ost a joy, except for the loss of
life, to see Germany suffer at a business in which she had caused such
distress to others. And the Empire was suffering acutely from the
suspension of connections with Sweden, as evidenced by the greater
haste to run down the elusive submarines that dogged her navy. More
vessels were assigned to the hunt. Every mile of shore line within the
German reach was searched for a possible base and the vessels in the
hunt kept a lookout on all sides for the telltale periscope.

The British lost another destroyer on November 9, 1915, during a storm
in the Mediterranean, a half dozen men being saved. And the Turks
accounted for a submarine on the 13th, when the _E-20_ was sunk by
land fire in the Sea of Marmora. Although Turkish craft had been
compelled to forego trips in those waters they proved to be most
unfriendly for allied submarines. With experience on the part of the
Turks came less respect for the undersea boats, a number of which were
hit by land batteries during the operations there.

Naval operations continued in this way without notable incident until
December 18, 1915. Then the cruiser _Bremen_ joined the other German
war vessels that had been sunk in the Baltic search. She registered
2,672 tons, and had about 300 men aboard. The attack took place near
the Swedish coast, and created such a sensation that the Swedes became
convinced the British had a submarine rendezvous on their shores, and
took a hand in the hunt. No evidence of a base could be found.

By this time German shipping had practically disappeared from the
Baltic and it never reappeared. The British tactics fully served
their purpose in this direction. And the few submarines rendered
effective aid in the defense of Riga, helping the Russians stem what
promised to be a dangerous onslaught. It would not be too much to say
that the arrival of the little fleet of undersea boats was a turning
point in the German drive along the Baltic, which overwhelmed Libau.
The Russian line stiffened before Riga with the aid of the navy and
the submarines. Riga was saved, perhaps Petrograd, which it guarded.

There was a considerable loss of life on December 28, 1915, when the
_Ville de la Ciotat_, a French channel steamer, became the mark of a
torpedo. Seventy-nine of her passengers and crew were drowned, the
survivors suffering severely from bad weather in open boats before
they reached land. A number of them afterward died of pneumoni