The Lafayette had, mounted on its stern, one of the favorite French guns known as a 75-millimeter. The captain told us he had orders to fire on the Deutschland if the submarine happened to turn up. The first officer, under instruction from the captain, showed the operation of the gun to the commissioners. This was very interesting; everything was done except to fire off the gun; all the maneuvers were gone through and we discovered on the lower deck enough shells to fight a good sized battle.
On Saturday, previous to landing, a bazaar was held on the boat for the benefit of the French hospitals. This was a very successful affair; contributions were made or supposed to be made by all the passengers. Among other things, I donated a quart bottle of champagne. This was sold at auction, the first bid was one dollar, made with the understanding that the last bid was to be no higher, but was to get the champagne. These bids continued until the bottle finally brought seventy-five dollars. It turned out to be a very good article with all that.
We were also informed before entering port that we were protected by two submarine destroyers.
We discovered on arising, Sunday morning, September 3rd, that we were in the Bay of Biscay and two cruisers were circling around and gradually escorting us into the port of Bordeaux. We were told subsequently that the wireless apparatus has been disconnected and we had been chased by a submarine.
The first land seen was the shore of Spain, the course of the vessel having been diverted on account of pursuit by the submarine. At four P. M. on Sunday a commission from Bordeaux came out in a tug boat to meet us. This delegation consisted of the prefect of Bordeaux district, the mayor of the city and other notables. They boarded the boat and we entertained them with a dinner party. We reached the Bordeaux dock about ten o'clock on Sunday evening, but did not land until the following morning.