wo were quite unequal. She
soon sank under the _Highflyer's_ fire, her crew having been rescued
by her colliers.

The next duel took place between the _Carmania_ and _Cap Trafalgar_,
British and German converted liners, respectively. They met on
September 14, 1914, in the Atlantic off South America. In view of
the fact that at the beginning of the war these two ships had been
merchantmen and had been armed and commissioned after the outbreak
of hostilities, this engagement was something of the nature of those
between privateersmen in the old days. In speed, size, and armament
they were about equal. For nearly two hours they exchanged shots
between 3,000 and 9,000 yards, and markmanship was to determine
the victory. The shots from the _Carmania_ struck the hull of the
other ship near the water line repeatedly, and the British commander
was wise enough to present his stern and bow ends more often than
the length of the _Carmania's_ sides. At the end of the fight the
German ship was afire and sank. Her crew got off safely in her
colliers, and the British ship made off because her wireless operator
heard a German cruiser, with which the _Cap Trafalgar_ had been in
communication, signaling that she was hastening to the liner's
aid.

Only two days before this the British cruiser _Berwick_ captured
the converted liner _Spreewald_ in the North Atlantic, where she
had been trying to interrupt allied commercial vessels.

Germany kept up her policy of attrition by clever use of submarines
and mines. The British battleship _Audacious_, while on patrol
duty off the coast of Ireland in the early days of the war, met
with a disaster of some sort and was brought to her home port in
a sinking condition. The rigors of the British censorship almost
kept the news of this out of the British papers and from the
correspondents of foreign papers. It was reported that she had
struck a mine, that she had been torpedoed, and that she had been
made the victim of either a spy or a traitor who caused an internal
explosion. The truth was never made clear. Rumors that she had
gone down were denied by the British admiralty some months later,
when they reported her repaired and again doing duty, but this was
counteracted by a report that one of the ships that was completed
after the start of hostilities had been given the same name.

About the sinking of the _Hawke_ there was less conjecture. This
vessel had gained notoriety in times of peace by h