d. They reached the surface after
about two hours of submergence.

It was dark by the time the merchant submarine was approaching the
three-mile limit. Outside of it hostile warships were lying in wait.
That the _Deutschland_ escaped them well illustrates the fact that
submarines may be kept by various means from entering a bay or a
harbour, but that to blockade their exit is practically impossible.
This is how Captain Koenig speaks of his escape.

We knew that the most dangerous moment of our entire voyage was
now approaching. We once more marked our exact position, and then
proceeded to make all the preparations necessary for our breaking
through.

Then we dived and drove forward. All our senses were keyed to the
utmost, our nerves taut to the breaking-point with that cold
excitement which sends quivers through one's soul, the while
outwardly one remains quite serene, governed by that clear and
icy deliberation which is apt to possess a man who is fully
conscious of the unknown perils toward which he goes....

We knew our path. We had already been informed that fishermen had
been hired to spread their nets along certain stretches of the
three-mile limit; nets in which we were supposed to entangle
ourselves; nets into which devilish mines had very likely been
woven....

Possibly these nets were merely attached to buoys which we were
then supposed to drag along after us, thus betraying our
position....

We were prepared for all emergencies, so that in case of extreme
necessity we should be able to free ourselves of the nets. But
all went well.

It was a dark night. Quietly and peacefully the lighthouses upon
the two capes sent forth their light, the while a few miles
further out death lay lowering for us in every imaginable form.

But while the English ships were racing up and down, jerking
their searchlights across the waters and searching again and
again in every imaginable spot, they little surmised that, at
times within the radius of their own shadows, a periscope pursued
its silent way, and under this periscope the _U-Deutschland_.

That night at twelve o'clock, after hours of indescribable
tension, I gave the command to rise.

We Had Broken Through!

Slowly the _Deutschland_ rose to the surface, the tanks were
blown out and the Dies