therein, the dirty
condition of the whole ship, the iron decks--none of it will ever be
forgotten by any one of her unwilling passengers.

The _Igotz Mendi_ was some time afterwards towed off into deep water,
and after repairs left Danish waters and proceeded to Spain, after
loading up with a full cargo of coal at Newcastle. Wonderful to
relate--for it is indeed a marvel that the Germans did not make a
special and successful effort to sink her--she arrived at her home port,
Bilbao, on June 21, 1918, with her whole ship's company complete. She
had naturally a great reception, being welcomed with flags, bands, and
fireworks. What an adventurous voyage she had had since she last left
European waters! We owe a great deal to her genial Captain and all her
officers and crew, who one and all did what they could for us and were
invariably kind and sympathized with us in our misfortunes and rejoiced
with us at our escape. It may even have been due to the gentle
persuasion of her Spanish crew that the _Igotz Mendi_ made such a
thorough job of running aground at Skagen. The Spaniards naturally
regarded their captors with no friendly eye, and were as anxious as we
were that their ship should not get to Germany.

During the week we had to give evidence to the Danish authorities
concerning our capture and treatment on board. We were overwhelmed with
kindness by the Danes, who made no secret of their sympathies with the
Allies; invitations to dinners and parties flowed in, and we could not
have accepted them all if we had stayed as many weeks as we had days.

On Friday, March 1st, at 1 p.m., most of us left Skagen. The whole
village turned out to give us a good send-off, and snapshots galore were
taken--this, indeed, had been going on ever since we landed. The ladies
among us were presented with flowers and chocolates, the men with
smokes, and we left with the heartiest good wishes of our warm-hearted
hosts. While in Denmark we read the German account of the _Wolf's_
expedition and exploits. It was, of course, grossly exaggerated, and
contained a fantastic account of the "action" between the _Wolf_ and
_Hitachi_. Rather a one-sided "action," as the _Wolf_ did all the
firing!

From Skagen our passage home was arranged by the British Consular
authorities. The journey from Skagen to Copenhagen was rather trying,
since we had to leave the too well-heated train during the night and
embark on train ferries when crossing from mainland t