y had
made all preparations. Now our first act was a rush for water; then
we cleared up our camp, but had to harness our camels ourselves, for
the camel drivers had fled at the very beginning of the skirmish.

"Then, under the safe protection of Turkish troops, we got to Jeddah.
There the authorities and the populace received us very well. From
there we proceeded in nineteen days by sail boat to Elwesh, and
under abundant guard with the Suleiman Pasha, in a five-day caravan
journeyed to El Ula."

"Have I received the Iron Cross?" was the first question Captain
Muecke asked when he got to that place, and old newspapers which
he found there told him that he had. A few days later the party
was on train, riding toward Germany.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XX

SUMMARY OF THE FIRST YEAR OF NAVAL WARFARE

The first year of the war came to an end in August, 1915, with
the naval situation much the same as it stood at the end of the
first six months. The navy of practically every belligerent was
intact; the Allies enjoyed the freedom of the seas, but the fact
that a German fleet lay intact in the North Sea, and an Austrian
fleet lay intact in the Adriatic Sea, indicated only the naval
supremacy of the Allies, but not that they had won decisive naval
victories.

As there had been no victory there had been no defeat, yet there
had been losses to all concerned. The mine and the submarine had
changed somewhat the methods of naval warfare--the enemies "nibbled"
at their opponents' fleets. Battleships were lost, though the first
year of the Great War had seen no pitched battle between ships of
that class.

During the second six months of the war England lost the five old
battleships _Irresistible, Ocean, Goliath, Triumph_, and _Majestic_;
the destroyers _Recruit_ and _Maori_; and the submarine _E-15_ and
another unidentified; and the auxiliary cruisers _Clan McNaughton,
Bayano_, and _Princess Irene_. Her ally France had lost, during the
same period, the old battleship _Bouvet_, the cruiser _Leon Gambetta_,
the destroyer _Dague_, and the submarines _Joule, Mariotte_, and
one unidentified.

The losses on the other side were confined to the German navy,
with the exception of the Turkish cruiser _Medjidieh_. Germany lost
the battleship _Pommern_; the cruisers _Dresden_ and _Koenigsberg_;
the submarines _U-12, U-29, U-8_, one of the type of the _U-2_,
and another unidentified; two unidentified torpedo b