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diff --git a/old/60196-8.txt b/old/60196-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7566975..0000000 --- a/old/60196-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5372 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Full Speed Ahead, by Henry B. Beston - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Full Speed Ahead - Tales from the Log of a Correspondent with Our Navy - -Author: Henry B. Beston - -Release Date: August 29, 2019 [EBook #60196] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FULL SPEED AHEAD *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - -[Frontispiece: "A destroyer is by no means a paradise of comfort"] - - - - - FULL SPEED - AHEAD - - Tales from the Log of a Correspondent - with Our Navy - - - BY - - HENRY B. BESTON - - - - GARDEN CITY NEW YORK - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - 1919 - - - - - Copyright, 1919, by - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - All rights reserved, including that of - translation into foreign languages, - including the Scandinavian - - Copyright, 1918, by The Atlantic Monthly Company - Copyright, 1918, by The Curtis Publishing Company - Copyright, 1918, by The North American Review Pub. Co, - Copyright, 1918, by The American National Red Cross - Copyright, 1918, by The Outlook Company - - - - - To - MAJOR GEORGE MAURICE SHEAHAN - HARVARD UNIT R.A.M.C. - - A Forerunner of the Great Crusade. - - - - -PREFACE - -These tales are memories of several months spent as a special -correspondent attached to the forces of the American Navy on foreign -service. Many of the little stories are personal experiences, though -some are "written up" from the records and others set down after -interviews. In writing them, I have not sought the laurels of an -official historian, but been content to chronicle the interesting -incidents of the daily life as well as the achievements and heroisms -of the friends who keep the highways of the sea. - -To my hosts of the United States Navy one and all, I am under deep -obligation for the courtesy and hospitality everywhere extended to me -on my visit. But surely the greatest of my obligations is that owed -to Secretary Daniels for the personal permission which made possible -my journey? and for the good will with which he saw me on my way. -And no acknowledgment, no matter how studied or courtly its phrasing, -can express what I owe to Admiral Sims for the friendliness of my -reception, for his care that I be shown all the Navy's activities, -and for his constant and kindly effort to advance my work in every -possible way. To Admiral Hugh Rodman of the battleship squadron, his -sometime guest here renders thanks for the opportunity given him to -spend some ten days aboard the American flagship and for the welcome -which makes his stay aboard so pleasant a memory. - -To the following officers, also, am I much indebted: Captain, now -Admiral Hughes, Captain J. R. Poinsett Pringle, Chief of Staff at the -Irish Base, Captain Thomas Hart, Chief of Staff directing submarine -operations, Commander Babcock and Commander Daniels, both of Admiral -Sims' staff, Commander Bryant and Commander Carpender, both of -Captain Pringle's staff, Commander Henry W. Cooke and Commander -Wilson Brown, both of the destroyer flotilla, Lieutenant Horace H. -Jalbert of the U.S.S. Bushnell, Lieutenant Commander Morton L. Deyo, -Chaplain J. L. Neff, Lieutenant F. H. King, Lieutenant Lanman, -Lieutenant Herrick, and Lieutenant Lewis Hancock, Lieutenant George -Hood and Lieutenant Bumpus of our submarines. - -I would not end without a word of thanks to the enlisted men for -their unfailing good will and ever courteous behaviour. - -To Mr. Ellery Sedgwick of the _Atlantic Monthly_, under whose colours -I had the honour to make my journalistic cruise, I am indebted for -more friendly help, counsel and encouragement than I shall ever be -able to repay. And I shall not easily forget the kindly offices and -unfailing hospitality of Captain Luke C. Doyle of Washington, D.C., -and Mr. Sidney A. Mitchell of the London Committee of the United -States Food Administration. - -Lucky is the correspondent sent to the Navy! - -H. B. B. - -TOPSFIELD AND QUINCY, 1919 - - - - - CONTENTS - - Preface - I An Heroic Journey - II Into the Dark - III Friend or Foe? - IV Running Submerged - V The Return of the Captains - VI Our Sailors - VII The Base - VIII The Destroyer and Her Problem - IX Torpedoed - X The End of a Submarine - XI "Fishing" - XII Amusements - XIII Storm - XIV On Night Patrol - XV Camouflage - XVI Tragedy - XVII "Consolidation not Coöperation" - XVIII Machine against Machine - XIX The Legend of Kelley - XX Sons of the Trident - XXI The Fleet - XXII The American Squadron - XXIII To Sea with the Fleet - XXIV "Sky Pilots" - XXV In the Wireless Room - XXVI Marines - XXVII Ships of the Air - XXVIII The Sailor in London - XXIX The Armed Guard - XXX Going Aboard - XXXI Grain - XXXII Collision - XXXIII The Raid by the River - XXXIV On Having been both a Soldier and a Sailor - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - -"A destroyer is by no means a paradise of comfort" . . . -_Frontispiece_ - -A flock of submarines and the "mother" ship in harbour - -American destroyer on patrol - -The last of a German U-boat - -To enjoy their leisure between watches these officers of an American -destroyer lash themselves into their seats - -An American battleship fleet leaving the harbour - -Even a super-dreadnought is wet at times - -An American gun crew in heavy weather (winter) outfit - - - - -FULL SPEED AHEAD - - -I - -AN HEROIC JOURNEY - -A London day of soft and smoky skies darkened every now and then by -capricious and intrusive little showers was drawing to a close in a -twilight of gold and grey. Our table stood in a bay of plate glass -windows over-looking the embankment close by Cleopatra's needle; we -watched the little, double-decked tram cars gliding by, the opposing, -interthreading streams of pedestrians, and a fleet of coal barges -coming up the river solemn as a cloud. Behind us lay, splendid and -somewhat theatric, the mottled marble, stiff, white napery, and -bright silver of a fashionable dining hall. Only a few guests were -at hand. At our little table sat the captain of a submarine who was -then in London for a few days on richly merited leave, a -distinguished young officer of the "mother ship" accompanying our -under water craft, and myself. It is impossible to be long with -submarine folk without realizing that they are a people apart, -differing from the rest of the Naval personnel even as their vessels -differ. A man must have something individual to his character to -volunteer for the service, and every officer is a volunteer. An -extraordinary power of quick decision, a certain keen, resolute look, -a certain carriage; submarine folk are such men as all of us pray to -have by our side in any great trial or crisis of our life. - -Guests began to come by twos and threes, girls in pretty shimmering -dresses, young army officers with wound stripes and clumsy limps; a -faint murmur of conversation rose, faint and continuous as the murmur -of a distant stream. - -Because I requested him, the captain told me of the crossing of the -submarines. It was the epic of an heroic journey. - -"After each boat had been examined in detail, we began to fill them -with supplies for the voyage. The crew spent days manoeuvring cases -of condensed milk, cans of butter, meat, and chocolate down the -hatchways, food which the boat swallowed up as if she had been a kind -of steel stomach. Until we had it all neatly and tightly stowed -away, the Z looked like a corner grocery store. Then early one -December morning we pulled out of the harbour. It wasn't very cold, -merely raw and damp, and it was misty dark. I remember looking at -the winter stars riding high just over the meridian. The port behind -us was still and dead, but a handful of navy folk had come to one of -the wharves to see us off. Yes, there was something of a stir, you -know the kind of stir that's made when boats go to sea, shouted -orders, the splash of dropped cables, vagrant noises. It didn't take -a great time to get under way; we were ready, waiting for the word to -go. The flotilla, mother-ship, tugs and all, was out to sea long -before the dawn. You would have liked the picture, the immense -stretch of the greyish, winter-stricken sea, the little covey of -submarines running awash, the grey mother-ship going ahead casually -as an excursion steamer into the featureless dawn. The weather was -wonderful for two days, a touch of Indian summer on December's ocean, -then on the night of the third day we ran into a blow, the worst I -ever saw in my life. A storm.... Oh boy!" - -He paused for an instant to flick the ashes from his cigarette with a -neat, deliberate gesture. One could see memories living in the fine, -resolute eyes. The broken noises of the restaurant which had -seemingly died away while he spoke crept back again to one's ears. A -waiter dropped a clanging fork. - -"A storm. Never remember anything like it. A perfect terror. -Everybody realized that any attempt to keep together would be -hopeless. And night was coming on. One by one the submarines -disappeared into that fury of wind and driving water; the mothership, -because she was the largest vessel in the flotilla, being the last we -saw. We snatched her last signal out of the teeth of the gale, and -then she was gone, swallowed up in the storm. So we were alone. - -We got through the night somehow or other. The next morning the -ocean was a dirty brown-grey, and knots and wisps of cloud were -tearing by close over the water. Every once in a while a great, -hollow-bellied wave would come rolling out of the hullaballoo and -break thundering over us. On all the boats the lookout on the bridge -had to be lashed in place, and every once in a while a couple of tons -of water would come tumbling past him. Nobody at the job stayed dry -for more than three minutes; a bathing suit would have been more to -the point than oilers. Shaken, you ask? No, not very bad, a few -assorted bruises and a wrenched thumb, though poor Jonesie on the Z3 -had a wave knock him up against the rail and smash in a couple of -ribs. But no being sick for him, he kept to his feet and carried on -in spite of the pain, in spite of being in a boat which registered a -roll of seventy degrees. I used to watch the old hooker rolling -under me. You've never been on a submarine when she's rolling--talk -about rolling--oh boy! We all say seventy degrees because that's as -far as our instruments register. There were times when I almost -thought she was on her way to make a complete revolution. You can -imagine what it was like inside. To begin with, the oily air was -none too sweet, because every time we opened a hatch we shipped -enough water to make the old hooker look like a start at a swimming -tank, and then she was lurching so continuously and violently that to -move six feet was an expedition. But the men were wonderful, -wonderful! Each man at his allotted task, and--what's that English -word, ... carrying on. Our little cook couldn't do a thing with the -stove, might as well have tried to cook on a miniature earthquake, -but he saw that all of us had something to eat, doing his bit, game -as could be." - -He paused again. The embankment was fading in the dark. A waiter -appeared, and drew down the thick, light-proof curtains. - -"Yes, the men were wonderful--wonderful. And there wasn't very much -sickness. Let's see, how far had I got--since it was impossible to -make any headway we lay to for forty-eight hours. The deck began to -go the second morning, some of the plates being ripped right off. -And blow--well as I told you in the beginning, I never saw anything -like it. The disk of the sea was just one great, ragged mass of foam -all being hurled through space by a wind screaming by with the voice -and force of a million express trains. Perhaps you are wondering why -we didn't submerge. Simply couldn't use up our electricity. It -takes oil running on the surface to create the electric power, and we -had a long, long journey ahead. Then ice began to form on the -superstructure, and we had to get out a crew to chop it off. It was -something of a job; there wasn't much to hang on to, and the waves -were still breaking over us. But we freed her of the danger, and she -went on. - -We used to wonder where the other boys were in the midst of all the -racket. One was drifting towards the New England coast, her compass -smashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still at -sea. - -Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the good -weather was great, were we glad to have it--oh boy! We had just got -things ship-shape again when we had another blow but this second one -was by no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another -spell of decent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and -keep it going all day long. - -The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the -harbour which was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty -of water, the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So -I put us all on a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on -Christmas day. Can you imagine Christmas on a little, storm-bumped -submarine some hundred miles off the coast? A day or two more and we -ran calmly into ... Shall we say deleted harbour? - -Hungry, dirty, oh so dirty, we hadn't had any sort of bath or wash -for about three weeks; we all were green looking from having been -cooped up so long, and our unshaven, grease-streaked faces would have -upset a dinosaur. The authorities were wonderfully kind and looked -after us and our men in the very best style. I thought we could -never stop eating and a real sleep, ... oh boy! - -"Did you fly the flag as you came in?" I asked. - -"You bet we did!" answered the captain, his keen, handsome face -lighting at the memory. "You see," he continued in a practical -spirit, "they would probably have pumped us full of holes if we -hadn't." - -And that is the way that the American submarines crossed the Atlantic -to do their share for the Great Cause. - - - - -II - -INTO THE DARK - -I got to the Port of the Submarines just as an uncertain and rainy -afternoon had finally decided to turn into a wild and disagreeable -night. Short, drenching showers of rain fell one after the other -like the strokes of a lash, a wind came up out of the sea, and one -could hear the thunder of surf on the headlands. The mother ship lay -moored in a wild, desolate and indescribably romantic bay; she -floated in a sheltered pool a very oasis of modernity, a marvellous -creature of another world and another time. There was just light -enough for me to see that her lines were those of a giant yacht. -Then a curtain of rain beat hissing down upon the sea, and the ship -and the vague darkening landscape disappeared, disappeared as if it -might have melted away in the shower. Presently the bulk of the -vessel appeared again: gliding and tossing at once we drew alongside, -and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel, recipient of -a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make grateful -acknowledgment to my friends and hosts. - -The mother ship of the submarines was a combination of flag ship, -supply station, repair shop and hotel. The officers of the -submarines had rooms aboard her which they occupied when off patrol, -and the crews off duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat -was pretty well crowded, having more submarines to look after than -she had been built to care for, but thanks to the skill of her -officers, everything was going as smoothly as could be. The vessel -had, so to speak, a submarine atmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, -worked and would have died for the submarine. They believed in the -submarine, believed in it with an enthusiasm which rested on pillars -of practical fact. The Chief of Staff was the youngest captain in -our Navy, a man of hard energy and keen insight, one to whom our -submarine service owes a very genuine debt. His officers were -specialists. The surgeon of the vessel had been for years engaged in -studying the hygiene of submarines, and was constantly working to -free the atmosphere of the vessels from deleterious gases and to -improve the living conditions of the crews. I remember listening one -night to a history of the submarine told by one of the officers of -the staff, and for the first time in my life I came to appreciate at -its full value the heroism of the men who risked their lives in the -first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and the imagination -and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten years ago, a -descent in a sub was an adventure to be prefaced by tears and making -of wills; to-day submarines are chasing submarines hundreds of miles -at sea, are crossing the ocean, and have grown from a tube of steel -not much larger than a life boat to underwater cruisers which carry -six-inch guns. Said an officer to me: - -"The future of the submarine? Why, sir, the submarine is the only -war vessel that's going to have a future!" - -[Illustration: A flock of submarines and the "mother" ship in harbor] - -On the night of my arrival, once dinner was over, I went on deck and -looked down through the rain at the submarines moored alongside. -They lay close by, one beside the other, in a pool of radiance cast -by a number of electric lights hanging over each open hatchway. -Beyond this pool lay the rain and the dark; within it, their sides -awash in the clear green water of the bay, their grey bridges and -rust-stained superstructures shining in the rain, lay the strange, -bulging, crocodilian shapes of steel. There was something unearthly, -something not of this world or time in the picture; I might have been -looking at invaders of the sleeping earth. The wind swept past in -great booming salvoes; rain fell in sloping, liquid rods through the -brilliancy of electric lamps burning with a steadiness that had -something in it of strange, incomprehensible and out of place in the -motion and hullabaloo of the storm. And then, too, a hand appeared -on the topmost rung of the nearer ladder, and a bulky sailor, a very -human sailor in very human dungarees, poked his head out of the -aperture, surveyed the inhospitable night, and disappeared. - -"He's on Branch's boat. They're going out to-night," said the -officer who was guiding me about. - -"To-night? How on earth will he ever find his way to the open sea?" - -"Knows the bay like a book. However, if the weather gets any worse, -I doubt if the captain will let him go. George will be wild if they -don't let him out. Somebody has just reported wreckage off the -coast, so there must be a Hun round." - -"But are not our subs sometimes mistaken for Germans?" - -"Oh, yes," was the calm answer. - -I thought of that ominous phrase I had noted in the British records -"failed to report," and I remembered the stolid British captain who -had said to me, speaking of submarines, "Sometimes nobody knows just -what happened. Out there in the deep water, whatever happens, -happens in a hurry." My guide and I went below to the officers' -corridor. Now and then, through the quiet, a mandolin or guitar -could be heard far off twanging some sentimental island ditty, and -beneath these sweeter sounds lay a monotonous mechanical humming. - -"What's that sound?" I asked. - -"That's the Filipino mess boys having a little festino in their -quarters. The humming? Oh, that's the mother-ship's dynamos -charging the batteries of Branch's boat. Saves running on the -surface." - -My guide knocked at a door. Within his tidy, little room, the -captain who was to go out on patrol was packing the personal -belongings he needed on the trip. - -"Hello, Jally!" he cried cheerily when he saw us. "Come on in. I am -only doing a little packing up. What's it like outside?" - -"Raining same as ever, but I don't think it's blowing up any harder." - -"Hooray!" cried the young captain with heart-felt sincerity. "Then -I'll get out to-night. You know the captain told me that if it got -any worse he'd hold me till to-morrow morning. I told him I'd rather -go out to-night. Perfect cinch once you get to the mouth of the bay, -all you have to do is submerge and take it easy. What do you think -of the news? Smithie thinks he saw a Hun yesterday.... Got anything -good to read? Somebody's pinched that magazine I was reading. -Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, that ought to be enough -handkerchiefs.... Hello, there goes the juice." - -The humming of the dynamo was dying away slowly, fading with an -effect of lengthening distance. The guitar orchestra, as if to -celebrate its deliverance, burst into a triumphant rendering of -Sousa's "Stars and Stripes." - -My guide and I waited till after midnight to watch the going of -Branch's Z5. Branch and his second, wearing black oilskins down -whose gleaming surface ran beaded drops of rain, stood on the bridge; -a number of sailors were busy doing various things along the deck. -The electric lights shone in all their calm unearthly brilliance. -Then slowly, very slowly, the Z5 began to gather headway, the clear -water seemed to flow past her green sides, and she rode out of the -pool of light into the darkness waiting close at hand. - -"Good-bye! Good luck!" we cried. - -A vagrant shower came roaring down into the shining pool. - -"Good-bye!" cried voices through the night. - -Three minutes later all trace of the Z5 had disappeared in the dark. - - - - -III - -FRIEND OR FOE? - -Captain Bill of the Z3 was out on patrol. His vessel was running -submerged. The air within, they had but recently dived, was new and -sweet, and that raw cold which eats into submerged submarines had not -begun to take the joy out of life. It was the third day out; the -time, five o'clock in the afternoon. The outer world, however, did -not penetrate into the submarine. Night or day, on the surface or -submerged, only one time, a kind of motionless electric high noon -existed within those concave walls of gleaming cream white enamel. -Those of the crew not on watch were taking it easy. Like unto their -officers, submarine sailors are an unusual lot. They are real -sailors, or machinist sailors, boys for whose quality the Navy has a -flattering, picturesque and quite unprintable adjective. A submarine -man, mind you, works harder than perhaps any other man of his grade -in the Navy, because the vessel in which he lives is nothing but a -tremendously intricate machine. In one of the compartments the -phonograph, the eternal, ubiquitous phonograph of the Navy, was -bawling its raucous rags and mechano-nasal songs, and in the pauses -between records one could just hear the low hum of the distant -dynamos. A little group in blue dungarees held a conversation in a -corner; a petty officer, blue cap tilted back on his head, was at -work on a letter; the cook, whose genial art was customarily under an -interdict while the vessel was running submerged, was reading an -ancient paper from his own home town. - -Captain Bill sat in a retired nook, if a submarine can possibly be -said to have a retired nook, with a chart spread open on his knees. -The night before he had picked up a wireless message saying that a -German had been seen at sundown in a certain spot on the edge of his -patrol. So Captain Bill had planned to run submerged to the spot in -question, and then pop up suddenly in the hope of potting the Hun. -Some fifteen minutes before sun down, therefore, the Z3 arrived at -the place where the Fritz had been observed. - - -"I wish I knew just where the bird was," said an intent voice. "I'd -drop a can right on his neck." - -These sentiments were not those of anybody aboard the Z3. An -American destroyer had also come to the spot looking for the German, -and the gentle thought recorded above was that of her captain. It -was just sun down, a level train of splendour burned on the ruffled -waters to the west; a light, cheerful breeze was blowing. The -destroyer, ready for anything, was hurrying along at a smart clip. - -"This is the place all right, all right," said the navigator of the -destroyer. "Come to think of it, that chap's been reported from here -twice." - -Keen eyes swept the shining uneasy plain. - -Meanwhile, some seventy feet below, the Z3 manoeuvred, killing time. -The phonograph had been hushed, and every man was ready at his post. -The prospect of a go with the enemy had brought with it a keen thrill -of anticipation. Now a submarine crew is a well trained machine. -There are no shouted orders. If a submarine captain wants to send -his boat under quickly, he simply touches the button of a Klaxon, the -horn gives a demoniac yell throughout the ship, and each man does -what he ought to do at once. Such a performance is called a "crash -dive." - -"I'd like to see him come up so near that we could ram him," said the -captain, gazing almost directly into the sun. "Find out what she's -making." - -The engineer lieutenant stooped to a voice-tube that almost swallowed -up his face, and yelled a question to the engine room. An answer -came, quite unheard by the others. - -"Twenty-four, sir," said the engineer lieutenant. - -"Get her up to twenty-six," said the captain. - -The engineer cried again through the voice tube. The wake of the -vessel roared like a mill race, the white foam tumbling rosily in the -setting sun. - -Seventy feet below, Captain Bill was arranging the last little -details with the second in command. - -"In about five minutes we'll come up and take a look-see (stick up -the periscope) and if we see the bird, and we're in a good position -to send him a fish (torpedo) we'll let him have one. If there is -something there, and we're not in a good position, we'll manoeuvre -till we get into one, and then let him have it. If there isn't -anything to be seen, we'll go under again and take another look-see -in half an hour. Reilly has his instructions." Reilly was chief of -the torpedo room. - - -"Something round here must have got it in the neck recently," said -the destroyer captain, breaking a silence which had hung over the -bridge. "Did not you think that wreckage a couple of miles back -looked pretty fresh? Wonder if the boy we're after had anything to -do with it. Keep an eye on that sun streak." - - -An order was given in the Z3. It was followed instantly by a kind of -commotion, sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, the -ratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth -gauge with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, -counter clockwise, from seventy to twenty to fifteen feet.... -Captain Bill stood crouching at the periscope, and when it broke the -surface, a greenish light poured down it and focussed in his eyes. -He gazed keenly for a few seconds, and then reached for the -horizontal wheel which turns the periscope round the horizon. He -turned ... gazed, jumped back, and pushed the button for a crash dive. - -"She was almost on top of me," he explained afterwards. "Coming like -H--l. I had to choose between being rammed or depth bombed." - -There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing of -valves, and the arrow on the depth gauge leaped forward. Captain -Bill was sending her down as far as he could as fast as he dared. -Fifty feet, seventy feet, ... ninety feet. Hoping to throw the -destroyer off, the Z3 doubled on her track. A hundred feet. - -Crash! Depth charge number one. - -According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a -giant, wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and -violent kick, and then leaning down had shaken it as a terrier shakes -a rat. The Z3 rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the depths. -A number of lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, -one with the blood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his -eye. Many of them told later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of -the depth charge travelled through the hull and their own bodies; -some averred that "white light" seemed to shoot out of the Z3's -walls. Each man stood at his post waiting for the next charge. - -Crash! A second depth charge. To every one's relief, it was less -violent than the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the -Z3 continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger point. -Having escaped the first two depth charges, Captain Bill hastened to -bring the boat up to a higher level. Then to make things cheerful, -it was discovered that the Z3 showed absolutely no inclination to -obey her controls. - -"At first," said Captain Bill, "I thought that the first depth bomb -must have jammed all the external machinery, then I decided that our -measures to rise had not yet overcome the impetus of our forced -descent. Meanwhile the old hooker was heading for the bottom of the -Irish Sea, though I'd blown out every bit of water in her tanks. Had -to, fifty feet more, and she would have crushed in like an egg shell -under the wheel of a touring car. But she kept on going down. The -distance of the third, fourth and fifth depth bombs, however, put -cheer in our hearts. Then, presently, she began to rise. The old -girl came up like an elevator in a New York business block. I knew -that the minute I came to the surface those destroyer brutes would -try to fill me full of holes, so I had a man with a flag ready to -jump on deck the minute we emerged. He was pretty damn spry about -it, too. I took another look-see through the periscope, and saw that -the destroyer lay about two miles away, and as I looked she came for -me again. Meanwhile, my signal man was hauling himself out of the -hatchway as if his legs were in boiling water." - -"We've got her!" cried somebody aboard the destroyer in a deep -American voice full of the exultation of battle. The lean rifles -swung, lowered.... "Point one, lower." They were about to hear -"Fire!" when the Stars and Stripes and sundry other signals burst -from the deck of the misused Z3. - -"Well what do you think of that?" said the gunner. "If it ain't one -of our own gang. Say, we must have given it to 'em hard." - -"We'll go over and see who it is," said the captain of the destroyer. -"The signals are O.K., but it may be a dodge of the Huns. Ask 'em -who they are." - -In obedience to the order, a sailor on the destroyer's bridge -wigwagged the message. - -"Z3," answered one of the dungaree-clad figures on the submarine's -deck. Captain Bill came up himself, as the destroyer drew alongside, -to see his would-be assassin. There was no resentment in his heart. -The adventure was only part of the day's work. The destroyer neared; -her bow overlooked them. The two captains looked at each other. The -dialogue was laconic. - -"Hello, Bill," said the destroyer captain. - -"All right?" - -"Sure," answered Captain Bill, to one who had been his friend and -class mate. - -"Ta, ta, then," said he of the destroyer, and the lean vessel swept -away in the twilight. - -Captain Bill decided to stay on the surface for a while. Then he -went below to look over things. The cook, standing over some -unlovely slop which marked the end of a half dozen eggs broken by the -concussion, was giving his opinion of the undue hastiness of -destroyers. The cook was a child of Brooklyn, and could talk. The -opinion was not flattering. - -"Give it to 'em, cooko," said one of the crew, patting the orator -affectionately on the shoulder. "We're with you." - -And Captain Bill laughed. - - - - -IV - -RUNNING SUBMERGED - -It was breakfast time, and the officers of the submarines then in -port had gathered round one end of the long dining table in the -wardroom of the mother ship. Two or three who had breakfasted early -had taken places on a bench along the nearer wall and were examining -a disintegrating heap of English and American magazines, whilst -pushed back from the table and smoking an ancient briar, the senior -of the group read the wireless news which had just arrived that -morning. The news was not of great importance. The lecture done -with, the tinkle of cutlery and silver, which had been politely -hushed, broke forth again. - -"What are you doing this morning, Bill?" said one of the young -captains to another who had appeared in old clothes. - -"Going out at about half past nine with the X10. (The X10 was a -British submarine.) Just going to take a couple of shots at each -other. What are you up to?" - -"Oh, I've got to give a bearing the once over, and then I've got to -write a bunch of letters." - -"Wouldn't you like to come with us?" said the first speaker, pausing -over a steaming dish of breakfast porridge. "Be mighty glad to take -you." - -"Indeed I would," I replied with joy in my heart. "All my life long -I have wanted to take a trip in a submarine." - -"That's fine! We'll get you some dungarees. Can't fool round a -submarine in good clothes." The whole table began to take a friendly -interest, and a dispute arose as to whose clothes would best fit me. -I am a large person. "Give him my extra set, they're on the side of -my locker." "Don't you want a cap or something?" "Hey, that's too -small, wait and I'll get Tom's coat." "Try these on." They are a -wonderful lot, the submarine officers. - -I felt frightfully submarinish in my outfit. We must have made a -picturesque group. The captain led off, wearing a tattered, -battered, old uniform of Annapolis days, I followed wearing an old -Navy cap jammed on the side of my head and a suit of newly laundered -dungarees; the second officer brought up the rear; his outfit -consisted of dungaree trousers, a kind of aviator's waistcoat, and an -old cloth cap. - -The submarines were moored close by the side of the mother ship, a -double doorway in the wall of the machine shop on the lower deck -opening directly upon them. A narrow runway connected the nearest -vessel with the sill of this aperture, and mere planks led from one -superstructure to another. The day, first real day after weeks of -rain, was soft and clear, great low masses of vapour, neither mist -nor cloud, but something of both, swept down the long bay on the -wings of the wind from the clean, sweet-smelling sea; the sun shone -like ancient silver. Little fretful waves of water clear as the -water of a spring coursed down the alley ways between the submarines; -gulls, piping and barking, whirled like snow flakes overhead. I -crossed to one grey alligatorish superstructure, looked down a narrow -circular hatch at whose floor I could see the captain waiting for my -coming, grasped the steel rings of a narrow ladder, and descended -into the submarine. The first impression was of being surrounded by -tremendous, almost incredible complexity. A bewildering and -intricate mass of delicate mechanical contrivances, valves, stop -cocks, wheels, chains, shining pipes, ratchets, faucets, oil-cups, -rods, gauges. Second impression, bright cleanliness, shining brass, -gleams of steely radiance, stainless walls of white enamel paint. -Third impression, size; there was much more room than I had expected. -Of course everything is to be seen by floods of steady electric -light, since practically no daylight filters down through an open -hatchway. - -"This," said the captain, "is the control room. Notice the two depth -gauges, two in case one gets out of order. That thick tube with a -brass thread coiled about it is a periscope, and it's a peach! It's -of the 'housing' kind and winds up and down along that screw. The -thread prevents any leak of water. In here," we went through a -lateral compartment with a steel door, thick as that of a small safe, -"is a space where wee eat, sleep and live; our cook stove is that -gadget in the corner. We don't do much cooking when we're running -submerged; in here," we passed another stout partition, "is our -Diesel engine, and our dynamos. Up forward is another living space -which technically belongs to the officers, and the torpedo room." He -took me along. "Now you've seen it all. A fat steel cigar, divided -into various compartments and cram jammed full of shining machinery. -Of course, there's no privacy, whatsoever. (Readers will have to -guess what is occasionally used for the phonograph table.) Our space -is so limited that designers will spend a year arguing where to put -an object no bigger than a soap box. We get on very well however. -Every crew gets used to its boat; the men get used to each other. -They like the life; you couldn't drag them back to surface vessels. -An ideal submarine crew works like a perfect machine. When we go out -you'll see that we give our orders by Klaxon. There's too much noise -for the voice. Suppose I had popped up on the surface right under -the very nose of one of those destroyer brutes. She might start to -ram me; in which case I might not have time to make recognition -signals and would have to take my choice between getting rammed or -depth bombed. I decide to submerge, push a button, the Klaxon gives -a yell, and every man does automatically what he has been trained to -do. A floods the tanks, B stands by the dynamos, C watches the depth -gauges and so on. That's what we call a crash dive." - -"Over at the destroyer base," I said, "they told me that the Germans -were having trouble because of lack of trained crews." - -"You can just bet they are," said the captain. "Must have lost -several boats that way. Can't monkey with these boats; if somebody -pulls a fool stunt--Good Night!" He opened a gold watch and closed -it again with a click. "Nine o'clock, just time to shove off. Come -up on the bridge until we get out in the bay." - -I climbed the narrow ladder again and crept along the superstructure -to the bridge which rose for all the world like a little grey steel -pulpit. One has to be reasonably sure-footed. It was curious to -emerge from the electric lighted marvel to the sunlight of the bay, -to the view of the wild mountains descending to the clear sea. The -captain gave his orders. Faint, vague noises rose out of the -hatchway; sailors standing at various points along the superstructure -cast off the mooring ropes and took in bumpers shaped like monstrous -sausages of cord which had protected one bulging hull from another; -the submarine went ahead solemnly as a planet. Friendly faces leaned -over the rail of the mother ship high above. - -Once out into the bay, I asked the second in command just what we -were up to. The second in command was a well knit youngster with the -coolest, most resolute blue eyes it has ever been my fortune to see. - -"We're going to take shots at a British submarine and then she's -going to have a try at us. We don't really fire torpedoes--but -manoeuvre for a position. Three shots apiece. There she is now, -running on the surface. Just as soon as we get out to deep water -we'll submerge and go for her. Great practice." - -A British submarine, somewhat larger than our American boat, was -running down the bay, pushing curious little waves of water ahead of -her. Several men stood on her deck. - -"Nice boat, isn't she? Her captain's a great scout. About two -months ago a patrol boat shot off his periscope _after_ he made it -reasonably clear he wasn't a Hun. You ought to hear him tell about -it. Especially his opinion of patrol boat captains. Great command -of language. Bully fellow, born submarine man." - -"I meant to ask you if you weren't sometimes mistaken for a German," -I said. - -"Yes, it happens," he answered coolly. "You haven't seen Smithie -yet, have you? Guess he was away when you came. A bunch of -destroyers almost murdered him last month. He's come the nearest to -kissing himself good-bye of any of us. Going to dive now, time to -get under." - -Once more down the steel ladder. I was getting used to it. The -handful of sailors who had been on deck waited for us to pass. -Within, the strong, somewhat peppery smell of hot oil from the Diesel -engines floated, and there was to be heard a hard, powerful -knocking-spitting sound from the same source. The hatch cover was -secured, a listener might have heard a steely thump and a grind as it -closed. Men stood calmly by the depth gauges and the valves. Not -being a "crash dive," the feat of getting under was accomplished -quietly, accomplished with no more fracas than accompanies the -running of a motor car up to a door. One instant we were on the -surface, the next instant we were under, and the lean black arrow on -the broad moon-faced depth gauge was beginning to creep from ten to -fifteen, from fifteen to twenty, from twenty to twenty-five.... The -clatter of the Diesel engine had ceased; in its place rose a low hum. -And of course there was no alteration of light, nothing but that -steady electric glow on those cold, clean bulging walls. - -"What's the programme, now?" - -"We are going down the bay a bit, put up our periscope, pick up the -Britisher, and fire an imaginary tin fish at him. After each shot, -we come to the surface for an instant to let him know we've had our -turn." - -"What depth are we now?" - -"Only fifty-five feet." - -"What depth can you go?" - -"The Navy Regulations forbid our descending more than two hundred -feet. Subs are always hiking around about fifty or seventy-five feet -under, just deep enough to be well under the keel of anything going -by." - -"Where are we now?" - -"Pretty close to the mouth of the bay. I'm going to shove up the -periscope in a few minutes." - -The captain gave an order, the arrow on the dial retreated towards -the left. - -"Keep her there." He applied his eye to the periscope. A strange, -watery green light poured out of the lens, and focussing in his eye, -lit the ball with wild demoniac glare. A consultation ensued between -the captain and his junior. - -"Do you see her?" - -"Yes, she is in a line with that little white barn on the island.... -She's heading down the bay now.... So many points this way (this -last direction to the helmsman) ... there she is ... she's making -about twelve ... she's turning, coming back ... steady ... five, ... -six ... Fire!" - -There was a rush, a clatter, and a stir and the boat rose evenly to -the surface. - -"Here, take a look at her," said the captain, pushing me towards the -periscope. I fitted the eyepieces (they might have been those of -field glasses embedded in the tube) to my eyes, and beheld again the -outer world. The kind of a world one might see in a crystal, a -mirror world, a glass world, but a remarkably clear little world. -And as I peered, a drop of water cast up by some wave touched the -outer lens of the tube, and a trickle big as a deluge slid down the -visionary bay. - -Twice again we "attacked" the Britisher. Her turn came. Our boat -rose to the surface, and I was once more invited to accompany the -captain to the bridge. The British boat lay far away across the -inlet. We cruised about watching her. - -"There she goes." The Britisher sank like a stone in a pond. We -continued our course. The two officers peered over the water with -young, searching, resolute eyes. Then they took to their binoculars. - -"There she is," cried the captain, "in a line with the oak tree." I -searched for a few minutes in vain. Suddenly I saw her, that is to -say, I saw with a great deal of difficulty a small dark rod moving -through the water. It came closer; I saw the hatpin shaped trail -behind it. - -Presently with a great swirl and roiling of foam the Britisher pushed -herself out of the water. I could see my young captain judging the -performance in his eye. Then we played victim two more times and -went home. On the way we discussed the submarine patrol. Now there -is no more thrilling game in the world than the game of periscope -_vs._ periscope. - -"What do you do?" I asked. "Just what you saw us do to-day. We pack -up grub and supplies, beat it out on the high seas and wait for a -Fritz to come along. We give him a taste of his own medicine; given -him one more enemy to dodge. Suppose a Hun baffles the destroyers, -makes off to a lonely spot, and comes to the surface for a breath of -air. There isn't a soul in sight, not a stir of smoke on the -horizon. Just as Captain Otto, or Von Something is gloating over the -last hospital ship he sunk, and thinking what a lovely afternoon it -is, a tin fish comes for him like a bullet out of a gun, there comes -a thundering pound, a vibration that sends little waves through the -water, a great foul swirl, fragments of cork, and it's all over with -the Watch on the Rhine. Sometimes Fritz's torpedo meets ours on the -way. Then once in a while a destroyer or a patriotic but misguided -tramp makes things interesting for a bit. But it's the most -wonderful service of all. I wouldn't give it up for anything. We're -all going out day after to-morrow. Can't you cable London for -permission to go? You'll like it. Don't believe anything you hear -about the air getting bad. The principal nuisance when you've been -under a long while is the cold; the boat gets as raw and damp as an -unoccupied house in winter. Jingo, quarter past one! We'll be late -for dinner." - - -Some time after this article had appeared, the captain of an American -submarine gave me a copy of the following verses written by a -submarine sailor. Poems of this sort, typewritten by some -accommodating yeoman, are always being handed round in the Navy; I -have seen dozens of them. Would that I knew the author of this -picturesque and flavorous ditty, for I would gladly give him the -credit he deserves. - - - A SUBMARINE - - Born in the shops of the devil, - Designed by the brains of a fiend; - Filled with acid and crude oil, - And christened "A Submarine." - - The posts send in their ditties - Of battleships spick and clean; - But never a word in their columns - Do you see of a submarine. - - So I'll endeavour to depict our story - In a very laconic way; - So please have patience to listen - Until I have finished my say. - - We eat where'er we can find it, - And sleep hanging up on hooks; - Conditions under which we're existing - Are never published in books. - - Life on these boats is obnoxious - And this is using mild terms; - We are never bothered by sickness, - There isn't any room for germs. - - We are never troubled with varmints, - There are things even a cockroach can't stand; - And any self-respecting rodent - Quick as possible beats it for land. - - And that little one dollar per diem - We receive to submerge out of sight, - Is often earned more than double - By charging batteries all night. - - And that extra compensation - We receive on boats like these, - We never really get at all. - It's spent on soap and dungarees. - - Machinists get soaked in fuel oil, - Electricians in H2SO4, - Gunner's mates with 600 W, - And torpedo slush galore. - - When we come into the Navy Yard - We are looked upon with disgrace; - And they make out some new regulation - To fit our particular case. - - Now all you battleship sailors, - When you are feeling disgruntled and mean, - Just pack your bag and hammock - And go to a submarine. - - - - -V - -THE RETURN OF THE CAPTAINS - -The breakfast hour was drawing to its end, and the very last -straggler sat alone at the ward room table. Presently an officer of -the mother ship, passing through, called to the lingering group of -submarine officers. - -"The X4 is coming up the bay, and the X12 has been reported from -signal station." - -The news was received with a little hum of friendly interest. -"Wonder what Ned will have to say for himself this time." "Must have -struck pretty good weather." "Bet you John has been looking for -another chance at that Hun of his." The talk drifted away into other -channels. A little time passed. Then suddenly a door opened, and -one after the other entered the three officers of the first home -coming submarine. They were clad in various ancient uniforms which -might have been worn by an apprentice lad in a garage, old grey -flannel shirts, and stout grease stained shoes; several days had -passed since their faces had felt a razor, and all were a little pale -from their cruise. But the liveliest of keen eyes burned in each -resolute young face, eyes smiling and glad. A friendly hullaballoo -broke forth. Chairs scraped, one fell with a crash. - -"Hello, boys!" - -"Hi, John!" - -"For the love of Pete, Joe, shave off those whiskers of yours; they -make you look like Trotsky." - -"See any Germans?" - -"What's the news?" - -"What's doing?" - -"Hi, Manuelo" (this to a Philipino mess boy who stood looking on with -impassive curiosity), "save three more breakfasts." - -"Anything go for you?" - -"Well, if here isn't our old Bump!" - -The crowd gathered round Captain John who had established contact -(this is military term quite out of place in a work on the Navy) with -the eagerly sought, horribly elusive German. - -"Go on, John, give us an earful. What time did you say it was?" - -"About 5 A.M.," answered the captain. He stood leaning against a -door and the fine head, the pallor, the touch of fatigue, all made a -very striking and appealing picture. "Say about eight minutes after -five. I'd just come up to take a look-see, and saw him just about -two miles away on the surface, and moving right along. So I went -under to get into a good position, came up again and let him have -one. Well, the bird saw it just as it was almost on him, swung her -round, and dived like a ton of lead." - -The audience listened in silent sympathy. One could see the -disappointment on the captain's face. - -"Where was he?" - -"About so and so." - -"That's the jinx that got after the convoy sure as you live." - -The speaker had had his own adventures with the Germans. A month or -so he shoved his periscope and spotted a Fritz on the surface in full -noonday. The watchful Fritz, however, had been lucky enough to see -the enemy almost at once and had dived. The American followed suit. -The eyeless submarine manoeuvred about some eighty feet under, the -German evidently "making his get-a-way," the American hoping to be -lucky enough to pick up Fritz's trail, and get a shot at him when the -enemy rose again, to the top. And while the two blind ships -manoeuvred there in the dark of the abyss, the keel of the fleeing -German had actually, by a curious chance, scraped along the top of -the American vessel and carried away the wireless aerials! - -All were silent for a few seconds, thinking over the affair. It was -not difficult to read the thought in every mind, the thought of -_getting at the enemy_. The idea of our Navy is "Get after 'em, Keep -after 'em, Stay after 'em, Don't give 'em an instant of security or -rest." And none have this fighting spirit deeper in their hearts -than our gallant men of the submarine patrol. - -"That's all," said Captain John. "I'm going to have a wash up." He -lifted a grease stained hand to his cheek, and rubbed his unshaven -beard, and grinned. - -"Any letters?" - -"Whole bag of stuff. Smithie put it on your desk." - -Captain John wandered off. Presently, the door opened again, and -three more veterans of the patrol cruised in, also in ancient -uniforms. There were more cheers; more friendly cries. It was -unanimously decided that the "Trotsky" of the first lot had better -take a back seat, since the second in command of the newcomers was "a -perfect ringer for Rasputin." - -"See anything?" - -"Nothing much. There's a bit of wreckage just off shore. Saw a -British patrol boat early Tuesday morning. I was on the surface, -lying between her and the sunrise; she was hidden by a low lying -swirl of fog; she saw us first. When we saw her, I made signals, and -over she came. Guess what the old bird wanted ... _wanted to know if -I'd seen a torpedo he'd fired at me_! An old scout with white -whiskers, one of those retired captains, I suppose, who has gone back -on the job. He admitted that he had received the Admiralty notes -about us, but thought we acted suspicious.... Did you ever hear of -such nerve!" - - -When the war was young, I had a year of it on land. Now, I have seen -the war at sea. To my mind, if there was one service of this war -which more than any other required those qualities of endurance, -skill and courage whose blend the fighting men so wisely call -"_guts_," it surely was our submarine patrol. So here's to the L -boats, their officers and crews, and to the _Bushnell_ and her brood -of Bantry Bay! - - - - -VI - -OUR SAILORS - -In the lingo of the Navy, the enlisted men are known as "gobs." This -word is not to be understood as in any sense conveying a derogatory -meaning. The men use it themselves;--"the _gobs_ on the 210." "What -does a real _gob_ want with a wrist watch?" It is an unlovely -syllable, but it has character. - -In the days before the war, our navy was, to use an officer's phrase, -more of "a big training school" than anything else. There were, of -course, a certain number of young men who intended to become sailors -by profession, even as some entered the regular army with the -intention of remaining in it, but the vast majority of sailors were -"one enlistment men" who signed on for four years and then returned -to civilian life. The personnel included boys just graduated from or -weary of high school, young men from the western farms eager for a -glimpse of the world, and city lads either uncertain as to just what -trade or profession they should follow or thirsting for a man's cup -of adventure before settling down to the prosaic task that gives the -daily bread. - -To-day, the enlisted personnel of the Navy is a cross section of the -Nation's youth. There are many college men, particularly among the -engineers. There are young men who have abandoned professions to -enter the Navy to do their bit. For instance, the yeoman who ran the -little office on board Destroyer 66 was a young lawyer who had -attained real distinction. On board the same destroyer was a lad who -had been for a year or two a reporter on one of the New York papers, -and a chubby earnest lad whose father is a distinguished leader of -the Massachusetts bar. Of my four best friends, "Pop" had worked in -some shop or other, "Giles" was a student from an agricultural -college somewhere in western New York, "Idaho" was a high school boy -fresh from a great ranch, and "Robie" was the son of a physician in a -small southern city. The Napoleonic veterans of the new navy are the -professional "gobs" of old; sailors with second enlistment stripes go -down the deck the very _vieux de la veille_. - -The sailor suffers from the fact that many people have fixed in their -minds an imaginary sailor whom they have created from light -literature and the stage. Just as the soldier must always be a -dashing fellow, so must the sailor be a rollicking soul, fond of the -bottle and with a wife in every port. Is not the "comic sailor" a -recognized literary figure? Yet whoever heard of the "comic -soldier"? This silly phantom blinds us to the genuine charm of -character with which the sea endows her adventurous children; we turn -into a frolic a career that is really one of endurance, heroism, and -downright hard work. Not that I am trying to make Jack a sobersides -or a saint. He is full of fun and spirit. But the world ought to -cease imagining him either as a mannerless "rough-houser" or a low -comedian. Our sailors have no special partiality for the bottle; -indeed, I feel quite certain that a majority of every crew "keep away -from booze" entirely. As for having a wife in every port, the -Chaplain says that a sailor is the most faithful husband in the world. - -As a lot, sailors are unusually good-hearted. This last Christmas -the men of our American battleships now included in the Grand Fleet -requested permission to invite aboard the orphan children of a great -neighbouring city, and give them an "American good time." So the -kiddies were brought aboard; Jack rigged up a Christmas tree, and -distributed presents and sweets in a royal style. Said a witness of -the scene to me, "I never saw children so happy." - -One of the passions which sway "the gobs" is to have a set of -"tailor-made" liberty blues. By "liberty blues" you are to -understand the sailor's best uniform, the picturesque outfit he wears -ashore. Surely the uniform of our American sailor is quite the -handsomest of all. On such a flimsy excuse, however, as that "the -government stuff don't fit you round the neck" or "hasn't any -_style_," Jack is forever rushing to some Louie Katzenstein in -Norfolk, Va., or Sam Schwartz of Charlestown, Mass., to get a "real" -suit made. Endless are the attempts to make these "a little bit -_different_," attempts, alas, which invariably end in reprimand and -disaster. The _dernier cri_ of sportiness is to have a right hand -pocket lined with starboard green and a left hand pocket lined with -port red. A second ambition is to own a heavy seal ring, "fourteen -karat, Navy crest. Name and date of enlistment engraved free." -Sailors pay anywhere from twenty to seventy dollars for these -treasures. To-day, the style is to have a patriotic motto engraved -within the band. I remember several inscribed "Democracy or Death." -The desire of having a "real" watch comes next in hand, and if you -ask a sailor the time he is very liable to haul out a watch worth -anywhere from a hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars. - -Our sailors are the very finest fellows in the world to live with. I -sailed with the Navy many thousand miles; I visited all the great -bases, and _I did not see one single case of drunkenness or -disorderly behaviour_. The work done by our sailors was a hard and -gruelling labour, the seas which they patrolled were haunted by every -danger, yet everywhere they were eager and keen, their energy -unabated, their spirits unshaken. - - - - -VII - -THE BASE - -The town which served as the base of the American destroyers has but -one great street; it is called The Esplanade, and lies along the -harbour edge and open to the sea. I saw it first in the wild -darkness of a night in early March. Rain, the drenching, Irish rain, -had been falling all the day, but toward evening the downpour had -ceased, and a blustery south-east wind had thinned the clouds, and -brought the harbour water to clashing and complaining in the dark. -It was such a night as a man might peer at from a window, and be -grateful for the roof which sheltered him, yet up and down the gloomy -highway, past the darkened houses and street lamps shaded to mere -lifeless lumps of light, there moved a large and orderly crowd. For -the most part, this crowd consisted of American sailors from the -destroyers in port, lean, wholesome-looking fellows these, with a -certain active and eager manner very reassuring to find on this side -of our cruelly tried and jaded world. Peering into a little lace -shop decked with fragile knickknacks and crammed with bolts of table -linen, I saw two great bronzed fellows in pea jackets and pancake -hats buying something whose niceties of stitch and texture a little -red-cheeked Irish lass explained with pedagogic seriousness; whilst -at the other end of the counter a young officer with grey hair fished -in his pockets for the purchase money of some yards of lace which the -proprietress was slowly winding around a bit of blue cardboard. Back -and forth, now swallowed up in the gloom of a dark stretch, now -become visible in the light of a shop door, streamed the crowd of -sailors, soldiers, officers, country folk and townspeople. I heard -Devon drawling its oe's and oa's; America speaking with Yankee -crispness, and Ireland mingling in the babel with a mild and genial -brogue. - -By morning the wind had died down; the sun was shining merrily, and -great mountain masses of rolling white cloud were sailing across the -sky as soft and blue as that which lies above Fiesole. Going forth, -I found the little town established on an edge of land between the -water and the foot of a hill; a long hill whose sides were in places -so precipitous that only masses of dark green shrubbery appeared -between the line of dwellings along the top and the buildings of the -Esplanade. The hill, however, has not had things all its way. Two -streets, rising at an angle which would try the endurance of an -Alpine ram actually go in a straight line from the water's edge to -the high ground, taking with them, in their ascent, tier after tier -of mean and grimy dwellings. All other streets, however, are less -heroic, and climb the side of the hill in long, sloping lateral -lines. A new Gothic cathedral, built just below the crest of the -hill, but far overtopping it, dominates and crowns the town; perhaps -crushes would be the better verb, for the monstrous bone-grey mass -towers above the terraced roofs of the port with an ascendancy as -much moral as physical. Yet for all its vastness and commanding -situation, it is singularly lifeless, and only the trickery of a -moonlight night can invest its mediocre, Albert-Memorial architecture -with any trace of beauty. - -The day begins slowly there, partly because this south Irish climate -is such stuff as dreams are made of, partly because good, old -irreconcilables are suspicious of the daylight saving law as a -British measure. There is little to be seen till near on ten -o'clock. Then the day begins; a number of shrewd old fish wives, -with faces wrinkled like wintered apples and hair still black as a -raven's wing, set up their stalls in an open space by a line of -deserted piers, and peasants from near by villages come to town -driving little donkey carts laden with the wares; now one hears the -real rural brogue, the shrewd give and take of jest and bargain, and -a prodigious yapping and snarling from a prodigious multitude of -curs. Never have I seen more collarless dogs. The streets are full -of the hungry, furtive creatures; there is a fight every two or three -minutes between some civic champion and one of the invading rural -mongrels; many is the Homeric fray that has been settled by a good -kick with a sea boot. Little by little the harbour, seeing that the -land is at last awake, comes ashore to buy its fresh eggs, green -vegetables, sweet milk and golden Tipperary butter. The Filipino and -negro stewards from the American ships arrive with their baskets and -cans; they are very popular with Queenstown folk who cherish the -delusion that our trimly dressed, genially grinning negroes are the -American Indians of boyhood's romance. From the cathedral's solitary -spire, a chime jangles out the quarters, amusing all who pause to -listen with its involuntary rendering of the first bar of "Strike up -the band; here comes a sailor." And ever and anon, a breeze blows in -from the harbour bringing with it a faint smell from the funnels of -the oil-burning destroyers, a smell which suggests that a giant oil -lamp somewhere in the distance has need of turning down. After the -lull of noon, the men to whom liberty has been given begin to arrive -in boatloads forty and fifty strong. The patrollers, distinguished -from their fellows by leggins, belts, white hats, and police billie, -descend first, form in line, and march off to their ungrateful task -of keeping order where there is no disorder; then, scrambling up the -water side stairs like youngsters out of school, follow the liberty -men. If there is any newcomer to the fleet among them, it is an even -chance that he will be rushed over the hill to the _Lusitania_ -cemetery, a gruesome pilgrimage to which both British and American -tars are horridly partial. Some are sure to stroll off to their -club, some elect to wander about the Esplanade, others disappear in -the highways and byways of the town. For Bill and Joe have made -friends. There have been some fifty marriages at this base. I -imagine a good deal of match-making goes on in those grimy streets, -for the Irish marriage is, like the Continental one, no matter of -silly sentiment, but a serious domestic transaction. All afternoon -long, the sailors come and go. The supper hour takes them to their -club; night divides them between the movies and the nightly promenade -in the gloom. - -The glories of this base as a mercantile port, if there ever were -any--and the Queenstown folk labour mightily to give you the -impression that it was the only serious rival to London--are now over -with the glories of Nineveh and Tyre. A few Cunard lithographs of -leviathans now for the most part at the bottom of the sea, a few -dusty show cases full of souvenirs, pigs and pipes of black, bog oak, -"Beleek" china, a fragile, and vanilla candy kind of ware, and lace -'kerchiefs "made by the nuns" alone remain to recall the tourist -traffic that once centred here. To-day, one is apt to find among the -souvenirs an incongruous box of our most "breathy" (forgive my -new-born adjective) variety of American chewing gum. If you would -imagine our base as it was in the great days, better forget the port -entirely and try to think of a great British and American naval base -crammed with shipping flying the national ensigns, of waters thrashed -by the propellers of oil tankers, destroyers, cruisers, armed sloops, -mine layers, and submarines even. A busy dockyard clangs away from -morning till night; a ferry boat with a whistle like the frightened -scream of a giant's child runs back and forth from the docks to the -Admiralty pier, little parti-coloured motor dories run swiftly from -one destroyer to another. - -From the hill top, this harbour appears as a pleasant cove lying -among green hills. On the map, it has something the outline of a -blacksmith's anvil. Taking the narrow entrance channel to be the -column on which the anvil rests, there extends to the right, a long -tapering bay, stretching down to a village leading over hill, over -dale to tumble-down Cloyne, where saintly Berkeley long meditated on -the non-existence of matter; there lies to the right a squarer, -blunter bay through which a river has worn a channel. This channel -lies close to the shore, and serves as the anchorage. - -Over the tops of the headlands, rain-coloured and tilted up to a bank -of grey eastern cloud, lay the vast ambush, the merciless gauntlet of -the beleaguered sea. - - - - -VIII - -THE DESTROYER AND HER PROBLEM - -About a quarter of a mile apart, one after the other along the ribbon -of deep water just off the shore, lie a number of Admiralty buoys -about the size and shape of a small factory boiler. At these buoys, -sometimes attached in little groups of two, three, and even four to -the same ring bolt, lie the American destroyers. From the shore one -sees the long lean hull of the nearest vessel and a clump of funnels -all tilted backwards at the same angle. The air above these waspish -nests, though unstained with smoke, often broods vibrant with heat. -All the destroyers are camouflaged, the favourite colours being -black, West Point grey and flat white. This camouflage produces -neither by colour nor line the repulsive and silly effect which is -for the moment so popular. Going aboard a destroyer for the first -time, a lay observer is struck by their extraordinary leanness, a -natural enough impression when one recalls that the vessels measure -some three hundred feet in length and only thirty-four in width. -Many times have I watched from our hill these long, low, rapier -shapes steal swiftly out to sea, and been struck with the terror, the -genuine dread that lies in the word _destroyer_. For it is a -terrible word, a word heavy with destruction and vengeance, a word -that is akin to many an Old Testament phrase. - -Our great destroyer fleet may be divided into two squadrons, the -first of larger boats called "thousand tonners," the second of -smaller vessels known as "flivvers." Another division parts the -thousand tonners into those which have a flush deck from bow to -stern, and those which have a forward deck on a higher level than the -main deck. All these types burn oil, the oil burner being nothing -more than a kind of sprayer whose mist of fuel a forced draft whirls -into a roar of flame; all can develop a speed of at least twenty-nine -knots. The armament varies with the individual vessel, the usual -outfit consisting of four four-inch guns, two sets of torpedo tubes, -two mounted machine guns, and a store of depth charges. - -These charges deserve a eulogy of their own. They have done more -towards winning the war than all the giant howitzers whose calibre -has stupefied the world. In appearance and mechanism they are the -simplest of affairs. The Navy always refers to them as cans: "I -dropped a can right on his head"; "it was the last can that did the -business." Imagine an ash can of medium size painted black and -transformed into a ponderous thick walled cylinder of steel crammed -with some three hundred pounds of T.N.T. and you have a perfect image -of one. Now imagine at one end of this cylinder a detonator -protected by an arrangement which can be set to resist the pressure -of water at various levels. A sub appears, and sinks swiftly. If it -is just below the surface, the destroyer drops a bomb set to explode -at a depth of seventy feet. The bomb then sinks by its own weight to -that level at which the outward force of the protective mechanism is -over-balanced by the inward pressure of the water; the end yields, -the detonator crushes, the bomb explodes, and your submarine is flung -horribly out of the depths almost clear of the water, and while he is -up, the destroyer's guns fill the hull full of holes. Or suppose the -submarine to have gone down two hundred feet. Then you drop a bomb -geared to that depth upon him, and blow in his sides like a cracked -egg. The sound of these engines travels through the water some -twenty or twenty-five miles, and there have been ships who have -caught the vibration of a distant depth bomb through their hulls and -thought themselves torpedoed. I once saw a depth bomb roll off a -British sloop into a half filled dry dock; the men scrambled away -like mad, but returned in a few minutes to fish out a "can," that had -sixty more feet to go before it could burst. It lay on the bottom -harmless as a stone. The charges rest at the stern of a vessel, -lying one above the other on two sloping runways, and can be released -either from the stern or by hydraulic pressure applied at the bridge. -The credit for this exceedingly successful scheme belongs to a -distinguished American naval officer. - -The destroyer has but one deck which is arranged in the following -manner. I take one of the "thousand tonners" as an illustration. -From an incredibly lean, high bow, a first deck falls back a -considerable distance to a four-inch gun; behind the gun lies another -open space closed by a two-storied structure whose upper section is -the bridge and whose lower section a chart room. At the rear of this -structure the hull of the boat is cut away, and one descends by a -ladder from the deck which is on the level of the chart room floor, -to the main deck level some eight feet below. Beyond this cut but -one deck lies, the mere steel covering of the hull. Guns and torpedo -tubes are mounted on it, the funnels rise flush from the plates; a -life line lies strung along its length, and strips of cocoa matting -try to give something of a footing. - -The officers' quarters are to be found under the forward deck. The -sleeping rooms are situated on both sides of a narrow passageway -which begins at the bow and leads to the open living room and dining -room space known as the ward room. In the hull, in the space beneath -the wardroom lie the quarters of the crew, amidships lie the boilers -and the engine room, and beyond them, a second space for the crew and -the petty officers. A destroyer is by no means a paradise of -comfort, though when the vessel lies in a quiet port, she can be as -attractive and livable as a yacht. But Heaven help the poor sailor -aboard a destroyer at sea! The craft rolls, dips, shudders, plunges -like a horse straight up at the stars, sinks rapidly and horribly, -and even has spells of see-sawing violently from side to side. Its -worst motion is an unearthly twist,--a swift appalling rise at a -dreadful angle, a toss across space to the other side of a wave, a -fearful descent sideways and down and a ghastly shudder. "You need -an iron stomach" to be on a destroyer is a navy saying. Some, -indeed, can never get used to them, and have to be transferred to -other vessels. - -[Illustration: American destroyer on patrol] - -The destroyer is the capital weapon against the submarine. She can -out-race a sub, can fight him with guns, torpedoes, or depth charges; -she can send him bubbling to the bottom by ramming him amidships. -She can confuse him by throwing a pall of smoke over his target; she -can beat off his attacks either above or below the surface. He fires -a torpedo at her, she dodges, runs down the trail of the torpedo, -drops a depth bomb, and brings her prey to the surface, an actual -incident this. Her problem is of a dual nature, being both defensive -and offensive. To-day, her orders are to escort a convoy through the -danger zone to a position in latitude x and longitude y; to-morrow, -her orders are to patrol a certain area of the beleaguered sea or a -given length of coast. - -Based upon a foreign port, working in strange waters, the destroyer -flotilla added to the fine history of the American Navy a splendid -record of endurance, heroism and daring achievement. - - - - -IX - -TORPEDOED - -If you would understand the ocean we sailed in war-time, do not -forget that it was essentially an ambush, that the foe was waiting -for us in hiding. Nothing real or imagined brooded over the ocean to -warn a vessel of the presence of danger, for the waters engulfed and -forgot the tragedies of this war as they have engulfed and forgotten -all disasters since the beginning of time. The great unquiet shield -of the sea stretched afar to pale horizons, the sun shone as he might -shine on a pretty village at high noon, the gulls followed alert and -clamorous. Yet a thundering instant was capable of transforming this -apparent calm into the most formidable insecurity. In four minutes -you would have nothing left of your ship and its company but a few -boats, some bodies, and a miscellaneous litter of wreckage strewn -about the scene of the disaster. Of the assassin there was not a -sign. - -All agreed that the torpedo arrived at a fearful speed. "Like a long -white bullet through the water," said one survivor. "Honest to God, -I never saw anything come so fast," said another. - -"Where did it strike?" I asked the first speaker, a fine intelligent -English seaman who had been rescued by a destroyer and brought to an -American base. - -"In a line with the funnel, sir. A great column of steam and water -went up together, and the pieces of the two port boats fell all -around the bridge. I think it was a bit of one of the boats that -struck me here." He held up a bandaged hand. - -"What happened then?" - -"All the lights went out. It was just dusk, you see, so we had to -abandon the boat in the darkness. A broken steam pipe was roaring so -that you couldn't hear a word any one was saying. She sank very -fast." - -"Did you see any sign of the submarine?" - -"The captain's steward thought he saw something come up just about -three hundred yards away as we were going down. But in my judgment, -it was too dark to see anything distinctly, and my notion is that he -saw a bit of wreckage, perhaps a hatch." - -The next man to whom I talked was a chunky little stoker who might -have stepped out of the pages of one of Jacobs' stories. I shall not -aim to reproduce his dialect--it was of the "wot abaht it" order. - -"We were heading into Falmouth with a cargo of steel and barbed wire. -I had a lot of special supplies which I bought myself in New York, -some sugar, two very nice 'ams and one of those round Dutch cheeses. -I was always thinking to myself how glad my old woman would be to see -all those vittles. Just as we got off the Scillies, one of those -bloody swine hit us with a torpedo between the boiler room and the -thwart ship bunker, forward of the engine room, and about sixteen -feet below the water line. Understand? I was in the boiler room. -Down came the bunker doors, off went the tank tops in the engine -room, two of the boilers threw out a mess of burning coal, and the -water came pouring in like a flood. Let me tell you that cold sea -water soon got bloody hot, the room was filled with steam, couldn't -see anything. I expected the boilers to blow up any minute. I -yelled out for my mates. Suddenly I heard one of 'em say: 'Where's -the ladder?' and there was pore Jem with his face and chest burned -cruel by the flying coal, and he had two ribs broke too, though we -didn't know it at the time. Says 'e, 'Where's Ed?' and just then Ed -came wading through the scalding water, pawing for the ladder. So up -we all went, never expecting to reach the top. Then when we got into -a boat, we 'eard that the wireless had been carried away, and that -we'd have to wait for somebody to pick us up. So we waited for two -days and a Yankee destroyer found us. Yes, both my mates are getting -better, though sister 'ere tells me that pore Ed may lose his eye." - -Sometimes the torpedo was seen and avoided by a quick turn of the -wheel. There were other occasions when the torpedo seems to follow a -ship. I remember reading this tale. "At 2.14 I saw the torpedo and -felt certain that it would mean a hit either in the engine or the -fire room, so I ordered full speed ahead, and put the rudder over -hard left. At a distance of between two and three hundred yards, the -torpedo took a sheer to the left, but righted itself. For an instant -it appeared as if the torpedo might pass astern, but porpoising -again, it turned toward the ship and struck us close by the -propellers." - -So much for blind chances. One hears curious tales. The column of -water caused by the explosion tossed onto the forward hatch of one -merchant ship a twisted half of the torpedo; there was a French boat -struck by a torpedo which did not explode, but lay there at the side -violently churning, and clinging to the boat as if it were possessed -of some sinister intelligence. I heard of a boat laden with high -explosives within whose hold a number of motor trucks had been -arranged. A torpedo got her at the mouth of the channel. An -explosion similar to the one at Halifax raked the sea, the vessel, -blown into fragments, disappeared from sight in the twinkling of an -eye, and an instant later there fell like bolides from the startled -firmament a number of immense motor trucks, one of which actually -crashed on to the deck of another vessel! - -Meanwhile, I suppose, some hundred and fifty feet or more below, -"Fritz," seated at a neat folding table, wrote it all down in his log. - - - - -X - -THE END OF A SUBMARINE - -Two days before, in a spot somewhat south of the area we were going -out to patrol, a submarine had attacked a convoy and sunk a horse -boat. I had the story of the affair months afterwards from an -American sailor who had seen it all from a nearby ship. This sailor, -no other than my friend Giles, had been stationed in the lookout when -he heard a thundering pound, and looking to port, he saw a column of -water hanging just amidships of the torpedoed vessel, a column that -broke crashing over the decks. In about three minutes the ship broke -in two, the bow and the stern rising like the points of a shallow V, -and in five minutes she sank. The sea was strewn with straw; there -were broken stanchions floating in the confused water, and a number -of horses could be seen swimming about. "All you could see was their -heads; they looked awful small in all that water. Some of the horses -had men hanging to them. There was a lot of yelling for help." The -other ships of the convoy had run for dear life; the destroyers had -raced about like hornets whose nest is disturbed, but the submarine -escaped. - -We left a certain harbour at about three in the afternoon. Many of -the destroyers were out at sea taking in a big troop convoy and the -harbour seemed unusually still. The town also partook of this quiet, -the long lateral lines of climbing houses staring out blankly at us -like unresponsive acquaintances. Very few folk were to be seen on -the street. We were bound forth on an adventure that was drama -itself, a drama which even then the Fates, unknown to us, were -swiftly weaving into a tragedy of vengeance, yet I shall never forget -how casual and undramatic the Esplanade appeared. A loafer or two -lounged by the door of the public house, a little group of sailors -passed, a jaunting car went swiftly on its way to the station; there -was nothing to suggest that these isles were beleaguered; nothing -told of the remorseless enemy at the gates of the sea. - -All night long under a gloomy, starless sky we patrolled waters dark -as the very waves of the Styx. The hope that nourished us was the -thought of finding a submarine on the surface, but we heard no noise -through the mysterious dark, and a long, interminable dawn revealed -to us nothing but the high crumbling cliffs of a lonely and -ill-reputed bay. Where were _they_ then, I have often wondered? -When had they their last look at the sun? Had they any consciousness -of the end which time was bringing to them with a giant's hurrying -step? At about six o'clock we swung off to the southward, and in a -short time the coast had faded from sight. - -From six o'clock to about half past ten we swept in great circles and -lines the mist encircled disk of the pale sea which had been -entrusted to our keeping. We were at hand to answer any appeal for -aid which might flutter through the air, to investigate any -suspicious wreckage; above all, to fulfill our function of -destruction. I have spoken elsewhere of the terror which lurks in -the word _destroyer_. We were hunters; beaters of the ambush of the -sea. About us lay the besieged waters, yellow green in colour, vexed -with tide rips and mottled with shadows of haze and appearances of -shoal. - -We were on the bridge. Suddenly a voice called down the tube from -the lookout on the mast: - -"Smoke on the horizon just off the port bow, sir." - -In a little while a vague smudginess made itself seen along the humid -southeast, and some fifteen minutes later there emerged from this -smudge the advance vessels of a convoy. Now one by one, now in twos -and threes, the vessels of the convoy climbed over the dim edge of -the world, a handful of destroyers accompanying the fleet. Almost -every ship was camouflaged, though the largest of all, a great ocean -drudge of a cargo boat, still preserved her decency of dull grey. A -southeast wind blowing from behind the convoy sent the smoke of the -funnels over the bows and down the western sky. There was something -indescribably furtive about the whole business. The ships were going -at their very fastest, but to us they seemed to be going very slowly, -to be drifting almost, across the southern sky. "We advanced," as -our report read later, "to take up a position with the convoy." The -watch, always keen on the 660, redoubled its vigilance. The bait was -there; the hunt was on. Now, if ever, was the time for submarines. -I remember somebody saying, "We may see a sub." The destroyer -advanced to within three miles of the convoy, which was then across -her bow. The morning was sunny and clear; the sun high in the north. - -"Periscope! Port bow," suddenly cried the surgeon of the ship, then -on watch on the bridge. "About three hundred yards away, near that -sort of a barrel thing over there. See it? It's gone now." - -Powerful glasses swept the suspected area. The captain, cool as ice, -took his stand by the wheel. - -"There it is again, sir. About seventy-five yards nearer this way." - -This time it was seen by all who stood by. The periscope was -extraordinarily small, hardly larger than a stout hoe handle, and not -more than two feet above the choppy sea. - -"Full speed ahead," said the captain. "Sound general quarters." - -I do not think there was a heart there that was not beating high, but -outwardly things went on just as calmly as they had before the -periscope had been sighted. - -The fans of the extra boilers began to roar. The general quarters -alarm, a continuous ringing, sounded its shrill call. Men tumbled to -their stations from every corner of the ship, some going to the -torpedo tubes, some to the guns, others to the depth charges at the -stern. The wake of the destroyer, now tearing along at full speed, -resembled a mill race. And now the destroyer began a beautiful -manoeuvre. She became the killer, the avenger of blood. Leaving her -direct course, she turned hard over to port, and at the point where -her curve cut the estimated course of the German, she tossed over a -buoy to mark the spot at which the German had been seen and released -a depth bomb. The iron can rolled out of its chocks, and fell with a -little splash into the foaming wake. The buoy, a mere wooden -platform with a bit of rag, tied to an upright stick wobbled sillily -behind. For about four seconds nothing happened. Then the seas -behind us gave a curious, convulsive lift, one might have thought -that the ocean had drawn a spasmodic breath; over this lifted water -fled a frightful glassy tremor, and an instant later there broke -forth with a thundering pound a huge turbid geyser which subsided, -splashing noisily into streaks and eddies of foam and purplish dust. -The destroyer then dropped three more in a circle round the first--a -swift cycle of thundering crashes. Meanwhile the convoy, warned by -our signal and by the uproar turned tail and fled from the spot. -Great streamers of heavy black smoke poured from the many funnels, -revealing the search for speed. In the area we had bombed, a number -of dead fish began to be seen floating in the scum. By this time -some of the vessels from the escort of the convoy had rushed to our -assistance, and round and round the buoy they tore, dropping charge -after charge. The ocean now became literally speckled with dead -whiting, and I saw something that looked like an enormous eel -floating belly upwards. - -[Illustration: The last of a German U-boat. The depth bomb that -destroyed her was dropped by the destroyer shown in a corner of the -picture] - -The convoy disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Little by little the -excitement died away. Finally the only vessel left in sight on the -broad shield of the sea was another American destroyer, our partner -on patrol. The 305 was fitted with listening devices, and she agreed -to remain behind to keep an eye and ear open. We were to have a word -from her every half hour. - -From twelve noon to two o'clock there were no tidings of importance. -At 2:20, however, this laconic message sent us hurrying back to the -scene of the morning's combat. - -"Signs of oil coming to surface." - -What had happened in the darkness below those yellow green waves? I -am of the opinion that our first bomb, dropped directly upon her, -crushed the submarine in like an egg-shell, that she had then sunk to -the bottom, and developed a slow leak. - -The 660 returned through a choppy sea to the battleground of the -morning. We caught sight of the other destroyer from afar. She lay -on the flank of a great area defiled by the bodies of fish, purple -T.N.T. dust and various bits of muddy wreckage which the explosions -had shaken free from the ooze. Gulls, already attracted to the spot, -were circling about, uttering hoarse cries. In the heart of this -disturbed area lay a great still pool of shining water and into this -pool, from somewhere in the depths, huge bubbles of molasses-brown -oil were rising. Reaching the surface, these bubbles spread into -filmy pan cakes round whose edges little waves curled and broke. - - - - -XI - -"FISHING" - -A young executive officer who had discovered that I came from his -part of the world, took me there for tea. I fancy that few of the -destroyer folk will forget the principal hotel at the Navy's Irish -base. We sat in worn plush chairs in a vast rectangular salon lit by -three giant sash windows of horrible proportions. Walls newly decked -with paper of a lustrous, fiery red showered down upon us their -imaginary warmth. The room was cold, horribly cold, and a minuscule -fire of coke burning in a tiny grate seemed to be making no effort -whatsoever to improve conditions. The little glow of fire in the -nest of clinkers leered with a dull malevolence. Cold--a shivery -cold. My eye fled to the pictures on the fiery wall. How in the -d----l did these particular pictures ever land in this particular -corner of south Ireland? Two were photographic studies of ragged -Alabama darkies, pictures of the kind that used to be printed on -calendars in the eighteen nineties. One was entitled "I want you, ma -honey" (this being addressed to a watermelon), the other being called -"I'se just tired of school." These two were varied by an engraving -of a race horse, some Charles I cavaliers, and a framed newspaper -photograph of the 71st New York Guards en route for Tampa in 1898! - -Sugar excepted, there is still plenty of good food in Ireland. The -Exec. and I sat down to a very decent tea. I told all that I knew -about the Exec.'s friends, that A was in a machine gun company; B in -the naval aviation; C in the intelligence department and so forth. -And when I had done my share of the talking, I demanded of the Exec, -what he thought of his work "over there." - -He answered abruptly, as if he had long before settled the question -in his own mind: - -"It's a game. Some of the sporting fishermen in the flotilla say -that it's much like fishing ... now you use this bait, now that, now -this rod, now another, and all the time you are following ... -following the fish.... It's a game, the biggest game in all the -world, for it has the biggest stakes in all the world. There's far -more strategy to it than one would suspect. You see, it's not enough -to hang round till a periscope pops up; we've got to fish out the -periscope." - -"Fishing, then," said I. "Well, how and where do you fish?" - -"On the chequer board of the Irish Sea and the Channel. You see the -surface of the endangered waters is divided up into a number of -squares or areas, and over each area some kind of a patrol boat -stands guard. She may be a destroyer, ... perhaps a 'sloop.' Now -let's suppose she's out there looking for 'fish.'" - -"Yes, even as a fisherman might wade out into a river in which he -knows that fish are to be caught. But how is your destroyer -fisherman to know just what fish are to be caught, and in just what -bays and inlets he ought to troll?" - -"That's the function of the Naval Intelligence. Have you realized -the immense organization which Britain has created especially to -fight the submarine? You'll find it all in the war cabinet report -for 1917. Before the war, there were only twenty vessels employed as -mine sweepers and on auxiliary patrol duties; to-day the number of -such craft is about 3,800, and is constantly increasing. And don't -forget the sea planes, balloons, and all the other parts of the -outfit. So while our destroyer fisherman is casting about in square -x, let us say, all these scouting friends of his are trying to find -the 'fish' for him. So every once in a while he gets a message via -wireless, 'fish seen off bay blank,' 'fish reported in latitude A and -longitude B.' ... If these messages refer to spots in his -neighbourhood, you can be sure that he keeps an extra sharp lookout. -So no matter where the fish goes, there is certain to be a fisher." -_During a recent month the mileage steamed by the auxiliary patrol -forces in British home waters exceeded six million miles_. - -"Now while you are beating the waters for them, what about the fish -himself?" - -"The fish himself? Well, the ocean is a pretty big place, and the -fish has the tremendous advantage of being invisible. A submarine -need only show _three inches_ of periscope if the weather is calm. -She can travel a hundred miles completely submerged, and she can -remain on the bottom for a full forty-eight hours. Squatting on the -bottom is called "lying doggo." But she has to come up to breathe -and recharge her batteries, and this she does at night. Hence the -keenness of the night patrol. And here is another parallel to -fishing. You know that when the wind is from a certain direction, -you will find the fish in a certain pool, whilst if the wind blows -from another quarter, you will find the fish in another place? Same -way with submarines. Let the wind blow from a certain direction, and -they will run up and down the surface off a certain lee shore. You -can just bet that that strip of shore is well patrolled. Moreover, -submarines can't go fooling round all over the sea, they _have_ to -concentrate in certain squares, say the areas which lie outside big -ports or through which a great marine highway lies." - -"Suppose that you manage to injure a fish, what then?" - -"Well, if the fish isn't too badly injured, he will probably make for -one of the shallows, and lie doggo till he has time to effect -repairs. Result, every shallow is watched as carefully as a miser -watches his gold. And sea planes have a special patrol of the coast -to keep them off the shallows by the shore." - -"Sometimes, then, in the murk of night, a destroyer must bump into -one by sheer good luck?" - -"Oh, yes, indeed. Not long ago, a British destroyer racing through a -pitch dark rainy night cut a sub almost in half. There was a -tremendous bump that knocked the people on the bridge over backward, -a lot of yelling, and then a wild salvo of rain blotted everything -out. I think they managed to rescue one of the Germans. Pity they -didn't get the fish itself. You know it's a great stunt to get your -enemy's codes. We get them once in a while. Ever seen a pink -booklet on any of your destroyer trips? It's a translation of a -German book of instructions to submarine commanders. On British -boats they call it 'Baby-Killing at a Glance or the Hun's Vade -Mecum.' Great name, isn't it? Tells how to attack convoys and all -that sort of thing. Lots of interesting tricks like squatting in the -path of the sun so that the lookout, blinded by the glare, shan't see -you; playing dead and so on. That playing-dead stunt, if it ever did -work, which I greatly doubt, is certainly no favourite now." - -"Playing dead? Just what do you mean?" - -"Why, a destroyer would chase a sub into the shallows and bomb her. -Then 'Fritz' would release a tremendous mess of oil to make believe -that he was terribly injured, and lie doggo for hours and hours. The -destroyer, of course, seeing the oil, and hearing nothing from -'Fritz' was expected to conclude that 'Fritz' had landed in Valhalla, -and go away. Then when she had gone away, 'Fritz,' quite uninjured, -went back to his job." - -"And now that stunt is out of fashion?" - -"You bet it is. Our instructions are to bomb until we get tangible -results. Before it announces the end of a sub, the Admiralty has to -have unmistakable evidence of the sub's destruction. Not long ago, -they say a sub played dead somewhere off the Channel, sent up oil, -and waited for the fishers to go. In a few seconds, 'Fritz' got a -depth bomb right on his ear, and up he came to the top, the most -surprised and angry Hun that ever was seen. Bagged him, boat and -all. He must have had a head of solid ivory. - -"Got to be cruising along, now. It's four o'clock, and our tender -must be waiting for me at the pier." - -"Going fishing?" I asked politely. - -"You bet!" he answered with a grin. - - - - -XII - -AMUSEMENTS - -On every vessel in the Navy there is a phonograph, and on some -destroyers there are two phonographs, one for the officers, and one -for the men. The motion of the destroyer rarely permits the use of -the machine at sea, but when the vessel lies quietly at her mooring -buoy, you are likely to hear a battered old opera record sounding -through the port holes of the ward room, and "When the midnight choo -choo leaves for Alabam'" rising raucously out of the crew's quarters. -When music fails, there are always plenty of magazines, thanks to -good souls who read Mr. Burleson's offer and affix the harmless, -necessary two cent stamps. Each batch is full of splendid -novelettes. We gloat over the esoteric mysteries of the "American -Buddhist," and wonder who sent it, we read the "Osteopath's -Quarterly," the "Western Hog Breeder," and "Needlework." Petty -officers with agricultural ambitions, and there are always a few on -every boat, descend on the agricultural journals like wolves on the -fold. - -No notice of Queenstown, no history of the Navy would be complete -without a word about golf. It is _the_ Navy game. Golf clubs are to -be found in every cabin; in the tiny libraries Harry Vardon rubs -shoulders with naval historians and professors of thermodynamics. If -you take the train, you are sure to find a carriage full of golfers -bound for a course on the home side of the river. I remember seeing -the captain of an American submarine just about to start upon the -most dangerous kind of an errand one could possibly imagine. It was -midnight; it was raining, the great Atlantic surges were sweeping -into the bay in a manner which told of rough weather outside. Just -as he was about to disappear into the clamorous bowels of his craft, -the captain paused for an instant on the ladder, and shouted back to -us, "Tell Sanderson to put that mashie in my room when he's through -with it." - -Were it not for the great "United States Naval Men's Club," I fear -that Jack ashore would have had but a dull time, for our amusements -were limited to a dingy cinema exploiting American "serials" several -years old, and a shed in which a company of odd people played -pretentious melodramas of the "Worst Woman in London" type on a tiny -Sunday school stage. Alas, there were not enough people in the -company to complete the cast of characters, so the poor leading lady -was forever disappearing into the wings as the wronged daughter of a -ducal house, only to appear again in a few minutes as the dark female -poisoner, whilst the little leading man with a Kerry Brogue was -forever rushing back and forth between the old white-haired servitor -and the Earl of Darnleycourt. Once in a while Jack came to these -performances, bought the best seat, and left the theatre before the -performance was ended. The British Tars, however, sat through it -respectably and solemnly to the end. - -The Men's Club was to be found at one end of the town close by the -water's edge. It was quite the most successful and attractive thing -of its kind I have ever visited. The largest building was a -factory-like affair of brick which once housed some swimming baths, -then became a theatre, and finally failed and lay down to die; the -smaller buildings were substantial huts of the Y.M.C.A. kind which -had been attached to the original structure. This institution -provided some several thousand sailors with a canteen, an excellent -restaurant, a theatre, a library, a recreation room, and, if -necessary, a lodging. Best of all, one could go to the Club and -actually be warm and comfortable in the American style, a boon not to -be lightly regarded in these islands where people all winter long -huddle in freezing rooms round lilliputian grates. Enlisted men -controlled the club, maintained it, and selected their stewards, -cooks and attendants from their own ranks. Upon everybody concerned, -the Club reflects the highest credit. - -There were "movies" every night, and on Saturday night a special -concert by the "talent" in the flotilla. The opening number was -always a selection by the Club Orchestra, perhaps a march of Sousa's, -for the Navy is true to its own, or perhaps Meacham's "American -Patrol." Then came a long four-reel movie, "Jim the Penman," "The -Ring of the Borgias," "Gladiola" or "Davy Crockett." The last -terrifying flickers die away, the footlights become rosy; the curtain -rises on "The Musical Gobs." We behold a pleasant room in which two -people in civilian clothes sit playing a soft, crooning air on -violins. Suddenly a knock is heard at the door. One of the -performers rises, goes to the door, then returns and says to his -partner: - -"There's some sailors out there (great laughter in the audience); -they say they can play too. Want to know if they can't come in and -play with us." - -"Sure, tell 'em to come in." - -"Come in, boys." - -From behind the back drop, a subdued humming suddenly bursts and -blossoms into "Strike up the band; here comes a sailor." Enter now -three pleasant looking, amiably grinning lads playing the tune. -Chairs are brought out for the newcomers and the "Musical Gobs," -genuine artists all, play several airs. Another knock is heard and a -singer, a petty officer with a good tenor, also begs to join them. -The curtain goes down in a perfect tempest of applause. The screen -descends once more, and all present sing together the popular songs -whose text is shown, "Gimme a kiss, Mirandy," and "It's a long way to -Berlin, but we'll get there." This feature was always a favourite. -We then have a clog dancer, two more comic films and the National -anthems. When the show is over, almost everybody wandered to the -canteen to get "a bite to eat." To o'erleap the bars of the ration -system with a real plate of ham and eggs, served club style, was an -experience. - -So if you were aboard a destroyer that night, you would have heard -Jack whistling the new tunes, and his officers discussing golf scores. - - - - -XIII - -STORM - -Sooner or later, destroyer folk are sure to say something about _the_ -storm. It happened in December and raged for a full three days. -Readers will have to imagine what it meant to destroyer sailors; the -boat dancing, tipping and rolling crazily without a second's respite; -no warm food to eat because a saucepan could not be kept on the stove -or liquids in a saucepan; no rest to be had. Imagine being in the -lookout's station in such a storm, wondering when the tops of the -masts were going to crash down on one's head. It was a hard time. -Yet two-thirds of the American flotilla were out in it, and _not a -single vessel lost an hour from her patrol_. Indeed the American -vessels were about the only patrol boats to stay out during the -tempest. - -One day in the wardroom of the good old Z, some of the officers began -to tell of it. The first narrator was the radio officer, a tall -blond Westerner with big grey eyes, and a little sandy moustache. - -"I knew we were in for something when I saw the clouds racing over -_against_ the wind. Didn't you notice that, Duke? It kept up for -quite a while, and kept getting colder and colder. It wasn't one of -these squally storms, but one of these storms that starts with a -repressed grouch, nurses it along, and finally decides to have it -out. Whoopee! Some night, that first one. Everybody stayed on -their feet. Couldn't have slept if you'd had the chance to. To get -about, you grabbed the nearest thing handy, hung on for dear life, -took a step, grabbed the next thing handy and so on. The old hooker -did the darndest stunts I ever saw or felt. I came in to get my coat -hanging in that corner, and the first thing I knew I was lying on the -floor over in the other corner trying to fight my way to my feet -again. One of the men in the boiler room got burned by being thrown -against a hot surface. Did I tell you how I tried to lie down? -Well, just as I had actually succeeded in getting over to this -transom and stretching out preparatory to strapping myself in (you -have to strap yourself tight in these destroyer bunks same as in an -aeroplane) the old craft sank or swooped or did something more than -usually funny, and left me hanging in the air about a foot and a half -above the bunk. I must have looked like the subject of an experiment -in levitation. A minute later either the bunk came up and caught me -a wallop in the back, or I fell down like a ton of brick or we met in -mid air, anyway, I thought my spine had been carried away. Then all -of a sudden the library door opened and dumped about a hundred pounds -of books on me. - -"It was really dangerous to go on deck, for the waves could easily -have torn one from the life line. One of the boats did, I think, -lose a man overboard, but by wonderful luck managed to fish him out -again." It is the engineer officer speaking. He is somewhat older -than the average destroyer officer; somewhere on the edge of the -forties, I should say; of medium height, lean; and with hazel eyes, a -thin high nose and a thin, firm mouth. "I was just getting through -my watch, had my foot on the ladder, in fact, when the boat that we -lost got smashed in. A wave about the size of a young mountain -climbed aboard, hit the deck, caught the boat, and then poured off -with the kindling wood. Then to make things interesting, right when -it was blowing the hardest, the men's dog took it into his head to -come on deck. Of course, he was only a three months' pup then, and -didn't know any better. (He does now though, he won't stick his nose -out when the weather's bad.) Well, he slipped his collar or -something, and ran on deck. The water was washing about under the -torpedo tubes like the breakers at Atlantic City, and the deck plates -were buckling. Takes a destroyer to do that. But I keep forgetting -the dog. The little brute backed up between two of the stacks and -started yapping out a puppyish bark at the world to starboard. It -was funny in a way to see the little brute there with his short hair -blown backwards and his feet braced on the wet deck. Everybody -yelled, and one of the men ran out hanging on to the life line, and -not a minute too soon either, for a second later a big wave came -thumping down on us, and there was Maloney, the big dark fellow you -were talking to this morning, hanging on to the wire by one arm, with -the fool dog squashed under the other, and the whole Irish Sea trying -to wash them both overboard. I was afraid he'd lose his balance or -have the handle that travels along the wire torn out of his grasp. -But he got to shelter all right, the darn dog yapping steadily all -the time. We had two, almost three days of it, and it never let up -one bit. One of our boats got caught in it with only a meagre supply -of oil, but managed to make a French port. I've heard that there -actually wasn't enough oil left in her tanks to have taken her three -miles further. Other destroyers, too, had boats smashed up, and one -of 'em came in with her smokestacks bent up for all the world like -the crooked fingers of a hand. Some had depth charges washed -overboard. It certainly was the worst blow that I remember." - -Here the navigator came over with a twinkle in his eye, and touched -me on the shoulder. - -"Don't let him fill you with that dope," said he, "that storm wasn't -in it with the storms we have on the other side off Hatteras." - -"Hatteras, my neck," said the other. "What do you think you are, -anyway--Hell-Roaring Jake the Storm King?" - -And then the talk shifted to something else. - - - - -XIV - -ON NIGHT PATROL - -It was the end of the afternoon, there was light in the western sky -and on the winding bay astern, but ahead, leaden, still, and slightly -tilted up to a grey bank of eastern cloud, lay the forsaken and -beleaguered sea. The destroyer, nosing slowly through the gap in the -nets by the harbour mouth, entered the swept channel, increased her -speed, and trembling to the growing vibration, hurried on into the -dark. High, crumbling, and excessively romantic, the Irish coast -behind her died away. Tragic waters lay before her. Whatever -illusory friendliness men had read into the sea had vanished; the -great leaden disk about the vessel seemed as insecure as a mountain -road down whose length travellers cease from speaking for fear of -avalanches. "A vast circular ambush." Somehow the beholder cannot -help feeling that the waters should show some sign of the horrors -they have seen. But the sea has engulfed all, memories as well as -living men, engulfing a thousand wrecks as completely as time engulfs -a thousand years. - -The dark came swiftly, almost as if the destroyer had sailed to find -it in that bank of eastern cloud. There was an interval of twilight, -no dying glow, but a mere pause in the pale ebb of the day. The -destroyer had begun to roll. Looking back from the bridge one saw -the lean, inconceivably lean, steel deck, the joints of the plates -still visible, the guns to each side with their attendant crews, a -machine gun, swinging on a pivot like a weather vane, the gently -swaying bulk of the suspended motor dories and life boats, the four -great tubes of the funnels rising flush from the plates, and crowned -with a tremble of vibration from the oil flames below. And all this -lean world swung slowly from side to side, rocking as gently as a -child's cradle, swayed as if by some gentle force from within. - -The destroyer was out on patrol. A part of the threatened sea had -been given to her to watch and ward. She was the guardian, ... the -avenger. - -The supper hour arrived, men came in groups to the galley door, some -to depart with steamy pannikins, there was a smell of good food very -satisfying to children of earth. In the officer's wardroom when -dinner was over, and the negro mess boys were silently folding the -white cloth, securing the chairs, and tidying up, those not on watch -settled down to a friendly talk. All the lights except one bulb -hanging over the table in a pyramidal tin shade had been switched -off. It was very quiet. Now and then one could hear the splash of a -wave against the side, a footfall on the deck overhead, or the tinkle -of the knives and forks which the steward was putting away in a -drawer. The hanging light swayed with the motion of the ship, -trailing a pool of light up and down the oaken table. Cigarette -smoke rose in wisps and long, languorous oriental coils to the clean -ceiling. A sailor or two came in for his orders. Hushed voices -talking apart, a direction to do this or that, a respectful -business-like "yes, sir," a quiet withdrawal by the only door. It -was all very calm, it had the atmosphere of a cruise, yet those -aboard might have been torpedoed any minute, struck a mine, crashed -into a submarine fooling about too near the surface (this has -happened) or been sunk in thirty seconds by some hurrying, furtive -brute of a liner which would have ridden over them as easily as a -snake goes over a branch. The talk flowed in many channels, on the -problems of destroyers, on the adventures of other boats, on members -of the crew soon to be advanced to commissioned rating, and under the -thought under the words, could be discerned the one fierce purpose of -these fighting lives; the will to strike down the submarine and open -the lanes of the sea. Oh, the vigilance, the energy, the keenness of -the American patrol! There were tales of U-boats hiding in suspected -bays, of merchantmen swiftly and terribly avenged, of voices that -cried for help in the night, of life boats almost awash in whose foul -waters the dead floated swollen and horrible. The war of the -destroyer against the submarine is a matter of tragic melodrama. - -The wandering glow of the swaying lamp now was reflected from the -varnished table to one keen young face, now to another. "Running a -destroyer is a young man's game," says the Navy. True enough. Pray -do not imagine them, as a crew of "hell-driving boys." The destroyer -service is the achievement of the man in the early thirties, of the -officer with a young man's vigour and energy and the resolution of -maturity. After all, the Navy Department is not yet trusting vessels -worth several million dollars and carrying over a hundred men to -eager youngsters who have no background of experience to their -energy, good-will and bravery. If you would imagine a destroyer -captain, take your man of thirty-two or -three, give him blue eyes, a -keen, clear-cut face essentially American in its features, a sailor's -tan, and a sprinkling of grey hair. A type to remember, for to the -destroyer captain more than to any other single figure do we owe our -opportunity of winning the war. - -The evening waned, the officers who were to go on watch at twelve -stole off to get a little sleep before being called. The navigator -and the senior engineer slept on the transoms of the wardroom. A -junior officer lingered beneath the solitary ever-swinging light, -reading a magazine. A little hitch worked itself into the -destroyer's motion, a swift upward leap, a little catch in mid air, a -descent ending in a quiver. The voice of the waters grew louder, -there were hissing splashes, watery blows, bubbly gurgles. - -The sleeping officers had not paused to undress. Nobody bothers to -strip on a destroyer. There isn't time, and a man has to be ready on -the instant for any eventuality. - -The door giving on a narrow passageway to the deck opened, and as it -stood ajar, the hissing of the water alongside invaded the silent -room. A sailor in a blue reefer, a big lad with big hands and -simple, friendly face, entered quietly, walked over a transom and -said: - -"Twelve o'clock, sir." - -"All right, Simmons," said the engineer, sitting up and kicking off -the clothes at once with a quick gesture. Then he swung his legs -over the side of the bunk, pulled on a coat and hat and wandered out -to take his trick at the bridge. - -He found a lovely, starlit night, a night rich in serenity and -promised peace, a night for lovers, a poet's night. There was -phosphorescence in the water, and as the destroyer rolled from side -to side, now the guns and rails to port, now those to starboard stood -shaped against the spectral trail of foam running river-like -alongside. One could see some distance ahead over the haunted plain. -The men by the guns were changing watch; black figures came down the -lane by the funnels. A sailor was drawing cocoa in a white enamel -cup from a tap off the galley wall. The hatchway leading to the -quarters of the crew was open; it was dark within; the engineer heard -the wiry creak of a bunk into which some one had just tumbled. The -engineer climbed two little flights of steps to the bridge. It was -just midnight. It was very still on the bridge, for all of the ten -or twelve people standing by. All very quiet and rather solemn. One -can't escape from the rich melodrama of it all. The bridge was a -little, low-roofed space perhaps ten feet wide and eight feet long, -it had a front wall shaped like a wide, outward pointing V, its sides -and rear were open to the night. The handful of officers and men on -watch stood at various points along the walls peering out into the -darkness. Phosphorescent crests of low, breaking waves flecked the -waters about; it was incredibly spectral. In the heart of the bridge -burned its only light, a binnacle lamp burning as steadily as a light -in the chancel of a darkened church, the glow cast the shadow of the -helmsman and the bars of the wheel down upon the floor in radiations -of light and shade like the stripes of a Japanese flag. The captain, -keeping a sharp lookout over the bow, gave his orders now and then to -the helmsman, a petty officer with a sober, serious face. - -Suddenly there were steps on the companionway behind, the dark -outline of some messenger appeared, a shadow on a background of -shades. The sailor peered round for his chief and said, "Mr. Andrews -sent me up, sir, to report hearing a depth bomb or a mine explode at -12.25." - -"Was it very loud, Williams?" - -"Yes, sir, I should have said that it wasn't more than a few miles -away. We all heard it quite distinctly down below." - -Evidently some devil's work was going on in the heart of the -darkness. The vibration had travelled through the water and had been -heard, as always, in that part of the ship below the water line. - -Williams withdrew. The destroyer rushed on into the romantic night. - -"Must have spotted something on the surface," said some one.... A -radio operator appeared with a sheaf of telegrams. "Submarine seen -in latitude x and longitude y," "Derelict awash in position so and -so." "Gun fire heard off Cape Z at half past eleven"--it all had to -do with the channel zone to the south. The captain shoved the sheaf -into a pocket of his jacket. - -Suddenly, through the dark, was heard a hard, thundering pound. - -"By jingo, there's another," said somebody. "Nearby, too. Wonder -what's up?" - -"Sounded more like a torpedo this time," said an invisible speaker in -a heavy, dogged voice. A stir of interest gripped the bridge; one -could see it in the shining eyes of the young helmsman. Two of the -sailors discussed the thing in whispers, fragments of conversation -might have been overheard.--"No, I should have said off the port -bow." "Isn't this about the place where the _Welsh Prince_ got -hers?" "Listen, didn't you hear something then?" - -From somewhere in the distance came three long blasts, blasts of a -deep roaring whistle. - -"Something's up, sure!" - -The destroyer, in obedience to an order of the captain, took a sharp -turn to port, and turning, left far behind a curving, luminous trail -upon the sea. The wind was dying down. Again there were steps on -the way. - -"Distress signal, sir," said the messenger from the radio room, a -shock-haired lad who spoke with the precise intonation of a Bostonian. - -The captain stepped to the side of the binnacle, lowered the flimsy -sheet into the glow of the lamp, and summoned his officers. The -message read: "S.S. _Zemblan_, position x y z torpedoed, request -immediate assistance." - -An instant later several things happened all at once. The "general -quarters" alarm bell which sends every man to his station began to -ring, full speed ahead was rung on in the engine room, and the -destroyer's course was altered once more. Men began to tumble up out -of the hatchways, figures rushed along the dark deck; there were -voices, questions, names. The alarm bell rang as monotonously as an -ordinary door bell whose switch has jammed. But soon one sound, the -roaring of the giant blowers sucking in air for the forced draught in -the boiler room, overtopped and crushed all other fragments of noise, -even as an advancing wave gathers into itself and destroys pools and -rills left along the beach by the tide. A roaring sound, a deep -windy hum. Gathering speed at once, the destroyer leaped ahead. And -even as violence overtook the lives and works of men, the calm upon -the sea became ironically more than ever assuring and serene. - -[Illustration: To enjoy their leisure between watches these officers -of an American destroyer lash themselves into their seats. A -destroyer travelling at high speed in a heavy sea is like a bucking -broncho.] - -"Good visibility," said somebody on the bridge. "She can't be more -than three miles away now. Hello, there's a rocket." - -A faint bronzy golden trail, suddenly flowering into a drooping -cluster of darting white lights gleamed for a furtive instant among -the westering winter stars. - -"I saw her, sir!" cried one of the lookouts. - -"Where is she, O'Farrell?" - -"Quite a bit to the left of the rocket, sir. She's settling by the -head." - -The beautiful night closed in again. O'Farrell and the engineer -continued to peer out into the dark. Suddenly both of them cried -out, using exactly the same words at exactly the same time, "Torpedo -off the port bow, sir!" - -The thing had become visible in an instant. It could be seen as a -rushing white streak in the dark water, and was coming towards the -destroyer with the speed of an express train, coming like a bullet -out of a gun. - -The captain uttered a quick word of command. The wheel spun, the -roaring, trembling ship turned in the dark. A strange thing -happened. Just as the destroyer had cleared the danger line, the -torpedo, as if actuated by some malevolent intelligence, porpoised, -and actually turned again towards the vessel. The fate of the -destroyer lay on the knees of the gods. Those on the bridge -instinctively braced themselves for the shock. The affair seemed to -be taking a long time, a terribly long time. An instant later, the -contrivance rushed through the foaming wake of the destroyer only a -few yards astern, and continuing on, disappeared in the calm and -glittering dark. A floating red light suddenly appeared just ahead -and at the same moment all caught sight of the _Zemblan_. - -She was hardly more than half a mile away. Somebody aboard her had -evidently just thrown over one of those life buoys with a -self-igniting torch attachment, and this buoy burned a steady orange -red just off that side on which the vessel was listing. The dark, -stricken, motionless bulk leaned over the little pool of orange -radiance gleaming in a fitful pool; round the floating torch one -could see vague figures working on a boat by the stern, and one -figure walking briskly down the deck to join them. There was not a -sign of any explosion, no breakage, no splintered wood. Some ships -are stricken, and go to their death in flames and eddying steam, go -to their death as a wounded soldier goes; other ships resemble a -strong man suddenly stricken by some incurable and mysterious -disease. The unhappy _Zemblan_ was of this latter class. There were -two boats on the water, splashing their oars with a calm regularity -of the college crews; there were inarticulate and lonely cries. - -Away from the light, and but vaguely seen against the midnight sky, -lay a British patrol boat which had happened to be very close at -hand. And other boats were signalling--"_Zemblan_--am coming." The -sloop signalled the destroyer that she would look after the -survivors. Cries were no longer heard. Round and round the ship in -great sweeps went the destroyer, seeking a chance to be of use,--to -avenge. Other vessels arrived, talked by wireless and disappeared -before they had been but vaguely seen. - -Just after two o'clock, the _Zemblan's_ stem rose in the air, and -hung suspended motionless. The tilted bulk might have been a rock -thrust suddenly out of the deep towards the starry sky. Then -suddenly, as if released from a pose, the stern plunged under, -plunged as if it were the last act of the vessel's conscious will. - -The destroyer cruised about till dawn. A breeze sprang up with the -first glow of day, and scattered the little wreckage which had -floated silly-solemnly about. Nothing remained to tell of an act -more terrible than murder, more base than assassination. - - - - -XV - -CAMOUFLAGE - -In the annals of the Navy one may read of many a famous duel, and if -the code duello were in existence to-day, I feel certain that the -present would not be less fiery than the past. The subject which -stirs up all the discussion is camouflage. To ask at a crowded -table: "What do you think of camouflage," is to hurl a very apple of -discord down among your hosts. For there will be some who will stand -by camouflage to the last bright drop of blood, and strive to win you -to their mind with tales that do "amaze the very faculties of eyes -and ears." You will hear of ships melting into cloud, of vessels -apparently going full speed backward, of ships whose funnels have one -and all been rendered invisible. And now the mocker is sure to ask -the pro-camouflager in the most serious of tones if he ever saw the -ship disguised as a sunset which the Germans unhappily discovered on -a rainy day. The signal gun of the anti-camouflage squad now having -sounded, the assault begins with a demand of "What's your theory?" -The pro's reply something about breaking up spaces of colour, optical -illusions--"if you draw horizontal lines along a boat's hull, she -will appear longer; if you draw vertical or angular parallels, the -vessel will appear shorter." The anti's answer that such an -expedient might possibly, just possibly, deceive an idiot child for -exactly five and one-eighths seconds, as for deceiving a wily -Hun,--Good Night! "Do you mean to tell me," cries the devotee of -camouflage, growing angry, "that a ship painted one flat, dead colour -is less visible against the sea than one whose surface is broken up -into many colours?" "Yes, that's what I mean," retorts the anti. -"You know as well as I do that a thing that looks like Vesuvius in -eruption is ten times more easily seen than a boat painted a dull -neutral grey." - -"Yes," cries some one else, "but hasn't camouflage on land proved its -utility?" "I'm talking about naval camouflage," answers the anti. -"On land your camouflaged object is usually stationary itself, and -stands in relation to a surface which is always stationary,--the -surrounding landscape. Out here, both surfaces, sea and vessel, are -constantly in motion and constantly changing their relation to each -other." "But I _saw_ a boat--" begins a pro. "Oh, cut it out," -cries somebody else wholeheartedly, and the discussion ends exactly -where a thousand others have ended. - -Whether camouflage be valuable or not, it certainly is the fad of the -hour. The good, old-fashioned, one-colour boat has practically -disappeared from the seas, and the ships that cross the ocean in -these perilous times have been docked to make a cubist holiday; the -futurists are saving democracy. There are countless tricks. I -remember seeing one boat with a false water line floating in a -painted sea whose roaring waves contrasted oddly with a frightfully -placid horizon, and I recall another with the silhouette of a -schooner painted on her side. I remember a little tramp -remorselessly striped, funnels and all with alternate slanting bands -of apple-green and snuff brown; I have an indistinct memory of a -terrible mess of milky-pink, lemon-yellow and rusty black, which -earned for the vessel displaying it the odious title of "The Boil." -We saw the prize monstrosity in midocean. Every school of camouflage -had evidently had a chance at her. She was striped, she was -blotched; she was painted in curves; she was slashed with jagged -angles; she was bone grey; she was pink; she was purple; she was -green; she was blue; she was egg yellow. To see her was to gasp and -turn aside. We had quite a time picking a suitable name for her, but -finally decided on the Conscientious Objector, though her full title -was "The State of Mind of a C.O. on Being Sent to the Front." - -Finally destiny put in my path just the man I wanted to see, the -captain of a British submarine. "What do you think of camouflage?" I -asked. - -"Well," he answered, after a pause, "I can't remember that it ever -hindered us from seeing a ship. Visibility at sea strikes me as -being more a matter of mass than of colour. The optical illusion -tricks are too priceless silly. Must amuse the Huns. You see if the -eye does play him false, Fritz detects the error with his gauges." - -The P.C's, I am sure, will put this down as a bit of typical -submarine "side." Indignant letters, care H.M.S. X999. - - - - -XVI - -TRAGEDY - -Just at the fall of night, three days before, a weak and fragmentary -wireless had cried forlornly over the face of the waters for -immediate help, and had then ceased abruptly like a lamp blown out by -a gust of wind. The destroyers, stationed here and there in the vast -loneliness of the gathering dark, had heard and waited for "the -position" of the disaster, but nothing more came through the night. -Presently, it had begun to rain. - -And now for three interminable and tedious days and nights rain had -been falling, falling with the monotony and purpose of water over a -dam. There being little or no wind the drops fell straight as -plummets from a sky flat as a vast ceiling, and the air reverberated -with that murmuring hum which is the voice of the rain mingling with -the sea. Rain greasy with oil it had gathered from the plates poured -in little streams off the deck; drops hissed on the iron of the hot -stacks. Clad in stout waterproof clothes, and wearing their -waterproof hoods, the crew went casually about their duties, their -hardy faces showing no sign of discomfort or weariness. - -It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of a January day. - -Presently the lookout, from his station on the mast, reported: -"Floating object off starboard bow," and a few minutes later one of -the watch on the bridge reported two more floating masses, this time -visible to port. The destroyer was making her way into a vast field -of wreckage. Within the radius of visibility, there lay, drifting -silently about in the incessant rain, an incredible quantity of -barrels, boxes, bits of wood, crates, vegetables, apples, onions, -fragments of coke, life preservers and planks. - -"See if you can spot a name on anything," said the destroyer's -captain. But though everybody looked carefully, not a sign of a name -could be seen. Mile after mile went the destroyer down the rain -lashed sea, mile after mile of wreckage opened before her. - -"Life boat ahead showing flag!" - -The captain raised to his eyes the pair of binoculars he wore hanging -from his neck, and peered out of the window by the wheel. - -"Found her yet, sir?" - -"Yes ... it's a small grey boat. Barely afloat, I guess. They've -got a shirt or something tied to a mast or an oar. We'll have a look -at it. Tell Mullens to have a couple of men stand by with boat hooks -in case we run alongside." - -The swamped boat, motionless as a stone in the driving rain, lay no -more than half a mile off. Voices eagerly discussed the possibility -of finding survivors. - -"Alive? Course they ain't. Why, the boat's awash." - -"Sure, but look at the flag." - -"Those poor guys are gonners long ago." - -Handled skilfully the destroyer crept alongside the motionless boat, -and presently those on the bridge looked directly down upon it. It -lay, floating on even keel, not more than six or seven feet off the -starboard side, and was held up by its tanks. A red flannel shirt -hung soggily against an upright pole, and coloured the shaft with the -drippings of its dye. The interior of the boat was but a deep -puddle, a dark puddle into which the rain fell monotonous and -implacable. Floating face down and side by side in the water lay the -fully clothed bodies of two men, whilst at the stern, sitting on a -seat just under water, with his feet in the water and his body -toppled over on the gunwale, could be seen a third figure dressed in -a kind of seaman's jacket. The wet cloth of his trousers clung -lightly to his thin legs and revealed the taut muscles of his thighs. -Then boat hooks fished out from the side of the destroyer and drew -the heavy craft in. A sailor cried out that all were dead. - -"Any name on the boat, Hardy?" asked the officer standing by. - -"No, sir." - -"Very well. Cast off!" The life boat, watched by some rather -horrified eyes, slid alongside the destroyers, and drifted solemnly -behind. - -"Now," said the captain, who had come on deck, "I want one tidy shot -put into that boat, Butler." - -Ten seconds later, the roar of the four-inch at the stern burst -asunder the murmur of the rain, and the watchers saw the boat of the -dead crumple and disappear in the loneliness and rain. - - - - -XVII - -"CONSOLIDATION, NOT COÖPERATION" - -Talking one day with an English member of the House of Commons, I -asked him what he held to be the most important result of American -intervention. - -"The spirit of coöperation which you have stirred up among the -Allies," he answered. "Not that I mean to say that the Allies were -continually quarrelling among themselves; the manner in which Britain -has shared her ships with other hard pressed nations would refute any -such insinuation, but not until you came on the scene was there a -really scientific attempt at the coördination of our various forces. -You were quite right to insist on a generalissimo. But of course the -great lesson you've given us has been through your Navy. There's -been nothing like it in the history of the allied forces. What an -extraordinary position Admiral Sims has won in England! His -influence is perfectly tremendous; there isn't another allied leader -who has a tithe of his power. I really do not think that there is a -parallel to it in English history." - -Now this is no over-statement of the case. The influence of Admiral -Sims over the British people _is_ tremendous. All along he has had -but one watchword, "Consolidation, not Coöperation." It is a -splendid phrase, and Admiral Sims has turned it into action. The -way, I gathered from various members of the Staff and the Embassy, -had not been without its obstacles. For instance, once upon a time -certain American forces were to be sent into a distant area, and a -member of the Allied Naval Council sitting in London had taken the -stand that the little force should be supplied from the United -States. Immediately Admiral Sims pointed out that these American -forces must be considered as _allied_ forces and must be supplied -from the nearest and most convenient _allied_ sources of supply. And -he carried the day. Not only has the Admiral insisted on the -_consolidation_ of material forces; but he has also insisted on a -consolidation of the allied spirit. Himself a master of diplomacy -and tact, he loses no opportunity of reminding the individual -officers under his control to bear in mind the good points of other -services and to remember the fact that the success of this work would -be directly affected by their relations with their comrades of the -Great Cause. And this extraordinary consolidation of force and -spirit is precisely the thing which more than anything else takes the -attention of the visiting correspondent. "Consolidation, not -Coöperation"--it is a phrase that well might have been our allied -motto from the first. - -While in London, I had several talks with Admiral Sims in his office -in Grosvenor Gardens. Of the many distinguished men it has been my -lot to interview, Admiral Sims stands first for the ability to put a -guest at ease. Tall, spare, erect, and walking with a fine carriage, -our Admiral is a personality whom the interviewer can never forget. -One has but to talk with him a few minutes to realize the secret of -the extraordinary personal loyalty he inspires. And he is as popular -in France as he is in England. Speaking French fluently, he is able -to carry on discussion with the French members of the Naval Council -in their own language. - -"Consolidation, not Coöperation." There's a real phrase. And thanks -to the great man who said it and insisted upon it, we defeated the -common enemy. - - - - -XVIII - -MACHINE AGAINST MACHINE - -The year stood at the threshold of the spring; a promise of warmth -lay in the climbing sun; on land one might have heard the first songs -of the birds. At sea, the mists of winter were lifting from the -waters, and the sun, for many months shrunk and silver pale, shone -hard and golden bright. A fresh, clear wind was blowing from the -west, driving ahead of it a multitude of low foam-streaked waves. -There was not a sign of life to be seen anywhere on the vast disk of -the sea, not a trail, not a smudge of smoke on the horizon's circle, -not even a solitary gull or diver. The destroyer, dwarfed by her -world, ran up and down the square she had been chosen to guard. She -had the air of performing a casual evolution. There was never -anything to be found in this particular square. It lay beyond the -great highways; even the sight of a coaster was there something of a -rarity. Periscopes were never reported from that area, never had -been reported, and probably never would be. Caressed by the sun, -enveloped in the serenity of the day as in a mantle, the destroyer -went back and forth on her patrol. - -The emergence of the periscope a quarter of a mile ahead off the -starboard bow had in it something so unattended that the incident had -a character of abnormality ... much as if a familiar hill should -suddenly turn into a volcano. It is greatly to the honour of the -ship's discipline, that those aboard were not staled by months of -unfruitful vigil, and acted as swiftly as if the destruction of a -submarine were matter of daily practice. There it lay, going -steadily along about two hundred yards away, ... a simple, most -unromantic black rod rising two feet or so above the waves. A white -furrow like a kind of comet's tail, streamed behind it, forever -widening at the end. Later on, they asked themselves what the -submarine could possibly have been doing. Seeking a quiet place to -come up to breathe, to effect repairs, to send out a hurried wireless -message? - -It might have been a rendezvous between the two vessels. One felt -that the gods had brought to pass there no careless drama, but a -tragedy long meditated and skillfully prepared. The morning sun -watched, a casual spectator, the duel between the two engines of -violence. - -There had been a command, a call of the summoning bell, a release of -power carefully stored for just such an event, and the destroyer -leaped ahead like a runner from the starting line. The periscope, -meanwhile, continued to plough its way straight ahead almost into the -teeth of the wind and the flattened, marbly waves. Presently, either -because the destroyer had been seen or heard on the submarine -telephone, the submarine began to submerge, sucking in a kind of a -foaming hollow as she sank. Aboard the destroyer, they wondered if -the keel would clear her, and waited for the shock, the rasping -grind. But nothing happened. The first depth bomb fell into the -heart of the submarine's swirl even as a well placed stone falls in -the heart of a pool. Trembling to the roar of her fans, the -destroyer fled across the spot, and turned. The wake of her passing -had almost obliterated the platter-shaped swirl the submarine had -left behind; one had a vision of the great steel cylinder tumbling, -bubbling down through green water to dark, harmless as a spool of -thread on the surface, but presently to be changed by the wisdom and -cunning of men into monstrous and chaotic strength. One, two, three, -four, five ... a thundering pound.... The submarine rose behind -them, her bow on the crest of the geyser, an immense, tapering rusty -mass, wet and shining in the placid glance of the day. From a kind -of hole some distance up the side, a stream of oil ran much like -blood from a small deep wound.... A gun spoke, and spoke again, a -careening whizz, ... ugly hollow crashes of tearing steel ... the sub -heeled far over on her starboard side ... those nearest heard, or -thought they heard, screaming ... the bow sank, tilting up the great -planes and propellers. A monstrous bubble or two broke on the -tormented surface just before she disappeared ... and with her going, -the calm of the spring morning, which had been frightened away like a -singing bird, returned once more to the tragic and mysterious sea. - - - - -XIX - -THE LEGEND OF KELLEY - -Kelley, not Von Biberstein or Hans Bratwurst, is his name, Kelley -spelled with an "e." The first destroyer officer whom you question -will very possibly have never heard of him, the second will have -heard the legend, the third will tell you of a radio officer, a -friend of his, who received one of Kelley's messages. So day by day -the legend grows apace. Kelley is the captain of a German submarine. - -The first time that I heard about him he figured as a young Irishman -of good family who had attached himself to the German cause in order -to settle old scores. "Lots of people know him in the west of -Ireland; he goes ashore there any time he cares to." Another -version, perhaps the true one, if there be any truth at all in this -fantastic business, is that Kelley is no Irishman but a cosmopolitan, -jesting German with a Celtic camouflage. No less a person than -Captain James Norman Hall testifies that the Germans in the trenches -often tried to anger the British troops by pretending they were -disloyal Irish. So perhaps Kelley is Von Biberstein after all. A -third version has it that Kelley is a Californian of Irish origin. -Those who hold to this last view have it that Kelley spares all -American ships but sends the Union Jack to the bottom without mercy. - -Many and varied are Kelley's activities. He has penchant for sending -messages. "I am in latitude x and longitude y; come and get -me--Kelley," has come at the dead of night into the ears of many an -astounded radio operator. Others declare that these messages were -sent by Hans Rose, the skipper of the submarine which attacked the -shipping off Nantucket in 1916. All agree that Kelley was the beau -ideal of pirates. He sinks a ship and apologizes for his action, he -sees the women passengers into the boats with the grace and urbanity -of a Chesterfield, he comes alongside a wretched huddle of survivors, -supplies them with food, and sends out notice of their position. -When they ask his name, he replies "Captain Kelley," and disappears -from view beneath the sea. He goes ashore, and proves his visit with -theatre tickets and hotel bills. "London hotel bills made out to -Kelley, Esquire." He requests the survivors as a slight favour to -tell Captain Nameless of the Destroyer XYZ that his propeller shaft -needs repairing; that he, Kelley, has been seriously annoyed by -having to listen to the imperfect beat via the submarine telephone. -There is certainly a flavour of Celt in this chivalry tinged with -mockery. - -I could never find anybody who had actually seen him, much to my -regret, for I should have been glad to describe so famous a person. -Months have passed since last I heard of him. Perhaps he is still in -the Irish Sea; perhaps he is now at Harwich, perhaps he has gone -aloft to join his kinsman "The Flying Dutchman." If so, let us keep -his memory green, for he was a pirate _sans peur et sans reproche_. - - - - -XX - -SONS OF THE TRIDENT - -Any essay on the British sailor must rise from a foundation of -wholesome respect. One cannot look at the master of the world -without philosophy. And British Jack is the world's master, for he -holds in his hands that mastery of the seas which is the mastery of -the land. He is a sailor of the mightiest of all navies, an -inheritor of the world's most remarkable naval tradition, a true son -of Britannia's ancient trident. - -What is he like, British Jack? How does he impress those companions -who share the vigil of the seas? - -To begin with the Briton is, on the average, an older man than our -bluejacket. British Jack has not gone into the Royal Navy "for the -fun of it" or "to see the world," as our posters say, but as the -serious business of his life. His enlistment is an eight-year -affair, and by the time that he has completed it, he rarely thinks of -returning to a prosaic life ashore. Thus it comes about that whilst -our American sailors are usually somewhere in the eager, -irresponsible twenties, British tars are often men of sober middle -age. One is sure to see, in any of the "home ports," the fleet's -married men out walking on Sunday with their wives and children, -forming together a number of honest, steady little groups whose hold -on the durable satisfactions of life it is a pleasure to see. The -"home ports" idea has well proved its value. It is simple enough in -operation. Each ship, according to the plan, bases on some definite -port, thus permitting poor Jack (who has enough of roaming at sea) to -have a steady home on land. In all the great British bases, -therefore, you will find these sailor colonies. I was well -acquainted with a retired Navy chaplain who ministered to such a -group. These families form a distinct group dependent on the Navy. -Marriages are performed by the naval chaplain, the ills of the flesh -are looked after by the fleet surgeons, and the rare troubles are -brought to the judgment of Jack's favourite officers. - -Our American crews are gathered together from all over the vast -continent, British crews are often recruited from one section of the -country. For instance, a ship manned by a crew from "out o' Devon" -is known as a "West Country" ship and its sailors as "Westos." A -real Royal Navy man knows in an instant the character of any ship -which he happens to visit. The drawled "oa's" and oe's" of the West -tell the story. I once heard a "Westo" refer to an officious wharf -tender as a "bloody to-ad," a phrase that certainly has character. -Then there be ships based on Irish ports. Indeed, there are sure to -be Irish sailors on every ship, irresponsible, keen-witted Celts to -whom all devilment is entrusted. - -The war has not been without influence on the naval personnel. -British Jack had, in his own social system, a place of his own. He -is not looked down upon, for the British bluejacket has been, is, and -forever ought to be the best loved of national figures. Sons of -"gentlemen," however, I use the word here in its British sense, did -not join the Royal Navy as enlisted men. Such a thing would have -been regarded as "queer" (no mild word, in Britain), and the crew -certainly would have looked upon any such arrival as an intruder. -But just as the war has placed University men side by side in the -ranks with troopers like Kipling's Ortheris, so has it placed among -the enlisted personnel of the Royal Navy a large number of men from -the educated and wealthier class. There hung in the Royal Academy -this spring a portrait of a British bluejacket, a pleasant-looking -lad some nineteen or twenty years of age with blond hair, a long face -and honest eyes of English grey. It was entitled "My Son." Almost -invariably the older visitors to the exhibition, when looking at this -picture, would fall to talking of the change in the social system -which the portrait symbolized. - -There are always a number of boys on British ships, for the British -hold that to be a good sailor, one should early become familiar with -the sea. The status of "boy" is a kind of distinct rating, and these -youngsters are addressed by their last names, viz., Boy Bumblechook -or Boy Stiggins. They have shown up wonderfully well. One has but -to recall little Cornell of Jutland to see of what stuff these lads -are made. - -The British sailor's uniform is picturesque and characteristic, but -certainly less attractive than ours. It is cut not of broadcloth or -of serge, but of heavy blue worsted, and a detachable collar of blue -linen falls back upon the blouse. Our sailors are forever washing -the blouses to keep the white stripes of the collar clean; the Briton -has only his collar to care for. And there is a difference between -the national builds as marked as the difference twixt the uniforms. -Our Jack is rangy, lean and quick-moving, the Briton heavier, -shorter, and more deliberate. In hours of leisure, the Briton busies -himself with knitting, wood-carving or weaving rag rugs; the -American, driven by the mechanical genius of the nation, hurries to -the ship's machine shop to pound a half-crown into a ring. - -The sons of Columbia and the sons of Britannia get on very well -together. At the big club house at the Irish base, there are always -little groups of British sailors to be seen, quiet, well-behaved -fellows who watch everything with British dignity. Our bluejackets, -however, are far more chummy with British soldiers than with Britons -of their own calling. Navy blue and khaki are forever going down the -street arm in arm. The tar is always keen to hear of the front. -Tommy does the talking. After all, there is a difference in the -vernacular. Witness this poem which I reprint from the August number -of _Our Navy_. It is by a Navy man, Mr. R. P. Maulsley. The word -Limey, here shortened to "Lima," means, used as a noun, a British -sailorman; used as an adjective, British. The term had its origin in -the ancient British custom of giving lime juice to ward off scurvy. - -THE LIMA AND THE YANKS - -By R. P. Maulsley - - It was nice and cozy in the "Pub," - And blowing cold outside. - By the fireplace sat two gobbies, - America's joy and pride. - - When a Lima from a cruiser - Thought their talk he'd like to hear, - And sat down just behind them, - With a half o' pint of beer. - - And o'er a flowing mug of ale, - That held about a quart, - He heard them swapping stories - About their stay in port. - - "Say, this is sure some burg, - Tho' it ain't the U.S.A., - But did you pipe the classy Jane, - That passed us on the quay? - - "She gave me some sweet smile, bo, - And winked her pretty eye," - "Get out, you big hay-maker, - It was for me she meant to sigh." - - "G'wan you homely piece of cheese, - You're talkin' thru' your hat, - I'll betsha just ten plasters, - It was me she was smiling at." - - "I'll take that up old-timer, - Why, that's some easy dough, - We'll have another round, - And then we'll have to blow. - - "And if I lamp that broad, kid, - And she cottons to me quick, - I'll buy her everything in town, - And make that ten look sick." - - They arose and left the Lima, - A gasping in some chairs, - And as they left the room, - He heard them on the stairs. - - "Like candy from a baby, - I'll take your coin this day, - And have a high old time and-- - Say, how did you get that way?" - - The Lima emptied his tankard, - And caught the barmaid's eye, - "I 'eard them Yanks a tarkin', - But what the bloomin' ell'd they seye?" - - - - -XXI - -THE FLEET - -The fleet lay in the Firth of Forth. It was one o'clock in the -afternoon, and the little suburban train which leaves and pauses at -the Edinburgh Grand Fleet pier had not yet been brought to its -platform. The cold sunlight of a northern spring fell upon the vast, -empty station, and burnished the lines of rail beyond the entrance -arch. Two porters from the adjoining hotel, wearing coats of -orange-red with dull brass buttons, stood lackadaisically by a -booking office closed for the dinner hour. Presently, after a -piercing shriek intensified by the surrounding quiet, the suburban -train backed in with a smooth, crawling noise. Various folk began to -appear on the platform, a group of young British naval officers, a -handful of older sailors, a captain carrying a small leather affair -much like a miniature suit-case, a number of civilians, two "Jacks" -evidently on furlough, and a young sailor lad with a fine bull -terrier bitch on a leash. No one entered to share my compartment. -The train left behind the clean, grim town ... rolled on through -suburbs and through fields barely awake to the spring ... paused here -and there at tidy, little stations ... reached the station above the -pier. Somewhat uncertain of my path to the landing, I followed a -group of officers. A middle-aged soldier sentry with grey hair and -ruddy cheeks held me up for my pass, unfolded and folded it again -with extraordinary deliberation, and courteously set me on my way. -As yet there was no sign of the sea, nor had it once been visible -during the journey. One might have been on the way to play golf at -an inland field. The path to the pier descended a great flight of -steps and passed a space in which men were playing football.... A -turn down a bit of road, and I was looking at the fleet. - -It lay in the great firth, in a monstrous estuary enclosed between -barren banks rising to no great height. Bare, scattered woodlands -were to be seen, a clump of cottages, a castellated house in a -solitary spot, a great wharf with a trumpery traveller's bookstall in -a wooden shed at its entrance, a huddle of grey roofs at the water's -edge on the distant side. Over a spur of land the smoke of a giant -dockyard rose in a hazy reek to the obscured and silvery sun. The -water in which the squadrons lay was for the moment as calm as a -woodland pool; in colour, green-grey.... An incredible number of -ships of war lying lengthwise in orderly lines, bows turned to the -unseen river of the rising tide, ... row after row, squadron after -squadron, fleet after fleet, ships of war, dark, terrible and huge, -no more to be counted than the leaves of trees. As far as the eye -could reach up and down the firth, ships. One beheld there the -mastery of the sea made visible, the mastery of all the highways and -the secret paths of the waters of earth. Because of this fleet ships -were able to bring grain from distant fields, great hopes were kept -aflame, and the life blood of evil ambitions poured upon the ground. -A grey haze lay at the mouth of the roads and somewhere in the heart -of it was target practice being held, for violent blots of light -again and again burst open the dim and veiling fog. Small gulls -passed on motionless wings, whistling. Now and then a vessel would -run up a tangle of flags. The signal light of a flagship suddenly -uttered a message with intermittent flashes of an unnatural violet -white glare. - -Over earth and sea brooded the peace of empire. - - - - -XXII - -THE AMERICAN SQUADRON - -The morning found me a guest aboard the flagship of the American -battleship squadron attached to the Grand Fleet. Going on deck, I -found the sun struggling through thin, motionless mists. A layer of -webby drops lay on wall and rail, on turret and gun. Presently a -little cool wind, blowing from the land, fled over the calm water in -mottled, scaly spots, bringing with it a piping beat of rhythmic -music. Half a mile beyond the flagship, the crew of a British -warship were running in a column round and round her decks to the -music of the ship's band. An endless file of white clad figures bent -forward, a faint regular tattoo of running feet. Round and about -several of the giants were signalling in blinker. Beyond us stood a -titanic bridge, whose network was here and there smouched with -clinging vapour, and beneath this giant, a tanker laden with oil for -the fleet passed solemnly, followed by wheeling gulls. Presently two -American sailors, lads of that alert, eager type that is so intensely -and honestly American, popped out of a doorway and began to polish -bright work. - -America was there. - -Surely it was one of the finest thoughts of the war to send this -squadron of ours. Putting aside for the instant any thought of the -squadron as a unit of naval strength, Americans and Britons will do -well to consider it rather as a splendid symbol of a union dedicated -to the most honourable of purposes, to the defence of that ideal of -fraternity and international good faith now menaced. They say that -when the American squadron came steaming into the fleet's more -northern base one bitter winter day, cheer after cheer broke from the -British vessels as they passed, till even the forlorn, snow-covered -land rang with the shouting. - -It has recently been announced that our battleship squadron is under -the command of Admiral Hugh Rodman, which announcement the Germans -must have taken to heart, for Admiral Rodman is a man of action if -ever one there was. Tall, strongly built, vigorous and alert, he -dominates whatever group he happens to find himself in by sheer force -of personality. It would fare ill with a German who brought his -fleet under the sweep of those keen eyes. Admiral Rodman is a -Kentuckian, and a union of blue grass and blue sea is pretty hard to -beat, especially when accompanied by a shrewd sense of humour. - -I talked with Admiral Rodman about the squadron and its work. - -"Always remember," said he, "that this squadron is not over here, as -somebody put it, 'helping the British.' Nor are we 'coöperating' -with the British fleet. Such ideas are erroneous, and would mislead -your readers. Think of this great fleet which you see here as a unit -of force, controlled by one ideal, one spirit and one mind, and of -the American squadron as an integral part of that fleet. Take, as an -instance of what I mean, the change in our signalling system. We -came over here using the American system of signals. Well, we could -not have two sets of signals going, so in order to get right into -things, we learned the British signals, and it's the British system -we are using to-day.... There are American _ships_ here and British -ships but _only one fleet_. - -Everywhere I went, I found both British and American officers keen to -emphasize this unity. Said a Briton---"Why we no longer think of the -Americans of 'the Americans'; we think of squadron X of the fleet. -It's just wonderful the way your chaps have got down to business and -fallen in with the technique and the traditions. We expected to see -you spend some time getting into the life of the fleet and all that, -you know; the sort of thing that a boy in a public school goes -through before he gets the spirit and the ways of the place, but your -people came along in the morning and had picked up everything by the -afternoon." And I found the Americans proud of the fleet's essential -oneness, proud to share in its great tradition, and to be a part of -its history. America is taking no obscure place. Her hosts have -given her the place of honour in the battle line. - -[Illustration: An American battleship fleet leaving the harbor] - -Battle--that was the thought of everybody aboard the fleet. If only -the German "High Canal" fleet would really come out and fight it to a -finish, or as an American lieutenant put it, "start something." The -Germans, however, knew only too well that the famous betoasted _Der -Tag_ would turn swiftly into a _Dies Iræe_ and preferred to -surrender. So for lack of an antagonist, the fleet had to be content -to keep steam up all the time and to know that everything was -prepared for a day of battle. But the fleet did far more than wait. -No statement of the Germans was more empty of truth than the silly -cry that the British fleet lies "skulking in harbour for fear of -submarines." The fleet was busy all the time. Again and again, a -visible defiance, it swept by the mine sealed mouths of the German -bases. For five years now, the fleet has been on a war footing -prepared for instant action, a tremendous task this. "If they only -had come out, the beggars." - -A day with the fleet in port passed casually and calmly enough. -There was none of that melodrama which invests the war of the -destroyer and the submarine, and human problems seemed to lack -importance, for in the fleet man is somewhat shadowed by the immense -force he has created. On board there were various drills, perhaps a -general quarters practice drill that sends everybody scurrying to his -station. Hour after hour, the visitor sees the continuous and -multitudinous activity needed to keep a dreadnaught in shape as a -fortress, an engine, and a ship. Then, when the evening has come, -such officers as are off duty may sit down to a game of bridge or go -to their rooms to read or study quietly. There are great days when -kings and queens come aboard and are royally entertained. Twice a -week the entertainment committee of the fleet sent round a steel box -full of "movies." However, everybody enjoys them, and laughs. But -it is good to escape on deck again, and see the squadron and the -fleet beneath the haloed moon. - -The shores about are quite in darkness, though now and then a glow -appears over the hidden dockyard as if some one there had opened a -furnace door. A little breeze is blowing a thin, flat sheet of cloud -across the moon; one can hear water slapping against the sides. The -sailors on watch walk up and down the decks, shouldering their guns. -In the light one might believe the basketry of the woven masts to be -spun of delicate silver bars. Behind us ride the other vessels of -the squadron, a row of dark, triangular shapes. The great columnar -guns, sealed with a brazen plug, seem mute and dead. The curtain of -a hatchway parts, and a little group of officers come on deck to -watch a squadron go to sea. One by one the vessels, battleships and -attendant destroyers glide past us into the dark, and so swift and -silent their motion is that they seem to be less self-propelled than -drawn forward by some mysterious force dwelling far beyond in the -moonlit sea. A slight hiss of cleaving water, the length of a -hurrying grey fortress beneath the moon, and the last of the squadron -vanishes down the roads. For a little time one may see the -diminishing glares of blinker lights. Squadrons of various kinds are -forever leaving a fleet base to go on mysterious errands, squadrons -are ever returning home from the mystery and silence of the sea. - -A friend comes to tell me that we have been put on "short notice," -and may leave at any instant. - - - - -XXIII - -TO SEA WITH THE FLEET - -On the morning of the day that the fleet went out, there was to be -felt aboard that tensity which follows on a "short notice" warning. -Officers rushed into the wardroom for a hasty cup of coffee and -hurried back to their beloved engines; the bluejackets, too, knew -that something was in the air. A visitor to the flagship will not -have to study long the faces of his hosts to see that they are an -exceptional lot of men. Whilst among the destroyers there is a good -deal of the grey-eyed ram-you, damn-you type; on a battleship there -is a union of the elements of thought and action which is very fine -to see. Nor is the artist element lacking in many a countenance. I -remember a chief engineer whose ability as an engineer was a word in -the fleet; it was easy to see, when he took you through his -marvellous engine room, that he enjoyed his labour as much for the -wonder of the delicacy, the power and the precision of his giant -engines as he did for their mere mechanical side of pressures and -horsepower. Nor shall I ever see a more perfect example of -coördination and competence than a turret drill at which I was -invited to assist. From the distinguished young executive to the -lowest rated officer in "the steerage," every man brought to his task -not only an expert's understanding of it, but a love of his work, -which, I think it is Kipling that says it, is the most wonderful -thing in all the world. The vessel was very much what Navy folk call -a "happy ship." I must say the prospect of going out with the fleet -and with such a wonderful crowd did not make me keenly miserable. -"If they only would come out, ah, if...!" - -"So we are still on an hour's notice," I said to one of my hosts in -the hope of getting some information. - -"Yes, back again. At two o'clock this morning the time was extended, -but after seven we were put back on short time once more." - -"I suppose the time is always shifting and changing?" - -"Yes, indeed. You know we are always on an hour's notice. Pretty -short, isn't it? You see we don't want the Germans to get away with -anything if we can help it. Got to be ready to sail right down and -smash them. Nobody knows just why the time changes come. Somebody -knows something of course. Perhaps one of the British submarines on -outpost duty off the German coast has seen something, and sent it -along by wireless. - -I asked about the German watch on the British bases. - -"Subs. Everybody's doing it. I suppose that two or three are -hanging off this coast all the time trying to get a squint at the -fleet. It's what we call keeping a 'periscope watch' ... run by the -naval intelligence. Little good anything they pick up about us does -the Germans! Safety first is their daring game. What they are -itching to do is to pick off one of our patrol squadrons that's gone -on a little prospecting toot all by itself. They'd try, I think, if -they weren't mighty well aware that not a single ship of the crowd -that did the stunt would ever get back to the old home canal." - -Presently a sailor messenger arrived, stood to attention, saluted -snappily, and presented a paper. The officer read and signed. - -"You're in luck," said he. "We are going out ... due to leave in -three hours. Whole fleet together, evidently. Something's on for -sure.... Hope they're out." And off he hurried to his quarters. I -saw "the exec." going from place to place taking a look at -everything. Pretty soon the chaplain of the flagship, an officer to -whose friendly welcome and thoughtful courtesy I am in real debt, -came looking for me. - -"Come along," he cried, "you are missing the show. They're beginning -to go out already. You ought to be on deck," and seizing me by the -arm, he rushed me energetically up a companionway to the world -without. There I learned that the departure of the Grand Fleet was -no simultaneous movement such as the start of an automobile convoy, -but a kind of tremendous process occupying several hours. The scout -vessels, were to go first, then the various classes of cruisers and -the destroyer flotillas with whom they acted in concert, last of all -the squadrons of battleships. Our own sailing time was three hours -distant and the outward movement had already begun. - -[Illustration: Even a super-dreadnought is wet at times] - -The day was a pleasant one, the sun was shining clear and a fresh -salty breeze was blowing down the estuary. The officers, however, -shook their heads, talked of "low visibility," and pointed out that -an invisible mist hung over the water, whose cumulative effect was -not at all to their liking. First there went out a new variety of -submarine, steam submarines of extraordinary size and speed; there -followed a swift procession of destroyers and lighter cruisers, many -signalling with blinker and flag. The outgoing of the destroyers was -a sight not to be forgotten, for more than anything else did it -impress upon me the titanic character of the fleet. _Destroyers -passed one every fifty seconds for a space of many hours_. You would -hear a hiss, and a lean, low rapier of a vessel would pass within a -hundred yards of the flagship and hurry on, rolling, into the waiting -haze of the open sea, and as you watched this first vessel leave your -bow astern, you would hear another watery hiss prophetic of the -following boat. On our own vessel all boats had long before been -hoisted to their places; there were mysterious crashing noises, bugle -calls, a deal of orderly action. Time passed; a long time full of -movement and stir. The greater vessels began to go out, titans of -heroic name, _The Iron Duke_, _Queen Elizabeth_, _Lion_. A broad -swirling road of water lay behind them as one by one they melted into -that ever mysterious obscurity ahead. Then with a jar, and a torrent -of crashing iron thunder dreadful as a disintegration of the universe -itself, our own immense anchor chains rose from the water below, and -the American flagship got under way. We looked with a meditative eye -on the bare shores of the firth wondering what adventures we were to -have before we saw them again. Behind us the mist gathered, ahead, -it melted away. And thus we stood out to the open sea. Night came, -starlit and cold. Just at sun-down one of the British ships -destroyed a floating mine with gun fire. I sought information from -an officer friend. - -"What about the mine problem?" - -"Never bothers us a bit, though the Germans have planted mines -everywhere. This North Sea is as full of them as a pudding is of -plums." - -"Why is it then that the fleet doesn't lose ships when out on these -expeditions?" - -"Because the British mine sweepers have done so bully a job." - -"But once you get beyond the swept channels at the harbour mouths, -what then?" - -"The mine-sweepers attend to the whole North Sea." - -"You mean to say that the Admiralty actually clears an ocean of -mines?" - -"To all intents and purposes, yes. Haven't you read of naval -skirmishes in the North Sea? They are always having them. Many of -those skirmishes take place between patrol boats of ours and enemy -patrols. Of course it's a task, but the British have done it. One -of the most wonderful achievements of the war." - -"Suppose the Germans try to reach the British coast?" - -"They do their best to find the British path. As a result, the -Germans are always either bumping into their own mines or into ours. -I feel pretty sure that their loss from mines has been quite heavy." - -"Where, then, are the German cruising grounds? Doesn't their fleet -get out once in a while?" - -"Not to the outer sea. Once in a while they parade up the Danish -coast, never going more than two or three hours from their base. Our -steady game, of course, is to nab them when they are out, and cut off -their retreat. If the weather had held good at Jutland, this would -have been done. But the Germans now hardly ever venture out. -Destroyers of theirs, based on the Belgian coast, try to mix things -up in the Channel once or twice a year, but the fleet seems to stick -pretty closely to dear old Kiel." - -"Any more information in regard to this present trip?" - -"Not a thing. It's always mysterious like this. Yet in twenty -minutes we may be right in the thick of the world's greatest naval -battle." - -The next morning I rose at dawn to see the fleet emerge from the dark -of night. A North Sea morning was at hand, cold, windy and clear. -Now seas have their characters even as various areas of land, and -there is as much difference between the North Sea and the Irish Sea -as there is between a rocky New England pasture and a stretch of -prairie. The shallow North Sea is in colour an honest salty, ocean -green, and its surface is ever in motion; a sea without respite or -rest. It has a franker, more masculine character than the -beleaguered sea to the west with its mottlings of shadow and shoal -and weaving, white-crested tide rips. A great armament, scouts, -destroyers, and light cruisers had already passed over the edge of -the world, and only a very thin haze revealed their presence. Miles -ahead of us in a great lateral line, a number of great warships, vast -triangular bulks, ploughed along side by side, then came the American -squadron in a perpendicular line, each vessel escorted by destroyers. -Behind us, immense, stately, formidable and dark, the second American -ship followed down the broad river of our wake which flowed like -liquid marble from the beat of the propellers. And behind the -American squadron lay other ships, and over the horizon the bows of -more ships still were pointing to the mine-strewn German coast. The -Grand Fleet line, _eighty miles long_, rode the sea, a symbol of -power, an august and visible defiance. Standing beneath the forward -turret, beside the muzzles of the titan guns, I felt that I had at -last beheld the mightiest element of the war. - -Tightly wrapped in a navy great coat, the young officer whose guest I -had been at turret drill walked up and down the deck watching the -southeastern horizon. What eagerness lay in his eyes! If we only -might then have heard a heavy detonation from over the edge of the -dawn-illumined sky! ... All day long we cried our challenge over the -sealed waters ahead. - -Were "they" out? To this day, I do not know. The ways of the fleet -are mysterious. Certainly, none came forth to accept our gage of -battle. A time passed, and we were in port again. We saw the -vessels we had left behind, the supply ships, tugs, oil tenders, -colliers ... all the servants of the fleet. - -Down in the wardroom, the tension relaxed. The anchor chain rattled -out; once more the universe seemed to part asunder. The mail had -arrived, joyous event. Somebody put a roll of music into a rather -passé player piano, and let loose an avalanche of horribly orderly -chords. - -And all the time the Olympians were preparing, not the battle of the -ages, but the Great Surrender! - - - - -XXIV - -"SKY PILOTS" - -We know him as chaplain, the gobs use the good old term "Sky Pilot," -and the British call him "Padre." His task, no light one, is to look -after the spiritual and moral welfare of some thousand sailor souls. -He is general counsellor, friend in need, mender of broken hearts, -counsel for the defence, censor, and show manager. Now he comes to -the defence of seaman, first class, Billy Jones, whose frail bark of -life has come to grief on the treacherous reef of the installment -plan, and for whose misdemeanours a clamouring merchant is on deck -threatening to "attach the ship." Now he is assuring the clergyman -of the church on the hill that 2nd class petty officer Edgar K. Lee -(who is going to marry pretty little Norah Desmond) is not, as far as -he knows, committing bigamy. They tell of a chaplain of the -destroyer force who, pestered beyond bearing by these demands that -the American bridegroom be declared officially and stainlessly -single, floored his tormentor by replying: "I've told you that as far -as we know the man's unmarried. We can't give you any assurance more -official. He may be bigamous, trigamous, quadrugamous, or," here he -paused for effect, "pentagamous, but I advise you to risk it." The -land sky pilot is said to have collapsed. - -Aboard the flagship of the Grand Fleet, the chaplain of the vessel -was my guide, counsellor, and friend. In the words of one of the -sailors, "Our chaplain is a real feller." And indeed it would have -been hard to find a better man for the task than this padre of ours -with his young man's idealism, friendliness, and energy. In addition -to his welfare work, he had his duties as a de-coder, and his spare -time he spent tutoring several of the enlisted personnel who were -about to take examinations for higher ratings. It is a great -mistake, by the way, to imagine that a violent gulf lies between the -commissioned officer and the enlisted man. One finds the higher -officer only too glad to help the sailor advance, and many times have -they said to me, "Don't write about us, write about the sailors; get -to know them; get their story." On this particular ship many of the -younger officers were, like the chaplain, giving up their spare time -to help the ambitious men along. Correspondence school courses are -great favourites in the Navy, and have undoubtedly helped many a -sailor on to a responsible rating. - -Our flagship chaplain used to make several rounds of the ship every -day, "tours of welfare inspection," he used to call them humorously. -Everywhere would he go, from wardroom to torpedo station, not -neglecting an occasional visit to the boiler room. Friendly grins -used to salute him on his passage; as the sailor said he was a "real -feller." I often accompanied him on his rounds. When the tour was -over, we would go to the chaplain's room for a quiet smoke and a good -talk. The chaplain's room was always clean and quiet, and on the -bookshelf, instead of weighty books on thermodynamics and navigation, -were the pleasant kind of books one found in friendly houses over -home. - -"Do you know," said the chaplain to me one day, "you have landed here -at an interesting time. There's very little shore leave being given -because it can't be given, and as a result the life of the ship is -thrown back upon itself for all its amusements and social activities. -What do you think of the morale here?" - -"I think it's very high," I answered. "The men seem very contented -and keen. I've talked with a great many of them. How do you keep -the morale up?" - -"Well, this ship has always been famous as a 'happy ship'" (here I -ventured to say that any other condition would be impossible under -the captain we had) "and when men get into the habit of working -together good-naturedly, that habit is liable to stick. And I find -the men sustained by the thought of active service. You may think it -calm here, having just arrived from a destroyer base, but think of -what it is over on the American coast." - -"Calm?" said I. "Don't put that down to me. The very idea of being -with the Grand Fleet is thrilling. It's the experience of a -lifetime. And let me tell you right from personal experience that no -sight of the land war can match the impressiveness and grandeur of -the first view of the fleet." - -"I feel just as you do. The whole thing is a constant wonder. And -some day the Germans may come out. Moreover, summer is now at hand, -and we shall have a chance to use the deck more for sports. This -long, raw, rainy winter doesn't permit much outdoor exercise. As -soon as it gets warm, however, we shall have boxing matches on the -deck between various members of the crew and the champions of the -different ships. We have some good wrestlers, too. At present we -are reduced to vaudeville competitions between our various vessels, -and movies. I'm doing my best to get better movies. So we shan't -fare badly after all." - -"When do you hold Sunday services?" - -"I have a service in the morning and another in the evening. Yes, I -muster a pretty big congregation. But I'm afraid I've got to be -going now, got to ram a little algebra into the head of one of the -boys. See you at dinner." And our sky pilot was gone. May good -luck go with him, and good friends be ever at hand to return him the -friendliness he grants. - -They tell a story of a favourite chaplain who retired from the Navy -to take charge of a parish on land. - -"Good-bye, sir," said one of the old salts to him, as he was leaving -the ship. "Good-bye, sir. We'll all look to see you come back with -a _bishop's rating_." - - - - -XXV - -IN THE WIRELESS ROOM - -I haven't the slightest idea where the wireless room is or how to -find it. All that I remember is that some kind soul took me by the -hand, led me through various passages and down several ladders, and -landed me in a small compartment which I felt sure must have been -hollowed out of the keel. The wireless room of a great ship is, by -the way, a kind of holy of holies, and my visit to it more than an -ordinary privilege. - -There are as many messages in the air these times as there were wasps -in the orchard in boyhood days after one had thrown a large, -carefully-selected stone into the big nest. Messages in all keys and -tunes, messages in all the known languages, messages in the most -baffling of codes. Now the operator picks up a merchantman asking -for advice in English, this against all rules and regulations; a -request once answered by a profane somebody with "Use the code, you -damned fool." At intervals the Eiffel Tower signals the time; -listening to it, one seems to hear the clear, monotonous tick-tock of -a giant pendulum. Now it is a British land station talking to a -British squadron on watch in the North Sea, now the destroyers are at -it, now one hears the great station at Wilhelmshaven sending out -instructions to the submarine fleet in ambush off these isles. - -How strange it is to come here at midnight and hear the Germans -talking! Germany has been so successfully cut off from contact with -the civilization she assaulted that these communications have the air -of being messages from Mars. There are times when the radio operator -picks up frantic cries sent by one U-boat to another; I have before -me as I write a record of such a call. It began at 2.14 A.M., -shortly after a certain submarine was depth-bombed by an American -destroyer. First to be received was _OLN's_ clear, insistent call -for _RXK_ and _ZZN_, probably the two nearest members of the U-boat -fleet. Were they cries for help? Probably. Again and again the -spark uttered its despairing message. For some time there was no -answer. The other two boats may have been submerged; quite possibly -sunk. Then at 2.40 from far, far away came _ADL_ calling _OLN_. At -2.45 _OLN_ answered very faintly. A minute or two later, _ADL_ tried -and tried again to get either _RXK_ and _ZZN_. But there was no -answer. Was she trying to send them to the help of the stricken -vessel? At 2.57 _ADL_ tries for the hard pressed _OLN_, but no -answer comes to her across the darkness of the sea. - -Night and day, a force of operators sit here taking down the -messages, sending important ones directly to the chief officers, and -letting unimportant ones accumulate in batches of four and five. The -messages are written or typewritten on a form in shape and make-up -not unlike that of an ordinary telegram blank. All day and all night -long, the messengers hurry through the corridors of the great ship -with bundles of these naval signals. And since everything intended -for the Navy comes in code, decoders too must be at hand at all hours -to unravel the messages. It is no easy task, for the codes are -changed for safety's sake every little while. On board the great -ship I visited, the chaplain did a big share of this work. I can see -him now bent over his table in the wireless room, spelling out -sentences far more complicated than the Latin and Greek of his -university days. - -There is one wireless service which will not be remembered with -affection by our sailors over there, the Government Wireless Press -Service. I was in the Grand Fleet when that dashing business of the -first Zeebrugge raid occurred. The "Press News" on the following -morning mentioned it, and warned us impressively to keep our -knowledge to ourselves. As a result we spoke of it at breakfast time -with bated breath. I myself, a modest person, was stricken with a -sudden access of importance at possessing a Grand Fleet secret. - -Then at ten o'clock the morning papers came down from a certain great -city with a full, detailed account of the raid! - -The thing that we have most against it, however, is its conduct -during the great offensive of the spring of 1918. The air was -resounding with the wireless pæans of the on-rushing Germans; and -everybody was worried, and anxious to know the fortunes of our -troops. One rushed to breakfast early to have first chance at the -press news. Friends gathered behind one's shoulder, and tried to -read before sitting down. What's the news? What's the news? This -(or something very like it) was the news: - -"Dr. Ostropantski, president of the Græco-Lettish Diet, denounced -yesterday at a meeting of the Novoe Vremya the German assault on the -liberties of Beluchistan." - -There was one vast, concerted groan from the sons of the Grand Fleet. -Some wondered what the anxious folk far out at sea on the destroyers -were saying. Finally the wit of the table shook his head gravely. - -"Boys," said he, "where _would_ we be if the civilians refused to -tell?" - - - - -XXVI - -MARINES - -This paper does not deal with the marines fighting in France, but -with the marines such as one finds them on the greater ships. The -gallant "devil dogs" now adding fresh laurels to the corps have army -correspondents to tell of them, for though they are trained by the -Navy and are the Navy's men, the Army has them now under its command. -It is rather of the genuine marine, the true "soldier of the sea" -that I would speak. Having been myself something of a soldier and a -sailor, the marines were good enough to receive me in a friendly -fashion when I was a guest on one of the battleships now on foreign -service. - -Even as the traditional nickname for the sailor is "gob," so is -"leatherneck" the seaman's traditional word for the marine. I am -guileless enough not to know just how marines take this term, but if -there is any doubt, I advise readers to be easy with it, for marines -will fight at the drop of a hat. All those aboard declared, by the -way, that the antipathy between the sailor and the marine in which -the public believes, does not exist, nor do the marines according to -the popular notion "police the ship." The marine has his place; the -sailor has his, and they do not mix, not because they dislike each -other, but simply because the marine and the sailor are the products -of two widely different systems of training. Moreover, the marine is -bound to his own people by an _esprit de corps_ without equal in the -world. It was very fine to see each man's anxiety that the corps -should not merely have a good name, but the best of names. - -We swopped yarns. In return for my gory tales of shelled cities, gas -attacks, and air raids, they gave me gorgeous ... gorgeous tales of -the little wars they have fought in the Caribbean. I realized for -the first time just what it meant to Uncle Sam to be Central -America's policeman. Now, as they spun their yarns, I could see the -low, white buildings of a Consulate against the luminous West Indian -sky, the boats on the beach, the marines on patrol; now the sugar -plantation menaced by some political robber-rebel, the little tents -under the trees, the business-like machine gun. A harassed American -planter is often the _deux ex machina_ of these tales. - -We used to talk in a little office aboard the battleships down by the -marines' quarters, which lie aft. I believe it was the sergeant's -sanctum sanctorum. There were marine posters on the wall, a neat -little stack of the marines' magazines handy by, a few books, and -some filing cabinets. Just outside were the marine lockers, each one -in the most perfect order, and a gun breech used for loading drills. -The sergeant, himself, was a fine, keen fellow who had been in the -corps for some time. His men declared themselves, for the most part, -city born and bred. - -"What happened then?" - -"Just as soon as they got the message, a detail was sent into the -hills for the defence of the plantation. It was a big sugar -plantation. The American manager was seeing red he was so peeved, -the harvesting season had come and the help, scared by the -insurgents, were beating it off into the hills. What's more, the -insurgents had told the manager that if he didn't pony up with five -thousand dollars by a certain date, they'd burn the place. Actually -had the nerve..." - -"In fiction," said I, "a lean, dark, villainous fellow mounted on a -magnificent horse which he has looted from some fine stable dashes up -to the plantation door, delivers his threat in an icy tone and -gallops back into the bush. Or else a message wrapped round a stone -crashes through the window onto the family breakfast table. Which -was it?" - -I think the marine telling the story wanted very much to utter: "How -do you get that way?" however, he merely grinned and answered: - -"Neither. A big, fat greaser in a dirty, Palm Beach suit came -ambling up one morning as if somebody had asked him to chow. This -was his game. A holdup? Oh, no! Only his men were getting a bit -restless under the neck, about five thousand dollars restless, and if -they didn't get it, there's no telling what they wouldn't do. He -thought he could restrain them till Tuesday night, of course it would -be a pretty stiff job to hold them in, but if something crisp and -green hadn't shown up by Tuesday P.M., those devils might actually -burn the plantation. Did you ever hear such a line of bull? And -that's the honest truth of it, too; none of this stone in the mashed -potatoes guff." - -"And then," I broke in, "the faithful servant gallops through the -valley to the shore; a stray bullet knocks off his hat, but he gets -there, and delivers his message to the warship in the bay. A bugle -blows, the marines rally, launches take them to the beach; they rush -over the hills, and get to the plantation just as Devil's-hoof Gomez -or Pink-eyed Pedro has set fire to a corner of the bungalow. Rifles -crack, bugles sound a charge, the marines rush the Gomez gang who -take to their heels. Brave hearts put out the fire. Isn't there -always an exquisitely beautiful señorita to be rescued? There always -is in the movies. Now, please don't destroy any more of my -illusions." - -"The message comes all right, all right, but I doubt very much if -that faithful servant comes in a hurry. Down there, if a man goes by -in a hurry, everybody in the village will be out to look at him.... -The major gets the message, works out his plan of campaign, and away -we go. Arrived at the plantation, we pitch camp, establish pickets, -and generally get things ready to give the restless greasers a hot -time. Sometimes the greasers try their luck at sniping; other times, -they go away quietly and don't give you a bit of trouble. There -aren't any beautiful señoritas, ... no broken hearts. Yes, it's -tough luck." - -Thus were my illusions dispelled by a group of Uncle Sam's marines. -They forgot to tell me that many members of their little company had -been wounded, and seriously wounded in these West Indian shindies. -The list of wounds and honours in the records was an impressive roll. - -The visitor aboard a warship will see marines acting as orderlies and -corporals of the guard and manning the secondary batteries. I -attended many of their drills, and never shall forget the snap and -"pep," of the evolutions. Nor shall I forget the courtesies and -friendly help of the gallant officer under whose command these -soldiers of the sea have the good luck to be stationed. - -N.B. (Very secret), to Huns only. The marines man the gun in the -"Exec's" office and the corresponding one in the line officers' -reading room. If you want to get home to the old home canal, ... -keep away from their range. - - - - -XXVII - -SHIPS OF THE AIR - -After I had been to visit several of the bases, I returned to London, -and called at the Navy headquarters. A young officer of the -admiral's staff who was always ready and willing to help the writers -assigned to the Navy in every possible way, came down to talk with -me. "Had I been to Base X? To Base Y? Had I been to see the -American submarines? The Naval Aviation?" I grasped at the last -phrase. - -"Tell me about it," I said. "I had no idea that the sea flyers were -over here. Last fall the streets of Boston were so thick with boys -of that service that you could hardly move round. And now they are -on this side. Where can I find them?" - -The officer drew me to a large scale map of the British Isles and the -French coast which hung on the wall, plentifully jabbed with little -flags. His finger fairly flew from one dot to another. - -"Well," said he, "we have a station here, another station here, -another station there, ... there's a station on this point of land; -right about here we're putting up buildings for a depot but there is -nobody at hand yet, here's a big station...." I believe that he -could have continued for five minutes. - -"You seem to have a big affair well in hand," I suggested, rather -surprised. - -"No," he corrected, "just beginning. The department scheme for the -naval aviation service is one of the big things of the war. It's so -big, so comprehensive that people over there haven't woken up to it -yet. Aren't you going to Base L next week? Why don't you go down -the coast a few miles and see the outfit at Z? Only don't forget -that we've 'just begun to fight.' Come upstairs and let me give you -a letter." A few days later I ran down to see the aviators in their -eyrie. - -The naval station lay in a sheltered cove hidden away in a green and -ragged coast. Landing at a somewhat tumble-down old pier, I saw -ahead of me a gentle slope descending to a broad beach of shingle. -Mid-way along this beach, ending under the water, was to be seen a -wide concrete runway which I judged to be but newly finished, for -empty barrels of cement and gravel separators stood nearby. At the -top of the slope, in a great field behind mossy trees, lay the -corrugated iron dormitories of a vast, deserted camp once the repose -quarters of a famous fighting regiment. There was something of the -atmosphere of an abandoned picnic ground to the place. Sailor -sentries stood at the entrance of the quiet roads leading to the -empty barracks, and directed me to those in authority. - -The naval aviation is a new service. For a long time the uniform of -the cadets was so unfamiliar that even in their own America the boys -used to be taken for foreign officers. It was a case of "I say he's -an Italian. No, dear, I'm _sure_ he's a Belgian." A not unnatural -mistake, for the uniform has a certain foreign jauntiness. In -colour, it is almost an olive green, and consists of a short, -high-collared tunic cut snugly to the figure, shaped breeches of the -riding pattern, and putties to match. Add the ensign's solitary -stripe and star on shoulder and sleeve and you have it. - -I found a group of the flyers in one of the tin barracks that did -duty as a kind of recreation centre. The spokesman of the party was -a serious lad from Boston. - -"Fire away," they yelled good-naturedly to my announcement that I was -going to bomb with questions. - -"First of all, about how many of you are there helping to make it -home-like for Fritz in this amiable spot?" - -"About fifty of us." - -"Been here long?" - -"No, just came. You see the station is not really finished yet, but -they are hurrying it along to beat the cars. Did you spot that -concrete runway as you came up? A daisy, isn't it? Slope just -right, and no skimping on the width. Well, that's only one of the -runways we're going to have. Over on the other side, the plans call -for three or four more." - -"And what do these sailors do?" I had noticed a large number of -sailors about. - -"They look after our machines and the balloons. You see this is a -regular aviation section just the same as the army has, and the -sailors are trained mechanics, repair men, clerks and so forth. -They're rather taking it easy now because the planes have been -somewhat slow in reaching us. You know as well as I do the rumpus -that's been made in the States over the air program. Things are -breezing up mighty fast now, however, and every supply ship that puts -into the harbour brings some of our equipment. The Navy's ready, the -camps are being organized, the men are trained; it's up to the -manufacturers to hustle along our machines. Please try to make them -realize that when you write." - -"But, say," put in another, "don't, for the love of Pete, run away -with the idea that we haven't any equipment. We've got some planes -and some balloons. But we want more, more, more. Anything to keep -the Germans on the go." - -"What do you use?" I asked. "Mostly balloons," put in a third -speaker, a quiet young Westerner who had thus far not joined in the -conversation. "Most of us are balloon observers, though Jos here," -he indicated the Bostonian, "is a sea-plane artist. He runs one of -the planes." - -"Come," said I, "tell the thrilling story." - -"There isn't any story," groaned Jos, "that's just the trouble. I've -been fooling round these coasts and out by the harbour mouth in the -hope of spotting a sub till I feel as if I'd used up all the gasoline -in the British Isles. Those destroyers have spilled the beans. -Fritz doesn't dare to come round. Ever try fishing in a place from -which the fish have been thoroughly scared away? It's like that. -Mine laying submarines used to be round the mouth of the harbour all -the time, now Fritz is never seen or heard from.... The destroyers -have spilled the beans. The balloon hounds are the whole show here. -Tell him about it, Mac. You've taken more trips than any of the -others." The disgruntled sea planer knocked a bull-dog pipe on his -shoe, and was still. - -"I can't tell much," drawled Mac, a wiry, black little Southerner -with a wonderful accent. "They fill the balloon up here, take it out -to a destroyer or some patrol boat and tie it on, jes like a can to -purp's tail. Then you go out in the Irish Sea and watch for subs. -If you observe anything that looks like a Hun, you simply telephone -it down to the destroyer's deck, and she rushes ahead and -investigates. Sometimes the observer in the balloon sees something -which can't be seen from the level of the destroyer's bridge, and in -that case the balloonist practically steers the vessel, ... so many -points to port, so many to starboard, and so on till you land them in -the suspected area." - -"What's it like up above there in a balloon? From the deck of a -battleship or a destroyer, it seems to be a calm matter." - -"Don't be too sure of that. I know it looks calm, calm as a regular -up-in-the-air old feather baid. And it isn't bad if you have a -decent wind with which the course and speed of the ship are in some -sort of an agreement. But if the ship's course lies in one direction -and the wind is blowing from another, the balloon blows all over the -place. When the wind blows from behind, you float on ahead and try -to pull the ship after you; if the wind is from ahead, you are -dragged along at the end of a chain like a mean dawg. There is -always sure to be a party if the ship zigzags. Now you are pulling -towards the bow, now you are floating serenely to port, now you are -tugging behind, now you are nowhere in particular and apparently -standing on yo' haid." - -We went to walk in the grounds. I was shown where the balloon shed -was to be, the generators, and a dozen other houses. Evidently the -station was going to be "some outfit." Already a big gang of -civilian labourers, electrified by American energy, were hard at work -laying the foundations of a large structure. - -"Yes," said one of the boys, "this is going to be a great place. -When it's completed we shall have regular sea-plane patrols of this -entire coast, and a balloon squadron ready to coöperate with either -the British or the American destroyer fleets. Our boys along the -French coast have already made it hot for some Huns, and believe me, -if there are any subs left, you just bet we want a chance at 'em?" - -Such is the spirit that has driven the Germans from the seas. - - - - -XXVIII - -THE SAILOR IN LONDON - -The convalescent English Tommy in his sky-blue flannel suit, white -shirt, and orange four-in-hand, the heavier, tropic-bred Australian -with his hat brim knocked jauntily up to one side, the dark, -grey-eyed Scotch highlander very braw and bony in his plaited kilt, -these be picturesque figures on the streets of London, but the most -picturesque of all is our own American tar. Our "gobs" are always so -spruce and clean, and so young, young with their own youth and the -youth of the nation. Jack ashore is to be found at the Abbey at -almost any hour of the day, he wanders into the National Gallery, and -stands before Nelson at St. Paul's; he causes fair hearts to break -asunder at Hampton Court. Wherever you go in London, the wonderful -wide trousers, and the good old pancake hat, this last worn cockily -over one eye, are always to be seen in what nautical writers of the -Victorian school call "the offing." - -Our boys come in liberty parties of thirty and forty from the various -bases, usually under the wing of a chief petty officer very conscious -of his responsibility for these wild sailor souls. Accommodations -are taken either at a good London hotel with which the authorities -have some arrangement, or the personnel is distributed among various -huts and hospitable dwellings. The great rallying centre is sure to -be the Eagle Hut off the Strand. - -This famous hut, which every soldier or sailor who visits London will -long remember, is situated, by a happy coincidence, in modern -London's most New Yorkish area. It stands, a huddle of low, -inconspicuous buildings, in just such a raw open space between three -streets as on this side prefigures the building of a new skyscraper; -the great, modern mass of Australia House lifts its imposing Beaux -Arts façade a little distance above it, whilst the front of a -fashionable hotel rises against the sky just beyond. The ragged -island, the sense of open space, the fine high buildings, ... "say, -wouldn't you think you were back in America again?" Yet only a few -hundred feet down the Strand, old St. Clement Danes lies like a ship -of stone anchored in the thoroughfare, and Samuel Johnson, LL.D., -stands bareheaded in the sun wondering what has happened to the -world. The hut within is simply an agglomeration of big, clean, -rectangular spaces, reading rooms, living rooms, dormitories, and -baths always full of husky, pink figures, steam and the smell of -soap. Physically, Eagle hut is merely the larger counterpart of some -thousand others. The wonder of the place is its atmosphere. The -narrow threshold might be three thousand miles in width, for cross -it, and you will find yourself in America. All the dear, distinctive -national things for which your soul and body have hungered and -thirsted are gathered here. There is actually an American shoe -shining stand, an American barber chair, and, Heaven be praised, -"good American grub." It is a sight to see the long counter thronged -with the eager, hungry bluejackets, to hear the buzz of lively -conversation carried on in the pervading aroma of fried eggs, -favourite dish or sandwich of apparently every doughboy and tar. -One's admiration grows for the Y. workers who keep at the weary grind -of washing floors, picking up stray cigarette buts, and washing -innumerable eggy plates. I realized to the full what a poor old -college professor who "helped" in a hut on the French front meant -when he had said to me, "life is just one damned egg after another." -Of course sometimes the "hen fruit"--one hears all kinds of facetious -aliases at the Hut--gives way to _soi disant_ buckwheat cakes, a -dainty, lately honoured by royal attention. Should you stroll about -the buildings, you will see sailors and soldiers reading in good, -comfortable chairs; some playing various games, others sitting in -quiet corners writing letters home. There is inevitably a crowd -round the information bureau. Alas, for the poor human encyclopedia, -he lives a bewildering life. On the morning that I called he had -been asked to supply the address of a goat farm by a quartermaster -charged with the buying of a mascot, and he was just recovering from -this when a sailor from the Grand Fleet demanded a complete and -careful résumé of the British marriage regulations! Everybody seems -cheerful and contented; the officials are attentive and kind; the -guests good-natured and well-behaved. - -Such is the combination of club, restaurant, and hotel to which our -Jack resorts. And there he lives content in his islet of America, -while London roars about him. During the week, he wanders, as he -says himself, "all over the place." - -The good time ends with the Saturday ball game. Everybody goes. -Posters announce it through London in large black type on yellow -paper. "U.S. Army _vs._ U.S. Navy." The field is most American -looking; the "bleachers" might be those in any great American town. -The great game, the game to remember, was played in the presence of -the king. The day was a good one, though now and then obscured with -clouds; a strangely mixed audience was at hand, wounded Tommies, -American soldiers speaking in all the tongues of all the forty-eight -states, a number of American civilians from the embassy and the -London colony, groups of dignified staff officers from the army and -the navy headquarters, and even a decorous group of Britons dressed -in the formal garments which are de rigueur in England at any -high-class sporting event. Then in came the king walking ahead of -his retinue, ... a man of medium height with a most kind and -chivalrous face. Our admiral walked beside him. The band played, -eager eyes looked down, the king, looking up, smiled, and won the -good-will of every friendly young heart. A few minutes later, the -noise broke forth again, "Oh you Army!" "Oh you Navy," a hullaballoo -that culminated in a roar, "Play Ball!" - -The Navy men, wearing uniforms of blue with red stripes, walked out -first, closely followed by the army in uniforms of grey-green. The -admiral, towering straight and tall above his entourage, threw the -ball. A pandemonium of yells broke forth. "Now's the time, give it -to 'em, boys, soak it to 'em, soak it to 'em, steady Army, give him a -can, run Smithie!" In a corner by themselves, a group of bluejackets -made a fearful noise with some kind of whirligig rattles. Songs rose -in spots from the audience, collided with other songs, and melted -away in indistinguishable tunes. British Tommies looked on -phlegmatically, enjoying it all just the same. There were stray, -mocking cat calls. It was a real effort to bring one's self back to -London, old London of decorous cricket, tea, and white flannels. - -And of course, the Navy won. Over the heads of the vanishing crowd -floated, - - Give 'em the axe, the axe, the axe, - Where? Where? Where? - Right in the neck, the neck, the neck, - There! There! There! - Who gets the axe? - ARMY - Who says so! - NAVY - - -It ends with a roar. - -Then there is a celebration, and the next morning, his holiday over, -Jack is rounded up, and put into a railway carriage. The roofs of -London die away, and Jack, dozing over his magazines, sees in a dream -the great grey shapes of the battleships that wait for him in the -endless northern rain. - - - - -XXIX - -THE ARMED GUARD - -When the Germans began to sink our unarmed merchant vessels, and -announced that they intended to continue that course of action, it -was immediately seen that the only possible military answer to this -infamous policy lay in arming every ship. There were obstacles, -however, to this defensive programme. We were at the time engaged in -what was essentially a legal controversy with the Germans, a -controversy in which the case of America and civilization was stated -with a clarity, a sincerity, and a spirit of idealism which perhaps -only the future can justly appreciate. We could not afford to weaken -our case by involving in doubt the legal status of the merchantman. -The enemy, driven brilliantly point by point from the pseudo-legal -defences of an outrageous campaign, had taken refuge in quibbling, -"the ship was armed," "a gun was seen," "such vessels must be -considered as war vessels." We all know the sorry story. For a -while, our hands were tied. Then came our declaration of war which -left our Navy free to take protective measures. The merchantmen were -fitted with guns, and given crews of Navy gunners. This service, -devoted to the protection of the merchant ship, was known as the -Armed Guard. - -It was not long before tanker and tramp, big merchantman and grimy -collier sailed from our ports fully equipped. Vessels whose -helplessness before the submarine had been extreme, the helplessness -of a wretched sparrow gripped in the talons of a hawk, became -fighting units which the submarine encountered at her peril. -Moreover, finding it no longer easy to sink ships with gunfire, the -submarines were forced to make greater use of their torpedoes, and -this in turn compelled them to attempt at frequent intervals the -highly dangerous voyage to the German bases on the Belgian coast. -Sometimes the gun crews were British; sometimes American. The -coöperation between the two Navies was at once friendly and -scientific. - -The guns with which the vessels were equipped were of the best, and -the gun crews were recruited from the trained personnel of the fleet. -One occasionally hears, aboard the greater vessels, lamentations for -gunners who have been sent on to the Guard. These crews consisted of -some half-dozen men usually under the command of a chief petty -officer. A splendid record, theirs. They have been in action time -and time again against the Germans, and have destroyed submarines. -There is many a fine tale in the records of crews who kept up the -battle till the tilt of their sinking vessel made the firing of the -gun an impossibility. So far, the gunners on the merchant ships have -come in for the lion's share of attention. But there is another and -important side of the Armed Guard service which has not yet, I -believe, been called to the public notice. I mean the work of the -signal men of the Guard. - -[Illustration: An American gun crew in heavy weather (winter) outfit] - -The arming of the merchant ships was the first defensive measure to -be adopted; the second, the gathering of merchantmen into escorted -groups known as convoys. Now a convoy has before it several definite -problems. If it was to make the most of its chances of getting -through the German ambush, it must act as a well coördinated naval -unit, obeying orders, answering signals, and performing designated -evolutions in the manner of a battleship squadron. For instance, -convoys follow certain zigzag plans, prepared in advance by naval -experts. Frequently these schemes are changed at sea. Now if all -the vessels change from plan X to plan Y simultaneously, all will go -well, but if some delay, there is certain to be a most dangerous -confusion, perhaps a collision. It is no easy task to keep twenty or -so boats zigzagging in convoy formation, and travelling in a general -direction eastward at the same time. Merchant captains have had to -accustom themselves to these strict orders, no easy task for some -old-fashioned masters; merchant crews have had to be educated to the -discipline and method of naval crews. Moreover, there have been -occasional foreign vessels to deal with, and the problem presented by -a foreign personnel. In order, therefore, to assure that -communication between the guide ship of the convoy and its attendant -vessels which is, in the true sense of an abused word, vital to the -success of the expedition, the Navy placed one of its keenest -signalmen on the vessels which required one. He was there to give -and to send signals, by flag, by international flag code, by -"blinker" and by semaphore. The wireless was used as little as -possible between the various vessels of the merchant fleet, indeed, -practically not at all. - -The system of signalling by holding two flags at various angles is -fairly familiar since a number of organizations began to teach it, -and the semaphore system is the same system carried into action by -two mechanical arms. The method called "Blinker" has a Morse -alphabet, and is sent by exposing and shutting off a light, the -shorter exposures being the dots, the longer exposures, the dashes. -Sometimes "blinker" is sent by the ship's search light, a number of -horizontal shutters attached to one perpendicular rod serving to open -and close the light aperture. One used to see the same scheme on the -lower halves of old-fashioned window blinds. The international flag -code is perhaps the hardest signal system to remember. It requires -not only what a naval friend calls a good "brute" memory, but also a -good visual memory. Many have seen the flags, gay pieces of various -striped, patched, chequered, and dotted bunting reminiscent of a -Tokio street fair. The signalman must learn the flag alphabet, -committing to memory the colours and their geometric arrangement; he -must also learn the special signification of each particular letter. -For instance, one letter of the alphabet stands for "I wish to -communicate"; there are also numbers to remember, phrases, and -sentences. If a signalman cares to specialize, he can study certain -minor systems, for instance the one in which a dot and a dash are -symbolized by different coloured lights. A signalman must have a -good eye, a quick brain, and a good memory. It is a feat in itself -to remember what one has already received while continuing to receive -a long, perhaps complicated message. Because of these intellectual -requirements, you will find among the signalmen some of the cleverest -lads in the Navy. "Giles" such a lad, "Idaho," another, and "Pop" -was always "on the job." - -The Guard has its barracks in a great American port. One saw there -the men being sorted out, equipped for their special service, and -assigned to their posts. A fine lot of real seafaring youngsters, -tanned almost black. The Navy looked after them in a splendid -fashion. Said one of the boys to me, "If I had only known what a -wonderful place the Navy was, I'd been in it long ago." The boys -were sent over in the merchant ships, were cleanly lodged in -excellent hotels once they got to land, and were then sent back on -various liners. The Armed Guard was a real seafaring service, and -its men one and all were touched by the romance and mystery of the -sea. They fell in with strange old tramps hurried from the East, -they broke bread with strange crews, they beheld the sea in the -sullen wrath it cherishes beneath the winter skies. One and all they -have stood by their guns, one and all stood by their tasks, good, -sturdy, American lads, gentlemen unafraid. - - - - -XXX - -GOING ABOARD - -Giles, who had just been sent to the Armed Guard from the fleet, was -waiting for orders in a room at the naval barracks. It was early in -the spring, the sun shone renewed and clear; a hurdy gurdy sounded -far, far away. The big room was clean, clean with that hard, orderly -tidiness which marks the habitations of men under military rule. A -number of sailors, likewise waiting for their orders, stood about. -There was a genuine sea-going quality in the tanned, eager young -faces. The conversation dealt with their journeys, with the ships, -with the men, the life aboard, the furloughs in London. "Bunch of -Danes ... good eats ... chucked Bill right out of his bunk ... -regular peach ... saw Jeff at the Eagle Hut..." - -Presently a bosun entered. A man somewhere in the thirties, brisk -and athletic. One could see him counting the assembled sailors as he -came, the numbers forming on his soundless lips. The talk died away. - -"How many men here?" said the bosun abruptly. - -Several of the sailors began counting. There was much turning round, -a deal of whispered estimations. Every one appeared to be looking at -everybody else. Finally a deep voice from a corner said: - -"Thirty-five." - -"Any one down for leave?" - -Some half dozen members of a gun crew just home from a long journey, -called out that leave had been given them. - -"Anybody on sick list?" - -There was no answer. In the ensuing silence, the bosun checked off -the answers on his list. - -"I suppose you all want to go out." - -"Sure!" - -"Get in line." The bosun backed away, and looked with an official -eye at the sturdy group. - -"All here, pack up and stand by. At eleven o'clock have all your -baggage at the drill office. I'll send a man up to get the mail." - -The line broke up, keen for the coming adventure. Giles, the -signalman, walked at a brisk pace to his quarters... You would have -seen a lad of about twenty-two years of age, between medium height -and tall, and unusually well built. Some years of wrestling--he had -won distinction in this sport at school--had given him a tremendously -powerful neck and chest, but with all the strength there was no -suggestion of beefiness. The friendliest of brown eyes shone in the -clean-cut, handsome head, he had a delightful smile, always a sign of -good breeding. In habit he was industrious and persevering, in -manner of life clean and true beyond reproach. Giles is an American -sailor lad, a _real gob_, and I have described him at some length -because of this same reality. The sooner we get to know our sailors -the better. - -Back in his quarters, he busied himself with packing his bag. Now -packing one of those cylindrical bags is an art in itself. First of -all, each garment must be folded or rolled in a certain way, the -sleeve in this manner, the collar in that (it is all patiently taught -at training stations) then the articles themselves must be placed -within the bag in an orderly arrangement, and last of all, toilet -articles and such gear must be stowed within convenient reach. A -clean smell of freshly washed clothes and good, yellow, kitchen soap -rose from the tidy bundles. In went an extra suit--"those trousers -are real broadcloth, don't get 'em nowadays, none of that bum serge -they're trying to wish on you," a packet of underwear tied and -knotted with wonderful sailor knots, and last of all handkerchiefs, -soap, and other minor impedimenta done up in blue and red bandanna -handkerchiefs. You simply put the articles on the handkerchiefs and -knot the four corners neatly over the top. There you have the -sailor. Only at sea does one realize to what an extent the bandanna -handkerchief is a boon to mankind. When the bag was packed, it was a -triumph of industry and skill. Shouldering it, the sailor walked to -the drill office. He was early. A good substantial luncheon had -been prepared. There were plates of hearty sandwiches. Just before -noon, a fleet of "buses" took them to the pier. - -The day was clear but none too warm, and great buffeting salvos of -dust-laden wind blew across the befouled and busy waters of the port. -A young, almost boyish ensign gave each man his final orders, and a -kind of identification slip for their captains. The sailors of the -Guard, wearing reefers and with round hats jammed tightly on their -heads, stood backed against a wind that curled the wide ends of their -blue trousers close about their ankles. Presently, grimy, hot, and -pouring out coils of brownish, choking smoke, a big ocean-going tug -glided over to the wharf and took them aboard. Then bells ran, the -propeller churned, and the tug turned her corded nose down the bay. -The convoy lay at anchor at the very mouth of the roads. A -miscellaneous lot of vessels, mostly of British registration; some -new, some very, very old. The pick of the group was a fine large -vessel with an outlandish Maori name; Giles heard later that she had -just been brought over from New Zealand. The inevitable grimy-decked -tankers and ammoniacal mule boat completed the lot. An American -cruiser lay at the very head of the line, men could be seen moving -about on her, and there was much washing flapping in the wind. The -tug went from vessel to vessel, landing a signalman here, a gun crew -there. One by one the lads clambered aboard to shouts of "See you -later," and "Soak 'em one for me." Giles was almost the last man -left aboard the tug. Presently he darted off busily to a clean -little tramp camouflaged in tones of pink, grey, and rusty black. -The tug slid alongside caressingly. There were more bells; a noise -of churning of water. Over the side of the greater vessel leaned a -number of the crew, a casual curiosity in their eyes. Seafaring men -in dingy jerseys opening at the throat and showing hairy chests. A -putty-faced ship's boy watched the show a little to one side. -Presently an officer of the ship, young, deep-chested and with a -freshly-healed, puckering, star-shaped wound at the left hand corner -of his mouth, came briskly down the deck and stood by the head of the -ladder. - -Giles caught up his bag, clambered aboard, and reported. The officer -brought him to the captain. Then when the formalities were over, the -second mate took him in charge, and assigned the lad his quarters and -his watches. - -The convoy set sail the next morning just as a pale, cold, and -unutterably laggard dawn rose over a sea stretching, vast and empty, -to the clearly marked line of a distant and leaden horizon. The -escorting cruiser, flying a number of flags, was the first to get -under way; and behind her followed the merchantmen in their allotted -positions, each ship flying its position flag. - -Giles watched the departure from the bridge. Behind him the vast -city rose silent above the harbour mist; ahead, rich in promise of -adventure and romance, lay the great plain of the dark, the -inhospitable, the unsullied, the heroic sea. - - - - -XXXI - -GRAIN - -This is "Idaho's" story. He told it to me when I met him coming home -early this summer. We were crossing in a worthy old transatlantic -which has since gone to the bottom, and Idaho, at his ease in the -deserted smoking room, unfolded the adventure. "Idaho, U.S.N.," we -called him that aboard, is a very real personage. I think he told me -that he was eighteen years old, medium height, solidly built, -wholesome looking. The leading characteristic of the young, open -countenance is intelligence, an intelligence that has grown of itself -behind those clear grey eyes, not a power that has grown from -premature contact with the world. Until he joined the Navy, I -imagine that Idaho knew little of the world beyond his own -magnificent West. I consider him very well educated; he declares -that preferring life on his father's ranch to knowledge, he cut high -school after the second year. He is a great reader, and likes good, -stirring poetry. He is an idealist, and stands by his ideals with a -fervour which only youth possesses. And I ought to add that Idaho, -in the words of one of his friends, is "one first-class signalman." -This is Idaho's story, pieced together from his own recital, and from -a handful of his letters. - -The crowd aboard the naval tug was so festive that morning, and there -was such a lot of scuffling, punching, imitation boxing and jollying -generally that Idaho did not see the vessel to which he had been -assigned till the tug was close alongside. Then, hearing his name -called out, the lad caught up his baggage, and walked on into the -open side of a vast, disreputable tramp. The lad later learned that -she had been brought from somewhere in the China Sea. The -_Sebastopol_, Heaven knows where she originally got the name, was a -ship that had served her term in the west, had grown old and out of -date, and then been purchased by some Oriental firm. Out there, she -had carried on, always seaworthy in an old-fashioned way, always -excessively dirty, always a day over due. When the submarine had -made ships worth their weight in silver, the _Sebastopol_ must have -been almost on the point of giving up the ghost. Presently, the war -brought the old ship back to England again. Her return to an English -harbour must have resembled the return of a disreputable relative to -an anxious family. And in England, in some tremendously busy -shipyard, they had patched her up, added a modern electrical -equipment and even gone to the length of new boilers. But her -engines they had merely tuned up, and as for her ancient hull, that -they had dedicated to the mercy of the gods of the sea. - -Once aboard, and assigned to his station and watches, the lad had -leisure to look over his companions. The _Sebastopol_ carried a crew -from Liverpool, and was officered by three Englishmen and a little -Welsh third mate. The Captain, a first mate of many years' -experience, to whom the war had given the chance of a ship, was in -the forties; tall and with a thin, stern mouth under a heavy brown -moustache; the first mate was a mere youngster: the second, a -middle-aged volunteer, the third, an undersized, excitable Celt with -grey eyes and coal black hair touched with snow white above the ears. -The Welshman took a liking for Idaho; used to question him in regard -to the West, being especially keen to know about "opportunities there -after the war." He had a brother in Wales whom he thought might -share in a farming venture. Of the captain the lad saw very little; -and the first mate was somewhat on his dignity. Practically every -man of the crew had been torpedoed at least once, many had been -injured, and had scars to exhibit. All had picturesque tales to -tell, the gruesomest ones being the favourites. The best narrator -was a fireman from London, a man of thirty with a lean chest and -grotesquely strong arms; he would sit on the edge of a bunk or a -chair and tell of sudden thundering crashes, of the roaring of steam, -of bodies lying on the deck over which one tripped as one ran, of -water pouring into engine rooms, and of boilers suddenly vomiting -masses of white hot coal upon dazed and scalded stokers. It was the -melodrama of below the water line. Then for days the narrator would -keep silent, troubled by a pain in one of his fragmentary teeth. All -the men kept their few belongings tied in a bundle, ready to seize -the instant trouble was at hand. The cook complained to Idaho that -he had lost a gold watch when the _Lady Esther_ was torpedoed off the -coast of France, and advised him paternally to keep his things handy. -One of the oilers, a good-natured fellow of twenty-eight or nine, had -been a soldier, having been invalided out of the service because of -wounds received late in the summer on the Somme. An interesting lot -of men for an American boy to be tossed with, particularly for a lad -as intelligent and observing as our Idaho. The boy was pleased with -his job and worked well. He did not have very much to do. -Signalling aboard a convoyed ship, though a frequent business, is not -an incessant one. He knew that his work would come at the entrance -to the zone. Sometimes he picked up messages intended for others. -"_Mt. Ida_, you are out of line," "_Vulcanian_, keep strictly to the -prescribed zigzag plan." Now he would see the _Sicilian_ asking for -advice; now there would be a kind of telegraphic tiff between two of -the vessels of the "Keep further away, hang you" order. Twenty ships -running without lights through the ambush of the sea, twenty ships, -twenty pledges of life, satisfied hunger ... victory. In other days, -one's world at sea was one's ship; a convoy is a kind of solar system -of solitary worlds. Hour after hour, the assembled ships straggled -across the great loneliness of the sea. - -The crew had a grievance. It was not against their officers, but -against his majesty's government, against "a bloody lot of top hats." -A recent regulation had forbidden sailors to import food into the -United Kingdom, and all the dreams of stocking up "the missus'" -larder with American abundance had come to naught. Idaho says that -there was an engineer who was particularly fierce. "Don't we risk -our lives, I arsk yer," he would say, "bringing stuff to fill their -ruddy guts, and now they won't even let us bring in a bit of sugar -for ourselves." The rest of the crew would take up the angry -refrain; a mention of the food regulations was enough to set the -entire crew "grousing" for hours. - -And then came trouble, real trouble. - -On the fifth day out Idaho, called for his early watch, found the -boat wallowing in a heavy sea. The wind was not particularly heavy, -but it blew steadily from one point of the compass, and the seas were -running dark, wind-flecked, and high. The _Sebastopol_, accustomed -to the calm of eastern seas, was pitching and rolling heavily. -Presently the cargo began to shift. Now, to have the cargo shift is -about the most dangerous thing that can happen to a vessel. One -never can tell just when the centre of gravity of the mass will be -displaced, and when that contingency occurs, the big iron ship will -roll over as casually and as easily as a dog before the fire. It -takes courage, plenty of courage, to keep such a ship running, -especially if you are down by the boilers or in the engine room. You -have to be prepared to find yourself lying in a corner somewhere -looking up at a ceiling which, strange to say, has a door in it. The -_Sebastopol_ leaned away from the wind like a stricken man crouching -before a pitiless enemy; the angle of her smokestack more than -anything else betraying the alarming list. In her stricken -condition, the ship seemed to become more than ever personal and -human. Presently her old plates bulged somewhere and she began to -leak. - -The vessel carried a cargo of grain, in these days more than ever a -cargo epical and symbolic; a holdful of rich grain, grain engendered -out of fields vast as the sea, bred by the fruitful fire of the sun, -rippled by the passing of winds from the mysterious hills, grain, -symbolic of satisfied hunger, ... victory. A cargo of grain, life to -those on land, to those on board, danger and the possibility of a -violent if romantic death. The crew, too occupied with the emergency -to curse the stevedores, ran hither and thither on swift, obscure -errands. And the weather grew steadily worse, the leak increasing -with the advance of the storm. Down below, meanwhile, a force of men -hardly able to keep their balance, buffeted here and there by the -motion of the ship, and working in an atmosphere of choking dust, -transferred a number of bags from one side to another. Unhappily, -the real mischief was due to grain in bins, and with this store -little could be done. And always the water in the hold increased in -depth. - -The pumps, orders had been given to start them directly the leak was -noticed. Three minutes later, the machinery and the pipes, fouled -with grain, refused to work. They saw bubbles, steam, a trickle of -water that presently stopped, and lumps of wet grain that some one -might have chewed together, and spat forth again. Idaho did a lot of -signalling in code to the guide ship of the convoy. The _Sebastopol_ -began to drop behind. An order being given to sleep up on the boat -deck so as to be ready to leave at any instant, the men dragged their -bedding to whatever shelter they could find. The captain appeared -never to take any time off for sleep. Day after day, through heavy -seas, under a sky torn and dirty as a rag, the old _Sebastopol_ -listing badly and sodden as cold porridge, carried her precious cargo -to the waiting and hungry east. Giving up all hope of keeping up -with her sisters, she fell behind, now straggling ten, now fifteen -miles astern. At length the weather changed; the sea became smooth, -blue and sparkling, the sky radiant and clear. - -Then the destroyers came. There was a parley, and the other vessels -of the convoy zigzagged wildly for a while in order to allow the -_Sebastopol_ to catch up. But in spite of all attempts, the old ship -fell behind again and was suffered to do so, lest the others, -compelled to adopt her slow speed, be seriously handicapped in their -race down the gauntlet. Then it was discovered that the leak had -gained alarmingly; there was even talk of abandoning the vessel and -taking to the boats. A try was made to pump out the boat with an -ancient hand engine. The contrivance clogged almost at once. -According to Idaho, it was much like trying to pump out a thick bran -mash such as they give sick calves. And they were only two days from -land. Barely afloat, just crawling, and with the submarine zone -ahead of them.... But the gods were kind, and the old boat and the -solitary destroyer went down the Channel and across the Irish Sea as -safely as clockwork toys across a garden pool. Yet they passed quite -a tidy lot of wreckage. Nearer ... nearer all the time, till late -one afternoon two big tugs raced to meet them at the mouth of a giant -estuary. The _Sebastopol_ was at the end of her tether. Another -day, and it would have been a case of taking to the boats. - -The tugs hurried her into a waiting dry dock. - -Idaho, his papers signed, his bag upon his shoulder, got into a -little tender which was to take him over to the harbour landing. -Looking up, he saw some of the crew leaning over the rail.... They -grinned with friendly, soot-streaked faces, waved their arms.... The -_Sebastopol_ was safe, the rich cargo of grain, the life-giving -yellow grain was safe.... The tug slid off into the busy, noisy -riverway. - -And thus came Idaho of the Armed Guard to the Beleaguered Isles. - - - - -XXXII - -COLLISION - -"......Regret to report collision in latitude x and longitude y -between tank steamships _Tampico_ and _Peruvian_......"--_Extract -from an Admiralty paper_. - - -When supper was over, the two sailors of the Armed Guard attached to -the ship went out on deck for a breath of evening air. It was just -after sundown, a clean calm rested upon the monstrous plain of the -sea; one golden star shone tranquil and lonely in the west. The -convoy was almost at the border of the zone. To the left the lads -could see the twin funnels of the big grain ship; the tattered, -befouled horse boat, the little, rolling tramp said to be full of -T.N.T., and the long low bulks and squat houses of the two tanks. - -"Whoever's on that tramp is some bird at signals," said the bigger of -the boys, my friend "Pop." "Generally starts to answer my signal -before I'm through. Know who's aboard her, Robbie?" - -"I think it's that big new guy from the Pennsylvania" answered -Robbie, meditatively. - -"Dalton's on the horse boat, isn't he?" - -"Sure, either he or Ricci. Pete Johnson's on the first tank, and -that fresh little Rogers guy's on the other." - -There was a pause. Pop spat with unction over the side. - -Suddenly their vessel entered a fog bank, passing through a detached -island or two of it before plunging on into the central mass. The -convoy instantly faded from sight. Every now and then, out of the -wall of grey ahead, a little swirl of fog detached itself, and -floating down the darkening deck, melted into the opaque obscurity -behind. Drops of moisture began to gather on the lower surface of -the brass rails of the companion ways; wires grew slippery to the -touch; little worm-like trails of over-laden drops slid mechanically -down sloping surfaces. The fog, thickening, flowed alongside like a -vaporous current. Overhead, however, the sky was fairly clear, -though the greater stars shone aureoled and pale. There was very -little sound, merely the steady hissing of the calm water alongside, -occasional voices heard in a tone of consultation,--the heavy slam of -a door. An hour passed. The fog showed no sign of lifting, seeming -rather to become of denser substance with the dark. Pop was glad -that there was no ship following directly behind, and wondered if the -others were dragging fog buoys. The ship's bell rang muffled and -morne in the fog. Suddenly, out of the clinging darkness, out of the -oppressive obscurity, there came, momentary, brazen, and incredibly -distant a dull and muffled sound. So far away and mysterious was its -source that the sound might have been imagined as coming from the -dark beyond the stars. An instant later, as if the only purpose of -its mysterious existence had been to sink a tanker, the fog melted -into the night, and a little wind, a little, timid, trembling breath -brushed the great plume of smoke from the funnel lightly aside. A -bright starlit night came into being as if by enchantment, as if -created out of the fog by the intervention of divine will. - -The motionless black shapes of the colliding tankers could be seen -far, far astern. After the crash, they had drifted apart. The -wireless was crackling, blinker lights flashed their dots and dashes -of violet white, a whistle blew. "Am standing by," came a message. -The chief of the convoy sent out a peremptory command. Presently a -light appeared on one of the vessels, a little rosy glow like a -Chinese lantern. The glow sank, disappeared, and rose again, having -gathered strength. One of the tankers was on fire. Soon a second -glow appeared close by its stern. A glow of warm, rosy orange. In a -few minutes they could see tongues of fire, and two boats rowing away -from the vessel. They did not know that the men in the boats were -rowing for their lives through a pool of oil which might take fire at -any instant. A few minutes passed; the light grew brighter. -Suddenly, there was a kind of flaming burst: a great victory of fire. -The tanker, well down by the head, floated flaming in an ocean that -was itself a flame, floated black, silent, and doomed to find an -ironic grave in the waters under the fire. Great masses of smoke -rose from the burning pool into the serene sky, and hid the vessel -when she sank. Half an hour later, a little, rosy light lay at the -horizon's rim. Suddenly, like a lamp blown out, it died. - - - - -XXXIII - -THE RAID BY THE RIVER - -The convoy of merchantmen, after a calm, quite uneventful voyage -across the ambushed sea, put into a port on the Channel for the -night, and the following morning dispersed to their various harbours. -Some sort of coast patrol boat "not much bigger than an Admiral's -launch," the words are those of my friend Steve Holzer of the Armed -Guard, took the S.S. _Snowdon_ under her metaphorical wing, and -brought her up the Thames. This _Snowdon_ was one of a fleet of -twelve spry little tramps named for the principal mountains of the -kingdom, a smart, well-equipped, well-ordered product of the Tyne. -Steve, quick, clever, and alert, had got along capitally with the -"limeys." His particular pals were a pair of twin lads about his own -age, young, English, blond, and grey-eyed; young, slow to understand -a joke, honest, good-tempered, and sincere. I have seen the postcard -photograph of themselves which they gave Steve as a parting gift. -Steve himself is a Yankee from the word go, a genuine Yankee from -somewhere along the coast of Maine. He stands somewhat below medium -height, is lean-faced and lean-bodied; his eyes twinkle with a shrewd -good humour. A great lad. He tells me that his people have been -seafaring folk for generations. - -The _Snowdon_, escorted by her tiny guard, ran down the coast, -entered the Thames estuary, passed the barriers, and finally resigned -herself to the charge of a tug. Late in the afternoon, the mass of -London began to enclose them, they became conscious of strange, -somewhat foul, land smells; the soot in the air irritated their -nostrils. The ship was docked close after dusk. The feeling of -satisfaction which seizes on the hearts of seamen who have -successfully brought a ship into port entered into their bosoms; -everybody was happy, happy in the retrospect of achievement, in the -prospect of peace, security, good pay, and good times. - -Their vessel lay in a basin just off a great bend in the river, in a -kind of gigantic concrete swimming pool bordered with steel arc-light -poles planted in rows like impossibly perfect trees. To starboard, -through another row of arc poles and over a wall of concrete, they -could see the dirty majesty of the great brown river and the square -silhouetted bulks of the tenements and warehouses on the other side. -To port, lay a landing stage some two hundred feet wide, backed by a -huge warehouse over whose dingy roof two immense chimneys towered -like guardians. The space stank of horse; the river had lost the -clean smell of the sea, and breathed a reek of humanity and inland -mire. A mean cobbled-stone street led from a corner of the landing -space past wretched tenements, fried fish shops, and pawnbrokers' -windows exhibiting second rate nautical instruments, concertinas, and -fraternal emblems. It was all surprisingly quiet. - -Steve, hospitably invited to remain aboard, went to the starboard -rail and stood studying the river. The last smoky light had ebbed -from the sky; night, rich and strewn with autumnal stars, hung over -the gigantic city, and a moon just passing the first quarter hung -close by the meridian, and shone reflected in the pool-like basin and -the river's moving tide. One of the huge chimneys suddenly assumed a -great, creamy-curling plume of smoke which dissolved mysteriously -into the exhalations of the city. From down in the crew's quarters -came the musical squeals of a concertina, and occasional voices whose -words could but rarely be distinguished. The arc lights by the basin -edge suddenly flowered into a dismal glow of whitish yellow light -strangled by the opaque hoods and under cups affixed by the -anti-aircraft regulations. Another concertina sounded further down -the street. The moonlight, like a kind of supernal benediction, fell -on smokestack and funnel, on shining grey wire and solemn, rusted -anchor, on burnished capstan and finger smoutched door. Heat haze, -flowing in a swift and glassy river, shone above the smokestack in -the moon. - -Suddenly, Steve heard down the street a sustained note from something -on the order of a penny whistle, and an instant later, a window was -flung up, and a figure leaned out. It was too dark to see whether it -was a man or a woman. Then the same whistle was blown again several -times as if by a conscientious boy, and a factory siren with a -sobbing human cry rose over the warehouses. At the same moment, the -lights about the dock flickered, clicked, and died. There was a -confused noise of steps behind, there were voices--"Hey, listen!" -"Wot's that?" the last in pure cockney, and a questioning, doubting -Thomas voice said: "A raid?" The figure of the captain was seen on -the bridge. One of the ships' boys went hurrying round, doing -something or other, probably closing doors. The twins strolled over -to Steve, and informed him in the most casual manner that they were -in for a raid. It was Steve's first introduction to British -unemotionalism, and I imagine that it rather let him down. He says -that he himself was "right up on his tiptoes." He also had a notion -that bombs would begin to rain from the sky directly after the -warning. The twins soon made it clear, however, that the warning was -given when the raiders were picked up on the east coast, and that -there was generally some twenty minutes or half an hour to wait -before "the show" began. Every once in a while, somebody in the -group would steal a look at the pale worlds beyond the serried -chimney pots and at the moon, guiltless accomplice of the violence -and imbecilities of men. - -Presently, a number of star shells burst in fountains of coppery -bronze. Every hatch covered, every port and window sealed, the -_Snowdon_ awaited the coming of the raiders. Whistles continued to -be heard, faint and far away. From no word, tone, or gesture of that -English crew could one have gathered that they were in the most -dangerous quarter of the city. For the one indispensable element of -a London raid is the attack on the waterfront, the attack on the -ships, the ships of wood, the ships of steel, the hollow ships -through which imperial Britain lives. - -There is little to be seen in a London raid unless you happen to be -close by something struck by a bomb. The affair is almost entirely a -strange and terrible movement of sound, a rising, catastrophic tide -of sound, a flood of thundering tumult, a slow and sullen ebb. - -"There! 'Ear that?" said some one. - -Far away, on the edge of the Essex marshes and the moon-lit sea, a -number of anti-aircraft guns had picked up the raiders. The air was -full of a faint, sullen murmur, continuous as the roar of ocean on a -distant beach. Searchlight beams, sweeping swift and mechanical, -appeared over London, the pale rays searching the black islands -between the dimmed constellations like figures of the blind. They -descended, rose, glared, met, melted together. The sullen roaring -grew louder and nearer, no longer a blend, but a sustained crescendo -of pounding sounds and muffled crashes. A belated star shell broke, -and was reflected in the river. A police boat passed swiftly and -noiselessly, a solitary red spark floating from her funnel as she -sped. The roaring gathered strength, the guns on the coast were -still; now, one heard the guns on the inland moors, the guns in the -fields beyond quiet little villages, the guns lower down the -river--they were following the river--now the guns in the outer -suburbs, now the guns in the very London spaces, ring, crash, tinkle, -roar, pound! The great city flung her defiance at her enemies. -Steve became so absorbed in the tumult that he obeyed the order to -take shelter below quite mechanically. A new sound came screaming -into their retreat, a horrible kind of whistling zoom, followed by a -heavy pound. Steve was told that he had heard a bomb fall. -"Somewhere down the river." Nearer, instant by instant, crept the -swift, deadly menace. A lonely fragment of an anti-aircraft shell -dropped clanging on the steel deck. - -"You see," explained one of the twins in the careful passionless tone -that he would have used in giving street directions to a stranger, -"the Huns are on their way up the river, dropping a kettle on any -boat that looks like a good mark, and trying to set the docks afire. -The docks always get it. Listen!" - -There was a second "zoom," and a third close on its heels. - -"Those are probably on the _Ætna_ basins," said the other twin. -"Their aim's beastly rotten as a rule. If this light were out, we -might be able to see something from a hatchway. Mr. Millen (the -first mate) makes an awful fuss if he finds any one on deck." "I -know what's what, let's go to the galley, there's a window that can't -be shut." ... The three lads stole off. Beneath a lamp turned down -to a bluish-yellow flame, the older seaman waited placidly for the -end of the raid, and discussed, sailor fashion, a hundred irrelevant -subjects. The darkened space grew chokingly thick with tobacco -smoke. And the truth of it was that every single sailor in there -knew that the last two bombs had fallen on the _Ætna_ basins, and -that the _Snowdon_ would be sure to catch it next. By a trick of the -gods of chance, the vessel happened to be alone in the basin, and -presented a shining mark. The lads reached the galley window. - -By crowding in, shoulder to shoulder, they could all see. The pool -and its concrete wall were hidden; the window opened directly on the -river. Presently came a lull in the tumult, and during it, Steve -heard a low, monotonous hum, the song of the raiding planes. More -fragments of shrapnel fell upon the deck. The moon had travelled -westward, and lay, large and golden, well clear of the town. The -winter stars, bright and inexorable, had advanced ... the city was -fighting on. Suddenly, the three boys heard the ominous aerial -whistle, one of the twins slammed the window to, and an instant later -there was a sound within the dark little galley as if somebody had -touched off an enormous invisible rocket, ... a frightful "zoom," and -impact ... silence. They guessed what had happened. A bomb intended -for the _Snowdon_ had fallen in the river. Later somewhere on land -was heard a thundering crash which shook the vessel violently. A pan -or something of the kind hanging on the galley wall fell with a -startling crash. "Get out of there, you boys," called the cook. -Ship's galleys are sacred places, and are to be respected even in air -raids. And then even more slowly and gradually than it had gathered -to a flood, the uproar ebbed. The firing grew spasmodic, ceased -within the city limits, lingered as a distant rumble from the -outlying fields, and finally died away altogether. The sailors, -released by a curt order, came on deck. The top of the concrete wall -was splashed and mottled with dark puddles and spatters of water. -All agreed that the bomb had fallen "bloody close." The peace of the -abyss rules above. Far down the river, there was an unimportant fire. - -Said Steve--"I certainly was sore when I didn't have any excitement -on the way over in the convoy, but after that night in the _Snowdon_, -I decided that being with the Armed Guard let you in for some real -stuff. It's a great service." - -With which opinion all who know the Guard will agree. - - - - -XXXIV - -ON HAVING BEEN BOTH A SOLDIER AND A SAILOR - -When this cruel war is over, and the mad rounds of parades, banquets -and reunions begin, I shall immediately set to work to organize the -most exclusive of clubs. A mocking and envious friend suggests that -our uniform consist of a white sailor hat, a soldier's tunic, -British, French, or American according to the flags under which we -served, and a pair of sailor trousers with an extra wide flare. For -the club is to be composed of those fortunate souls who like myself -have seen "the show" on land and on sea. To my mind, however, -instead of mixing the uniforms, it would be better to dress in khaki -when we feel military; in blue when our temperament is nautical. -Think of belonging to a club whose members can dissect a trench -mortar with ease and at the same time say: "Three points off the port -bow" without turning a hair. I should admit marines only after a -special consideration of each case. Not that I don't admire the -marines. I do. I yield to no one in my admiration of our gallant -"devil dogs." But the applicant for admission to our club must have -first served as a bona fide soldier and then as a bona fide sailor or -vice versa. Not that I am a sailor or ever was a sailor in Uncle -Sam's Navy. All that I can claim to have been is a correspondent -attached to the Navy "over there." But four months' service, most of -it spent at sea on the destroyers, subs, and battleships entitles me, -I think, to membership, consequently, being president, I have -admitted myself. - -"Well, you've seen the war both on land and on sea; which service do -you prefer ... the army or the Navy?" This question is hurled at me -everywhere I go. I answer it with deliberation, enjoying the while -to the full the consciousness of being an extraordinary person, a -sort of literary Æneas, _multum jactatus et terris et alto_. And I -answer briefly: - -"The Navy." - -I hasten to add, however, that you will find my answer coloured by a -passion for the beauty and the mystery of the sea with which some -good spirit endowed me in my cradle. I was born in one of the most -historic of New England seacoast towns where brine was anciently said -to flow through the veins of the inhabitants. On midsummer days the -fierce heat distils from the cracked, caked mud of tidal meadows the -clean, salty smell of the unsullied sea; dark ships, trailing far -behind them long, dissolving plumes of smoke, weave in and out -between the tawny, whale-backed islands of the bay, and tame little -sea birds almost the colour of the shingle run along at the edge of -the in-coming tide. So I admit a bias for the service of the sea. - -Does the Navy demand as much of the sailor as the Army does of the -soldier? A vexed question. The Army, comparing grimly its own -casualty lists with the Navy's occasional roll sometimes imagines -naturally enough that the sailor lives, as the old hymn has it, "on -flowery beds of ease." As a whole there is no denying that living -conditions are far better in the naval service, though much depends -on the boat to which the sailor is assigned. A soldier in the -trenches sleeps in his clothes, so does a sailor on a destroyer or a -patrol boat, and I do not believe that I felt much more comfortable -at the end of a long trip in an old destroyer during which the vessel -rolled, pitched, tossed, careened, stood on her head, sat on her tail -and buckled than I did after a week or so at the front. Certainly, -there was little to choose between the overcrowded living quarters of -the sailors and a decent "dug-out." True, the "Toto," alias -greyback, alias "Cootie" or his occasional but less famous accomplice -the "crimson rambler" does not infest a Navy ship. How many times -have I not heard Army folk say in heartfelt tones, "Those Navy people -can keep _clean_." But a truce to the Cootie. Much more has been -made of him than he deserves. During the first six months of the war -the creature was in evidence, but after the hostilities began to -limit themselves to the trench swathe, and this localizing war made -possible a stable system of hospitals, cantonments and baths, the -Cootie became as rare as a day in June and to have such guest was an -indication of abysmally bad luck or personal uncleanliness. -Moreover, a little gasoline begged from a lorry driver and sprinkled -on one's clothes confers unconditional immunity. Consider the crew -of a submarine. They do not have to splash about in a gulley of -smelly mud the consistency of thick soup, or wander down alleyways of -red brown mud, so cheesy that it sticks to the boots till one no -longer lifts feet from the ground, but shapeless, heavy, thrice -cussed lumps of mire. No one has yet risen to sing the epic of the -mud of France; yet 'tis the soul of the war. The submarine sailors -are spared the mud, but they live in a sealed cylinder into which -sunlight does not penetrate, live in the close atmosphere of a -garage; they can not get exercise or change clothes. A submarine -crew that has had a hard time of it looks quite as worn out as -soldiers just out of battle and their colour is far worse. And if -there is a more heroic service than this submarine patrol, I should -like to know of it. - -And now the army in me rises to protest. "I admit," says the -military voice, "that service on ships may be a confounded sight more -disagreeable than I had imagined, but the sailor has a chance when he -gets to port of changing his uniform, whilst a poor lad of a soldier -must fight, eat, and sleep in the same old uniform, and must limit -his changes to a change of underclothes." - -True, oh military spirit. Civilian, and thou, too, oh sailor, do you -know what it is to be confined, to be wedded, without jest, "till -death do us part" to _one_ suit. One faithful, persistent, necessary -uniform and _one_ only. Two-thirds of the joy of permission is the -pleasure of getting out of a dirty, stale, besweated uniform. Heaven -bless, Heaven shower a Niagara of happiness on those kindly ladies -who sent us supplies of socks and jerseys! Don't be content to knit -Johnny socks and a sweater, keep on knitting him a number of them, -and send them over at intervals. The dandies of a section used to -leave extra clothes in villages behind the lines. Alas, sometimes, -the group, after service "_aux tranchées_" was not marched back to -the same village, and it was difficult to get permission to visit the -other village, even were it near. Such expedients, however, are for -luxurious times. Quite often there are no habitable villages for -miles behind the lines, or else the civilian inhabitants have been -ruthlessly warned away. In such circumstances there is no clean -cache of clothes to be left behind in Madame's closet. But the -sailor ... though he returns as grimy as a printers' devil and as -bearded as a comic tramp, there is always a clean suit of "liberty -blues" in his bag, and to-morrow, clad in the handsomest of all naval -uniforms, he will be found ashore, breaking fair British or Irish -hearts. - -I have tried to show that in the judgment of an ex-soldier, the -difference between the life of a sailor in a fighting ship and the -life of a soldier in a fighting regiment is by no means as great as -it has been imagined. The army, I suppose, will grumble at such a -pronunciamento. Let an objector, then, try being a lookout man all -winter long on a destroyer ... or try firing a while. All is not -quite purgatorial even at the front. Most army men know of quiet -places along the line held on our side by rubicund, wine-bibbing, -middle-aged French "territoriaux," _bons pères de famille_ who show -you pictures of Etienne and Maurice; and garrisoned on the enemy's -border by fat old Huns who want very, very much to get home to their -great pipe and steaming sauerkraut. In such places each side -apologizes for the bad taste of their supporting artillery, whilst -grenade throwing is regarded as the bottom level of viciousness. -Once in a while people die there of old age, gout, or chronic liver. -No one is ever killed. Such "ententes cordiales" were far more -frequent than those behind the line have ever suspected. On the -other hand, some twenty miles down the trench swathe there may be a -hillock constantly contested, a strategic point which burns up the -lives of men as casually as the sustaining of a fire consumes -faggots. Now it is the quick, merciful bullet in the head, now the -hot, whizzing éclat of a high explosive, now the earthquake of the -subterranean mine. But after all, a mine at sea is no more gentle -than one on land, and to have a mine exploded under him is perhaps -the eventuality which a soldier fears more than anything else. On -land, the thundering release of a giant breath from out of the earth, -a monstrous pall of fragments of soil, stones, and dust ... perhaps -of fragments more ghastly, at sea, a thundering pound, a column of -water which seems to stand upright for a second or two and then falls -crashing on whatever is left of the vessel. _Quelle monde!_ - -There is a distinct difference between the psychology of the soldier -and that of the sailor. A soldier of any army is sure to be drilled, -and drilled, and drilled again till he becomes what he ought to be, a -cog in an immense machine scientifically designed for the release of -violence; a sailor, drilled scientifically enough but not so -machinally, preserves some of the ancient freedom of the sea. Then, -too, the soldier with his bayonet is a fighting force; the sailor, -though prepared for it, himself rarely fights, but works a fighting -mechanism, ... the ship. The battleship X may sink the cruiser Y, -but there is rarely a "_corps a corps_" such as takes place for -instance in a disputed shell crater. Thus removed from the baser -brutalities of war, the sailor never reveals that vein of Berserker -savagery which soldiers will often reveal in a conquered province. -As a class, sailors are the best-natured, good-hearted souls in the -world. Rough some may be, some may be scamps, but brutal, never. -Moreover, living under a discipline easier to bear than the soldiers, -Jack has not the sullen streaks that overtake betimes men under arms. -Of course, he grumbles, enlisted men are not normal if they don't -grumble, but Jack's grumbling is as nothing compared to the fierce, -smothered hate for things in general which every soldier sometimes -feels. - -I would follow the sea, because I am a lover of the mystery and -beauty of the sea, and because my comrades would be sailormen. I -would knock at the Navy's door because, after all is said and done, -the naval power is the ultima ratio of this titanic affair. I have -seen many of the great scenes of this war, among them Verdun on the -first night of the historic battle, but nothing that I saw on land -impressed me as did my first view of the British Grand Fleet in its -northern harbour, ... the dark ships, the hollow ships, rulers of the -past, rulers of the future, unconquered and unconquerable. - -H.B.B. - - The Parson Capen House, - Topsfield, 1919. - - - -END - - - - THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS - GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Full Speed Ahead, by Henry B. 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