Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 347
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[Page 347]
bought or stolen. These were promptly marched off and retained on board the man-o'-war till they could be disposed of ashore or into other ships. No doubt we were often defeated by ships having false manifests and cargoes not what they represented to be. It would have been easy to have a quantity of contraband stowed away under innocent goods, but the difficulties of search on the high seas were such that a cursory examination had to suffice. However these same ships outward bound for Europe were mostly bailed up again around the north of Scotland or in the English Channel and then taken to harbour for a thorough overhaul. So probably the end result from our point of view was pretty good. Enemy powers undoubtedly received more material suitable for warlike purposes than they should have, but the writer thinks that this was due not so much to the fault of the Navy as to a quixotic benevolence on the part of our Government. Naturally enough it was not policy to defend neutrals; and as neutrals stood to lose so much in a mercantile sense if a stringent blockade were enforced, the Government often erred perhaps on the side of too much tolerance. But now the blockade is a very different thing from what it was in 1915, and it is probable that the Central Powers received no more material from abroad than they should.
One American skipper we held up was very wrathful. He was inward bound for New York, and when we signalled him he increased speed and tried to get away. The oil fuel was turned on, and the Sydney leaped from twelve knots to sixteen in a few minutes, and soon was doing eighteen. Still the Yankee dug out for home, but a shot across his bows which landed a little nearer