orpedoed and boarding parties actually had been ordered
to get ready. They were preparing to lash the rigging of the two
vessels together in the time-honored way and settle accounts with
sheath knives when the torpedo struck and the _Alcantara_ drifted away
helpless.

On the stroke of midnight, February 29, 1916, the German edict went
into effect placing armed merchantmen in a classification with
auxiliary cruisers. The opening of March also was marked by the
deliverance of a German ultimatum in Lisbon, demanding that ships
seized by the Portuguese be surrendered within forty-eight hours.
Thirty-eight German and Austrian steamers had been requisitioned,
striking another blow at Teutonic sea power. Most of these belonged to
Germany. Coincident with Portugal's action Italy commandeered
thirty-four German ships lying in Italian ports, and several others in
her territorial waters. All Austrian craft had been seized months
before, but the fiction of peace with Germany still was punctiliously
observed by both nations. Despite this action Germany did not declare
war upon her quondam ally.

Italy brought another issue sharply to the fore in the early days of
March. A few of her passenger vessels running to America and other
countries had been armed previous to that time. It was done quietly,
and commanders found many reasons for the presence of guns on their
vessels. Of a sudden all Italian passenger craft sailed with 3-inch
pieces fore and aft.

Berlin announced that on the first day of March, 1916, German
submarines had sunk two French auxiliaries off Havre, and a British
patrol vessel near the mouth of the Thames. Paris promptly denied the
statement, and London was noncommittal. No other particulars were made
public. Russian troops landed on the Black Sea coast on March 6, 1916,
under the guns of a Russian naval division and took Atina,
seventy-five miles east of Trebizond, the objective of the Grand Duke
Constantine's army. Thirty Turkish vessels, mostly sailing ships
loaded with war supplies, were sunk along the shore within a few days.

Winston Spencer Churchill, former First Lord of the Admiralty, on
March 7, 1916, delivered a warning in the House of Commons against
what he believed to be inadequate naval preparations. He challenged
statements made by Arthur J. Balfour, his successor, on the navy's
readiness. Mr. Balfour had just presented naval estimates to the
House, and among other things set forth that Britain h