tively complete reports can be obtained without undue burden on a few officers. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the desirability of having reports made aboard ship in a shipshape manner as a means of training of the personnel.

U. S. S. Speed, May 19, 1917.

I have completed the weekly inspection of all compartments, watertight doors, hatches, air ports, and mechanical devices for the safety and management of this ship coming under the cognizance of the chief carpenter and find the condition of same to be as follows:

All in apparent good condition except as noted below.

1. Operating gear for the armored hatch in the protective deck to A-23 has carried away and new shaft and pedestal casting are required. This item has been covered by a letter requesting new parts on our arrival at Balboa. Hatch is secured in open position, but can be closed, if necessary, by using chain falls.

2. Starboard whaleboat is leaky and requires recalking. This work is being deferred pending arrival in port to allow getting boat in a convenient location for the work.

3. After fresh water tanks require cleaning out and cement washing. This work has been completed in connection with all forward tanks. 4. Air ports in staterooms Nos. 17, 19, 20, and in isolation ward are leaking slightly. Gaskets will be renewed on arrival in port.

5. The 45-fathom shot of chain on port anchor is badly chafed and strained in connection with recent salvage operations and cannot be considered reliable. It should be shifted and replaced by the similar shot in the port sheet locker, for which no anchor is provided.

6. Compartment A-20 is continually wet through excessive sweating of the compartment. Sweating is due to fact that steam line to ice machine parallels closely the fire main. No remedy appears practicable at present time, but sweating is reduced somewhat if compartment is kept closed up. 7. An armor bolt in cofferdam A-100 allows slight leakage from outboard. A new grommet will be installed after arrival in port and this will probably stop the leakage.

8. Linoleum amidships on the gun deck is in poor condition and repairs are being made as rapidly as more urgent work permits.

9. Staterooms 23, 25, and 30 require repainting and furniture should be revarnished. Rooms are occupied at present and this work cannot be undertaken.

10. Fire hose for fire plugs Nos. 3, 34, 41, 42, and 47 is worn out and requires renewal. New hose is available at Balboa and necessary replacement will be accomplished prior to departure from that port.

All work necessary in connection with items Nos. 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 in my report for the previous week has been completed.

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

PIPE SWEEPERS

By COMMANDER C. N. HINKAMP, U. S. Navy

Few people except those present when they sailed know much about the minesweepers that left these shores for the mine fields of France. Owing to the activities of the censor, no information was made public concerning the outfitting of the United States mine sweepers that operated off the French Coast during the war. How many ever heard of "Squadron Four, Patrol Force" which swept enemy mines off the French ports when the submarine menace was at its height? And how many know anything about the mine sweepers of the Allies before we entered the war? Few. Few outside of those who had to travel the channels and areas mined and then not until these areas had been swept or cleared of the danger. The knowledge of clear channels is a much needed one when troops are being transported, and were it not for skillful sweeping, many more soldiers and sailors would be among the missing. Hence the sweepers and this story.

Let us go back to August, 1917, four and a half months after the declaration of war with Germany. One by one the converted wooden fishing steamers commonly called "porgie boats," familiar to all coastwise sailormen, came into Boston from various navy yards along the coast, to get their orders and make final preparations for sea. "Where do we go from here?" was heard on all sides. The fishing steamers were about 160 feet in length, 25 feet beam, draft 14 to 15 feet, displacement about 400 tons, speed 9 knots, and capable of carrying close to one million fish with a full hold and decks piled high. The rebuilding consisted of enlarging the deck house to accommodate more men, moving the pilot house to the rear about ten feet to make room for a gun forward, fitting part of the fish hold as a magazine and store. room, and mounting two guns, one forward and one aft. Additional coal was carried in the remaining space in the fish hold, and enough ballast was added to compensate for the high location of the guns. Ordinary life boats, life preservers and a life raft com

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pleted the conversion from a fish boat to a man-o-war. A complete radio outfit and a typewriter were added to increase efficiency, as well as a machine gun and a depth charge.

It was my luck to miss the rebuilding period these boats went through, the assembling of the crews and other drudgery in connection with the organization. My telegraphic orders brought me to the scene twenty hours before the time set to sail so I had little to do but say goodbye, coal ship, take on life rafts and water, inspect the ship, learn her needs of which there were many, get acquainted with the officers, investigate the grub situation, report to my senior in command of the squadron, inspect the guns, and get my orders. I might add that in this period I found leisure enough to unpack my bags, get my cabin in order, and make out endless reports which some one wanted before sailing. All red tape was not cut even during the war, but thank heaven we cut enough to get away on time. I hope there will be no reckoning for eighty years. We were informed that on the next day, Saturday the 25th of August, our entire convoy of ten sweepers, six submarine chasers, one collier and one yacht (the flagship) would rendezvous at Provincetown, Massachusetts, and sail from there some time Sunday, hour unknown, weather uncertain, destination a secret. By noon Sunday all but one sweeper of the convoy were there, and we were told to be ready at 4 p. m. We were a motley assortment of ships, camouflaged according to the wildest fancies. of three schools, all the colors of the rainbow, all the effects which delirium tremens could envy but not duplicate. And on the docks watching this scene were the fisherfolk of Provincetown, a few of the wives of those about to sail, and the local patrol crews. Captain Y——— of the Bessie Q., who had sailed on the fishing banks for many a season remarked that he'd never take a steam fish boat across the ocean, and that it was suicide to attempt it. This and others like it were the cheering sentences heard on all sides, and such were the delightful impressions left in the minds. of those who had to remain behind.

It was a bright day, clear and reasonably warm, wind from the Northwest, barometer "high and rising" and good weather was predicted for several days. Promptly at four o'clock we heaved in our anchors, by hand and it was some job, housed them for a long trip, and headed out of the harbor for the open sea. The straggling sweeper joined us, so our convoy was complete, and in a short time we got into a semblance of the prescribed

formation, and by nightfall we had left the good old U. S. A. on the western side of the horizon. The collier, the Bath by name, formerly a German merchantman, and the Wakiva, the yacht led the parade, the sweepers formed in line of divisions, and the six sub-chasers filled in odd gaps in columns of three. It was a sight to strike terror to any submarine, one fisherman allowed it was not the submarines he feared, it was the sea, for had a submarine seen all of us an attack was unlikely, while if a real sea hit us we would have sunk without a trace. Later developments showed he was correct.

Our departure from Provincetown, the landing place of the Pilgrims, was a success; that is, we got in and out and no one knew where we were going. About ten miles out we opened our orders and learned that Ponta del Gada in the Azores was to be our first stop, 2200 miles away, and no intermediate station to rest in. The submarine chasers had fuel to cruise about 700 miles only, so they had to be towed most of the way, six of the sweepers being detailed for this duty. This phase of the trip is a separate story in itself with the breakdowns of engines, parting of towlines, and other incidental mishaps. One evening at dusk, about 1500 miles out one of the chasers which had parted her towline came alongside and asked for a tow. We said "sure if you will go to the supply ship Bath and get us two hams and a bag of flour."

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