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Show THE 1C CRUISE OF THE SENECA : ' The United States Coast Guard cut ter Seneca, which recently reached the port of New York after more than two years absence in the war zones of the North sea and the Mediterranean and the waters between those seas, probably had a more adventuresome career during the conflict with Germany than any other American warship. And even before the war the Seneca was a marine adventurer, for she was in service as a derelict destroyer, and also she usually had the good fortune to be around somewhere in the vicinity when there was need to rescue the passengers of a sinking or stranded vessel. But the service of the Seneca in the war was full of thrills. In her two years of dodging submarines in all the seas of Europe she rescued 511 persons from torpedoed merchant and warships ,she engaged in fifteen battles with submarines, sinking several of the undersea boats and escaping from the rest, she had forty-seve- n German torpedoes discharged at her and eleven members of her crew were killed. One of them was Billy Boyce, for many years engineer of the old revenue cutter Calumet and one of the best known marine men along the waterfront of New York. The Seneca was commanded, by Commander J. W. Wheeler while she was overseas, who, together with all the officers and men of the crew, was commended by King George for bravery and skill in rescuing the crew of the British destroyer Cowslip, which was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Rock of Gibraltar. This has been called ' one of the bravest feats of the war, and one that taxed to the utmost the seamanship and nautical skill of Commander Wheeler and his crew. When the torpedo boat began to sink the Seneca was nearby and steamed toward the Britisher. The commander of the Cowslip, however, signalled to the cutter that there were four or five submarines in the vicinity and warned Commander Wheeler to turn about and look out for his own safety. Characteristically, Commander 'Wheeler ignored the warning, and instead ordered his gun crews to their stations. Then, firing at everything that poked out of the water and looked anything at all like a periscope, and dropping depth bombs where they might do the most good, the Seneca steamed at top speed toward the destroyer and took off the entire crew. Several torpedoes were sent after the cutter by the .Germans, but the Seneca managed to dodge them. Engineer Boyce and ten of the other men of the crew lost their lives during the hard winter of 1918 while trying to salvage a British transport the bow of which had been blown off by a torpedo. The transport had been abandoned by her crew, but she was afloat when the Seneca reached her side, and Commander Wheeler determined, in view of the immperative need of ships, to bring her safely into port if such a thing was possible. He sent Lieut. F. W. Browu and CITIZEN ten of the crew aboard the transport her engines were started under the direction of Boyce and she began to move stern first toward Brest. But a terrific storm swept down out of the English channel and caught the vessel before the men of the Seneca could leave her. Her bulkheads gave way and she went down with all hands, with the exception of Lieut. Brown, who was rescued and almost died from pneumonia. Commander the United Wheeler returned to States a few weeks after the rescue of the British crew of the Cowslip, and the cutter was broughf back to her home port by Captain M. S. Hay. Before the war the Seneca figured largely in the news because of her work, and the romance and thrill of it as a derelict destroyer. She was also the vessel which saved the crew of the White Star liner Republic when that vessel went down off the coast of Newfoundland after a collision with One of her the steamship Florida. duties each year was to act as an ice patrol off the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, sometimes in company with other cutters and sometimes alone. She made Halifax her headquarters and from that port steamed out to sea in search of the great ice floes which drift down from the coast of Labrador and constitute a great menace to shipping. Her work was to determine the exact course of the big bergs and the probable extent of their drift, keeping them in sight constantly and each night sending out radio messages telling ships the location of the masses of ice. Her greatest danger during this work was protecting herself from a sudden shift in the course of the ice, which would have sent the big bergs crashing against her sides, and watching for gales which might have driven her toward them. The Seneca was assigned to the duty of destroying derelicts in 1908. At that time her cruising ground took in nearly all of the water between Bermuda and Sable island off the American coast The first time she came to New York after this assignment she presented a brave appearance, with, a smokestack tipped with black and striped with red, white and blue vertical markings. Her hull was a dark green, with a red stripe running from stem to stern. Mariners and newspapers of that time made much of her gala appearance, which was quite different from the sombre dress she wore while on duty in the Mediterranean and the North sea. New York Sun. . i " The prima donna was reading a rough draft of her new contract. When she came to the paragraph providing that she should have transportation for herself, her maid, her dog, and Signor Gazibenl, her husband, she drew a line through the signors name. Just make that husband, assented she said. Yes, madam, the manager, but may I ask why? 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