Chapter 30

June 30--British torpedo boat destroyer Lightning is damaged off the east coast of England by a mine or torpedo explosion, but makes harbor; fourteen of the crew missing.

July 2--A battle occurs between Russian and German squadrons in the Baltic, between the Island of Oeland and the Courland coast; after a brief engagement the German squadron, outnumbered and outmatched in strength, flees; the German mine layer Albatross is wrecked by Russian gunfire and is beached by her crew; the Russian squadron then sails northward, sighting another German squadron, which is also outmatched in strength; the German ships flee after a thirty-minute fight, a German torpedo boat being damaged; Dutch lugger Katwyk 147 is sunk by a mine in the North Sea, ten of crew being lost.

July 6--Italy closes the Adriatic Sea to navigation by merchant vessels of all countries.

NAVAL RECORD--SUBMARINES

June 16--German submarine sinks British steamer Strathnairn off Scilly Isles, twenty-two of the crew being drowned; German submarines sink British trawlers Petrel, Explorer, and Japonica.

June 17--Austrian submarine torpedoes and sinks Italian submarine Medusa, this being the first instance on record of the sinking of one undersea boat by another; German Admiralty announces the loss of the submarine U-14, her crew being captured by the British; Athens reports that a British submarine has torpedoed and sunk three Turkish transports, loaded with troops, in the Dardanelles above Nagara; German submarine sinks British steamer Trafford, crew being saved.

June 18--German submarine sinks British steamer Ailsa off Scotland, crew being saved.

June 19--German Admiralty states that the submarine U-29, commanded by Captain Weddigen, which was destroyed weeks ago, was rammed and sunk by a British tank steamer flying the Swedish flag, after the tanker had been ordered to stop; British Government makes an official statement that the U-29 was sunk by "one of His Majesty's ships"; German submarine sinks British steamer Dulcie, one of the crew being lost.

June 20--German submarine torpedoes British cruiser Roxburgh in the North Sea; the damage is not serious and the cruiser proceeds to port under her own steam.

June 21--German submarine sinks by gunfire the British steamer Carisbrook, crew being saved.

June 22--It is officially announced at Petrograd that Russian submarines have sunk a large Turkish steamer and two sailing vessels in the Black Sea.

June 23--German submarine torpedoes and then burns Norwegian steamer Truma, near the Shetland Islands, crew being saved.

June 26--Austrian submarine torpedoes and sinks an Italian torpedo boat in the Northern Adriatic.

June 27--German submarine sinks British schooner Edith, crew being saved.

June 28--German submarine U-38 sinks the British steamer Armenian, of the Leyland Line, off the Cornwall coast, twenty-nine men being lost and ten injured; among the dead are twenty Americans, employed as attendants for the horses and mules composing the chief portion of the Armenian's cargo; recital of one of the crew of the British submarine E-11--the vessel which entered the Sea of Marmora and the harbor of Constantinople, her commander being given the Victoria Cross and each of the crew the Distinguished Service Medal--shows that the E-11 sank one Turkish gunboat, one Turkish supply ship, one German transport, three Turkish steamers, and six Turkish transports.

June 29--German submarine sinks British steamer Scottish Monarch, fifteen of crew being lost; German submarines sink Norwegian steamers Cambuskenneth and Gjeso, and Norwegian sailing vessel Marna; the crews are saved.

June 30--British steamer Lomas is sunk by a German submarine, one man being killed; British bark Thistlebank is sunk by a German submarine; some of crew missing.

July 1--German submarines sink British steamers Caucasian and Inglemoor, crews being saved; German submarine sinks Italian ship Sardomene off Irish coast, two of crew being killed and several wounded.

July 2--German submarines sink steamer Welbury, bark Sardozne, and schooner L.C. Tower, all British, the crews being saved; captain of the Tower says that the submarine which sank his ship was disguised with rigging, two dummy canvas funnels, two masts, and a false bow and stern, having the appearance of a deeply laden steamer; at the entrance of Danzig Bay a Russian submarine blows up by two torpedoes a German battleship of the Deutschland class, which is steaming at the head of a German squadron, while a Russian destroyer rams a German submarine.

July 3--German submarines sink the steamships Larchmore, Renfrew, Gadsby, Richmond, and Craigard, all British, and the Belgian steamship Boduognat, the crews being saved; Russian submarine in the Black Sea sinks two Turkish steamers and one sailing ship.

July 4--German submarine sinks French steamer Carthage.

July 5--German submarines sink Norwegian bark Fiery Cross and British schooner Sunbeam.

July 7--Nearly 20,000 vessels have entered or left the Port of Liverpool since the German submarine blockade began, yet only 29 ships have been captured or destroyed; Austrian submarine sinks Italian armored cruiser Amalfi in Upper Adriatic, most of the officers and crew being saved.

July 10--British steamer Ellesmere, Norwegian steamer Nordaas, and Italian steamer Clio are sunk by German submarines; one of the crew of the Nordaas is killed.

AERIAL RECORD

June 16--Official British statement shows that sixteen persons were killed and forty injured by a Zeppelin raid on the northeast coast of England on June 15, and that twenty-four persons were killed and forty injured by a Zeppelin raid on the same coast on June 6; German aeroplanes drop bombs on Nancy, St. Die, and Belfort.

June 17--Sub-Lieutenant Warneford, who won the Victoria Cross for blowing a Zeppelin to pieces, is killed by the fall of his aeroplane at Buc, France; French air squadrons bombard German reserve forces at Givenchy and in the Forest of La Folie, dispersing troops about to attack the French; squadron of Italian dirigibles bombards Austrian positions at Monte Santo and intrenchments facing Gradisca, doing considerable damage; the squadron also damages the Ovoladeaga station on the railroad from Gorizia to Dornberg.

June 18--Italian dirigible bombards an ammunition factory near Trieste.

June 19--In a duel between a French and a German aeroplane near Thann, in Upper Alsace, fought at a height of 10,500 feet, the French aviator kills the German.

June 20--Germans shoot down one allied aeroplane near Iseghem, Flanders, and another near Vouziers, in Champagne.

June 21--Austrian naval planes bombard the railway stations at Bari and Brindisi, doing considerable damage; allied aeroplanes bombard Turkish batteries on Asiatic side of the Dardanelles.

June 22--British aeroplane drops three bombs on Smyrna, causing seventy casualties in the garrison.

June 25--French aviators drop twenty bombs on the station of Douai, fifteen miles northeast of Arras.

June 26--British aviators drop bombs near Roulers, Belgium, causing the explosion of a large ammunition depot and the killing of fifty German soldiers.

June 27--French aeroplane drops eight shells on the Zeppelin hangars at Friedrichshafen.

July 1--French aeroplanes drop bombs on Zeebrugge and Bruges, but slight damage is done.

July 2--Austrian aeroplane bombards the town of Cormons, Austria, now in Italian hands, killing a woman and boy, and wounding five other civilians.

July 3--German aeroplanes bombard a fort near Harwich, England, and bombard a British torpedo boat destroyer flotilla; German aeroplanes also bombard Nancy and the railroad station at Dombasle, southeast of Nancy, severing railroad communication with the fort at Remiremont; a German aeroplane forces a French aeroplane to alight near Schlucht; German air squadron drops bombs on Bruges, doing slight damage; French airmen bombard the railroad stations at Challerange, Zarren, and Langemarck, in Belgium, and German batteries at Vimy and Beauraing, doing considerable damage.

July 13--A French squadron of thirty-five aviators drops 171 bombs at and near the railroad station strategically established by the Germans at Vigneulles-les-Hattonchatel, where ammunition and other stores are concentrated; the bombs start several fires; all the aeroplanes return, though violently cannonaded; French squadron of twenty aeroplanes bombards with forty shells the station at Libercourt, between Douai and Lille; aeroplanes furnished with cannon, part of the squadron, bombard a train.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

July 15--A Red Book issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs charges cruelty and breaches of international law against the Allies.

BELGIUM

July 2--General von Bissing, German Governor-General, issues an order forbidding, under penalty of fine or imprisonment, the wearing or exhibiting of Belgian insignia in a provocative manner, and forbidding absolutely the wearing or exhibiting of the insignia of the nations warring against Germany and her allies.

CANADA

June 23--The Victoria Cross is conferred on three Canadians for bravery near Ypres, while seventy other Canadians get the C.B., the C.M.G., or the D.S.O.

July 10--The Canadian casualties since the beginning of the war total 9,982, of which the killed number 1,709.

July 14--Sir Robert Borden, Premier of Canada, now in London, on invitation of Premier Asquith attends a meeting of the British Cabinet, this being the first time a colonial minister has joined British Cabinet deliberations.

FRANCE

June 21--Announcement is made in Paris that the French Postal Service is handling mail in ninety towns and villages of Alsace, all of which bear the names they had in 1870; the total amount of credits voted since the beginning of the war exceeds $3,123,000,000; at present France's war expenses are about $400,000,000 a month.

July 1--Ministry of War officially states that at no time during the war has the French artillery used any shells whatever manufactured in the United States, this statement being called forth by German declarations that much American ammunition is being used by France.

GERMANY

June 18--Unofficial statement from Berlin shows that the prisoners thus far taken by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies total 1,610,000, of whom 1,240,000 are Russians, and 255,000 French.

July 1--The Prussian losses alone to the end of June total 1,504,523.

GREAT BRITAIN

June 22--House of Commons unanimously gives a first reading to a bill authorizing the raising by loan of $5,000,000,000, if that much be necessary.

June 23--Minister of Munitions Lloyd George announces in the House of Commons that he has given British labor seven days, beginning tomorrow, in which to make good the promise of its leaders that men will rally to the factories in sufficient numbers to produce a maximum supply of munitions of war; failure will mean compulsion, he states.

July 1--John E. Redmond, leader of the Irish Nationalist Party, in a speech at Dublin, states that up to June 16, 120,741 Irishmen from Ireland had joined the army.

July 2--The Munitions Bill is passed in all its stages by the House of Lords.

July 12--After more than a fortnight's work, the 600 labor bureaus opened when Minister of Munitions Lloyd George gave labor a chance voluntarily to enroll as munitions workers, closes with a total registration of 90,000.

July 13--The total subscription to the war loan is close to $3,000,000,000, subscribed by 1,097,000 persons, stated by Chancellor of the Exchequer McKenna to be by far the largest amount subscribed in the history of the world; Lord Lansdowne tells the House of Lords that there are now about 460,000 British soldiers at the front.

July 15--Two hundred thousand Welsh coal miners strike, defying the Ministry.

INDIA

July 4--There are repeated and insistent reports in Europe, chiefly from German sources, that riots are occurring at various points in India; it is stated that recently the Indian cavalry at Lahore mutinied, killed their officers and British civilians, and pillaged and destroyed hotels and houses; two battalions of troops ready to be transported to Europe are also said to have mutinied and to have dispersed, after shooting their officers; there are declared to have been serious battles between police and mutinous troops in Madras.

RUMANIA

July 7--The Austro-Hungarian Minister to Rumania presents to the Rumanian Prime Minister proposals offering Rumania certain concessions in exchange for definite neutrality and facilities for supplying Turkey with munitions of war; one month is given Rumania for decision.

SOUTH AFRICA

June 21--General Christian de Wet, one of the leaders of the South African rebellion against the British Government, is found guilty of treason on eight counts at Bloemfontein, Union of South Africa; he is sentenced to six years' imprisonment and is fined $10,000.

UNITED STATES

June 16--A report is received by the State Department from Ambassador Page on the injury to the Nebraskan on May 25, when she was struck by either a torpedo or a mine; the report contains evidence tending to show that she was torpedoed by a German submarine.

June 28--Text of the American note to the German Government on the William P. Frye case, in reply to the last German note on this subject, which note has just been delivered by Ambassador Gerard, is made public in Washington.

June 29--Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs sends a note to the American Ambassador at Vienna protesting against the exports of arms from the United States.

July 2--A bomb wrecks the east reception room on the main floor of the Senate wing of the Capitol Building at Washington just before midnight, no one being injured.

July 3--J.P. Morgan is shot twice at his country estate on East Island, near Glen Cove, L.I., by Frank Holt, a former instructor in German at Cornell University, who, under arrest, states that he went to the Morgan home to induce the banker to use his influence to stop the exporting of munitions of war, the firm of J.P. Morgan & Co. being the fiscal agent of the Allies in the United States; both revolver bullets strike Mr. Morgan in the groin, the attending doctors stating that no vital organ is affected; by his own confession, Holt is the one who set the bomb that wrecked the Senate reception room in the Capitol at Washington last night, saying that he wanted to call the nation's attention to the export of munitions of war; extra precautions are being taken by Secret Service men to guard President Wilson, who is at Cornish, N.H.

July 6--Frank Holt kills himself in the Nassau County Jail at Mineola; identifications show that Holt was Erich Muenter, a former Harvard instructor, who murdered his wife by poison in Cambridge in 1906.

July 7--Government decides to take over the Sayville wireless plant at once, in the interests of neutrality.

July 10--The text is made public of the German reply to the last American note on submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania; the reply evades the cardinal points of the American note; makes new proposals, and shows that the submarine war is to be continued; the American press generally regards the reply as unsatisfactory.

July 15--Germany expresses formal regrets for the torpedoing of the American steamship Nebraskan, stating it was due to a mistake, and offers to pay damages.