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diff --git a/26474-8.txt b/26474-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fc2eb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/26474-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2695 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Naval Yarns, by Mordaunt Hall + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Some Naval Yarns + +Author: Mordaunt Hall + +Contributor: Ethel Beatty + +Release Date: August 29, 2008 [EBook #26474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME NAVAL YARNS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + SOME NAVAL + YARNS + + BY + MORDAUNT HALL + + WITH A PREFACE BY + LADY BEATTY + + + NEW YORK + GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + PUBLISHERS IN AMERICA FOR HODDER & STOUGHTON + MCMXVII + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1917, + BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +PREFACE + + +A book containing accounts of the work continually and unceasingly being +carried on by the gallant officers and men of the Royal Navy should +prove of considerable interest to all, and, at the present time, +especially to the American reader. I am glad that a New York journalist +has had the opportunity of witnessing a part of the titanic task of our +courageous sea-fighters, and of personally gaining an idea of the +hardships endured by the plucky men who are watching our coast. This +little book may help considerably to enlighten the general public on the +work of the branches of the Navy, and prove that the men engaged in this +tedious, hazardous, and nerve-racking vigil are going about it with the +same old valour befitting the traditions of the Royal Navy. They have +fought the savage beasts like true sportsmen. They have rescued enemy +sailors, clothed and fed them, without a sign of animus, knowing that +victory will crown their efforts to throttle the enemy of humanity and +of civilisation. And that enemy is now the common foe of the United +States as well as of England. He has been the sly enemy of the United +States even before the declaration of hostilities by the American +Congress, while he was the avowed enemy of other countries engaged in +this terrible war. + +These stories, light though they be, give a conception of what it is to +search the seas in a submarine, and the bravery of the youngest branch +of the Navy--the Royal Naval Air Service--is palpable even from the +modest accounts given by these seaplane pilots. They have confidence in +their supremacy over the enemy, and are all smiles even in the face of +imminent danger. It shows that often British coolness and pluck have +saved a machine as well as the lives of men. + +Of special interest is the talk with the captain of a mine-sweeper while +he is on the bridge of his vessel. He tells of the many neutral lives +that have been saved by English seamen at the risk of their own vessels +and the lives of their crews. Noteworthy is it that Great Britain in the +course of this war has not been the cause of the loss of a single +neutral life. Mines have been placed at random by Germany's pirate +craft. + +The grit of the English seaman comes to light in the author's journey +in a naval ambulance train, as does also the fact that the service takes +the utmost care of its wounded and sick. In the account of the Royal +Naval Division it is touching to note that the men who are fighting in +France and who distinguished themselves so valiantly in the Ancre and +other battles, still cling to sea terms or talk. + +The accounts in this volume may cause the people of my native country to +appreciate the necessity for silence on the part of the British +Admiralty, as now that their ships are linked with ours in the effort to +defeat a common enemy the same idea of giving no information to the +enemy even at the cost of criticism undoubtedly will be included in +orders. Nevertheless, while playing the trump of silence, it is +encouraging to read stories of the Navy so that the readers have certain +knowledge that silence and brief reports do not mean that nothing is +being accomplished. We have recently had an instance of the efficiency +and courage of the officers and men in the fight between two British +destroyers and half a dozen of the enemy craft, in which the Germans +lost two vessels and the British none. Commanders and others greatly +distinguished themselves in this conflict, which occurred in the dead +of a moonless night. And the deeds of the Royal Navy are certain to be +emulated by the officers and men of the United States Navy, for blood +will tell. + + ETHEL BEATTY. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + PREFACE v + + I. THE LOG OF A NAVAL AIRMAN 1 + + II. OVER THE NORTH SEA IN A SEAPLANE 10 + + III. ADVENTURES IN A SEAPLANE 17 + + IV. SWEEPING THE SEAS FOR MINES 23 + + V. THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION 32 + + VI. A NAVAL SCHOOL 41 + + VII. "GENTLEMEN, 'THE KING'" 47 + + VIII. THE ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN 53 + + IX. A RUN IN A ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN 60 + + X. A TRIP IN A SUBMARINE 67 + + XI. LIFE IN A LIGHTHOUSE 82 + + XII. WATCHERS OF THE COAST 89 + + XIII. CROSSING THE CHANNEL IN WAR TIME 97 + + + + +SOME NAVAL YARNS + + + + +SOME NAVAL YARNS + + + + +I. THE LOG OF A NAVAL AIRMAN + + +Men of the British services are exasperatingly modest. You are forced to +wring stories of experiences from them, and when you are thrilled to the +core over their yarns they coolly inform you that their names must not +appear. Fortunately, there is something about a story which "rings +true." From one of the soundest pilots of the Royal Naval Air Service I +heard his experience of the previous day. We will call him "Q," as he +happens to be known in the station. It is his middle initial. He is a +tall, well-built man of thirty, who knows a seaplane backwards, and it +has been woe to the enemy when he met him. + +"We started at dawn," he began. "There's not much flying in the dark, +only occasionally. First, we ran the machine out of the hangar, and, as +usual, tried the engines. In the fading darkness or growing light it is +a great sight to see the flames flashing from the exhaust. In the +beginning you run your engines slowly. Yesterday one of them kicked a +bit. The cause for the hitch was discovered, and they were once more +started. Remember that it is expedient that the engines be thoroughly +tested before a flight, as you may spend anxious hours if something goes +wrong. The spluttering ended, and we ran them up to full speed. This +done, we waited for more light before hauling the machine down to the +water. Once the seaplane was water-born, we taxied ourselves across the +port at moderate speed. As we rose in the air we had to be careful of +the masts of the ships in the harbour, especially as it was foggy. We +then opened up the engines, and the seaplane rose. It was very thick, so +we kept 300 feet above the water, flying on a course. There were two +pilots and an observer in the machine. Our next work was to estimate the +velocity of the wind. This is always rather difficult, and, at the same +time, it is most important to have an accurate estimate of the wind. We +steered ahead, hoping to see a mark which would guide the observer in +his course; but because of the fog, we were not able to pick up our +mark. Hence we had to go on and hope for the best. + +"We flew higher, about 1,500 feet, and the clouds were about 800 feet, +so we were far above them. For two and a half hours we steered straight +ahead on the lonely fog-covered sea. We were to meet some warships which +expected us. But even after covering all that distance, we saw nothing +at all, and therefore resolved to descend and see what prospects there +were of 'landing' and saving our engines. The sea always appears calm to +the man flying above it; and even when we were 30 feet only above the +water we could not tell whether or no it would be dangerous to the +machine to 'land.' + +"By that time we were naturally anxious, as we thought that in steering +straight ahead, as we had done, we ought to have reached the ships with +which we had the rendezvous. So far as we could, with the roar of the +wind and the propeller, we held a consultation--nothing verbose--in +mid-air to determine what would be the best move. We decided to alter +our course so as to be sure of getting in sight of land. Half an hour +later we saw the first sign of life since we had been out--an old tramp +steamship. Ten minutes after we sighted land. When you are flying at sea +the land, especially when it is low-lying, takes you by surprise; it +suddenly looms up when you least expect it. + +"We then picked up a mark and set off on our course for the rendezvous. +So dense was the mist that we could not see more than one and a half +miles ahead. However, we raced along at 70 knots on our new course, and +in twenty minutes came in sight of the flotilla of warships spread out +below in fan-like form, but all moving fast. These ships, you see, keep +on the move; but they stay for the time being near the point selected +for the meeting. Instructions were signalled to us, and we came up, and +flew nearer and nearer the water. + +"'Can we land?' was our first question. 'Land' is always used by a +seaplane pilot even if there is no land within a hundred miles of him. +Our aerial had been thrown out. It was too rough to go on the water--or, +at least, not worth risking damage to the seaplane. We carried on our +conversation partly by shouting and partly by signals, which were +quickly understood. From the ships we received further instructions, and +sped on to carry them out. We had no further difficulties, and reached +home just before sunset." + +As an illustration of modern warfare, and the fact that single British +flyers are feared even by two of the enemy's planes, here is a story +told by a young Englishman, who knows no nerves when he is in the air, +no matter how near he comes to being snuffed out by the shrapnel and +bullets. He is a man of 5 feet 10 inches, with clear blue eyes and blond +hair--one of those truth-loving Britishers who prefers to err against +himself in his reports rather than tell of an uncertainty as a +certainty. + +"'Saw and attacked a German submarine, which dived before we could close +in on her,'" read this man from a log-book. He turned the pages, and a +little afterwards came on this:-- + +"'Sighted German patrol, and exchanged fire. Got over Zeebrugge----' + +"That reminds me," he said, looking up from the little book which held +the notes of so many exciting events. "They sent me out then when I +ought to have been off duty." + +He smiled, as did his hearers. + +"Well, I got over the Mohl," he added. "That's the German pier at +Zeebrugge. The Mohl showed up black, and the water looked lighter in the +darkness. I was up about 2,500 feet, and dropped bombs on the seaplane +base. I mean, of course, the German air base. Only a few moments, and +they showed that they were ready for me, as the heavens around were +lighted up with searchlights. I dropped a few more of my 'eggs,' and +could not be certain of what damage I accomplished, although I saw +flames spurt up from several places. Then the enemy sent up two long +rows of rockets, making an avenue of light so that I could have read by +it. These infernal things parachute when they get to a certain height +and, with the fire hanging from them, stay stationary, leaving but one +exit. If I had run the machine into the rockets it would have been +ablaze in no time. These fireworks stay in the air for about two +minutes, which is a devil of a long time when you are up there. Thanks +to this lighted avenue, I showed up more distinctly than I would have +done in the daytime. The end of the avenue, I knew, was the target of +their anti-aircraft gunnery. I flew out, and shrapnel tore all around +me. My machine was struck several times, and, as bad luck would have it, +the patent point of my magneto fell out just when I got to the spot +where shrapnel was thickest. + +"My chances of getting home then seemed pretty slim--engines out of +order, lit up by fireworks, up 2,500 feet, and a target clear as a +pikestaff for the gunnery. However, I managed to slide in the direction +of the ship on the French coast. It seems easy to keep out of the way of +the guns; but, of course, they have a demoralising effect on a man in +the air. Not so much at dark as in the day, though. Well, I got home all +right. + +"Only a day or so afterwards I dropped a bomb on or near a German +U-boat, and I can't say to this day whether I struck or damaged her. + +"'Very lonely,'" murmured the pilot, reading from his log. "'Just saw a +torpedo boat.' On the next day, let's see.... Oh, yes.... 'Saw two +German destroyers, and raced back to our ship, and British ships sped +after the Germans.' + +"A day or so later I had run in with two German machines. It chanced +that there was a wind blowing about 30 knots, and I was merely out +scouting, and did not carry a gun. The two enemy ships were joined by a +third, and then they gained sufficient courage to come a bit close. They +shot away my aileron control, and we were in a very bad way. For twenty +minutes we were continually under fire, and below there was a heavy +swell. It really was only through knowing how scared is the enemy flyer +when you go for him that I am here to-night. I let the enemy planes get +nearer and nearer to me, and by the time they were ready for firing I +dived at one of them. This so upset the poise of the three machines that +they turned tail and swung around to come at me. They made huge circles +to get on my flanks again. All this took time, and during it I was +getting nearer and nearer my base. Now and again the enemy machines were +like too many cooks and the broth; they nearly crashed into each other. +This also upset their nerves. Incidentally, when you are in the air, +only the other machine appears to be moving, and you seem perfectly +still. My escape is due in part to the arrival of one of our fighting +seaplanes. A German is desperately afraid of them, unless there are four +Germans to one Britisher. When they saw this fighting Britisher coming +they did not take long to get away. They knew who the flyer was, too, +for a man's style in the air is always characteristic. They had heard of +this flyer before. So they turned tail, and I got back with a machine +out of order. 'The Prussian code of politeness,' we call it when they +retire with two or three machines against one of ours. It is the respect +that they show for our fighting seaplanes. Of course, this does not +detract from the confidence we have in our superiority." + +I heard also that seaplanes have been called upon to serve at all sorts +of tasks on the dismal briny. On one occasion a senior naval officer of +an English port received word that neutrals were out in boats, and that +they had no water or food. Their steamship had been torpedoed, and their +last message by wireless had been caught by the British. The naval +officer despatched a seaplane with bread and water, and the pilot +delivered it, with other trifling necessities. + +One of the most beautiful sights that meets the eye of a seaplane pilot +is when he comes on the scouting parties of British warships. They are +never at a standstill, and to keep moving and in the same place they all +make a wonderful circle at full speed, with one vessel in the centre. +That ship is to receive the message or whatever is brought by the +seaplane, which in the event of calm weather lands on the water and +sometimes sends off one of her officers to talk to those aboard the +vessel protected by the ring of speeding grey warcraft. + + + + +II. OVER THE NORTH SEA IN A SEAPLANE + + +To have an accurate conception of some of the experiences of a seaplane +pilot of the Royal Naval Air Service, I took advantage of an opportunity +to go aloft over the North Sea. + +"Come with me, and we'll get you togged out for the ride," said the +gunnery lieutenant. He was a Canadian, who had lived many years in +Rochester, N. Y., and it was he who remembered that I would need +something warmer than the clothes I wore. + +In the room to which he conducted me were many different styles of air +garb. He picked down a hat and coat of black leather, observing that +they would serve the purpose. + +The morning sun shed a yellowish glow on the dancing sea, and the wind +was blowing at the rate of 32 knots. It was agreed by all that there +would be an excellent view from the aircraft as the day was clear. By +the time the gunnery lieutenant and I reached the ways on which the +great seaplane rested, men in overalls, begrimed with oil and dirt, +were testing the engine. As the great propeller spun round, coats +ballooned out with the rush of air, and the noise was such that one +could hardly hear one's own efforts to shout. It was a sound which +filled you with awe. The propeller was stopped after a few minutes, and +the mechanicians shot up the sides of the craft, and punched oil and +gasolene into the places where it was needed. Young officers in naval +uniforms stood around the machine--all are usually interested in a +departing seaplane. Not far from us were many immense sheds in which +were some of the newest types of England's youngest branch of the Navy. +There were aircraft there which bespoke the inventive genius of the +Briton, and the confidence of the young pilots inspired you with +pleasure--it was a confidence that they could beat the enemy at one to +two. + +Presently the chief mechanician announced to the pilot that all was +well, and the man who was to take me above the North Sea, attired in his +uniform and a thick white woollen scarf, climbed up the seaplane's port +side. He signalled to me to follow, showing the places for me to put my +feet. The climb was more difficult than I had imagined, and a literal +_faux pas_ might not have aided the flying ability of the machine. + +There was no lashing the passenger to a seat in the plane. The place in +which I sat would not have cramped three men, the pilot being in front. +There was a loose leather seat cover atop a wooden box as the only sign +of comfort. + +"Make the best of it," said the pilot. With that, he turned on a switch, +and the propeller whirred a warning of departure to the clouds. It was a +parting shot to ascertain that the engines were in trim, and after the +engine had been stopped the craft was wheeled out into the waters of the +bay, and then again the propeller rent the air with a burring noise +which is surprising even if you are more or less prepared for it. + +For the first few seconds we apparently swung along on the water's +surface, then skimmed along, the floats at the sides of the plane +bobbing on the slightly crested sea. It was only a matter of less than a +minute before I realised that we were rising in the air between sky and +water, and with amazing speed we soared, and soon were 300 feet in the +air. Still our aircraft climbed and climbed. The ocean, which had been +beating on the sands now outside, seemed peaceful and green. The town +which I thought had such winding streets when I walked through them now +looked as if it had been laid out by a landscape architect. Up, up we +travelled, and the higher we were the more deceptive was the North Sea. + +Through, or, at least, far above, the opening to the port the pilot +steered the seaplane, and far down in the sea I saw a strip of dusky +something pushing a white speck before it. The pilot signalled for me to +look down. It was then that I realised that this funny little thing was +a British submarine going out to sea. The pilot bellowed something; but +I could only see that he was shouting, no sound coming to me above the +din of the propeller. We steered straight out to sea, and miles away I +saw a grey speck--a warship prowling over the lonely depths. + +After listening to stories of pilots who have been tossed on the bosom +of the waters for twenty and thirty hours, the thought of the hardships +these pilots have to undergo came vividly to me. I thought of how I +might feel if a dozen anti-aircraft guns made us their target. Behind us +the town now had almost disappeared. The officer kept the nose of his +machine towards France, and I thought, as we sped on, of the young +officer who had an appointment for dinner with his fiancée, and who had +descended in the wrong territory only a week before. These daring +pilots, however, think nothing of cutting through the air from England +to France and taking a bomb or so with them for Zeebrugge on the way. + +I began to think a great deal of my pilot. He was about twenty-seven +years old, and was cool and certain. He was a dare-devil, and had only +been over in England a short time after spending months on the coast +near the front. + +The town had disappeared, and it was evident that we were practically at +the mercy of the compass. I felt no dizziness at the great height. In +fact, I had no conception of the altitude of the seaplane then. Perhaps +I was comforted by the whirring of the propeller, the thundering rumble +of which was increased by the stiff wind. I looked headlong down, and +experienced no sensation of fear. I seemed to be in a solid moving thing +as stable as a machine on earth or water. We must have been up 4,000 +feet and possibly 100 miles out at sea. There was a sameness about the +travelling. You heard the roaring blades, and saw the deceitful sea and +clouds on a line with you here and there. The pilot turned the plane, +and soon we were headed for land. We kept at the same altitude, and +after a while beheld the shore line. The marvellous speed of the +aircraft appealed to me then, as it was not long before we were over +the harbour gates. At the same time, the seaplane just then did not seem +to be making any headway. From a height of 4,000 feet the great vessels +looked like fair-sized matches. How impossible it seemed to aim straight +enough ever to hit one of those narrow things. As we turned around above +the town in the direction of the hangars the trembling wings appeared to +waver a bit more than usual. I looked down at the town, and we appeared +at a standstill. You can tell sometimes when persons are looking at the +planes by a speck of white, which is a face. The earth and sea rose +nearer, for, as one does not appreciate, the plane was descending. + +Our seaplane swung around and around like a bird about to settle, and, +as the seagulls do, alighted on the waters against the wind. With +remarkable skill and patience the pilot carefully steered the machine +until she faced the ways on which waited a throng of air-station +officers and waders. Soon we were properly placed, and a dozen men clad +in waterproof clothes splashed forward into the water, and caught the +floats of the seaplane's wings. As the engine had been stopped before we +landed, I got the first chance to speak to my pilot. He told me to get +on the back of one of the waders, and in a few minutes I was again on +dry land. Then the first thing I thought of was how the machine looked +in the air. The officers congratulated my pilot on a remarkably fine +landing. + +We had been more than two hours and ten minutes in the air, and we were +both glad of a good stretch as we walked to the hangar, the burring buzz +of the propeller still in my ears. + + + + +III. ADVENTURES IN A SEAPLANE + + +It was an interesting gathering which faced the warm fire in a +smoking-room of an East Coast station of the Royal Naval Air Service. +Many of the seaplane pilots who were attired in the blue and gold of +naval officers had recently returned from successful endeavours in their +hazardous life in the North Sea and on the Belgian Coast. And here they +were in old England chatting about their experiences without brag or +boast--just telling modestly what had happened. + +On one side of the spacious room, on a long, deep leather-cushioned +sofa, were an officer of the guards who was known to have an income of +at least ten thousand dollars a year, and who had taken to flying for +the excitement; a stocky youth of twenty from Salt Lake City, Utah, who +was known to have eked out a livelihood on fifty cents a day at Dayton, +O., so that he could pay for his training as a pilot; another youngster, +scion of a wealthy Argentine family with English connections; and an +Englishman, just over thirty, who had been born in California and had +heard the 1914 call of the mother country. They were cramped, but +comfortable. + +In other chairs of the deep, comfy English variety were a rancher from +Canada; an Olympic champion, whose name has often figured in big type in +New York's evening newspapers; a lieutenant-commander of the Royal Navy, +who had hunted big game in three continents; a wind-seared first mate of +a British tramp; a tanned tea-planter from Ceylon; a 'Varsity man from +Cambridge, whose aim had been a curacy in the English Church; a +newspaper man from Rochester, N. Y.; a London broker; the head of a +London print and lithographing business, looked upon as one of the best +pilots in the service; and a publisher, who in pre-war days had been +more interested in "best sellers" than in seaplanes. + +All were dreadnoughts who looked upon it as a privilege to give their +lives to smash Prussian militarism. If you had asked any one of them for +an interview he would have scoffed at the idea. But ordinary +newspapermen cannot be blamed for being enthralled at the share of these +pilots in the World War. What's printed about them? Just a paragraph to +the effect that "Several seaplanes last night bombed Zeebrugge or +Cuxhaven." They dashed out into the frigid North Sea with an errand, +but their share in the fights and the valuable assistance they have been +to Great Britain as scouts are seldom mentioned. Still, they "carry on," +asking for no encouragement. And right here it must be explained that +"carry on" means to do or die in this war. It is the byword of the +British of the day. + +It chanced that "Tidy," as we will call him, was the first speaker who +had something to say. He had a reason for talking, for some evil genius +had followed him for two days. The yarn is best told in his own words, +so far as they can be remembered. + +"It was my patrol and I started from France at half-past five o'clock in +the morning," began the seaplane pilot. "I shot out to sea for about +thirty miles, and then continued to run along the coast for about 63 +miles. I caught sight of a Dutch ship, and a little while afterwards +observed a submarine. Almost as soon as I saw the vessel there was a +cloud of smoke. I raced to the scene, knowing then that the Dutch tramp +had been torpedoed by a German U-boat. Four miles further on I espied a +second submarine. I opened fire on the first submarine, which then I saw +had taken in tow a boat evidently containing the survivors of the Dutch +vessel. I observed one of the Dutch sailors crawl to the bows of the +boat attached to the submarine and cut the rope. At that instant I +dropped a bomb, which fell about 25 or 30 feet from the submarine. The +under-sea craft went down very quickly, and I descended further and +dropped my aerial, and the mechanician-operator sent out a message. I +threw other bombs when I thought I detected about where the submarine +was in the sea. It was like a hawk after a fish. The other submarine +fled without giving me a chance. + +"I continued scouting, having warned the British warships that two +submarines were in the vicinity. It came over very misty, and in the +deep haze I saw three or four German vessels coming out. As I turned, +deciding to race home and give the word, my engines failed me. I went +down and down, holding off from the white caps of the sea for two and +one-quarter hours. My next adventure was the sight of some German +aeroplanes. After fiddling around, I got my engine started, and flew up +to 1,000 feet above the sea. It was lucky that I started the engine when +I did, for the sea was becoming unpleasant. But then my magneto failed +me, and I realised what was in store on those wind-torn waters. I was +forced to dodge about like a bird with a broken wing. The wind freshened +to 40 knots. Although we did our utmost to keep the seaplane off the +water, it, of course, had to rest there, and I became horribly seasick. +The mechanician and I tried to keep the craft afloat. We fired off our +rockets, hoping to attract the attention of a friendly or neutral +vessel, but at the same time realising that we might fall victims to the +enemy. + +"All night the mechanician and I were tossed on the sea without a chance +of attracting anyone, as our rockets had given out. The cold was +unbearable, and both of us were very seasick. + +"Dawn came, and there did not even then seem much more chance of our +being rescued than at night time. You could not imagine anything +lonelier than a seaplane on the bosom of the North Sea when you are +without food or drink. The rocking of the light craft would have made a +good sailor keel over with seasickness. The happy moment, however, did +come. We were spotted by a mine-sweeper, and she raced to the rescue. +Our mangled machine was hoisted on the kite crane of the little vessel. +We had been thirty-six hours without food and water, and most of the +time bumped about on the sea. + +"That would seem to be about enough for the evil genius to perform, eh? +But we were doomed to have another surprise in store. I went to bed in a +room in a little hotel, and had hardly closed my eyes when there was a +great explosion; the whole place seemed about to fall down. I put on an +overcoat, and tore outside to discover that those blamed destroyers +which I had seen earlier were bombarding the place where I went to +sleep. A lucky shot demolished the building next to the one in which I +was in bed; then I went back to bed, too tired to care what else +happened." + + + + +IV. SWEEPING THE SEAS FOR MINES + + +There are days when a mine-sweeper captain, who is continually running +the gauntlet of death, reckons that he has been fortunate. Usually this +is when he just escapes being blown to bits with his vessel or sees what +can happen to a steamship when it strikes one of the enemy mines planted +at random in the North Sea. There are days when he goes out and sees +nothing worth while. However, despite the great danger, unseen and +unheard until all is over, these mine-sweeper men guide their vessels +out daybreak after daybreak, with the same old carefree air, to perform +their allotted task in this war. + +Many of these men were fishermen, who looked as if they had slipped out +of funny stories in their thick jerseys and sou'-westers; now they are +part and parcel of the British Navy, proud of the blue uniform and brass +buttons and--when they have them--of the wavy gold bands on their +sleeves. There are others who were officers and so forth in the +mercantile marine in pre-war days. They have sailed the seas from John +o' Groats to Tokio: and to them New York is merely a jaunt. + +One of the latter, who was a passenger-vessel officer, attracted a deal +of attention at an East English port by his indefatigable labour and +fearlessness in his risky job, until he was rewarded for more than two +years of grinning at death by the Distinguished Service Cross. + +He knows Broadway well, can tell you where he likes best to get his hair +cut, and where he considers they put up the best cocktail. One day I was +permitted to take a trip with this captain-lieutenant--and get back. +Mine-sweeping has been written about by persons from Kipling down, so I +will just tell you the story as I then saw it. + +The skipper stood on the bridge of his dusky-coloured vessel as she +soused through the waters of the grim North Sea, his keen eyes ever on +the alert fore and aft, and occasionally on the sister ship to his, +coupled along with the "broom." They were "carrying on," as usual. This +skipper was a man just in his thirties. His face was cheery and round, +and body was muscular and thick-set. In spite of the watch he and his +first mate kept on this particular occasion, he found time to give me +his opinion on certain things interesting to the men who go down to the +sea in ships, and also an idea of what it means to be in command of a +mine-sweeper. + +"You should have been with us on Sunday," he said, as he lighted his +cigarette between his cupped hands. "It was more interesting than +usual--had something of this damn thrill you talk about ashore and don't +know what it is until you've been at the firing front or in one of these +blessed ocean brooms. That chap across the way found a mine in his kite, +and we had to cut the hawser in double-quick time, and get far enough +away from it before we pegged a bullet in one of the horns." + +The skipper explained that none of the mines are exploded less than 200 +yards from the vessels. He said that the experience he had just related +would have sufficed for a day, but that an hour later, when he was still +brushing up a part of the North Sea, not far from the coast, he received +a warning from a trawler that a mine exposed at low water was just ahead +of him. Not in his time had he seen a steamer go astern quicker. +Afterwards, they deftly fished around for the mine, snapped its mooring +rope, and brought it to the surface. When the mine was at a safe +distance from all vessels, a couple of men then aimed their rifles at it +until there was a loud explosion which sent sand-coloured water 35 feet +and more into the air. + +But the affairs of that Sunday were not yet complete. Twenty minutes +after the mine had been exploded a great rumble was heard way out at +sea, and soon it was ascertained by the captain of the mine-sweeper that +a Scandinavian tramp had met her doom by striking a German mine. + +"We went off to see if we could pick up some of the poor chaps," +observed the skipper. "Among the twenty-one men and boys we rescued were +four who'd been passengers aboard a passenger vessel which had been +torpedoed by a German U-boat without warning near Malta. They told us, +when they got down into our engine-room, that they were just having one +hell of a time getting home. I don't blame them for thinking that. +Through good fortune, and taking chances of being sent to the bottom +ourselves, we have saved the lives of many of these neutrals who might +have perished. Yes, here we are mine-sweeping as a job, flying the white +ensign of the British Navy; and yet we have found time to save life +imperilled by the enemy. Sometimes I wonder what sly Fritz would have +to say if he'd even saved a single neutral. He'd be blowing yet. Did you +ever stop to think that our Government never has jeopardised a single +neutral life? On the other hand, the lives of neutrals that have been +rescued at this port run into the thousands. They talk about the freedom +of the seas. What else has there been until Germany showed that what she +wants is the 'tyranny of the seas.' Leastways, that's how it strikes me. +Ever stop to----" + +His attention was caught by a signal from the other vessel, and a +keen-eyed sailor wig-wagged back an answer. It was all right, although +at first I still remembered the timely warning regarding the slightly +submerged mine. As a matter of fact, it was merely a desire of the +sister ship's captain to turn around and "sweep back," as the +land-lubber might term it. + +"Let's see," said the commander, "where was I.... Oh, yes.... Realise +that we go out and save lives that the enemy imperils far out at sea? +They are lives that don't concern us, but we don't feel like letting a +poor chap drown if we can help it. On the other hand, our enemy stops at +nothing, and, moreover, takes advantage of our humanity. I think that it +should be known that we dash out to the rescue never knowing when the +ship may go up against one of Fritz's eggs, which may be anywhere in the +sea. Why do we go? Just to pick up a benighted lot from an ill-fated +tramp, and there's nothing in it. Yet we do it all the time, and the +C.O. commends us for it, too." + +We came to a new spot in the green sea to sweep. It was fairly rough, +and the little vessel bumped and jumped. And this is the work that goes +on from daybreak to dusk seven days a week. If a trawler strikes a mine +she usually counts on saying good-bye to herself and 80 per cent. of her +crew, and the other type of mine-sweeper is lucky if she gets off with a +loss of less than 40 per cent. + +Back and forth in a monotonous sea we steamed, and you had an idea how +dull this work can be sometimes; also that when it comes to sweeping you +saw that the North Sea is a big place. + +"It's become a science," observed the skipper. "Fritz has a hard time +many a night 'laying his eggs,' and the many ways we have of bringing +them to the surface has baffled him a good deal." + +A torpedo-boat destroyer hove within signalling distance. The commander +was handed a message by a sailor. The alert skipper read it, and said:-- + +"Tell 'em 'yes.'... Just want to know if we had swept around there." + +Still the smoke-coloured little vessels kept up the job of plying back +and forth in the waters. Men were busy at the stern of the ships +watching the wooden kites that are made so as to catch the mines by the +hawser that is slung between the two steamers. The slightest sign of a +ball-like piece of steel in the sea and the dullness of sweeping is +relieved, for then the skipper knows that he has unhooked one of the +mines. Along came a submarine, flying the white ensign of the Royal +Navy. The mine-sweepers realise that these men have no arm-chair job, +and admire the commander and crew of the under-water boats accordingly. +A sailor semaphored with his arms, and the commander of the mine-sweeper +sent a message back, and the submarine passed slowly on her way. + +"If some of those people at home and abroad at their firesides realised +what the men at sea have to suffer to keep this coast free they might +have a different way of talking," declared the commander, now taking to +his much-burned old pipe. "Those chaps that have just come in have had +a week without any sleep--or next to none--and their food has all been +canned stuff. There are many persons who think the North Sea's a +pond--same as they do over in America." + +On we steamed in our section of the waters with never a sign of a German +mine. Finally, the day came to a close, and the captain ordered the +hawser to be slipped and the kite hoisted in the stern crane of his +vessel, the like being done by the other sweeper. + +As if glad that the day's work was over, the small craft pressed forward +to the harbour, and were disappointed to find that a big tramp was +taking up the room of their berths. They anchored outside, waiting for +the big steamer to get away. + +"Do they tell you when you can come alongside the dock?" I asked. + +"No need to," said the captain with a smile. "You'll see." + +We had been in the open harbour for about twenty minutes when the bows +of the ugly vessel came slowly on. An instant later all the small craft +were ready to speed to their respective berths in their turns, and it +was not so very long before the mine-sweeper was tied to her part of the +dock. The commander of the sister vessel to the one I had been aboard +came over to us. + +"Good ship that of yours?" I said. + +"Yes," muttered the man with two rings of the Royal Naval Reserve on his +sleeve. "She's all right; but I love this ship. I had her a year ago, +and she's a little wonder. It would take me a long while to love another +vessel." + +My skipper laughed. + +"Just one of those days," he said. "Come, let's go and have a spot." + + + + +V. THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION + + +Buffeted about from Antwerp to Gallipoli, Egypt, the Greek Islands, +Salonika, and then to France, first under an admiral, then part of an +army corps, again under an admiral, and finally back to military +regime--the life of the Royal Naval Division, which startled an Empire +by their valour on the Ancre, has been one full of thrills, sorrows, +threats of extinction, brave deeds, and perilous journeys. They are +proud of their naval origin, and are also tenacious of their naval +customs, despite the fact that all their fighting has been done ashore +and few sailors survive among them. + +In August, 1914, Mr. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the +Admiralty, mobilised and organised, as a division for land fighting, +reservist seamen, stokers and marines, and naval volunteers whose +services were not required afloat, also recruits drawn mainly from among +the miners of the North of England and Scotland. Guards' officers, naval +and marine instructors--each in his own ritual--help to train them. To +the Navy, who raided them when it needed seamen or stokers for its +ships, they were "dry-land sailors." To the Army, they were just a bunch +of "so-called salts" or "Winston's Own." But their instructors soon +recognised that in these grousing, middle-aged stokers, and in these +silent stolid illiterate miners and ironworkers from the North Country, +they had the raw material of soldiers as fine as Great Britain can +breed. + +In many respects, the Division has had the worst of both worlds. They +have beaten their way steadily to the fore without much recognition in +print; but since Beaucourt fell, both military and naval men have been +eager to grasp their hands. + +Now and again a brief mention fell to their lot while they were in +Gallipoli, where the military were attracted to them a bit by the idea +of calling their battalions after famous admirals such as Nelson, Drake, +Hood, Collingwood, Anson, Howe, Benbow, and Hawke. Sir Ian Hamilton made +mention of the fearlessness of the division in his despatches, and +Major-General D'Amade eulogised them for their bravery after the frays +of the 6th, 7th, and 8th of May, 1915. In June, 1915, the Collingwood +battalion was wiped out; of the officers of this battalion and of the +Hood, who went to the attack, not one returned unwounded. The other +battalions also suffered terribly, having been equally contemptful of +danger. + +Prior to that they had, of course, been to Antwerp. Even if they did not +have a chance to do much, the Division, at any rate, caused the Belgians +to hold out for five days longer than they might otherwise have done. + +Among the many brave men on the officers' roll are well-known Britishers +who have given their lives for their country. There was Rupert Brooke, +the poet; Denis Browne, formerly musical critic of _The Times_; F. S. +Kelly, holder of the Diamond Sculls record, who also was an +exceptionally clever composer and pianist; and Arthur Waldene St. Clair +Tisdall, a great scholar and poet of Cambridge. He was awarded the +Victoria Cross for his valour on the 25th of April, at Gallipoli, for +going to the rescue of wounded men on the beach. To accomplish this, he +pushed a boat in front of him. On his second trip he was obliged to ask +for help. In all, he made five trips in the face of great danger. He met +death in action barely three weeks afterwards. + +Lieutenant-Commander Arthur M. Asquith, son of the former British +Premier, is one of the gallant men attached to the Hood battalion. He +has been through the thick of many fights, and has been wounded more +than once, escaping death through sheer good fortune. + +And one of the men whom all England was wild about is a New +Zealander from Wellington, twenty-seven years old, now an acting +lieutenant-colonel, who was described by an eye-witness of the Ancre +fighting as "a flying figure in bandages plunging over Germans to +Beaucourt." He is B. C. Freyberg, a born soldier and great athlete. + +Before the Great War, this marvel of courage was fighting for Pancho +Villa in Mexico; and the instant the European conflict started, Freyberg +realised that he might do better in Europe. He therefore deserted Villa, +and set out afoot for San Francisco. His splendid constitution stood him +in good stead, and he arrived there as fit as a fiddle, soon afterwards +winning enough money in a swimming race to take him to London. In the +English capital he received a commission as a sub-lieutenant in the +Royal Naval Division, and his promotion has been rapid. + +Colonel Freyberg was caught in a live electric wire in Antwerp; but it +was of so high a voltage that he was not killed, sustaining only an +injury to his hand and arm. He was even fired at by his own men, who +believed that he was a German crawling through the wire. Just before the +landing in Gallipoli, on the 25th of April, 1915, it was proposed to +throw dust in the eyes of the Turks by landing a platoon at a point on +the coast of the Gulf of Saros, where no serious landing was +contemplated. To save the sacrifice of a platoon, Freyberg, who was at +that time a company-commander in the Hood battalion, pressed to be +allowed to achieve the same object single-handed. His wish was granted; +and on the night of the 24th-25th of April, oiled and naked, he swam +ashore, towing a canvas canoe containing flares and a revolver. He +reconnoitred the enemy's trenches, and, under the covering fire of a +destroyer, lit his flares at intervals along the beach. He had some +difficulty in finding his boat again. A mysterious fin accompanied him +during part of the swim. He at first took it to be that of a shark, but +found later it belonged to a harmless porpoise. After some two hours in +the water, he was picked up, and for this gallant and successful feat he +was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. In Gallipoli +he was wounded in May, again in July, 1915, and he was mentioned in Sir +Charles Monro's despatches in connection with the successful evacuation +of the 9th of January, 1916. + +Hence, this sailor-soldier in a comparatively short time attracted a +good deal of attention among the naval and military authorities; so it +was not surprising that when he applied for a permanent commission in +the British Army he was given a captaincy in the Queen's Royal West +Surrey Regiment. The same day, however, he received this news he was +seconded to the Royal Naval Division with the temporary rank of +lieutenant-colonel. So he retained command of his old battalion--the +Hood. + +Inasmuch as the first despatches concerning the storming of Beaucourt +referred to Lieutenant-Colonel Freyberg as "a naval colonel," all +Britain was wondering who this hero could be. Some of his friends were +not long in guessing; but it was not until the next day that Freyberg in +name received credit for the remarkable exploit on the north bank of the +Ancre. In the first messages of the British success it was set forth +that in a battle where every man fought nobly for the honour of his +regiment and his country, one individual act of leadership stood out +with peculiar distinctness. + +A witness of the battle told of the troops on Freyberg's left being held +up, and that between him and them ran, roughly parallel with the line of +advance, a spur which cut off the effect of the enemy's machine guns. +After fourteen hours of fighting, bit by bit, the sea-dog soldiers had +plunged through a mile of trenches and ground sorely marked by shells. +Three machine guns then were pushed forward well beyond that line, and +the still unsatisfied sailor-colonel, his shoulder and right arm swathed +in bandages, asked leave to go ahead and attack the village. His men +were about 1,000 yards in front of the companies on his left, +endeavouring to advance across the northwesterly slope. It was more like +a matter of defence than attack. The men were few in numbers, and had +fought like tigers for long hours without a rest. However, about 500 men +were collected, and the dark of night was spent in organisation. Then, +in the misty dawn, some soldier battalions came up to reinforce the +left, and onward plunged Freyberg. + +Out on the Ancre they say that he got so far ahead of his men that he +rubbed his hand over his head and murmured: "Huh--I believe I forgot to +tell them to follow me." Whether or not this is true, only Freyberg +knows. But we do not remain in doubt as to what he and his men did right +afterwards. They ploughed their way through mud and Germans, with the +fire of five machine guns peppering them. They stuck right on the heels +of the barrage fire, and in less than twenty minutes from that time the +Germans had been driven from their stronghold of Beaucourt. Here and +there a German post held, and men in the trenches faced the British +bombs and cold steel. Still the Teutons soon learned that it was +impossible to stop that alarming Briton and his men. + +Freyberg formed a semicircular trench around the far side of the new +possession, and then they took time to see what had happened to the +gallant little band. Freyberg had received his fourth wound, and his +brave 500 had dwindled to a number a good deal smaller. The Britishers, +somehow, had been unkind in their speed to the Germans, and the enemy +was left gaping with wonder at the result of what they at first took to +be nothing more than a bit of bluff. + +For this remarkable display of valour Freyberg received the Victoria +Cross. + +Reverting to the division itself, it should be said that every officer +of these jolly-jack-tar soldiers has panegyrics galore to cast in the +direction of General Sir Archibald Paris, K.C.B., who was in command of +the division at Antwerp and the Dardanelles. He lost a leg before the +Ancre fighting, and thus was disappointed of being with them for their +great success in France. He was succeeded by Major-General Cameron +Shute, C.B. What the division has recently accomplished and the way it +has terrorised the enemy, like Kipling's "Tyneside Tail Twisters," is a +happy thought to General Shute. In one battalion it is estimated that 90 +per cent. of the casualties in the Ancre fighting were caused by the +closeness with which the sailors clung to the barrage fire. Their grit +caused the enemy to pale. + +They are pleased and proud of their sea terms, and would not give them +up for anything--not even if the soldiers of the King do not fathom +their meaning. + +It is a case of going to the "galley," while the red-coat that was +persists in the "kitchen." The first field dressing-station is nothing +but "sick bay" to the R.N.D. man. They "go adrift" when they are missing +from parade, and they ask to "go ashore" when they want leave. + + + + +VI. A NAVAL SCHOOL + + +From one of several institutions, every six months Britain turns out +2,200 boys who have mastered the elementary rudiments of seamanship and +are ready to take their places as ordinary seamen aboard warships. They +will not tell you how many of these schools there are in Great Britain +alone, but you may learn that no undue activity has been brought about +in these places because John Bull is at war. After having waded through +the curriculum of these boys, one comes to the conclusion that they are +not so far from being able seamen by the time they emerge from this +place on the East Coast. + +It is especially striking how speedily the youthful mind snatches up the +mysteries of signalling and of wireless telegraphy; and one is filled +with interest in following the boys from the time they first enter the +school to the day they leave. + +In a room where they are "kitting up" are twenty or thirty boys who have +just arrived. And, as they say in America, there is "no monkey +business" about the instructors: either the boys are those who are +wanted or they are not. The youngsters receive their first seafaring +garb in a large, well-ventilated room. They have been in the bath, and +their hair is as close as the clippers can make it. One of them said he +was the son of a lawyer; another that his father was in the Royal Navy; +a third came of a parson's family; a husky young chap had been a +blacksmith's assistant; and another had coo-ed milk in London streets. + +"An'," declared a petty officer, "they all comes here believin' they'll +be able to get a pot shot at the Kaiser. Seems to me that they imagine +that William is always standing on guard on the rocks of Heligoland, +just waiting for them to come along--what?" + +In another section of the school the boys are grounded in discipline by +a petty officer, and by the time they get through with him they are +accustomed to saluting. Follows then a whirl of wonders to them. There +is a model of the forepart of a ship, which they can steer, and so learn +port from starboard; there is the ingenious manner of dropping a +lifeboat into the lap of the sea; and then the interesting work of tying +knots, in which the petty officer instructor takes considerable pride. + +One of the most interesting rooms of sub-schools is the one where the +youthful "salts" are initiated into the mysteries of signalling, where, +besides the numerous flags for sea conversation, there is a dummy +wireless station, by which they can become proficient operators. They +have models of ships, so that they can tell which are British and which +are German. Then there are gunnery schools, and it speaks well for the +young Briton that 90 per cent. of the pupils have such keen minds that +they yearn to learn more of the mysteries of the study of sea fighting; +they have the ambition to be really good seamen, engine-room men, +wireless operators, or signalmen. + +On a section of the school grounds there is a mast on which is hoisted +the White Ensign of the British Navy. This spot is known as the +quarter-deck, and every time one of the youngsters passes where he can +see that mast he salutes reverently. Beyond that there is the recreation +ground, where every Saturday afternoon in winter there are half a dozen +games of football. The officers help them to enjoy that, too, for, like +Americans, they delight in exercise. + +It is remarkable what a change a boy undergoes after a few months at +the institution. I was told of would-be sailors who were sloppy and +dirty when they entered the school being transformed into neat, fine +physical specimens. + +"A hair-cut, a wash, a change of underwear and other garments makes all +the difference in the world," said one of the instructors. "And when you +add to this lessons in sea-neatness, a good deal of interesting +headwork, manual labour, good food and plenty of recreation, it's no +wonder that the mill makes a new boy of one of the seafaring aspirants." + +The boys have one great mess-room; and, although they never have been to +sea, they are taught to treat the school as if it were a war vessel. +They ate with vigour when I saw them, and I was told that the money +given to them by the Government is spent for extras in the eating +line--principally candies. Each table constitutes a mess, and there are +prizes for the cleanest and best-arranged mess; so they arrange their +knives, forks, and spoons in a design calculated to catch the +prize-awarder's eye. And, incidentally, this idea of giving prizes for +the best-kept mess is followed throughout the service. + +Each day is started with prayer on the quarter-deck, and an impressive +ceremony it is. Honour and glory is what they will tell you they hope +to get out of the Navy, and not money. And the idea of honour, as it is +known in the Navy, is drummed into them from the moment they enter the +school. + +To see these youngsters at any meal is to believe that it was the first +time they had eaten for a week. They are ravenously hungry, and the food +is of such excellence that it makes a visitor feel as if he would like +to sit down too. There is little waste here, for I observed that each +plate was polished clean; and, when eating was over, the boys bounded +out for an hour's recreation on the spacious grounds. On their way many +of them paid a visit to the candy-store, and while they were playing +they munched candy. + +The port where this school is located is a healthful spot, and in war +time no person is permitted to board a ferry to the school without a +special pass. When you first land you are decidedly struck by the great +figure-heads of old war vessels, which are set up on the "quarter-deck" +and in front of some of the buildings. There is one of the old Ganges +there--a mammoth wooden head of a very black negro. The size of it is +startling. + +The officers have a charmingly comfortable ward-room and mess-room. In +the bay is the second Ganges, now a sort of mother-ship for +mine-sweepers and trawlers, and one of the busiest places one can +imagine. The King not long ago dined aboard this ship, and is said to +have expressed great interest in the work carried on from the Ganges. + + + + +VII. "GENTLEMEN, 'THE KING'" + + +There are many traditions to which the Royal Navy still clings, and +there are messes afloat and ashore where it is manifest that time has +not withered impressive and picturesque features of the days of the +wooden warships. For instance, no layman can help being struck by the +British naval officers' toast to the King. And the other toasts are +offered with such splendid solemnity and grace that it makes one wish +that something of the sort could be done at even the minor affairs where +civilians are gathered. Of course, the Londoner and the man from +Manchester offers his toast at a great banquet, as they do in New York +and other American cities to the President of the United States. But +although it takes no longer at a naval mess, there is a something about +it which places the civilian in the shade. With the Navy it is a mess, +and not a dinner where there are many strangers, and every officer has +been doing this since he was a boy. + +John Bull's naval officers are men who admit the faults of their +country. They have travelled, and have seen a good many other countries +and peoples. From Osborne and Britannia days sincerity seems to have +been inculcated into them. The discipline is inflexible, but kindly. The +captain of a "Dreadnought" will take pains to ask a young midshipman to +dine with him, and there exists a wonderful thoughtfulness on the part +of the officers for the men. British naval officers are lovers of +sports, and, having believed the Germans good sports before August, +1914, they cannot condone attacks on non-belligerents or the shooting of +nurses. His Majesty's naval officers do great things without talking +about them, and at dinner one of the star heroes of the war may be in +the next chair to you, but you certainly will not hear it from him. + +Opposite me sat a man who had faced death with Scott on the Polar +expedition. It was after I had left the mess that I learned this from +one of his friends. But at a mess you may hear stories of men who are +absent. It was at dinner aboard one of the great, grey sea-fighters that +we laughed at the yarn of a young middy, in charge of one of the cutters +off Gallipoli when the Turks were sending shells like rain. This +midshipman ordered his men to take cover. His men included bearded +fellows twice his size and age. They obeyed, as they always obey. Then +the youthful fearnought, to show his contempt for danger, stood on one +of the cutter's cross-seats, pulled out a cigarette-case almost as large +as himself, and puffed rings of smoke skywards. + +"I made a jolly fine set of rings that time," he told one of the men. + +Another of this tribe was in Cairo on leave when he received word that +his ship was to leave sooner than expected. She was in Alexandria. Not +having sufficient money to pay his train fare, he requisitioned a +motor-bicycle and sped on to Alexandria. From his youthful eyes there +welled tears when he was informed that his ship was weighing anchor. +Nothing daunted, however, he commandeered a fast motor-boat, and swept +out after the warship, which he caught on the go. This is the man who in +later years you are apt to meet at the officers' messes--a man full of +information and wonderfully versatile. He may have ploughed the seas for +many years, and dwelt in his steel home in the baking heat of tropical +suns, and waited for the enemy for many a day. Hence conversation never +lags at these dinners. The meals are comparatively plain in these days; +but most of the officers stick to the delight of a cocktail before +dinner, and after the _pièce de résistance_ they have their glass of +port. + +Just before the dessert the port is poured into glistening glasses, and +the table is cleared. + +"Table cleared, sir," announces the steward to the president of the +mess; and a second later one hears: "Wine passed, sir." + +"Thank God," is the brief grace of the chaplain; or, if one is not +present, the head of the mess says it. This is followed with a rap on +the table, and from the president of the mess:-- + +"Mr. Vice, 'The King.'" + +"Gentlemen, 'The King,'" speaks out the vice-president of the mess, who +is seated at the other end of the table opposite to the head of the +mess. + +Conversation, which a second before had been filling the place, is +silenced by the grace, and the stranger may be somewhat startled by the +suddenness of the proceedings. It is the privilege of these officers to +drink the King's health seated. This is an old custom, which came about +through the sovereign realising that ships are not the steadiest places +always, and the fact that the ward-rooms are sometimes not constructed +so that a tall man can always stand erect. + +Immediately "Gentlemen, 'The King,'" is uttered by the mess's +vice-president each officer repeats in an undertone: "The King." The +glasses after being held aloft come to the table as one, and the +conversation is resumed. Garbed in their immaculate monkey-jackets, with +the glistening gold braid on the cuffs, the men at the carefully set and +beflowered table make a scene long to be remembered. + +Incidentally, there is a marine officers' mess at a certain port which +naval officers are always ready to talk about. In that place they are +proud of a wonderful mahogany table which has been polished for many +years until it is now like a black mirror. The band of this mess is one +of the best in England; and it is the privilege of the bandmaster to +play at concerts and in theatres, the proceeds being divided among +charities, the bandmaster and his men. Hence the leader of this band +probably had an income of $7,500 a year. + +Here, before the toast to the King is offered, servants come along each +side of the great table and, at a given word, whisk the tablecloth from +the shiny mahogany. The bandmaster is invited to have a glass of port by +the president of the mess. The band leader seats himself, and sips his +wine. Follows then the toast to the King. + +At the mess of the largest Royal Naval Air Station in England they have, +by good fortune, obtained the services of a chef who formerly was of the +Ritz Hotel in London; and especial attention is given to this mess. No +matter how hard may have been the day's work or how many men have been +forced to leave for other billets, the dinners there are a sight for the +gods. More than 150 expert seaplane pilots from all over the world sit +down. + +It is like a bit of history of olden days to hear: "Gentlemen, 'The +King,'" with its charm and ceremony. + + + + +VIII. THE ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN + + +Ready to speed to any accessible port on telegraphic or telephonic +orders from the Admiralty Medical Transport Department are Royal Naval +Ambulance trains. They are always on the move, picking up wounded or +sick officers and bluejackets at Scotch and English ports, bearing them +to stations where there are great hospitals, to relieve the coast +institutions likely to receive wounded in the event of a North Sea Fleet +engagement. These grey-painted trains, with the Red Cross and the "R.N." +on each coach, are the outcome of a great deal of study, and they are +now run with remarkable efficiency. No millionaire could receive better +care when wounded or ill than do John Bull's naval officers and seamen. + +Sir James Porter, the head of this service, whose pen sends a train to +all parts of England and Scotland, has a loyal staff, which devotes +remarkable zeal to their share of the work. They take pride in making a +time-record in disembarkation and entraining of patients. Naval surgeons +at each railroad station watch the work of the stretcher-bearers to be +sure that every cot has the gentlest possible handling when being +carried from the train to the ambulance which is to take the patient to +the local hospital. + +The "stepping" of the stretcher-bearers seems a trifling thing, but it +is surprising to note the attention given to this point in the first +days of the war. Dr. A. V. Elder, staff surgeon of the Royal Naval +Volunteer Reserve and the right bower of Sir James Porter, practised for +weeks the carrying of patients, getting into cots to ascertain the most +comfortable step for the wounded. Prizes were even given to the men who +carried a pail of water on a cot and reached a fixed point with the most +liquid in the receptacle. By this means the best method of "stepping off" +was evolved. There are hundreds of these stretcher-bearers--volunteers +without compensation--who now perform the task so well that it attracts +even the attention of the casual observer. The cot-bearers are doing +their "bit"; they get to the railroad stations at all times to meet the +ambulance trains, and often have to wait hours and give up their usual +business. + +It may also be interesting to some that in those August days the Naval +Ambulance trains were not much more than a series of box-cars. The +present cot--an ingenious arrangement by naval surgeons--was used in the +naval hospitals and aboard the warships. But the fixtures on the train +for carrying this cot were far from perfection. The patient was tossed +about by the movement of the train, and it was realised that in the +event of hundreds of patients being carried something would have to be +discovered to steady the beds. Dr. Elder invented a clip-spring to be +attached to the cot and the side of the coach. It held the bed, and had +sufficient "give" to make it steady. In lieu of the box-cars, there are +now coaches of the American type, with windows and great sliding doors +which permit of easy ingress or egress. + +The railroad officials have listened to the bidding of the Medical +Transport Officer of the Admiralty and have attached some of the best +locomotives to these trains, usually of twelve coaches. Even when there +has not been an action, and the trains are bearing mostly medical cases, +all passenger and freight traffic gives way to the ambulance trains. If +the surgeon in charge of the train decides that he has a case which +should be hastened to a hospital he wires ahead, so that when he reaches +that point the surgeon or the agent there is on hand with an ambulance +to rush the patient to a local hospital. + +Where it is possible, red tape has been eliminated. The cots in which +the patients are carried are sent with the patient from a hospital or +ship, and the patient is only taken out when he arrives at the hospital +of his destination. For the cot bearing the patient, the train surgeon +receives in exchange a clean cot. This cot has been laundered and +fumigated, and is kept on the train so that when only patients are +entrained the surgeon gives a cot for each case taken aboard. Hence the +surgeon always has the same number of cots on his train, and through +this means paper and pencil work is avoided. The patient's clothes are +packed in a bag, and all the valuables of one batch of patients are +sealed up in one envelope, which is receipted for by the surgeon of the +hospital to which the patients are sent. + +No patient is transferred from a hospital in a critical condition if it +can be avoided. But sometimes this is necessary, as it was following the +Jutland Battle. Then the most serious cases were held in the hospitals; +while, where it was possible, hundreds of cases were despatched to +institutions at other ports. + +The route of these ambulance trains may differ every round trip. One +ambulance train may go to the North of Scotland, while the next one will +only go to Glasgow or Edinburgh if there is no call further north. The +wonderful organisation not only undertakes to relieve hospitals, but +also to ship the patients to institutions unlikely to be suddenly +burdened with many cases; and consideration is also given as to where +the patient can receive the best attention, such as in southern +hospitals. + +Fleet-Surgeon A. Stanley Nance is the Medical Transport Officer for +Scotland. He is ever on the alert for what is going on in the hospitals +in his territory. In the event of a great sea conflict, he receives +orders from Sir James Porter and information concerning all the trains +which are by that time racing to the ports nearest to the scene of the +engagement. + +In London, the Medical Transport Officer can place his finger on a +railroad map at any time and tell within a mile or so where his trains +are. If by any possible chance they are delayed he receives word from +the train surgeons. + +Knowing the probability of further engagements in the North Sea, quite +a number of wealthy private individuals have interested themselves in +the hospitals on the East Coast from north to south. And these persons +take especial interest in the trains, many of them making it a point to +be at the railroad station whenever a Royal Naval Ambulance train pulls +in. What with sick men and accidents, the trains now and again may have +a full quota of patients without there having been a fleet engagement. +In war time no man who is not physically fit is kept aboard ship, for he +may not take up another man's place without being able to perform his +work. + +Exigencies of war have caused the speedy transformation of buildings in +many parts of England into hospitals. There also are institutions +constructed in temporary form, architecturally not works of art, but +wonderfully useful. The surgeons at these latter places have wrought +marvels in obtaining good light in the wards and operating-rooms, and +creating a comfortable atmosphere in the exteriorly dingy places. + +The starting-point or headquarters of the ambulance trains is in the +South, and when they plough their way North they carry no patients. The +complement of these trains is from forty to fifty hands, and they all +look upon the train as a ship, and use sailors' terms. It is the "Sick +Bay Express." + + + + +IX. A RUN IN A ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN + + +I obtained permission to make a "voyage" in an ambulance train. + +On a grey, drizzling morning one of the Royal Naval trains glided into a +siding at Queensferry--a dozen miles from Edinburgh. In less than ten +minutes six hefty stretcher-bearers steadily and silently bore the first +cot patient from a waiting ambulance to the war-coloured train. Cot then +followed cot with precision, only two of the patients being in the open +at a time; and as quickly as mortals could accomplish it these cots were +set swinging in the "eyes" set for the lanyards. + +Being about half-past eight o'clock, nobody had much to say. The faces +of the sick and wounded bluejackets told you nothing as they lazily +gazed around them while being hoisted into the hospital train. They +looked like men sewed into white sailcloth sacks. Surgeons, with two and +three gold stripes, between which runs the red--blood red, some +say--denoting their department in the Navy, glanced occasionally at the +patients. + +"Carry on, there," then came from the R.N.V.R. lieutenant in charge of +the stretcher-bearers, when one of the coaches had received its quota of +sick and wounded. Then the sliding doors of the next coach yawned for +its measure of sick men, who presented an interesting rather than a +pathetic picture, for every bluejacket wore his cap, looking like a +sailor who had gone to bed with his clothes on. That cap travels with +him like his papers. The bluejacket has many important things which he +conceals in it, and the most important of all is his package of +"gaspers," as he terms his particular brand of cigarettes. The cap is +placed firmly on his head, and occasionally a flannelled arm protruded +from the cot. No moan or groan escaped from these plucky patients, for +the sailor always lives up to the traditions of the Royal Navy. + +From one of the cots there showed a head covered in bandages with only +two small openings for the patient's eyes. His cap was on his bed. As +this sailor was being hoisted into the train a deep voice came from the +bed:-- + +"Mind yer eye, Bill, or yer'll get yer feet wet." + +Bill was a "sitting case." He had come up on the same ambulance as his +pal. He had been in the same fo'castle and had been hurt in the same +accident. And now they were going aboard the same train to the same +port. Bill paid little heed at that moment to his chum as he picked his +way through the water and mud. His right arm was in a sling and the +comforting cigarette between his teeth. Standing on the last rung of the +little ladder before going into the car, I heard him say to another +sailor:-- + +"She's over yonder. Bye-bye for the present." + +His cap came off as he looked in the direction of the great deep water +where lay the hazy forms of ships. Others looked, but said nothing about +the sailor doffing his cap to his grey-steel sweetheart who had +weathered the fight against odds. + +"That makes 110," said the train surgeon. "Six, four, seventy-three, +twenty-seven--what?" + +The first two numerals denote officers, sitting and cot cases, and the +latter two those of the men. + +"Right-o," quoth the officer of the stretcher-bearers. + +Soon the grey train steamed out, with orders to make a stop for a couple +of cot cases in Edinburgh. In the Waverley Station a few minutes later +the train took aboard the patients, and then sped on south. + +Before "she" had been under way very long, the surgeon in charge and his +assistant walked through the coaches, observing the cases on board and +noting whether any of them needed any special attention. + +At noon the cooks and stewards were hustling, giving food to men who, I +supposed, would only require toast and beef-tea. But it takes a lot to +make a bluejacket lose his hunger. + +"They're all 'Oliver Twists,'" declared the train surgeon. + +Now, there is nothing that a sailor of His Majesty's Navy likes so much +to look at as a pretty girl. Hence it was not surprising when I heard a +voice from one of the cots, after the train had stopped at Newcastle, in +enthusiastic tones blurt out:-- + +"From 'ere I can see the purtiest gal I ever laid eyes on." + +Business, then, of a movement in every cot. Eyes were all front, gazing +in the direction of a golden-haired beauty, who blushed a deep pink when +she realised how many pairs of eyes from the train were focussed on her. +Soon horny hands were being kissed in her direction. Shyly, she sent a +kiss or two back, and then retired to the shadows. + +As I said before, the train is considered a ship. It is a case of going +to "Sick Bay" and of "out pipes" at nine o'clock. They talk of +"darkening the ship" when the blinds are pulled and the lights covered. +We arrived at Hull when it was dusk, and at the station was, among other +persons, Lady Nunburnholme, whose husband is the chief owner of the +Wilson Line of steamships, and who takes a deep interest in the +ambulance trains and the sailors' hospital in her town. No matter at +what hour one of the Royal Naval trains is due, Lady Nunburnholme is at +the depot, always eager to have a word with the men, and give them +cigarettes and cheer them up. + +By error, that evening a clergyman or naval chaplain, who had been hurt +on a warship, was put in the coach with the men. The surgeon made the +discovery, and said he would have the padre moved into the officers' +quarters at the next stop. + +"I'm a humbug," said the cheery pastor. "There's nothing wrong with me. +Just go ahead looking after the men." + +Plymouth was to be the next stop. We were due there at half-past seven +o'clock the following morning. At midnight the chief surgeon walked +through the train to see that all was well, and he was attracted by a +man coughing. He directed that something be given to this patient. + +"Don't want to have one man keep half a dozen awake needlessly," said +the surgeon. + +Then there was an officer who could not go to sleep. He was a medical +case, suffering from rheumatism. But what kept him awake was the thought +that he might lose his ship. There was a sailor who had fallen on his +vessel, knocked four of his teeth out, and cut his head. Why he had to +go to "Sick Bay" for such a trifle was beyond him. In the dark hours of +the early morning one might have seen the faithful surgeon again going +through his train, speaking in whispers to those who lay awake, asking +them if there was anything they needed and what pain they had. + +"I've got pains all over me, and me 'ead feels scorchin' with the +bangin' that's goin' on inside," said one man. + +"That's a grumble to get a drink," said the surgeon, who told the man to +try to go to sleep. + +Devonshire was the scene of gladsome sunshine when the train steamed +into the station, delivered certain patients, and picked up others for +another port. In his anxiety to get a truck out of the way to permit the +stretcher-bearers uninterrupted passage to the ambulances, a porter +tipped over six and a half dollars' worth of milk. The patients grinned +at this, and the Surgeon-General on the platform appeared to be sorry +that so much good milk had gone to waste. + +The terminus of the train was reached at half-past seven in the evening. +There the coaches were cleared of all patients and the train split in +two to permit of traffic passing. The train-surgeon, having delivered +the valuables of the patients, walked with me to the naval barracks, +where for the first time in thirty-six hours he had a chance to really +rest. + +"Chin-chin," said he, lifting his glass. "Another run over, and the +Germans have not come out yet for the real fight." + + + + +X. A TRIP IN A SUBMARINE + + +The man who craves excitement is apt to get his fill for a while after a +trip in a British submarine under the North Sea. He may dream of the +experience for many nights afterwards, and the lip of the conning-tower +well seems to get higher and higher until the water rushes over like an +incipient Niagara--then he awakens. + +The wind was blowing about 30 knots when I boarded the mother ship of +the submarines in the English East Coast port. It was an unsettled sort +of morning, and just after I had walked over two narrow planks to the +under-sea craft, aboard which I was to make a cruise under the North +Sea, the sun shot forth a widening streak of blurred silver like a +searchlight on the prancing green-grey waves. With care, the two-striper +skipper gave his orders to get the submarine under way, and soon he +stuck her nose at the east. One felt the frost in the air, and fingers +grasping the canvas shield of the conning tower were benumbed. + +Three men stood in line on the aft hatch while the submersible glided +through the port waters. Four other sailors were getting a last good +lungful of fine fresh sea air for'd. At the conning tower were the +commander, his helmsman, and a young lieutenant--the boss of the +torpedoes. Now and again another officer popped up his head through the +conning-tower well, and that opening to the boat's bowels appeared just +about large enough for his broad shoulders. The nose of the shark-like +craft passed through white-caps as steadily as a ship on a calm ocean. + +"Hands for'd, sir," announced the junior lieutenant. + +The commander mumbled an answer, and the men were ordered to close the +for'd hatches, and soon the iron doors were screwed down. The gas +engines shot off black smoke into the curdling wake of the vessel's twin +propellers, and as we surged along into the uninteresting sea the +skipper sang out to have the aft hatches shut. The well-disciplined +bluejackets instantly obeyed the order, and the iron slabs banged to, +and I knew that those men were busying themselves in their particular +work of seeing that everything was ready for submerging. + +The commander of the submarine was an agile man, about 5 feet 7 inches +tall. His face looked tired, and there were lines about his eyes, which +were only for his ship. I do not think that he had the chance to give me +a look--a real look--all the time I was aboard. There was always +something which needed his attention. I found that the speed we were +making against the wind closed my eyes, for there is very little +protection on the conning tower of a submarine; and that alone might +have given the commander that tired look. But I gathered afterwards that +the eyes are strained a good deal in looking for enemy craft. There, in +the distance, was the port whence we had emerged, and we now were out on +the breast of the sea in war time. Two miles off our port bow was a grey +vessel, to which our skipper gave his attention for a while. She was a +British destroyer plunging through the water at 22 knots. + +The sun had disappeared behind a bank of clouds, but there were still +streaks of blue in the sky. The commander shot his gaze aft, to +starboard, port, and before him. Although we were heading straight out +to sea, the skipper was ever on the alert. + +"Motors ready?" asked the commander of the sub-lieutenant, whose head +showed up from the well after communicating with the engine-room chief +artificer. + +"Motors ready, sir," was the answer, and the younger man wrung his cold +hands. + +By that time England's coast was a hazy outline. But on we cut through +the waves until England disappeared, and soon after the real thrill +came--the thrill of going down under an angry ocean. The gas engines +were stopped, and the way on the craft was allowed to carry her a good +distance, following the order from the commander. + +That officer looked around, and signalled to a British +destroyer--another of the warships ploughing the waters of the North +Sea. A sailor expert signalman used his arms as semaphores, and an +answer soon was received by our skipper. + +On the engine-room telegraph of the submarine is a word that does not +figure on the apparatus of other types of warships: it is "Dive." The +commander told me that we were going down very soon. I observed that the +destroyer had turned around and was heading out to sea. We were almost +at a stop, when our skipper told me to get into the conning-tower well +and to be down far enough to give him room. It must be realised that +immediately after the order to submerge has been rung in the +engine-room the conning-tower hatch is closed. Hence the commander and +his helmsman have no time to lose when the submarine is going under, as +it takes forty-five seconds to submerge an under-sea craft, and at +times, if pressed, it can be accomplished in thirty seconds. + +Up to that time I had not devoted much attention to the inside of the +conning-tower hatch, beyond glancing at the brass ladder. Soon I +discovered that there were two ladders, and that the distance to the +inside deck of the boat was about twice as great as I had imagined. + +After I had taken my foot off the last rung of the ladder and stepped on +the chilled, wet canvas-covered iron deck, my head was in a whirl at the +sight of the bowels of brass and steel. The skipper had set the arrow at +"Dive," and we were going down and down--a motion which is hardly +perceptible to the layman. + +The activity below and the intricate mechanism of the craft caused me to +think more of what the men were doing than of my own sensations. I +wondered how one man could learn it all, for the skipper must have an +intimate knowledge of all the complicated machinery of his vessel. There +were engines everywhere and little standing room--at least, that is how +it appeared on the first glance, and even afterwards it was clear that +no adipose person could hope to survive aboard a submarine. + +No sooner had the engine-room received the order to submerge than the +captain followed his helmsman down the conning-tower hatch, and he lost +not a second in getting to the periscope--the eye of his vessel. Soon my +attention was arrested by the sight of two men sitting side by side +turning two large wheels. One kept his eye on a bubble and turned his +wheel to control the hydroplanes to keep the craft level, and the other +man's eyes also watched a bubble in a level. His share of the work was +to keep the vessel at the depth ordered by the commander. + +Although I was deeply interested in everything that went on under the +sea in that craft, my eyes were continually on the captain, who looked +like a photographer about to take the picture of a wilful baby. The +skipper's face was concealed behind two black canvas wings of the +reflector, which keep the many electric lights aboard from interfering +with his view through the glass. I then noticed a door in the stern of +the craft--about amid-ships--a door which is closed on the sight of +danger. To me it looked like a reflection, but you soon find out that +you are looking at the engines of the submarine. There, four or five +men, ignoring whether they were under the water or on the surface, were +concentrated on their work. One mistake, and the submarine and its crew +are lost. Hence there is no inattention to duty. Finally, this door was +slammed to. + +The air below is not much different to what it is when the vessel is on +the surface--or not noticeably different until the craft has been +submerged for several hours. It is then that the "bottles" or air tanks +are brought into play. I walked to the bows of the boat, where a giant +torpedo was greased and ready for the shutting of its compartment. The +air-tight tube was then locked down, and the missile was ready for its +victim. But, as I said, lured as you may be to gaze at the other parts +of the wonderful craft, you will find that your gaze comes back to the +captain--always at the periscope, hands on those brass bars that turn +the periscope, and eyes glued to the reflector. + +"Lower periscope!" he orders. And then: "Raise periscope!" He gives +these orders with clearness; not surprising, as no command must be +misunderstood when you are 25 or 30 feet under the water. + +"Lower periscope!" + +A man in a corner, next to one who has charge of the gyroscopic compass, +turns a handle, and the greased steel cylinder sinks until the captain, +who had been stretched with toes tipped, now is on bended knees, his +hands extended to stop the periscope man from taking the "eye" further +down. The captain turns the periscope around, scanning the waters. At +his right, when the skipper is facing the bows, is another officer, with +his hand on the trigger of what looks like an upward-pointed pistol of +brass and steel. This officer waits for the command to send off the +torpedo. + +"Lower foremost periscope into the well," ordered the captain. This +periscope was not in use and had not been above the surface. It is the +duplicate "eye," in case the other is out of order. + +"Yes," said the captain, not looking at me, "she's mostly guts below. +Have a look at that destroyer. We are going to send a practice torpedo +at her, and she will pick it up and return it when we get back home." + +The sleek, lean warship was knifing the waters at 22 knots. It was like +looking at a picture--a moving picture--and all was beautifully +distinct. Our commander consulted a card, decided the speed of the +warship, and then again propped his head against the reflector. + +"Raise periscope," ordered the two-striper. + +For the first time aboard the submarine, there was something akin to +silence, except for the swishing of engines and the continuous buzz of +other mechanism. + +"Light to starboard," voiced the captain. + +"Light to starboard," repeated the helmsman at the compass. + +"Tube ready?" asked the commander, his head hidden between the black +flaps of the periscope. + +"Tube ready, sir." + +The officer at the trigger stood like a starter at a race, his finger on +the tongue that was to release the torpedo. It was just as it is in the +real moment of moments and a war craft is the target. The men at the two +wheels watched their dials and their bubbles, and the helmsman had his +nose on the needle. The commander, the gold braid on his cuffs streaked +with oil and rust, then had but one thought in his mind--to hit the +target. He looked neither to right nor left but was still at the +periscope. The warship was there. We were there, and one could imagine +the tiny periscope just above the water. The situation was tense, even +if the vessel to be fired at was not an enemy craft. + +"Fire!" snapped the captain. + +It was no order for men to spring "over the top," no battle-cry that was +heard by the enemy, but the word under the water that is the order for +the deadly destroyer to be released and speed on its way to the +unsuspecting craft. Practice torpedo or not, when under the waves of the +North Sea the word works up a dramatic situation hard to equal. The +other officers and men are interested, and they told me that never does +the word "Fire" fail to stir the soul of everybody aboard. Though the +effect is heightened by the knowledge that a great vessel is the target +and has been bored in twain, the interest is still thrilling when the +submarine is practising. With a shot at the enemy there is, of course, +the explosion to dread. If the submarine does not get away far enough, +the explosion of the torpedo may be the cause of extinguishing all +lights aboard the submarine, and lamps have then to be used. + +There was a tiger-like growl or "g-r-rh" of anger as the tube sent out +the greased steel complicated missile, and outside I pictured the white +wake that streaked in the direction of the warship. It was not visible +from the periscope, which a second after the signal to fire had been +brought down under the surface. The comparative stillness was gone, and +the inside of the submarine seemed to have awakened from a doze. There +was all bustle and hurry around me. The captain shot a look at the +gyroscopic compass and gave orders for the motors to go ahead, and for +half an hour the submarine pushed about under the surface. Then the +commander had the periscope raised, and on the distant horizon I made +out the destroyer--a tiny thing even in the glass of the magnifying lens +of the under-sea boat's "eye." + +My feet were numbed with cold as I walked for'd and looked at the empty +tube. These torpedoes cost £500 (two thousand, five hundred dollars), +and in war time they are all set to sink if they fail to hit the target; +set to sink because they might be used by the enemy or get in our own +way. + +The next thrilling moment came when the commander decided to bring his +craft to the surface. + +"Come to surface and blow external tanks!" ordered the two-striper. +"Open five, six, seven, eight, to blow!" + +The round, white perforated lungs of the submarine sucked in the air in +the craft. + +"Open one, two, three, four, to blow," came from the skipper. + +"One, two, three, four, to blow," I heard repeated. + +I felt no perceptible motion of ascending; but those lungs were working +hard, which could be learned by placing your hand over them. The captain +shot a glance at the dial, which told him how far up his vessel had +gone, and then mounted the conning-hatch ladder, and soon one observed a +spot of daylight. A sea washed over the submarine, filling the +commander's boots with water. He was followed by a sailor, who quickly +attached the lowered sailcloth bridge to the rails of the conning tower. +Then the captain's expert and watchful eye caught bubbles coming from +one of the tanks. + +"Close one!" he shouted down the hatch. + +"Close one," repeated the sub-lieutenant. + +"Two, five, and seven," came from the voice outside, and so on, until +soon all the tanks had pumped out their water and were filled with air; +and, for the sake of accuracy, each order was sounded again below. + +"Bring her around to north," said the commander. + +When we submerged it had been a chilly day, with a peep of the sun every +now and again. The weather had changed since we left our berth under the +sea. The sky was overcast, and snow was falling. And this change in the +weather had taken place while the captain had been accomplishing one of +Jules Verne's dreams. + +We sped farther out to sea; this time on the _qui vive_ for enemy craft. +But the enemy is careful not to give the British submarine much of a +chance at his warships, only sneaking out occasionally under cover of +darkness with a couple of destroyers. Nevertheless, John Bull's diving +boats are ever on the alert; and the man with whom I went under the +North Sea had performed deeds of daring which never involved the sinking +of a neutral vessel or of endangering the life of a non-belligerent. + +It was the time for luncheon. Luncheon! You get an idea that the life +aboard a submarine is not all sunshine and white uniforms when you see +the berth for the commander and his chief officer. They are just a +couple of shelves, and are not used very often at that. It was +explained to me that when you are running a submarine you do not go in +much for sleep. Luncheon consisted of a cup of coffee and a piece of +canned beef on a stale slice of bread. Tinned food is about all that can +be used aboard a submarine. It does not take up much room, and it +requires little in the way of cooking utensils. We were still having our +luncheon below when we dived again, so for the first time in my life I +found myself having a meal under the sea. + +It was hours afterwards that we slipped into the darkened harbour and +found the mother ship, where the officers enjoy some of the real +comforts of life. + +"Have a Pandora cocktail?" asked my captain. + +We imbibed joyfully. The commander then changed his clothes, and we sat +down to dinner--a late dinner, most of the other members of the mess +having finished half an hour before. + +And if you ask me about sensations while under the water, again I must +confess that I was too busy looking and learning to experience anything +but a fear that I might omit something of importance during the time the +captain was getting ready for his target. Being under the sea, however, +gave me a thrill felt long afterwards, and I left knowing something of +the hardships that England's sea dogs suffer while guarding their island +kingdom. + + + + +XI. LIFE IN A LIGHTHOUSE + + +The old man led the way to the sturdy stone structure on top of which +were the great horns which sound the warning in foggy weather to ships +at sea. He was proud of the lighthouse, of which he was the principal +keeper; and just before he started to explain to me the wonders of the +compressed-air engines, he remarked:-- + +"First, you must know that a lighthouse-keeper's job is to watch for a +fog." + +"What's your name?" I asked. He was the first real lighthouse-keeper I +had met. + +The lighthouseman looked at me and then at one of the coast-watchers. He +was a slender man of about sixty years, who, I had been told, was +enjoying the work he had set out to do long, long before there was a +thought of a great war. + +"T. G. Cutting," he replied, "the P.K. here." + +It was on the western Cornish coast, where, as in other places in and +off English shores, the lighthouses, war or no war, from sunset to +sunrise cut the darkness with their long beams of whiteness and, when +necessary, sound the foghorn. You do not see any young men who are not +in khaki or navy blue, and the old men are wonders, with their +binoculars and telescopes. Mr. Cutting had been within sound of the sea +ever since he was born. First, he had seen service on a lighthouse on +the rocks, as they say, and from the rocks he graduated to a land job, +and thence back to the rocks, and again on to the land. We read stories +of the lighthouse-keeper; but little is written on the modern man of +this species. Mr. Cutting is not accustomed to the glare of the city's +lights, but he knows the glare of a lighthouse-lantern and all the +various wonders of the work. + +Inside the annex to the lighthouse were the duplicate engines for +filling tanks with compressed air. This air is used for blowing the +foghorns, and when they sound everybody in the locality knows it. + +"Enough air is stored in those tanks," declared Mr. Cutting, "to keep +the foghorns going for twenty minutes. That gives us time to get the +engines running." + +He went into details of the engines, showing that he knew them by heart, +and I could almost imagine the blurring, deafening sound which for +seven seconds rent the air through the roar of winds every minute and a +half. + +"Fog, as you know, is the dread of every sea captain," said Mr. Cutting. +"Out yonder you see the 'Three Stone Orr Rocks.' This is a dangerous bit +of scenery in foggy weather. When we have a fog, two men are on duty; +one if it is clear." + +We then went to the lighthouse tower, which stands nearly 200 feet above +high water. To the right, on entering that building, was a blacksmith's +shop, with an anvil, forge, and various implements. This forge is +occasionally needed to make repairs, spare parts, and accessories of the +engines of the lighthouse. To the right, in a corridor, were +speaking-tubes. + +"Those tubes go to the bedside of every man employed here," said Mr. +Cutting. "We have only to blow, and in a few minutes he comes up to the +lighthouse. Our houses are over there, in the same structure as the +tower. They are practically the lower portion of the main building." + +He conducted the way up the narrow, winding stairs. At the head of the +first flight I saw a green-covered book, in which every man on watch +makes his entry of the weather, the velocity of the wind, and so forth. + +"Many a man's word has been corrected by that book," said the P.K. "And +here's the book for privileged visitors, for nobody comes here without +the proper credentials." + +There were names of famous persons inscribed in the book, which was kept +as neatly and cleanly as everything else in the place. + +"Now we'll go up to the lantern," said the old man. Old, but lithe, +strong, and keen-eyed. He is particularly fond of this lantern, and was +remarkably lucid in explaining everything concerning the working of it. + +"Does the sea ever come up as high as this?" I asked. + +"We get the spray, and that is all," answered the P.K. "It's dirty +weather when that happens. But the water usually has spent its force +when it reaches this height." + +The exterior windows of the lantern were diamond shaped and of plate +glass. In the middle of the lantern was the large concentric-ringed +glass of great magnifying power. + +"You can turn it round with your little finger," said the P.K. "That's +because it floats in a mercury bath. And in turning that you are moving +four tons. When the lantern is lighted, it shows dark for seven and a +half seconds, then two sets of four flashes, making a complete +revolution every half-minute. They can see the light at sea on a clear +night for nineteen miles. The light is worked by vaporised oil. The +compressed air drives the oil to the lantern, up through that burner in +a hole hardly big enough to take a pin point. It is nearly half a +million candle-power. This type of light is considered even better than +electricity. In the old-style oil-lights they burned five quarts in the +same time that this one consumes a pint with better results." + +The actual burner of the lantern is disappointing, as one expects to see +a giant burner. Really, it is only about twice the size of the average +household one. + +Mr. Cutting observed that the light was carefully timed, and called +attention to the half-minute hand on the clock in the tower. Persons are +always asking the P.K. how he spends his time, and he wondered why. He +believed that anybody ought to see that there was plenty for a man to do +while he is on a four hours' watch in the tower. The turning of the +light, showing black outside and then flashing its warnings, after his +many years of experience of such things, is only taken for granted by +this P.K. + +"And when I've finished lighting the lamp, trimming up things a bit," +said the P.K., "I sit down like anybody else. Lots of people seem to +forget that the lighthouse-keeper is not the coast-guard or the head of +the crew of a life-saving station. They have their work to attend to, +but we watch for fogs night and day. When a man is stationed at a +lighthouse like the Longships, which is a little distance out on a rock, +he may be a couple of months without being relieved. But he has others +with him, and a good stock of food. If he wishes to communicate with the +land, he does so by signals; and that's the way men over there talk with +their wives who live in cottages on shore. The telephone has not been +found feasible, wires breaking all the time; so their wives have learned +to wig-wag to them. + +"One night they got a scare on shore; thought that the men on the +Longships were sending up distress signals. It was bad weather, and +every now and again the coast-watcher saw a green light on the +Longships. And what do you think that green light was? Just the water +running over the bright light when it flashed! As it washed the glasses +it showed up green." + +There were curtains of sailcloth put over the windows to obscure the +sunlight. I asked the P.K. about this, and he told me that the great +magnifying lens of the light would burn things if the sun got on it for +long enough. So, much as they like the sun in Cornwall, they have to +keep it out. + +"I shall be on duty to-night from twelve until four o'clock," observed +the P.K. "But I've got accustomed to the running of the machinery." + +So down we went. The last I saw of the P.K. was when the old Cornishman, +emptying cans of oil into the tank to supply the light which warns +mariners, shouted:-- + +"Getting pretty fresh now. Hope to see you again." + + + + +XII. WATCHERS OF THE COAST + + +Circling Great Britain are thousands of expert coast-watchers, whose +duty not only is to watch for ships, wrecks, and smugglers, as in the +days before the war, but also to be on guard for enemy submarines and +suspicious craft. It is the oft-spoken opinion of many an inland +inhabitant that certain sections of the coast would afford a base for +U-boats. However, these persons have no conception of the thoroughness +with which John Bull guards his coast-lines. Mile after mile, shores and +rocks are under the eye of alert navy men and volunteers, the latter +being civilians who have spent their lives by the sea. They know their +business, and even though they are volunteers, the discipline is rigid. +But they are not the type of men to shirk their duty, for they would +take it as missing a God-given opportunity if their eyes were closed at +the time they could help their country most. After travelling around +part of the coast-line, a stranger leaves with the opinion that there is +little chance for a man even to swim ashore under cover of night. + +From John o' Groat's to Land's End and all around Ireland, these +coast-watchers--men over military age, wiry and strong, with eyes like +ferrets--scan the rocks and beaches hour after hour, noting passing +vessels, receiving and detailing information, and always keeping up +communication with the ring and its various centres. Their little stone +huts are on the highest point in their particular area, and their homes +usually are only a couple of hundred yards distant. Their chiefs are +coast-guards of the old days called back to their former service in the +Royal Navy. These men rule the volunteers with a rod of iron. No matter +what section of the coast one may pick, the coast-watcher is ready with +his glasses or telescope. Suspicious acts of any individuals receive +speedy attention, and each batch of the guards vies with the next for +keen performance of duty. + +There is a halo of interest around these men, tame as their work may +appear to them at times. Take the watchers on the Scilly Isles, for +instance. They are as good as any around Great Britain. It is second +nature for them to watch the sea. It is a desire with them, something +they would not miss. Their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers +were watch-dogs on that area of the ocean. Go to St. Mary's, and you +will see a coast-watcher, up soon after dawn, take a stroll along the +beach, even when he is not supposed to be on duty and before he has +tasted his morning tea. The family telescope is at his eye, as he wants +to get a good look at what the sea has been doing, and what is there. To +the uninitiated, it seems to have the same paucity of interest as any +other shipless stretch of water; but to this expert it has a story. He +notes the clouds, the sun, the very rocks; and they say that his gaze is +so sharp that it would spot a champagne-cork floating some distance +away. But be that as it may, there is no enemy periscope that is going +to pass unobserved at a certain distance by this hawk-eyed, wind-seared +man. + +He goes to his cottage for breakfast, and talks about the sea, then +leaves the table, and has another good look; and it is sadly +disappointing to any of these men to have missed a passing ship. Prior +to the declaration of hostilities, a wreck was the greatest piece of +news to the community; but now it is the glimpse of fast English +warships, and the anticipation of sighting a German U-boat, and thus +being the cause of the craft's doom. + +"Gun-firing heard at ten minutes past twelve o'clock to-day," said one +man, reading from a slip he had just made out on the subject. + +The man to whom he spoke happened to have been out of hearing distance, +and he could not believe it until a second man came along with the same +report. It was handed down the line, over to other shores, and the +watchers speculated as to what had taken place. + +Arthur Oddy, who has charge of half a dozen watchers, told me that his +one great regret was that he had not seen a sign of the war, barring +uniforms. Nevertheless, for more than two and a half years he has +scanned the sea and shore of his district with dutiful care, and has +seen to it that his men have not been amiss in their share of the +tedious task. His station is very near the Last House in England, at +Land's End--a tea place kept by Mrs. E. James. + +"What is that out there?" exclaimed a stranger, suddenly. "Looks like +part of a boat." + +"That," declared Oddy, "is the Shark's Fin--a rock." + +True enough, the rock of that name might have at times been a giant fish +or a wrecked submarine. It was lashed by the foamy waters, disappeared, +and then showed a bit, again was swallowed up, and seemed to reappear a +yard or so further along from where it first was seen. Finally, you +observed that it was a sharp, dangerous rock. + +A mile or so farther along that coast I encountered John Thomas Wheeler, +the wearer of several medals, including a gold one received since the +war commenced from the King of Sweden. In peace time, just before the +war, Wheeler did his bit to save wrecked mariners. He is still doing it +in war time, with his eyes open for everything. As we stood there, with +the sea lashing the shingly beach and hammering the rocks, Wheeler, +chief officer of that station, recalled the story of the wreck of the +_Trifolium_, a Swedish sailing ship. + +"It was terrible rough," said Wheeler, "when through the darkness we saw +the green light of the distress-signals. I shot off a rocket with a rope +to the forepart of the vessel. The men, who were clinging to the +rigging, paid no attention to it. Then I sent off another rope between +the main and the mizzen masts. First, they paid no heed to that; but, +finally, one man in oilskins jumped into the sea to catch hold of part +of the rope. He was followed by others. Perilous though it was on that +night, we walked out to help the men ashore. One after another, gasping +and unconscious sailors were landed. Then the ship broke in half, and +soon was torn to bits by the sea. I was looking for more men, as I had +seen one poor chap under the steel mast when it fell. A wave struck me, +and I found myself caught between two rocks. It looked all up for me, as +I could not move." + +Wheeler's awful position was not at first realised, and his cries for +help could not be heard through the din of the ocean. Finally, he was +struck down by the turbulent sea, and one of his men, signalling to +another, went to their chief's rescue. Wheeler was unconscious when he +was brought up on the beach. For his share in the rescue work, besides +the King of Sweden's medal, Wheeler received medals from the Royal +Humane Society and the Board of Trade. + +In that corner of England every one is on the _qui vive_ for the +unexpected. The women have their telescopes and glasses, and they do +their share, despite the fact that the regular men of that locality are +on duty. Mrs. James's tea-refreshment place is often the near-by house +to where men are scanning the horizon with their glasses, noting the +flags on vessels, if they have any in these days, and keeping up a +peace-time look out, for it is a dangerous point in bad weather. The +Last or First House in England, whichever one wishes to consider it, is +covered with names and initials of persons from all over the world. +Curiously enough, since the war there have been no wrecks in that +theatre, while in the six months prior to the great conflict there were +two or three. + +Local heads of the coast-watchers or guards have the prerogative of +commandeering horses or automobiles when necessary. If there is a ship +ashore or on the rocks, signal-rockets are sent up to collect the +coast-guards; and it would seem that a couple of these would wake most +of the persons in that corner of England. + +The real business of the coast-guards, and that to which they devote +themselves in peace or war, is firing rockets over a ship in distress +and trying to land the crew. + +It was ten or twelve miles from that point that I met a chief watcher +who had been blown up in a British battleship, and had thus earned a +period of shore duty. He was "carrying on" for humanity and country, and +only a short time before he had been the means of rescuing the crew of +a small neutral sailing ship--a German victim. + +We sped on farther north, and every three or four miles there was the +inevitable watcher, who can telephone, telegraph, and fire rockets when +occasion demands. It is all a modernised coast-guard system, the men +being first ready for ships in distress, but always on the alert for the +enemy. + + + + +XIII. CROSSING THE CHANNEL IN WAR TIME + + +This is the story of a British naval officer's trip to the Western +fighting ground as he told it to me the day he returned to London:-- + +"'Four days!' said I to myself. 'Not very long in which to get a real +taste of the World War on land.' However, the morning after I had +received 'leave' I departed from London in an automobile and as we sped +through the country there seemed, at first, to be little to remind us +that England was at war--except, perhaps, the many busy persons on all +farms and fields. Finally, we came across a mobile air-station on which +were two aeroplanes with folded wings. It was something which made you +think. + +"In a South Coast port, however, there was military activity everywhere. +On the waters, far out from the harbour, which one imagines as denuded +of craft, I saw dozens of ships. There were large and small tramps, +mine-sweepers, and trawlers, and you were fascinated by the sight. +There was a dread lest one of them might disappear through a mine or a +torpedo any instant. + +"Thousands of soldiers were at the dock, waiting to embark on ships for +France. A couple of thousand of them belonged to the Scotch Labour +Battalion, ready for work with pick and shovel. Their speech was almost +like a foreign language as they 'Jock'd' and 'Donal'd,' joked and sang, +when they swung aboard the vessel in single file. + +"There was no waving of handkerchiefs and no shouting good-byes when the +black-and-tan craft was ready to leave. The skipper was on the bridge. +He looked down at an officer ashore, nodded his head, and the other +returned the nod. Hawsers were instantly slipped, and the steamer +skipped away from the British port on the minute, and soon met her +escort--destroyers, out of sight not long since, now ready for their +job. These slender speedsters of the sea never stop; so everything must +be done according to schedule. Four of the destroyers surrounded us as +we ploughed through the water. + +"From the bridge came the order for every soul aboard to put on a +life-belt, and our friends from Scotland hastened aft to obtain the +equipment, scurrying and bustling about the damp cabin for the best +belts. + +"Half-way across the straits we met the opposite number vessel to ours. +She had an escort of three warships, so that for a flash there were +seven destroyers on the breast of that water. But it was not for long. A +swish, and they were nearer England and we nearer France, they getting +some of our smoke and we some of theirs. Steamers go into the French +port stern first, and soon I found myself treading French soil. Our +Scotch labourers were hurried off the vessel, and they vanished with +extraordinary quickness; and this also reminds me that no sooner was our +steamship safe in the harbour than the warships nipped off to England, +and all you could see in a few minutes was a wreath of water and smoke +as they raced homewards. + +"The skipper of the passenger craft has seen exciting times. While I +stood on the bridge with him and his first officer, he told me of a +night he won't easily forget. He was running the _Queen_, and going over +empty, having smuggled aboard a staff officer who had missed the other +vessel. It was darkening, and the _Queen_ was about four miles off the +British coast when this skipper saw dark hulls, blanched lines, and +flaming funnels--all showing terrific speed. First, he took the strange +craft to be new French destroyers; but they hailed him in English, and, +of course, for an instant he thought then they were British warships, +when suddenly it dawned on him. 'By God, they're Germans!' he ejaculated +to the staff officer. 'Nip into the cabin, and get those clothes off and +into an oilskin, fast as you like.' + +"The army man got it done just in time, for an officer and two men from +one of the German destroyers sprang aboard the _Queen_ after the enemy +warship had bumped the passenger craft. The German demanded the +captain's papers, and was told that everything had been thrown +overboard. + +"The Germans were pale, and the pistol in the officer's hand shook +dangerously. The skipper declared that the only papers relating to the +_Queen_ were in his cabin. + +"'Get those papers, or I'll blow your head off,' said the German. Below, +the captain moved his hand to his hip pocket to get his keys, the German +started, and put the muzzle of his revolver close to the Britisher's +head. As the captain was unlocking a drawer, the German again became +suspicious, and warned the skipper. The Briton told the German to get +the papers himself, and, finally, the useless document relating to the +_Queen_ was taken from the drawer. It was snatched up and pocketed by +the German officer. Meanwhile, his men had fixed bombs in vital parts +aboard the passenger craft, and the order was given to abandon ship. + +"Just before the bang came and the _Queen_ sank, the German decided that +he wanted to take the skipper with him. Fortunately, the captain had +been missed in their tremulous excitement. However, the Germans could +not wait, and they had to go away without the skipper. It was an +experience no man would forget; and the British of it is that this same +man, who had a pretty good chance of spending many months in a German +prison camp, is still guiding vessels flying our flag from France to +England and England to France. + +"In Boulogne, I had to take a train for Paris. It was the longest train +I ever set eyes on. One end of it seemed to be in the dock station while +the other was on the outskirts of the town. You can get an idea of its +length when I say that it had to stop twice at all stations. There was +no attempt at speed until we got within twenty miles of Paris." + +In a railroad station in Paris this officer encountered a friend who was +a commander in the Royal Naval Air Service, and the traveller thereupon +decided that nobody could give him a better idea of the war in the brief +time at his disposal than this man. Hence, after a dash to the hotel and +taking chances of getting his suitcase, the sea-fighter, with only a +tooth-brush and a piece of soap, finally joined the flying man, and off +they went to the war. My naval friend continued:-- + +"War stared at us after we had passed through Chantilly, and on the way +to Amiens we sped by forty or fifty ambulances. It was at the Café +Gobert, in Amiens, that we got out of the automobile and had luncheon. +That town was thronged with nonchalant women and blue-clad poilus. +Following our refreshment, we continued our journey. We ran into +soldiers and guns, aeroplanes, and more guns of all calibres; there must +have been two miles of them in one batch that we passed on the way to +Arras, as well as 'umpty' parks of lorries. + +"The first steam engine that I got a chance of seeing since leaving +England was an antiquated London, Chatham, and Dover locomotive attached +to a long train of cars filled with provisions and so forth, helped out +by Belgian and French engines. The rail-head, not far from that +particular 'somewhere,' reminded me of Whiteley's shop in London. Then I +observed a dozen fire-engines painted khaki colour. There were officers' +baths, coal and wood on lorries, tents, and everything you can think +of--and a lot you can't. Ammunition dumps were on our right and left, +and the occasional gleam of a sentry's bayonet let you know that +somebody was on watch. + +"As I was the guest of the Royal Naval Air Service, it was naturally +gratifying to come to the home of that service or section of it; the +spot which had been barren land two days before was now the scene of +great activity. Mess tents were comfortably fixed up, electric light +being obtained from lorries. There were workshops on lorries. The Royal +Flying Corps also had a station near by. These ingenious Air Service men +do all their repairing on the spot. If a lorry gets stuck in the mud +they just use enough lorries until they pull it out. + +"Our Rolls-Royce darted into the air on one stretch of bad road. It +bumped out our dynamo, and we made the rest of the way along the dark +road behind a staff car. + +"By that time there was no doubt but that we were at the war--passing +between two lines of our heavy artillery on the snow covered ground. The +splashes of fire--red on the glistening white--formed a memorable +picture. + +"Every now and again, the snow was lighted up by the star-shells, which +hung in the air and then dropped like a rain of gold on the silver +ground. The thunder of the guns was pleasing, and as each shell sped on +its errand, the unforgettable scene became more beautiful, with the glow +from the star-shells and the sight of men, silhouetted in the temporary +light against the white-blanketed earth, going about their duty, as some +of them had done for more than two and a half years. On we dashed, until +we heard a challenging voice, and discerned a French poilu. + +"'Aviation anglaise,' announced my friend. After satisfying himself, the +sentry permitted us to continue on our way. A little further on, to our +chagrin, we learned that a lorry had broken down on a bridge, and that +if our car could not pass it, it would mean a detour of nine miles. +However, our excellent chauffeur was equal to the occasion. After +bending the mud-guards, following the taking of measurements, he drove +the machine over in safety with not half an inch to spare. + +"Guns boomed as they had been booming for thirty months. This gives you +food for thought at the front. Finally, we came to Dunkirk, and there +enjoyed uninterrupted repose after our long ride in the biting weather. +Next morning I was up early, and before I had breakfast I watched a +seaplane turning and twisting, riding first tail downward and then head +downward, dropping a thousand feet, and then righting itself, and +outdoing the looping-the-loop idea. I ventured commendation for this +pilot's exploits. + +"'Pretty good youngster,' said the commander. 'Soon be able to give him +a journey he's been longing to have.' + +"This _youngster_ certainly seemed to me a past master in the flying +art. + +"My interest next was centred on several barges probing their way +through the canal. They were manned by soldiers in khaki, and these +soldier-sailors belonged to the I.W.T.--the Inland Water Transport. + +"Later, I had the satisfaction of firing off one of the big guns at the +Huns, and then of going into an observation post from whence we watched +shells bursting on the German lines. The Germans were fairly silent, +while we were putting over quite a lot of stuff. My next shot at the +Boche was with 'Polly,' whose shell spat forth at her opposite number, +known on our side of the lines as 'Peanought.' + +"It was decidedly interesting in the trenches, almost as near the German +lines as we are at any point. There was the occasional thunder of the +artillery, coupled with the report of a rifle, which told that the +sniper was on the job, and now and again the 'bang-zizz' of the German +trench mortar projectile--known better as 'Minnie.' + +"At the seaplane station I met a young officer who two days before had +flown over from England in the early morning and was to dine that same +night with friends in London. His only worry was that he might possibly +miss the boat to take him back to keep the dinner engagement. Then there +was a young man--eighteen years old, to be specific--who had accounted +for thirteen of the enemy aeroplanes. + +"My next experience was aboard a destroyer which took me to England. I +had not worn an overcoat during my trip, but I was glad of a duffel coat +on that speedy craft." + +The commander glanced at his watch, and observed he had just half an +hour in which to get to King's Cross Station. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Naval Yarns, by Mordaunt Hall + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME NAVAL YARNS *** + +***** This file should be named 26474-8.txt or 26474-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/4/7/26474/ + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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