f impressionable passengers
could desire.

We had difficulties with our manning. The seamen were off, at first tuck
of drum, to what they reckoned a more active part in the great game of
war--the strictly Naval Service--and we were left with weak crews of new
and raw hands to carry on the sea-trade. So, from the very first of it,
we engaged in a moral camouflage in our efforts to keep up appearances,
and show the neutrals with whom we did business that such a thing as war
could hardly disturb the smooth running of our master machine--the
Merchants' Service!

Some there were among us who saw the peril in such prominence, and took
modest (and somewhat hesitating) steps to keep out of the limelight, by
setting lonely courses on the sea, restraining the comradely gossip of
wireless operators, and toning down appearances from brilliant polish to
the more sombre part suiting a sea in war-time. Deck lights were painted
over and obscured, funnel and masts were allowed to grey to neutral
tints, the brown ash that discomposes fine paint at sea was looked upon
with a new and friendly eye. The bias of chief mates (in a service where
promotion is the due for a clean and tidy ship) was, with difficulty,
overcome, and a new era of keen look-out and sea-trim started.

There was but moderate support for these bold iconoclasts who dared thus
to affront our high fetish. Ship painting and decoration and upkeep were
sacrosanct rites that even masters must conform to; the enactments of
the Medes and Persians were but idle rules, mere by-laws, compared to
the formulae and prescriptions that governed the tone of our pantry
cupboards and the shades of cunning grain-work. We were peaceful
merchantmen; what was the use of our dressing up like a parish-rigged
man-o'-war? As to the lights--darkening ship would upset the passengers;
there would be rumours and apprehension. They would travel in less
'nervous' vessels!

The mine that shattered _Manchester Commerce_ stirred the base of our
happy conventions; the cruise of the _Emden_ set it swaying perilously;
the torpedoes that sank _Falaba_ and _Lusitania_ blew the whole sham
edifice to the winds, and we began to think of our ships in other terms
than those of freight and passenger rates. Our conceptions of peaceful
merchantmen were not the enemy's!

We set about to make our vessels less conspicuous. Grey! We painted our
hulls and funnels grey. In many colours of grey. The nuances of our
coatin