iro were suspicious when the _Asuncion_
tried the same ruse. As she began to edge beyond bounds a shot across
her bow cut short the plan.

Both the _Bahrenfeld_ and the _Turpin_ were built in England, the
former having a registry of 2,357 tons, and the latter 3,301 tons.

The first day of the new year was marked by the explosion of the
British armored cruiser _Natal_ in an east-coast port. Three hundred
men of a crew numbering 700 were killed, the others escaping because
they had shore leave. Not a man on board lived to tell how the
explosion came. It was one of a mysterious chain that had shaken even
British nerves in the early days of the war when a half dozen warcraft
were blown up in home ports. The explosions were, in every instance,
extremely violent, literally blowing the vessels to bits. Several of
them were affirmed to have been accidental by the British admiralty,
which rendered that verdict upon the _Natal_, but these official
explanations never were convincing.

The _Natal_, a vessel of 3,600 tons, had but recently returned from
sea service and was in good condition throughout. The explosion that
rent her apart came in the quiet of the evening when the men either
were sleeping or preparing for supper. Suddenly there was a crash, and
the _Natal_ was no more. Such of her hull and superstructure as had
not been scattered in every direction sank beneath the surface of the
water.

Just nine days later the _King Edward VII_, a pre-dreadnought of
16,500 tons, collided with a mine in the North Sea and soon foundered.
She was a second-line ship of heavy battery and carried a crew of 777
men, all of whom were taken off before the big craft sunk. This was
one of the few instances in which there was no loss of life from mine
or torpedo explosions. The accident occurred at a time when the _King
Edward VII_ was accompanied by a number of other vessels, or most of
the men aboard probably would have been drowned. On a warship, even
more than a passenger vessel, it is impossible to carry enough boats
for all. The price of defeat in a naval action inevitably is death.
For this reason there was general thanksgiving in England that the
crew of the battleship had been saved, even though the ship was lost.

During the month of January, 1916, three British sailing vessels and
ten steamships were sunk by enemy warships, with a respective tonnage
of 153 and 31,481. Four hundred and ten lives were lost. Three
steamships struck