CHAPTER III

First Hostile Contact Between the Navy and the Germans--Armed Guards on
Merchant Vessels--"Campana" First to Sail--Daniels Refuses Offer of
Money Awards to Men Who Sink Submarines--"Mongolia" Shows Germany How
the Yankee Sailorman Bites--Fight of the "Silvershell"--Heroism of
Gunners on Merchant Ships--Sinking of the "Antilles"--Experiences of
Voyagers


In the way of direct hostile contact between the Navy Department and
Germany we find the first steps taken in the placing of armed
naval-guards on American merchantmen. While this was authorized by the
government before war was declared, it was recognized as a step that
would almost inevitably lead to our taking our part in the European
conflict and the nation, as a consequence, prepared its mind for such an
outcome of our new sea policy. Germany had announced her policy of
unrestricted submarine warfare in February, 1917, and on February 10 of
that month two American steamships, the _Orleans_ and the _Rochester_,
left port for France in defiance of the German warning. Both vessels
were unarmed and both arrived safely on the other side--the _Rochester_
was subsequently sunk--but their sailing without any means of defense
against attack aroused the nation and spurred Congress to action.

On March 12 the first armed American merchantman, the _Campana_, left
port with a gun mounted astern, and a crew of qualified naval marksmen
to man it. In the following October Secretary Daniels announced that his
department had found guns and crews for every one of our merchant