Western Approaches. Q-ships were merchant ships crewed by Navy personnel and bearing hidden weaponry. When attacked by U-boats, a portion of the ship's crew (referred to as a panic party) would appear to evacuate the vessel, sometimes setting smoke fires to simulate damage. This would encourage its attacker to approach and when the U-boat was close enough, the Q-ship's guns would be revealed and open fire, targeting the approaching submarine. Helgoland was a Dutch brigantine armed with 12-pounder guns and a machine gun. Sanders, second in command to fellow New Zealander Lieutenant A.D. Blair, helped oversee its conversion to a Q-ship. On its first patrol in September 1916, his ship participated in two actions against U-boats and, on its second the following month, it again encountered U-boats on two occasions. During the first engagement, Helgoland was becalmed due to lack of wind, without engines and extremely vulnerable. With limited manoeuvrability and with the attacking U-boat content to fire on the ship from a distance, Helgoland was forced to reveal its identity early in the action. The U-boat was able to get away but not without first firing two torpedoes which passed harmlessly under Helgoland. In the second engagement, Helgoland came to the assistance of a steamer being attacked by a U-boat. In doing so, Sanders had to expose himself to gunfire in order to remove a jammed screen obscuring the ship's gun. HMS Prize Sanders' conduct on Helgoland resulted in a promotion to lieutenant, and he was also recommended for command of his own ship. In early 1917, he was appointed captain of , a three-masted topsail schooner that was sailing under the German flag when it was the first enemy ship to be seized by the British after the outbreak of the First World War. Originally sold by the Admiralty to a shipping company, it was later offered to the Royal Navy for use as a decoy vessel and converted to a Q-ship in early 1917. This involved the addition of diesel engines, radio equipment and armament, including two 12-pounder guns; one was inside a collapsible deckhouse while the other was on a platform that was raised from the hold. A pair of Lewis guns and a Maxim machine gun were also fitted. The conversion work on Prize was carried out near Falmouth and Sanders arrived there in mid-April 1917 to supervise the final stages of the work and