ere admirably suited for commerce destroyers. They
began by bombarding the Algerian coast towns of Bona and Phillipe, doing
little damage. They then turned toward the coast of Gibraltar, but found
before them the British fleet. Eluding the British they next appeared at
Messina. There the captains and officers made their wills and deposited
their valuables, including signed portraits of the Kaiser, with the
German consul. The decks were cleared for action, and with the bands
playing they sailed out under a blood-red sunset.

However, they seem to have been intent only on escape, and they went at
full speed eastward toward the Dardanelles, meeting in their way only
with the British cruiser Gloucester, which, though much inferior in
size, attacked them boldly but was unable to prevent their escape. On
entering Constantinople they were reported as being sold to the Turkish
Government, the Turks thus beginning the line of conduct which was
ultimately to bring them into the war.

Picturesque as this incident was it was of no importance as compared
with the great British blockade of Germany which began on the 4th of
August. German merchantmen in every country of the empire were seized,
and hundreds of ships were captured on the high seas. Those who escaped
to neutral ports were at once interned. In a week German commerce had
ceased to exist. A few German cruisers were still at large but it was
not long before they had been captured, or driven into neutral ports.
Among the most picturesque of these raiders were the Emden and the
Koenigsberg. The Emden, in particular, interested the world with her
romantic adventures. Her story is best told in the words of
Lieutenant-Captain von Mucke, and Lieutenant Gyssing, whose return to
Germany with forty-four men, four officers and one surgeon, after the
destruction of the ship, was a veritable Odyssey.

[Illustration: Painting]
A BATTLE OF FOUR ELEMENTS
British monitors shelling the German land batteries near Nieuport.
German submarines were actively engaged in trying to torpedo these
monitors and the British monoplane was useful for giving the range to
the ship and reporting the accuracy of the shots.

[Illustration: Painting]
TORPEDOING OF THE BRITISH BATTLESHIP, "ABOUKIR"
In the first few weeks of the war, when the navies of the world were
still at open warfare, during a sharp engagement off the Hook of
Holland in the North Sea the British warships "Aboukir",