S.
Miller; the _O'Brien_, Lieutenant-Commander C. E. Courtney; the
_Benham_, Lieutenant-Commander J. B. Gay; the _Cassin_,
Lieutenant-Commander Vernon; the _McCall_, Lieutenant Stewart; the
_Porter_, Lieutenant-Commander W. K. Wortman; the _Fanning_, Lieutenant
Austin; the _Paulding_, Lieutenant Douglas Howard; the _Winslow_,
Lieutenant-Commander Nichols; the _Alwyn_, Lieutenant-Commander John C.
Fremont; the _Cushing_, Lieutenant Kettinger; the _Cummings_,
Lieutenant-Commander G. F. Neal; the _Conyngham_, Lieutenant-Commander
A. W. Johnson, and the-mother ship, _Melville_, Commander H. B. Price.
Soon after the destroyers had passed into the Atlantic there came a
wireless message saying that twenty of the crew of the British steamship
_Strathdean_ had been taken on board the Nantucket light-ship. Admiral
Gleaves directed the movement of his destroyers from the radio-room on
the flag-ship. He figured that the run was about a hundred miles. There
was a heavy sea running and a strong southwest wind. There was a mist on
the ocean. It was explained by the naval authorities that the destroyers
were sent out purely on a mission of rescue, and nothing was said as to
any instructions regarding the enforcement of international law. None
the less it was assumed, and may now be assumed, that something was said
to the destroyer commanders with regard to the three-mile limit. But as
to that we know no more to-day than at the time.
Suffice to say that the destroyers arrived in time not only to wander
about the ocean seeking survivors in the light of a beautiful hunter's
moon, but in time to witness the torpedoing of at least two merchantmen;
the submarine commander, it is said, advising our war-ship commanders to
move to certain locations so as not to be hit by his shells and
torpedoes.
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