Naturally she was regarded by the
British as a great prize, and the whole world awaited from day
to day the news of her capture, but her captain, showing great
resourcefulness, after nearly reaching the British Isles, turned
her prow westward, darkened all exterior lights, put canvas over
the port holes and succeeded in reaching Bar Harbor, Me., on the
morning of August 5.
Similarly the _Lusitania_ and the French liner _Lorraine_, leaving
New York on August 5, were able to elude the German cruiser _Dresden_,
which was performing the difficult task of trying to intercept
merchantmen belonging to the Allies as they sailed from America,
while she was keeping watch against warships flying the enemies'
flags. Still more important was the sailing from New York of the
German liner _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_. This ship had a speed of
22.5 knots and a displacement of 14,349 tons. During the first week
of the war she cleared the port of New York with what was believed to
be a trade cargo, but she so soon afterward began harassing British
trading ships that it was believed that she left port equipped as
a vessel of war or fitted out as one in some other neutral port.
The continued story of the German raids on allied trading ships
must form a separate part of this narrative. It was only a month
after the outbreak of hostilities that the fleets of the allied
powers had swept clean the seven seas of all ships flying German
and Austrian flags which were engaged in trade and not in warlike
pursuits.
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