issued by the General Staff, dated July 6th, which contained the following:
"Punta Delgada, Azores, was bombarded at 9 A.M., July 4th. This is undoubtedly the submarine which attacked the E on June 25th, 400 miles north of the Azores, and sank the F and G on the 29th of June, 100 miles from Terceira (Azores). This submarine was ordered to watch in the vicinity of the Azores at such a distance as it was supposed the enemy American convoy would pass from the Azores."
9. It appears from the French report just quoted above, and from the location of the attack, that enemy submarines had been notified of our approach and were probably scouting across our route. It is possible that they may have trailed us all day on June 22d, as our speed was well within their limits of surface speed, and they could have easily trailed our smoke under the weather conditions without being seen; their failure to' score hits was probably due to the attack being precipitated by the fortuitous circumstances of the flagship's helm jamming and the sounding of her whistle, leading enemy to suppose he had been discovered.
10. The H, leading the second group, encountered two submarines, the first about 11.50 A.M., June 26, 1917, in latitude ——— N., longitude ——— W., about a hundred miles off the coast of France, and the second two hours later. The I investigated the wake of the first without further discovery. The J sighted the bow wave of the second at a distance of 1,500 yards and headed for it at a speed of 25 knots. The gun-pointers at the forward gun saw the periscope several times for several seconds, but it disappeared each time before they could get on, due to the zigzagging of the ship. The J passed about 25 yards ahead of a mass of bubbles which were coming up from the wake and let go a depth charge just ahead. Several pieces of timber, quantities of oil, bubbles, and debris came to the surface. Nothing more was seen of the submarine. The attacks on the second group occurred about 800 miles to the eastward of where the attacks had been made on the first group.
11. The voyage of the third group was uneventful.
12. In the forenoon of June 28th, when in latitude ——— N., longitude ——— W., the K opened fire on an object about 300 yards distant which he thought was a submarine. The commander of the group, however, did not concur in this opinion,39
