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Show OCEAN LINERS l I GREAT DANGER I Black Ball at Mouth of. Mersey H Is a Warning of Sub H marine. WARSHIPS ON PATROL . H Cymeric on Last Voyage Took H Every Precaution Against H Attack. H New York, Aug. 21. Passengers M and crew of the White Star liner H Cymeric asserted, upon their arrival here, that the Cymeric had been con- H voyed for 36 hours after leaving Liv- erpool, August 11, by relays of Brit- H ish warships, five in number, and that M she had not been permitted to sail un- H accompanied until the war zone had H been left behind. Several passengers said the peris- jH cope of a submarine had been sighted H but officers of the Cymeric decline M to discuss the situation. H The Cymeric took virtually the H same course as the Arabic, which was H sunk Thursday by a German subma- H rlne. The Cymeric carried 189 pas- H sengers, of whom 105 were In the H steerage. H When the steamer left her dock, H tne high flag pole recently erected at M the month of the Mersey where all H outgoing vesselB could not fall to see H lt( displayed the warning that Ger- M man submarines were lurking in M nearby waterB. This warning, the pas- H sengers said, was in the form of a big H black ball hoisted at the top of tho M pole. It had been agreed among ship owners at Liverpool, 'It was said, M that the black ball was to be the H sign of danger when tho admiralty's JM warning of nearby submarines came M to port too late to warn outgoing craft fl by messengers or telephone. Before the Cymeric was out of the fl Mersey, sailors provisioned the life- M boats and swung them outward. The H passengers were assembled and as- H signed their respective places in th( M boats so that there might be no con fusion in emergency. M When clear of Liverpool harbor, the H Cymeric sighted a small cruiser, for- H merly a converted yacht, which steam- M ed alongside, sometimes approaching M as close as 200 yards, till nearly sun- H set when the second relay, a fast ves- M sel of the destroyer type, was sighted H ahead .apparently awaiting the Cyme- H rlc's atrlvaLJji-her .zone. - H The cruiser dropped behind and the IfH destroyer took up her place, That jH night all lights, except candles, were H extinguished and every porthole was M blanketed. The passengers slept with H lifebelts at hand. M All next day the convoy was con- H tlnued. Four destroyers passed the IH ship from one to another, each war- IH ship apparently patrollng a certain IH zone and acting as the liner's escore IH through her zone. The destroyer, ac- H cording to the Cymeric's passengers, M darted back and forth and around tho M ship, circling her frequently. IH Some time during the night of the IH twelfth the destroyers ceased their M solicitude over tho liner and dropped M behind. JA |