The most spectacular immediate action of the Government was that by which the United States took charge of 91 German ships which under war conditions had been held in American ports. The tonnage of these ships was over 600,000 gross and they were said to be not far from $145,000,000 in value. Several were among the most famous and largest passenger-ships in the world, such as the Vaterland, then in New York, and the Kronprinzessin Cecile, then in Boston harbor. Eighteen German ships were taken over in New York harbor alone. The crews of the ships were handed over to the Immigrant authorities, and were placed in the position of alien people who have not yet the right to enter a country until immigration officials have granted it. The German ships were not actually confiscated at that time. Apparently the position of our Government for the present was that these vessels had been taken for our protection. It was known that in many cases the engines and machinery of the ships had been tampered with, but it was thought that a few months' work would put them in order. They could then appropriately be used for transporting troops, or for other necessary military purposes, leaving in suspense the question of compensation to their original owners. After Austria-Hungary, on April 9, severed diplomatic relations with us, the President ordered that Custom Guards be placed on Austrian vessels, fourteen in number, and said to be worth $26,000,000, and that the officers and crews be taken into custody.

Thus, at one stroke of the pen, a great fleet of merchant ships, liners and freighters, some of them among the finest in the world, came into possession of the United States. As dawn came on Friday, April 6, the Prussian eagle came down and the American eagle went up on nearly 100 German ships. Under orders from Washington, Dudley Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, at 3.45 o'clock directed the seizure of the 27 German ships in New York Harbor. By 6 o'clock all the vessels tied up in Hoboken, at 135th Street, New York, and at piers in Brooklyn docks, were in possession of the United States. All German ships in other American waters were also seized. No trouble from the crews was reported from any port except in Guam, where

the crew blew up a German cruiser. Regulars, National Guardsmen, Customs Inspectors, and policemen aided in taking over the ships.

In most instances in New York Harbor the machinery of the seized German vessels was found to have been so badly damaged as to require six, nine or even twelve months for repairs, but Austrian ships in United States ports had not been touched. In Boston five ships, of a carrying capacity of about 77,000 tons, were taken over by marines from the United States destroyer Gresham. National Guardsmen in Baltimore seized three ships of a tonnage of about 20,000. Two vessels at Philadelphia, of a total tonnage of 16,000, were taken. San Francisco yielded three, of a tonnage of 8,000. In the Philippines were 23 German ships totaling 85,000 tons. The Willehad, a supply ship to the German summarine Deutschland, was seized in New London. Two companies of United States infantry, a company of New Jersey Guardsmen, and a squad of Customs officers and a score of Hoboken policemen participated in the seizure of the Vaterland, George Washington, President Grant, Kaiser Wilhelm II, President Lincoln, Grosser Kurfuerst, and other ships tied up at the Hoboken piers of the North German Lloyd and Hamburg-American lines. At 135th Street, New York, two destroyers were on guard. Five naval cutters moved in the waters of the Hudson at the points where the German ships were docked.

The seizure took place without spectacular accompaniment. United States agents were in possession of the boats within an hour after orders had been received from Washington. There was no disorder and no demonstration on the part of the German population in Hoboken, as they stoically witnessed the activities of the officers. Hoboken did not know at first what was taking place. Without warning a company of soldiers crossed the river by the Hudson tubes and silently marched to the Hamburg-American line docks. One of the Customs Guards standing on duty at the gate swung it open and the soldiers filed through. A few minutes later some of the soldiers could be seen passing from the Hamburg to the Bremen line piers. Just then Collector Malone drove up with a military officer. About the same

time three revenue-cutters arrived and posted themselves near a destroyer which had been lying in the river for some days. A little later a boat of the Ellis Island service arrived and took position with the cutters.

On boarding the vessels Collector Malone sought the captains, who in most cases had been advised of the turn affairs had taken. The crews were sent to Ellis Island while the examination of their baggage was being completed. In all there were some 1,200 of the crews and 325 officers, the large majority of them reservists of the Imperial German Navy. The most notable figure among the German officers interned

One

These ships at the time of seizure were lying at piers in Hoboken. of them was the Vaterland, afterward known as the Leviathan, and used by the United States as a transport. She could carry approximately 10,000 men and could make a round trip in two weeks

on Ellis Island was Commodore Ruser of the Vaterland. He had been in the service of the line for many years and had formerly commanded the Imperator. When Collector Malone boarded the Vaterland, Commodore Ruser met him in person. The five German liners that had been interned for more than a year at 135th Street and the North River were seized at 5.30 o'clock. In a dismal downpour of rain, 214 officers and men lined up on the dock to hear the proclamation of seizure, received it stolidly, went back to the ships to pack their belongings and within an hour and a half marched

down the gangplanks and started for Governor's Island. It was 7 o'clock when the interned crew, carrying valises, bags and packages of all sorts, began to stream down the five gangplanks. The whole transaction was accomplished in silence except for an occasional low-spoken order. Besides merchant ships the commerce raiders Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were in Philadelphia, and several small war craft, including a light cruiser in Guam. Most of the German passenger-ships had been built as naval auxiliaries, with gun platforms, reinforced decks and other equipment for offensive purposes, together with naval reserve crews. Fourteen of the

larger vessels now seized could together transport at one time about 40,000 troops. The American merchant fleet, available at that time, could carry only about half that number.

About a quarter of a mile of Hoboken's water-front was put technically under martial law on April 19. Military authority superseded civil authority along that part of the shore line occupied by the six big North German Lloyd and Hamburg-American piers. Armed sentries kept persons on the opposite side of the street from entering the yards. It was not primarily for safety that the piers were taken over, but for the purpose of preparing them for government use during the war. Three companies of regulars were landed at these piers from a ferry-boat at night. Hoboken awoke next morning and found the big pier-yards, which since the beginning of the war had been cluttered with huge piles of empty beer-kegs, alive with khaki-clad American soldiers. The beer-kegs, which had waited for two and a half years for reshipment to Germany, were carted away, and moving vans filled with trunks and boxes belonging to officers appeared at the homes of the superintendents of the yards. Early in the day railroad engineers, in consultation with army officials, were arranging to build spur-tracks from railroads to the newly-acquired yards, so as to establish direct connections with all parts of the country. With their seizure these yards came technically under the definition of "Government reservations for bases of supplies, and land to be used for war purposes."

The total tonnage seized by the United States reached 720,000, while Brazil, our ally now, had taken over 254,000