NAVAL RECORD—GENERAL.
Feb. 1—German submarine seen near Liverpool; there is a new theory that infernal machines in coal caused blowing up of the Formidable and the Bulwark.
Feb. 2—English shipping paper offers reward of $2,500 to first British merchant vessel that sinks a German submarine; German submarine tries to torpedo British hospital ship Asturias; men from a Swedish warship are killed by a mine.
Feb. 3—German auxiliary is sunk by British cruiser Australia off Patagonia; German destroyer reported sunk by Russians in the Baltic.
Feb. 4—British ships shell Germans at Westende.
Feb. 5—Germans deny that Russians sank a destroyer in the Baltic.
Feb. 7—Allied fleets menace the Dardanelles.
Feb. 9—Turkish cruiser bombards Yalta; Russians shell Trebizond.
Feb. 10—Germans are said to have sunk casks of petrol off the English coast for use by their submarines; French Government, in report to neutrals, denounces sinking of refugee ship Admiral Ganteaume.
Feb. 11—Cargo of American steamship Wilhelmina, bound for Hamburg, is seized by British at Falmouth, and a prize court will pass upon question whether food destined only for German civilians can go through in neutral bottoms; it is generally understood that the Wilhelmina shipment was made as a test case; German submarines, driven into Norwegian ports by storm, are forced to put to sea again.
Feb. 13—Two British steamers long overdue are believed to have been sunk by the Germans.
Feb. 14—Canada is guarding her ports more vigilantly; the Captain of British steamer Laertes is decorated for saving his ship from a German submarine by fast manoeuvring.
Feb. 15—British steamer Wavelet hits mine in English Channel and is badly damaged; British submarines are in the Baltic; Austrian fleet bombards Antivari.
Feb. 16—Captain of the German battle-cruiser Blücher dies from pneumonia contracted when his ship went down in the North Sea fight; British merchant collier Dulwich is torpedoed and sunk off French coast.
Feb. 17—French steamer Ville de Lille is sunk by German submarine.
Feb. 18—German auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm has sunk six British ships off the coast of Brazil.
Feb. 20—Allied fleets are pounding the Dardanelles forts with great effect; German steamer Holger interned at Buenos Aires.
Feb. 21—Berlin papers report that a British transport, loaded with troops, has been sunk.
Feb. 22—Two German submarines are missing; Germans are building submarines near Antwerp.
Feb. 23—Australian mail boat Maloja fired on by armed merchantman in English Channel; operations at the Dardanelles interrupted by unfavorable weather.
Feb. 24—British capture German steamer Gotha; British armed merchantman Clan Macnaughton reported missing.
Feb. 25—The four principal forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles are reduced by the allied British and French fleet; three German submarines are sent to Austria for use in the Adriatic and Mediterranean.
Feb. 26—Inner forts of Dardanelles are being shelled; mine sweeping begun; wreckage indicates disaster to German submarine U-9 off Norwegian coast; French destroyer Dague hits Austrian mine off Antivari; Allies blockade coast of German East Africa.
Feb. 27—Forty British and French warships penetrate the Dardanelles for fourteen miles; French cruiser seizes, in the English Channel, the American steamer Dacia, which was formerly under German registry and belonged to the Hamburg-American Line, and takes her to Brest; a French prize court will determine the validity of her transfer to American registry; British skipper reports that the German converted cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich sank a British ship and a French ship in December.
Feb. 28—Allied fleet prepares to engage the strongest and last of the Dardanelles defenses; land attack in conjunction with the fleet is being considered; English and French flags now fly over wrecked forts; London welcomes seizure of Dacia by French.