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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels

1918                         SUNDAY 2                   JUNE

Went to Annapolis – Last Sunday before graduation –

Chaplain Evans1 preached appropriate sermon-

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News came that submarine was seen off Barnegat Light2 and S.O.S. call had been seen f heard from the Carolina-3

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Sims had sent information that English Admiralty believed no danger of submarines on this coast4 – English feel they knew whereabouts of all but one – Is that the one?

Source Note: D, DLC-MSS, Josephus Daniels Papers, Diaries, Roll 1.

Footnote 1: Cmdr. Sydney K. Evans, chaplain at the Naval Academy.

Footnote 2: Barnegat Lighthouse is located on Long Beach Island, NJ, on the southern coast of that state. U-151 had arrived off the coast of Virginia on 21 May and remained there several days. On 25 May, it sank three American schooners, holding the crews for a few days. It cruised along the Atlantic coast laying mines and cutting two cables.

Footnote 3: On 2 June, U-151 sank six vessels, including the 5,000 ton passenger liner Carolina. It carried 113 crew and 217 passengers. The German captain allowed the passengers to leave the ship before sinking it, nonetheless 13 people died when one of the small boats swamped. The other vessels sunk were three small schooners, a steamship and a small freighter. U-151 remained on the coast for several more days. Clark, U-Boats to America: 26-83 passim.

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