Imperial German secret agent Lieutenant Robert Fay arrived in New York in April 1915 with a mission to sink freight ships on the East Coast of America during World War I.

Robert Fay was serving on the Western Front during WWI when he came up with the idea of a time bomb design that disabled rudders on munitions ships.

[3] His superiors liked the idea and after finding out about his time in America set him up with a fake British passport under the name of H. A. Kearling and $4,000 (US$ 120,000 in 2025).

Working with Paul Daeche, Walter E. Scholz, Otto Wolpert, Max Breitung and Dr. Herbert O. Kienzle they tried to buy explosives.

They set up a sting operation offering to provide the explosives, eventually arresting Fay, Scholz, Kienzle, and Daeche on October 24, 1915.