore decided to end his raiding and put in at Newport News.
His vessel was interned in the American port.

We may now return to the story of the blockade against Germany
and the retaliation she sought. The Allies were now stopping as
much shipping on its way to Germany as they dared without bringing
on trouble with neutral powers. The _Dacia_, formerly a German
merchantman, was taken over, after the outbreak of the war, by an
American citizen and sailed from New Orleans for Rotterdam with a
cargo of cotton on February 12, 1915. She was stopped by a French
warship and taken to a French port February 27, 1915, and there
held till the matter of the validity of her transfer of registry
could be settled.

On the other hand the German submarine exploits continued and found
among their victims a British warship, along with the many merchantmen.
On March 11, 1915, the British auxiliary cruiser _Bayano_, while on
patrol duty became the victim of a German torpedo off the Scotch
coast. She went down almost immediately, carrying with her the
greater part of her crew.

But not always were the submarines immune. Only the day before
the British destroyer _Ariel_ rammed the German submarine _U-12_
and sent her to the bottom, after rescuing her crew. She was of an
older type, built in 1911, of submarine, and had played an active
part in the raiding in British waters. On February 21, 1915, she
had sunk the Irish coasting steamer _Downshire_ in the Irish Sea,
and her destruction was particularly welcome in British shipping
circles.

Once more an inciden