held
up and captured. The _U-28_ had for some days been hiding near the
Maas Lightship, and had been taking shots with torpedoes at every
ship which came within range. The _Batavier V_ had left the Hook of
Holland on March 18, 1915. At about five o'clock that morning she
came near the Maas Lightship on her way to England, whence she
was carrying provisions and a register of fifty-seven persons,
including passengers and crew; among the former there were a number
of women and children. Suddenly a submarine appeared off her port
bow, and her captain was ordered to stop his ship. This he did
readily, for he had been thus stopped before, only to be allowed to
proceed. But this time the commander of the submarine, the _U-28_,
shouted to him through a megaphone: "I am going to confiscate your
ship and take it to Zeebrugge."

While the two commanders were arguing over the illegality of this,
the _Zaanstroom_ was sighted, and was immediately overtaken by the
submarine. An officer and a sailor from the submarine had been
placed on the _Batavier V_, and this prevented her escaping while
the pursuit of the _Zaanstroom_ was on. A similar detail was now
placed on the latter, and her captain was ordered to follow the
_U-28_ which returned to the _Batavier V_. "Follow me to Zeebrugge"
was the order which the commander of the submarine gave the two
ships, and their captains obeyed. They arrived at Zeebrugge at
noon, and were immediately unloaded. Those of the passengers and
crews who were citizens of neutral countries were sent to Ghent
and there released, while all those aboard, such as Belgians and
Frenchmen, were detained.

When possible, the commanders of the German submarines saved their
costly torpedoes and used shell fire instead to sink their victims.
This was done in the case of the steamship _Vosges_, which was
sunk on March 28, 1915. For two hours, while the engines of the
steamship were run at full speed in an attempt to get away from
the submarine, she was under fire from two deck guns on board the
submersible. Though the latter made off at the approach of another
vessel, her shells did enough damage to cause the _Vosges_ to sink
a few hours later.

Up to the middle of March, 1915, all the ships which had become
victims of German submarines had been of the slower coasting variety.
There had been numerous unconfirmed reports that the faster
transatlantic ships had been chased, but no credence had been given
to them. On