e lighter
refinements such as gasoline, gave off gases that caused headaches and
throbbing across the forehead; and it was almost impossible to heat
the interior of the craft.

Though merchantmen had gone to the bottom as victims of German
submarines before the proclamation of a "war zone" was issued they
were individual cases; the first instance of a merchant ship being
sunk as a result of the new policy of the German admiralty was the
sinking of the British steamer _Cambark_ on the 20th of February,
1915. This ship was bound for Liverpool, from Huelva, Spain. While off
the north coast of Wales, on the morning of the 20th, the periscope of
a hostile submarine was sighted only 200 yards ahead. The engines of
the steamship were immediately reversed, but she had no time to make
off, for a torpedo caught her amidships and she started to sink
immediately. Her crew managed to get off in small boats, but all of
their personal belongings were lost.

The small Irish coasting steamer _Downshire_ was made a victim on the
21st of February, 1915, but instead of sending a torpedo into her
hull, the commander of the _U-12_, the submarine which overhauled her,
resorted to boarding. After trying to elude the submarine by steering
a zigzag course, the _Downshire_ was finally overtaken. The crew was
ordered to take to the small boats, while nineteen men of the
submarine, which had come above water, watched the operations from
the deck. A crew from the submarine took one of the small boats of the
steamship and rowed toward her. They placed a bomb in a vital spot and
set it off, sinking the merchantman. In this way the submarine's
commander had saved a torpedo. A conversation which took place between
the captains of the two craft revealed the methods by which the
submarine commanders were able, not only to steal up on their intended
victims, but to elude being sighted by the patrolling British
warships. Some fishing smacks had been in the vicinity while the
_Downshire_ was sunk, and the British captain asked the German captain
why they had not been attacked. The latter hinted that his plans
worked best if the fishing boats were unmolested. When asked whether
he had hidden behind one these little boats he changed the subject,
but it was learned later that the commanders of the submarines made a
practice of coming to the surface right near fishing boats and bade
them act as screens while they lay in wait for victims. By keeping the
small