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KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
THE AUTHOR. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPTAIN E. R. G. R. EVANS, 
 
 C.B., D.S.O., R.N. 
 
 °iX*&x/£:3> 
 
 NEW YORK 
 FREDERICK WARNE & CO. 
 
 K 
 
37 s"*/ 
 .Met 
 
 Copyright, 1920, by 
 FREDERICK WARNE & CO. 
 
 JAN 31 1320 
 
 ©CI.A559 80 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION TO 
 
 HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Foreword 
 I Commencing with Dover and the 
 
 Sixth Flotilla 13 
 
 II The Belgian Coast in 1 9 14 . . 21 
 
 III The Winter of 1914-15 ... 30 
 
 IV The Auxiliary Patrol ... 44 
 V Flag Changes and Some More 
 
 Belgian Coast Work ... 49 
 VI Bombardments and a Few Diver- 
 sions 58 
 
 VII Escort Work, a Second Winter 
 
 and a Bit of Salvage ... 74 
 VIII " Fred Karno's " Navy and the 
 
 Belgian Barrage .... 88 
 IX A Third Winter and H.M.S. 
 
 Broke 1 1 1 
 
 X A Busman's Holiday .... 143 
 XI "Bikky" and the Big Guns . . 161 
 XII The R.N.A.S., More Coast Watch- 
 ing, Mine-Laying and Skir- 
 mishing 175 
 
 XIII Knuts and Gold 199 
 
 XIV Dover Mine-Sweepers . . . . 212 
 XV A Little Bit of Shore Time and 
 
 More Flag Changes . . . 218 
 
 The Lobster that Kicked . . 223 
 
 XVI H.M.S. Active 244 
 
 XVII A Brazilian Coast Patrol . . 273 
 
 XVIII A Portuguese Sea Patrol . . . 298 
 
 XIX Belgium, 19 19 305 
 
 Index 319 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 The Author Frontispiece 
 
 King Albert — the hero Monarch. (Photographed 
 by Speaight, Ltd., on the battlefield of 
 
 Flanders during the war) 23 
 
 H. M. S. Broke making a smoke screen to protect 
 
 Monitors bombarding Belgian Coast . . 40 
 Captain Taussig and the Officers of U.S.S. Wads- 
 worth . 56 
 
 Twelve-inch guns mounted in imitation barn near 
 
 Adinkerque, by Commander Bickford . . 72 
 The Heroine — Queen of the Belgians . . .88 
 The King and Queen of the Belgians with the Earl 
 of Athlone and Admiral Bacon on board one 
 
 of the Dover Destroyers 104 
 
 American Staff Officers, with Commander Evans on 
 board M.L.181 going out to meet the first 6 
 U. S. destroyers off Queenstown . . .120 
 The German Submarine Shelters at Bruges . .136 
 Guns ready for landing from Monitor General 
 
 Cranford 152 
 
 German Battery "Tirpitz" built in 191 5 . . . 168 
 
 A "Tirpitz" 11 inch gun 184 
 
 The Tripod secured for passage — ready to place 
 on. shallow sand bank to spot for bombarding 
 Monitors on Belgian Coast .... 200 
 
 Crusader throwing it about a bit 216 
 
 Lieut. Pullen, R.N.V.R 232 
 
 A group of Local "Knuts" photographed by 
 Queen Elisabeth on board Lord Clive in Dun- 
 kirk 248 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Naval officers have not generally been encouraged to 
 write popular accounts of their experiences and adven- 
 tures, and I have steadfastly refused to be " drawn " 
 up to date; but quite recently officers of high rank have 
 published books and memoirs that have quite an 
 apologetic strain about them. What on earth the 
 British Navy has to apologise for, I have yet to discover, 
 and why the achievements of a magnificent soldier like 
 Kitchener should be pulled to pieces now, I cannot 
 imagine. However, there it is, and in placing my 
 volume on the market I make no apology whatever. I 
 have stories to tell which will throw light on the work 
 of the satellites, whose tiny vessels patrolled the seas 
 for four and a half years, not even weary years, mark 
 you, because we in the little craft were too enthusiastic 
 over the Allied cause and, incidentally, too proud of 
 our Naval services to let anybody down. 
 
 Enthusiasm and self-confidence make for success in 
 war, and it is of the sea enthusiasts that I write. The 
 book cannnot please everybody, but it should please 
 the majority, and its intention is to bring into the 
 picture some of those whose names are unknown to 
 the general public, but who, nevertheless, displayed a 
 courage, ability and heroism almost unsurpassed in the 
 history of the war. 
 
 Nor is the book written for those who believe too 
 strongly in the proverb, " They also serve who stand 
 and wait." it is rather for those whose motto is " Go 
 in and win." 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 Commencing with Dover and the Sixth Flotilla 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities against Germany, 
 The Patrol Flotilla, attached to Dover Strait, consisted 
 of twelve very fast destroyers classed as the Tribals, 
 and in addition to these we had a dozen or so of small, 
 obsolete torpedo-boat destroyers. 
 
 Although navally known as " thirty-knotters," these 
 little vessels were virtually incapable of exceeding 
 twenty-five knots at full speed. Some of them were 
 built as far back as 1896, and in 1914 they were in 
 various stages of decay. They had seen better days, 
 these poor shabby little old-fashioned torpedo craft. 
 Their captains and officers were proud of them never- 
 theless; their crews were happy and their sub-lieutenants, 
 boys of twenty who were paid as their first and executive 
 officers, spent hours in hiding the dented and patched 
 disfigurements of age by a liberal use of black paint and 
 a delicate addition of " pretty-pretties," such as polished 
 brass wind-vanes on the mastheads and little badges fixed 
 on the tiny dinghies which were carried by these'craft. 
 The big-handed sailor men were proud of their floating 
 homes, and they willingly put up with the most dreadful 
 accommodation in the dark, ill-ventilated hole, officially 
 
 13 
 
i 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 named the mess-deck, for the greater freedom from big- 
 ship discipline, and the considerable increase to their 
 scanty pay. 
 
 At the end of July, 19 14, I had the honour of com- 
 manding the Mohawk, one of the Tribals, and as the 
 senior officer, I brought twelve fast destroyers to 
 Dover, to join up with the thirty-knotters and, with 
 them, to take over the patrol of Dover Strait and its 
 approaches. 
 
 The officer who had charge of the Dover destroyers 
 was Captain C. D. Johnson, R.N., of H.M.S. Attentive, 
 and his naval title was Captain (D) Sixth Flotilla. 
 
 It may be explained that each destroyer flotilla has 
 a captain in charge, and this officer is responsible for 
 the discipline, organisation and conduct of the flotilla 
 under his charge. The Captain (D) is in fact a mini- 
 ature admiral, his flotilla a miniature fleet, and the of- 
 ficers commanding the destroyers in the flotilla are a 
 certain number of commanders, each with his own di- 
 vision of four boats, while the remainder of the destroyer 
 skippers are lieutenants or lieutenant-commanders. They 
 are mostly very young men, frequently of independent 
 opinion and generally full of initiative. A destroyer 
 captain is a little tin god in his way, who should (and 
 usually does) command the respect and affection of 
 those in his little command. 
 
 Four light cruisers were attached to the Dover Patrol, 
 under the orders of Captain Johnson ; none of them very 
 new, but whatever designs the Germans had on Dover 
 or the adjacent coasts of France, it is safe to say that 
 the officers and men of the Sixth Flotilla and the at- 
 tached cruisers were eager and anxious to go in against 
 the enemy and win. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 15 
 
 I well remember the howl of joy that went up from 
 the destroyers when the yeoman of each little vessel 
 strode firmly aft, with grim smile, and handed to his 
 commanding officer the signal — " Commence hostilities 
 against Germany." 
 
 During the critical period that preceded the fatal 
 day, we destroyer captains were called on board, en 
 masse, to hear our leaders' plans, and to gather what our 
 duties would be. The plans were clear enough. The 
 patrols were all decided and arranged for us, and shortly 
 after the receipt of that signal, never to be forgotten, the 
 black hulls of a score of destroyers were to be seen 
 gliding out of the entrances of Dover harbour. 
 
 It was, of course, summer time, and the weather fine, 
 clear and warm. 
 
 In the opinion of the majority, we had little chance 
 of submarine encounters; the enemy had not so many 
 U boats to spare in 19 14, and I think we expected the 
 Hun to aim for something better, and to play for higher 
 stakes than the somewhat faded vessels of the obsolete 
 Sixth Flotilla. I may say here that I am not included 
 in the ranks of the " Lets-all-be-gloomy Brigade," and 
 whatever other people may say, I think the Admiralty 
 of 19 14 deserve a pat on the back for their selection of 
 the vessels in the Sixth Flotilla, when our war plans 
 were worked out. 
 
 To start with, the Germans did not know everything. 
 They did not know what submarines were ready to rip 
 open the steel hulls of their attacking ships that might 
 come our way by day. By night they would gain 
 nothing by sending good ships through, which was 
 practically asking for a destroyer attack under conditions 
 most favourable to the destroyer. 
 
i6 
 
 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Before the Belgian coast ports were occupied, an 
 enemy destroyer attack on Dover Straits was improbable 
 during daylight hours, when the Harwich Force could, 
 and would, have cut off their retreat. So what we 
 really had to face was not very much until the days grew 
 shorter and the hours of darkness lent themselves to more 
 advantageous attacking conditions. Even then, as the 
 year 19 14 drew to a close, it was none too likely that we 
 should get a night destroyer raid, for the enemy had no 
 very great inducement in sending modern destroyers 
 to fight ships which, even if inferior in armament, 
 were not inferior in speed, and not likely to be manned 
 by gentlemen with cold feet. As we have seen in this 
 war, night destroyer fights are not decided by numbers 
 and armaments, so much as by luck and dash. 
 
 The Tribal class burnt oil fuel, their speeds in 19 14 
 were very high, and their sea-keeping qualities magni- 
 ficent, as far as weather was concerned. Their dis- 
 advantages were in armament, especially in torpedoes, 
 and in their high fuel consumption, which limited their 
 radius of action compared to the destroyers of the now 
 celebrated " L " class, and those of post-war pattern. 
 
 The following is a list of the Tribals, for those who 
 care for a more detailed explanation: — 
 
 Name. 
 
 Original Speed. 
 
 Armament Date 
 
 of Launch 
 
 Afridi 
 
 . 32.75 knots 
 
 5 12-pounders and 
 
 1907 
 
 Cossack 
 
 . 33.15 " 
 
 2 torpedo tubes 
 
 1907 
 
 Ghurka 
 
 . 34 
 
 " 
 
 1907 
 
 Mo/iaivk 
 
 . 34.51 " 
 
 )> 
 
 1907 
 
 Tartar 
 
 . 35.67 " 
 
 » 
 
 1907 
 
 Saracen 
 
 . 33.8 " 
 
 2 4-inch and 
 
 1908 
 
 Amazon 
 
 . 33.73 " 
 
 2 torpedo tubes 
 
 1908 
 
 Crusader . . 
 
 . 35 
 
 » 
 
 1909 
 
 Maori 
 
 . 33 
 
 » 
 
 1909 
 
 Nubian 
 
 . 34.88 " 
 
 >> 
 
 1909 
 
 Viking 
 
 . 34.88 " 
 
 >> 
 
 1909 
 
 Zulu 
 
 . 34 
 
 >> 
 
 1909 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 17 
 
 And now let us turn to the thirty-knotters. 
 noticed they were decidedly old-fashioned :- 
 
 It will be 
 
 Name. 
 
 Original 
 
 Speed. 
 
 Armament. 
 
 Date of Launch 
 
 Crane 
 
 . . 30.3 
 
 knots 
 
 
 
 1896 
 
 Faiun 
 
 . . 30.5 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 1897 
 
 Flirt 
 
 .. 30 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 1897 
 
 Gipsy 
 
 .. 30 
 
 >» 
 
 
 
 1897 
 
 Leven 
 
 .. 30 
 
 >> 
 
 1 12-pounder 
 
 
 1898 
 
 Mermaid 
 
 .. 30 
 
 )» 
 
 5 6-pounders 
 
 
 1898 
 
 Falcon 
 
 .. 30 
 
 jj 
 
 2 torpedo tubes 
 
 1899 
 
 Greyhound . . 
 
 .. 30 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 Kangaroo 
 
 .. 30 
 
 tf 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 Myrmidon . . 
 
 .. 30 
 
 »> 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 Racehorse . . 
 
 .. 30 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 Syren 
 
 .. 30 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 1900 
 
 The Sixth Flotilla maintained their patrol nearly 
 across the Straits. French destroyers and small torpedo- 
 boats kept watch on their own side. For some few 
 months our Allies laboured with us at the somewhat 
 uninteresting work of intercepting all vessels attempting 
 to pass the Straits of Dover and diverting them through 
 the Downs to be examined by men who knew; these 
 men were a collection of officers with merchant service 
 experience, who pretty shrewdly sized up fool and rogue, 
 and who made it their business to separate the sheep 
 from the goats. This intercepting work kept one con- 
 stantly on the bridge ; by night we had great trouble 
 with vessels who tried hard to evade the examination 
 service and some of them were very clever; perhaps 
 some of them got through ! Very early in the war the 
 Zulu seized and took to Dover as a prize, a beautiful 
 German sailing vessel. Her captain spoke English well, 
 and knew nothing whatever of the war. He cheerily 
 invited the Zulu's skipper on board and asked him down 
 to drink " A long glass be-e-er." Poor man ! He burst 
 into tears when the news was broken that the Zulu had 
 2 
 
1 8 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 captured him — at least he has the distinction now of 
 being one of the few living Germans who escaped some 
 of the horrors of war. 
 
 By day our patrol duties were lighter; we got three 
 days in harbour out of four, and three nights at sea out 
 of four. It was not necesary to patrol so closely during 
 the day time, for one could hold the Straits with five 
 destroyers, whereas at night we thickened up the patrol 
 line to stop anything passing through. 
 
 My own experience was that Dutch and Swedish 
 vessels ignored our signals and the Admiralty's instruc- 
 tions most; but what we couldn't always get' into them 
 by politeness we sometimes succeeded in doing by means 
 of a blank charge, or a shot across their bows. Some, I 
 fear, even descended to familiarities through the mega- 
 phone, such as " Van Tromp, old dear, you'll never see 
 Rotterdam, Schiedam or Amsterdam again unless you 
 take your dam ship through the Downs." 
 
 I caught up one large Dutch liner, the Tubantia, and 
 made her anchor off Folkestone. She had some Ger- 
 mans on board, but we received orders at that time not 
 to arrest Germans travelling on neutral ships Later on 
 in the war the Germans torpedoed and sank her them- 
 selves. 
 
 On another occasion, shortly after Austria was de- 
 clared our enemy, I caught an Austrian steamer, a splen- 
 did vessel, passing to the East of the Goodwins by the 
 forbidden route. She stopped as directed and an officer 
 boarded her, alas! to find that she had a " Days of 
 Grace " permit allowing her to proceed unmolested to 
 Austria. I was disappointed for she would have been 
 a splendid prize. 
 
 The patrolling was a pleasure to begin with, albeit a 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 19 
 
 somewhat strenuous pleasure, but we began to grow 
 envious and restless when the news of the prowess of the 
 " L " boats reached us. Four " L " boats were with 
 the light cruiser Amphion when the German minelayer 
 Kbnigin Luise was sunk, on the 5th August, 19 14, and 
 these same boats rescued the crew of the Amphion the 
 following day, when she struck one of the mines laid by 
 her victim and was sunk herself in consequence. 
 
 It was on August 28th, less than a month after war 
 was declared, that the " L " boats got their chance off 
 Heligoland. The account of this now famous fight made 
 us yearn for close action and, to my knowledge, certain 
 of the destroyer captains applied for transfer to the 
 destroyer forces working under the Commodore (T) at 
 Harwich. The Zulu's captain became flag-lieutenant to 
 Commodore Tyrwhitt of the Harwich striking force; 
 but some of those who left Dover eventually regretted it. 
 
 However, the patrolling soon changed for the better. 
 The Royal Naval Division, was sent to Antwerp, and it 
 fell to the Sixth Flotilla destroyers to escort the huge 
 transports that conveyed the troops to Ostend and 
 Zeebrugge. Stealthily we moved away from Dover 
 under cover of darkness; the large liners were never 
 subjected to the risk of submarine attack between Dover 
 and the ports of disembarkation. The transfer of the 
 Naval Division was made in the early autumn nights 
 when no moonlight could give away their movements. 
 In the grey dawn, the steamers were berthed at Zee- 
 brugge or Ostend and we, in our destroyers, watched 
 them glide into these harbours, and hungrily gazed after 
 those who crowded the vessels, wishing to be with them, 
 wondering when they would meet the foe and hoping 
 they would bring honour to the White Ensign. Perhaps 
 
 1 
 
20 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 I was more envious than others for my friend, Com- 
 mander Victor Campbell, was adjutant of the Drake 
 Battalion, and I knew he would make good. Campbell 
 had been first lieutenant of Captain Scott's famous ex- 
 ploring ship Terra Nova, when I had the honour of 
 commanding her, but of Victor Campbell more anon. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The Belgian Coast in 19 14 
 
 In late September, not so very long after the Heligo- 
 land Battle, Rear-Admiral, The Hon. Horace Hood, 
 C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., was appointed to command the 
 Dover Patrol, and with his fighting instincts he could 
 not keep his motley squadron away from the Belgian 
 coast. It fell to Admiral Hood to arrange the pre- 
 liminary work of the coastal bombardments. Flying his 
 flag in the destroyer Amazon (Commander Harry 
 Oliphant), Hood led the destroyers close into Ostend 
 Roads, shelled the right wing of the advancing German 
 Army, and, one bright Sunday morning, to the surprise 
 and annoyance of my fellow explorer, Sven Hedin, 
 the destroyers, with incredible audacity, came close to 
 the shore and one of their shells blew away the dejeuner 
 and killed the guest of the aforesaid Swedish gentleman. 
 Dr. Sven Hedin (who is an Honorary Knight Com- 
 mander of the Royal Victorian Order) , was one of those 
 delightful neutrals who " backed the wrong horse." He 
 not only sympathised with Germany, but actively 
 assisted the Hun by his journalistic efforts and general 
 propaganda work. At the present moment, 10th April, 
 19 1 9, I am sitting in the Hotel de Londres at Ostend, 
 and, as I glance out of the window, I see everywhere 
 signs of the " Gentle German," which Sven Hedin so 
 inaccurately describes. All the ironwork of the balconies 
 
 21 
 
22 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 has been broken off, lamp-posts are torn away, cranes 
 have been wrecked, dredgers sunk and so forth. In the 
 houses, chandeliers have been pulled down and stolen, 
 marble staircases wrecked, houses mutilated, drains cut, 
 water supplies ruined and the " mark of the beast " is 
 everywhere. I find that Sir Sven Hedin (K.C.V.O.) 
 does not contrast favourably with the clear blue-eyed 
 Norseman, Amundsen, that intrepid explorer who 
 showed his contempt for the " Gentle German " by 
 handing back all his Hun decorations as a protest against 
 the thousands of murders of neutral seamen by those 
 sailing under the German Naval Ensign. 
 
 I think I am correct in quoting a highly-placed Nor- 
 wegian official, who informed me that not one Norwegi- 
 an life was lost through the action of the Allied Navies. 
 
 The Belgian coast bombardments commenced seri- 
 ously in October, 19 14, when Admiral Hood shelled the 
 enemy in accordance with the wishes of the Belgian and 
 British Headquarters Staff. The vessels we had to be- 
 gin with cut a sorry figure when compared to the monit- 
 ors of 19 1 8. The bombarding flotilla consisted of the 
 antiquated gunboats which had been used for training 
 seamen in peace time by the Gunnery Schools at Ports- 
 mouth, Plymouth and Sheerness. We had some capital 
 little monitors of 1,260 tons displacement and about 
 twelve knots speed, which mounted then a pair of 
 6-inch guns in a turret forward, and a 4.7 gun aft. 
 
 These vessels, the Humber, Mersey and Severn, were 
 built by Armstrong's, to the order of a foreign Gov- 
 ernment, but never delivered. They did excellent work, 
 and their shallow draught, which required only a 
 fathom of water to manoeuvre in, rendered them emi- 
 nently suitable for the operations in progress. In 
 
(Photographed by Speaight, Ltd.) 
 
 KING ALBERT. 
 The Hero Monarch, on the Battlefield of Flanders During the War. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 23 
 
 1 9 14, well-organised as the German Army undoubtedly 
 was, the enemy shore artillery made a sorry display 
 against a moving target, although the speed of the bom- 
 barding vessels was " nothing to write home about." 
 
 The most absurd feature of these early sea bombard- 
 ments was the introduction of the two " Flat Iron " 
 gunboats, Excellent and Bustard. They were the abso- 
 lute limit! Phew ! . . . Smaller than the Thames penny 
 steamboats, slower than the Philadelphia snails, they 
 literally crawled about like tortoises; getting into posi- 
 tion, firing, one of them a 9.2-inch gun and the other a 
 6-inch breech loader, drifting off their marks in the tide- 
 way and then laboriously groping back and " loosing 
 off " once more. It was extremely comic! but we had 
 nothing else to spare. 
 
 Forgive me if I depart from the spirit of the critics; 
 everybody slangs Winston, but he sent us these ships, 
 which were exquisitely described as of no naval value. 
 They were unfit for ordinary sea fighting, but I laughed 
 into my early morning tea and spluttered crumbs from 
 the bread and butter with which I fortified my empty 
 stomach, whilst I watched these quaint sea practices. 
 It was good to be alive. The Germans fired a lot of stuff 
 back at us, but did very little damage. A shell makes 
 a pretty splash in the sea, and these coastal operations — 
 for most of us our baptism of fire — did us a lot of good. 
 
 During the time that Admiral Hood directed opera- 
 tions from the Amazon, a signalman had been stationed 
 at the end of Nieuport Pier for the purpose of passing 
 signals from the Army to the Admiral, and vice versa. 
 The flag lieutenant who accompanied the Admiral was 
 Bill Adams or, to give him his navy list title, Lieutenant 
 Jamieson B. Adams, R.N.R. Adams was an old Ant- 
 
24 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 arctic explorer, having been second in command to Sir 
 Ernest Shackleton on the famous expedition of 1907, 
 when he accompanied his leader to a point within 
 100 miles of the South Pole itself. He had a charming 
 and humourous personality, was a regular handy man 
 and, as the Norsemen say, " had an eye on every 
 finger." 
 
 The destroyers were being fired at fairly heavily, 
 and Adams was much put to it with hts small signal staff 
 to keep things going. However, he managed to keep an 
 eye on the connecting link, who was continually flashing 
 out signals from the pier head, and when Adams ob- 
 served that the pier head was coming into the zone of 
 the enemy shell fire, he told the Amazon signal staff to 
 order the man off the pier. In vain they signalled to 
 this effect, the signalman stuck to his pier-head, flashing 
 to seaward, semaphoring to shoreward, oblivious of the 
 dangers which were besetting him, but jumping round 
 like a monkey in a red hot cage. Adams through his 
 telescope saw that whole sections of the pier were be- 
 ing shot away, and to emphasize the necessity of mak- 
 ing the signalman withdraw, he shouted in a voice that 
 could be heard above the boom and crash of the guns, 
 " Tell that blooming CASABIANCA to go to Hell out 
 of it NOW." 
 
 Reverting to the Excellent (Commander Saurin) and 
 Bustard (Lieut. McGuire), whatever damage they did 
 I never heard, but one couldn't help admiring them for 
 their untiring efforts and their plucky obstinacy. They 
 took hours to get into position and, once within range 
 of the enemy's guns, they stopped there until their am- 
 munition was gone or the day was spent, and then 
 plugged stolidly away homeward to their anchorage for 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 25 
 
 another load of shell. Their crews would work all night 
 to avoid missing any fun and, in the early morning, 
 these two toy ships would be the first to weigh, by hours; 
 but in spite of their five knots maximum speed, they were 
 never adrift from their places when bombardments 
 again commenced. 
 
 We in the destroyers patrolled the Belgian coast at 
 night and, closing into the shore, had a splendid view 
 of the burning houses and bursting projectiles as the two 
 opposing armies made battle in the night. It was all 
 unutterably weird and sad to watch the devastation of 
 the Flanders seaside health resorts. 
 
 Personally I shall never forget the red flashes of the 
 exploding shells and the uncanny flames that burnt in 
 the houses and showed through the shattered windows 
 of the Belgian Villas at Westende, Middelkerke and 
 other villages. Ostend did not suffer much, the Germans 
 had advanced too quickly and the Allies never shelled or 
 bombed this town intentionally, although it was always 
 full of Germans once they had taken possession. 
 
 It was, for most of us, the first real war we had faced, 
 although a fair number of officers and men had taken 
 part in the small African wars. Admiral Hood, in par- 
 ticular had had his share in the Soudan and Somaliland. 
 
 During the latter part of October, the Germans 
 brought up some 8-inch naval guns, which made things 
 very unpleasant for us. On October 28th, 19 14, Hubert 
 Wauton was killed. He was the first Sixth Flotilla 
 destroyer captain to lose his life in the war. His ship 
 was struck by an 8-inch shell, which accounted for 
 twenty-four of his sixty men. 
 
 Wauton'c destroyer was the Falcon, an obsolete ship 
 of 375 tons. She was taken out of action by the sub- 
 
26 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 lieutenant, Du Boulay, her second in command. She fired 
 back with her puny armament of one 12-pounder and 
 five 6-pounder guns, until the shots no longer reached 
 the shore. The Falcon was at the time patrolling the 
 N.E. channnel off Ostend, close to the Stroom Bank. 
 
 Commander Williams, in the Syren, stood over to 
 assist the Falcon and we, in the Mohawk, made over in 
 her direction at full speed, but suddenly the Syren ran 
 ashore on one of the shallow banks. It was useless to 
 stand on after her with our greater draught. With a 
 sigh of relief I saw the Falcon get clear of the shells that 
 were falling into the sea west of the Stroom Bank, the 
 Syren throw up a great wave with her propellers work- 
 ing in shallow water and she came off the bank unhurt 
 by the enemy, though her propellers were badly bent. 
 
 The general routine of the bombarding flotilla was 
 to get into position at dawn and carry out the " plaster- 
 ing " of the positions indicated as thoroughly as possible. 
 When the sun set and the light faded, the bombarding 
 flotilla withdrew to Dunkirk Roads, while some of the 
 ever watchful destroyers cruised to the eastward during 
 the dark hours to protect the gunboats and monitors 
 from a surprise attack. 
 
 Admiral Hood used to meet at the "Chapeau Rouge" 
 Hotel the captains and gunnery officers of the ill-assorted 
 squadron to discuss with the military Headquarters 
 Staff the results of the day's shooting and arrange the 
 plan for the morrow. I may say that I think we all en- 
 joyed this business immensely. The youthful, quick- 
 brained Admiral, with his cheery smile and perfectly de- 
 lightful mannner, won our hearts completely. 
 
 We had it very much our own way to begin with, 
 and then the greatest danger to the firing ships was that 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 27 
 
 of runnning ashore, for they were very close in. But as 
 time progressed and the Germans advanced, our little 
 force was out-ranged and out-matched. The enemy were 
 practically in Nieuport by November, and there is no 
 doubt they intended to keep the coast. Heavy guns 
 were brought up and mounted and the work of construc- 
 tion was taken in hand with German military thorough- 
 ness. Admiral Hood added the old Revenge to his 
 off-shore squadron. She had four 13.5-inch 67-ton guns 
 and ten old pattern 6-inch. It was very hard to find out 
 what effective damage we did, for spotting arrangements 
 were not so elaborate and accurate then as they became 
 in the latter half of the war. The Revenge " got it in 
 the neck " once or twice, but she couldn't have been 
 sunk easily for there is no great depth of water in the 
 West Deep, from which channel she was operated. 
 Captain Hughes-Onslow, R.N., commanded the Re- 
 venge, and he rode the old iron war-horse into action 
 like a Paladin. 
 
 This vessel has had her name changed to the Re- 
 doubtable, to make way for the new Revenge with her 
 armament of eight 15-inch guns. 
 
 The Venerable (Captain V. H. G. Bernard), a rather 
 less obsolete battleship, was also employed for some time 
 bombarding on this coast. I had the honour of sound- 
 ing out and marking a channel for her work through the 
 Zuidcoote pass into the West Deep. The Venerable, I 
 believe, escaped any punishment, although she fired many 
 12-inch shells at the Huns from Nieuport Roads. 
 
 The Mohawk was attached to the Venerable for a 
 while, and it was a sad day for us when she was with- 
 drawn and we were sent back to take up our proper 
 work of monotonous patrol. 
 
28 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 It was late in 19 14 that Dunkirk became a semi- 
 English naval base. Various wings of the Royal Naval 
 Air Service settled their headquarters in the vicinity of 
 this fort. It was here that I met Commander Sampson, 
 although I made my bow to this distinguished flying 
 man under somewhat undignified circumstances. To be 
 honest, I had been up for a joy ride, and as we landed at 
 the Camp of No. IV. Wing we came rather heavily to 
 earth and broke a strut or two. My hat was knocked off 
 and I blushed at meeting the Boss, for I had no excuse 
 for joy riding. 
 
 However, he said nothing about that and when my 
 friend and pilot apologised for bringing me down such a 
 smack, I smiled, and innocently said, " Isn't that the 
 ordinary way of landing? " The flying men looked at 
 me rather suspiciously and then took me into their hut 
 and gave me a capital lunch. 
 
 War had come upon us so suddenly that the Air Force 
 organisation was by no means perfect. The airmen 
 would fight and bomb with refreshing zeal, but were not 
 then such advanced and scientific observers as they later 
 on became. But it was at Dunkirk that we Dover birds 
 really got together with the R.N.A.S. and learned to 
 know them and to appreciate what enormous possibilities 
 there were in flying, and in flying men's assistance in va- 
 rious naval work. They were never idle, these men; if 
 the weather was unfit for flying and there was nothing 
 they could invent better than to annoy the enemy, One, 
 who shall be nameless, would finish his glass of port and 
 say, " Come on, you fellows, let's go and shoot Uhlans," 
 and away would roll the great drab coloured motor-car. 
 It went everywhere, and seldom returned without a 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 29 
 
 German helmet or two, which had scarcely cooled off the 
 warmth derived from the late lamented owner. 
 
 Many Belgian refugees flocked into Dunkirk and 
 were taken on board the steamers sent there to transport 
 them to our own shores. The procession of this sort 
 was a sad one, and it left an impression on one's memory 
 not easy to efface. The wistful looking children, the 
 bent old men, the indignant womenfolk of all ages; 
 each one bearing some part of the family property — as 
 much as could be carried away; the rickety carts over- 
 loaded with "household goods" from cottage, shop 
 and villa; wheelbarrows, handcarts, perambulators and 
 trucks ; anything in fact that could be utilised — all 
 stacked with goods, pathetically overladen. 
 
 Sailors are funny characters, but for real spontaneous 
 generosity, give me the " British Blue." It happened 
 like an explosion; one evening, a pitiful, hungry line of 
 dejected human beings came past the Mohawk; some- 
 one handed a cake to a little wild-eyed child; you might 
 have put a match to a train of gunpowder — the 
 " Mohawks " dashed on to the messdeck and in a matter 
 of seconds we hadn't a vestige of eatable food on board 
 — stokers with jampots, men with sardines, stewards 
 with oranges, apples and biscuits — I watched, for I had 
 nothing to give. Our youthful steward had cleared 
 the wardroom. 
 
 I often think of those Belgian refugees, of their soft- 
 eyed, grateful looks, and as often of the tough crowd 
 I commanded in the Mohawk. Perhaps the toughness 
 was only skin-deep after all. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Winter of 1914-1915 
 
 In the winter of 19 14-15, the submarine campaign be- 
 gan, and the destroyers of the Sixth Flotilla were hard 
 put to it. To my mind, this first winter took more out of 
 the destroyer crews than anything we subsequently faced. 
 The light cruisers had patrolled as a support for the 
 destroyers to fall back upon if overwhelmed, but on 
 the morning of October 31st, 19 14, the aircraft carrier 
 Hermes (formerly a second-class cruiser) was sunk by 
 an enemy submarine near the outer Ruytingen Shoal, and 
 orders came down from the Admiralty that no vessel 
 except a destroyer, or a scout at full speed was to cross 
 the channel during daylight hours. The fat was in the 
 fire, the patrolling cruisers were withdrawn, and the 
 destroyers had to be organised to patrol the areas which 
 had been formerly watched over by the four light cruis- 
 ers or scouts of the Attentive class; it meant more 
 patrolling than ever. 
 
 This was not the first visit of the U boat, for one 
 late September afternoon, the Captain (D) in the 
 Attentive himself had sighted a submarine with her 
 periscope just showing; in a flash the engines had been 
 put to full speed and the helm starboarded, but the sub- 
 marine had just had time to dive before being rammed. 
 She had fired a torpedo first, however, and this ran along 
 
 30 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 31 
 
 the port side of the Attentive, missing her by inches. 
 Had it not been for Captain Johnson's action we should 
 have undoubtedly lost the Attentive, as the torpedo ran 
 beautifully for striking her amidships at the original 
 course and speed. 
 
 Everybody began to see submarines after this; the 
 fins of black fish and rorquals were frequently taken for 
 periscopes, and reported as such. Flotsam, and all sorts 
 of wreckage, with anything vertical sticking out of it 
 that might be mistaken for the offensive periscope was 
 classified as such, and the poor destroyers hardly went 
 a dog-watch without receiving the oft-recurring signal, 
 
 " Submarine sighted in position , proceed at full 
 
 speed and search area." 
 
 Whouf ! It made us tired. The signal was no sooner 
 shown than the destroyers at Dover, resting or oiling, 
 would slip from their moorings and shoot out of harbour, 
 with ever increasing speed, and race to the area indicated. 
 The senior officer of the bunch would organise the search 
 and the Dover surf deer would plunge their bows into 
 winter seas, take sheets of cold green water on board and 
 shake themselves free, ten times in the minute. 
 
 This was long before the days of the depth charge; 
 we had nothing to sink the wily submarine with but the 
 gun, torpedo and ram. Some of us improvised explosive 
 charges of gun-cotton which, thrown overboard, were 
 fired by means of Bickford's fuse, or by electric circuit 
 attached to a wire which was strong enough to tow the 
 charge along. 
 
 In December I was transferred to the Viking, and I 
 was delighted with the change, for although the Mohawk, 
 was a good little ship, she had only 12-pounder guns, 
 while the Viking was armed with 4-inch, and was bigger 
 
32 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 by two hundred tons. The Viking had one peculiarity 
 which distinguished her from all other destroyers — 
 she had six funnels. 
 
 Before we finally say good-bye to the Mohawk, just 
 pause a minute while I tell you the strange story of the 
 Goben and the Breslau. I was unfortunate enough to 
 damage the Mohawk through what, in the destroyer 
 service, is known as " an error in judgment " ; in other 
 words the damage was not serious enough and the 
 circumstances not black enough to merit any severe 
 censure being passed upon me. Nevertheless, I had to 
 be docked at Portsmouth for the damage to be made 
 good. I hated being out of it, and so did my first 
 lieutenant — accordingly we made an occasion to visit 
 Dover. 
 
 It happened that Captain (D) wished for two large 
 harbour launches to be sent to Dover for the purpose of 
 attending on the destroyers. The Racehorse had at- 
 tempted to tow one round, but that steam launch sank 
 in the process. There was no transport available, so 
 Allen, my first lieutenant, took one boat and I the 
 other. In beautiful autumn weather, we started one 
 morning for Dover. The funny old steamboats only 
 went six knots and late in the afternoon of the first day 
 we arrived off Newhaven. Being wet through, stiff and 
 weary, we proposed to enter harbour and spend the 
 night there, as there was no great hurry for us. We 
 approached the harbour entrance and were hailed and 
 stopped by the examination steamer. An officious gentle- 
 man came on board and, ignoring my explanations, 
 proceeded to search both boats. 
 
 A marine signalman on board the examination steamer 
 watched this assiduous visitor properly and thoroughly 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 33 
 
 examine us. The marine was mildly amused, then 
 bored, and finally he spat with contempt over the side 
 and respectfully suggested to the examination officer 
 that we were " 'Orl right." But the gentleman persisted 
 and I remonstrated in vain. It was obvious that they 
 didn't often examine " ships " bound for Newhaven. 
 Our small steamboats were only 42 feet long and this 
 conscientious somebody had kept us stopped for half-an- 
 hour. Suddenly a dirty, black face popped up from the 
 engine-room of Allen's boat and exclaimed: "'Ere, 
 mister, the gime's up." The visitor superciliously asked 
 what he meant. " The gime's up, mister, we may as 
 well own up, this 'ere's the Goben and that's the Bres- 
 lau." The faces looking down from the examination 
 steamer broadened into a chain of smiles and we were 
 then grudgingly given permission to enter harbour. 
 
 We spent a comfortable night with the naval transport 
 officers, and assured them of the efficiency of their ex- 
 amination service. When we told them the story of 
 the Goben and Breslau, one of them sent out for the 
 stoker who had " given us away " and very kindly 
 presented him with a bottle of beer. I think the stoker 
 deserved it. 
 
 The submarine hunts were most unsatisfactory in 
 these days, for all the advantages were with the enemy. 
 The ruthles submarine warfare had not yet begun in 
 earnest, but submarines were freely using the English 
 Channel and it is quite honest to say that we couldn't 
 prevent them from doing so. Our mines were not so 
 deadly as the German types; we had not sufficient, nor 
 had we, at this early state of the war, a mine-laying 
 organisation capable of blocking the channel. 
 
 So the Dover Destroyer Force performed the inces- 
 3 
 
34 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sant and arduous duties of patrolling and submarine 
 hunting, in addition to doing the requisite escort work 
 for the cross-channnel steamers, which carried large 
 numbers of our soldiers to Calais or Boulougne. 
 
 The spirits of the destroyer crews were not easily 
 damped. The war had not begun to drag and we were 
 fresh, zealous and cheerful. Nobody could have studied 
 our comfort better than our Captain ( D ) ; he considered 
 us in every way and he got the very best out of us; he 
 certainly had the goodwill of the business. As the war 
 progressed we found that there was a limit to destroyer 
 endurance. The destroyers themselves needed a rest, 
 as well as their crews. 
 
 Accordingly a system of " stand-off " was inaugu- 
 rated and after about 1 1 days' running, each boat was 
 granted a three days' stand-off, if it could possibly be 
 managed. How we did appreciate these rests ! We 
 were allowed ashore, although we could not leave the 
 precincts of the port. 
 
 Little tinkering jobs were undertaken in the engine- 
 rooms. A certain number of boilers were cleaned and 
 small repairs were carried out by the Sixth Flotilla 
 repair staff. This patch-up and sticking-plaster brigade 
 worked under Engineer-Commander Parsons and 
 Lieutenant-Commander Lewin, and I must pay them the 
 compliment of saying that from top to bottom they were 
 out to help. Day after day, night after night, they 
 plodded away to make us a sea-keeping flotilla. 
 
 It will be realised by all who have seen Dover Har- 
 bour in winter, even if only from the shore, that it is 
 a harbour merely in name. Oiling and coaling in bad 
 weather were extremely difficult businesses. The tidal 
 streams were so variable and strong that even when 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 35 
 
 the winds blew with gale force, the oilers and colliers 
 would at times lie right athwart the wind and the 
 poor destroyers would bump their light steel sides 
 against the heavier iron-plating of the oil steamer or 
 coal supply ship, as the case might be. 
 
 Fenders were useless, for those of the heaviest pattern 
 would be chafed into pulp and the chains which sup- 
 ported them snapped in no time. The hand-rails of the 
 torpedo craft were in a constant state of " brokenness," 
 side-plating was dented in a most unsightly fashion, and 
 the sentiments which found expression concerning those 
 who were responsible for the selection and construction 
 of Dover Harbour are quite impossible to write down 
 in respectable English. 
 
 Dover as a destroyer base was an unfortunate choice 
 for those who had to suffer it as such. My friend, the 
 author of " Nubian Nonsense," appreciated the pro- 
 tection of Dunkirk Harbour, contrasted with Dover, 
 when he penned the following lines : — 
 
 "THERE IS A HAPPY LAND." 
 
 There is a lovely place, 
 
 Called Dover Bay, 
 Where it snows and rains and blows 
 
 Almost every day. 
 Oh! it's bliss without alloy, 
 Oh lit is our greatest joy, 
 To roll our guts out at the buoy 
 
 In Dover Bay. 
 
 There is another place 
 
 Known as Dunkirk, 
 Where destroyers always go, 
 
 When tired of work. 
 There they never do patrol, 
 Never burn their oil or coal, 
 Don't know what it is to roll, 
 
 Safe in Dunkirk. 
 
36 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 A division of Dover destroyers was usually kept at 
 Dunkirk to act in conjunction with the French as a 
 cutting-off force, in case of a German destroyer raid in 
 the Channel, or Downs. Lucky were the T.B.D.'s 
 selected for this service. The Dunkirk destroyers had 
 their duties, such as an occasional coast reconnaissance, 
 a daily trip with mails, etc., but during those long, dark 
 nights, with howling gales, their crews turned in, snugly 
 secure from the perils of the Straits and the dreadful 
 discomforts of Dover Harbour (excuse a snigger at the 
 latter word) . 
 
 The first war-time Christmas arrived about the time 
 when we had learned to know the Hun, not only as a 
 great military organiser, but as a low-down, lying 
 sneak. 
 
 We expected the Germans would make some great 
 naval effort on Christmas Day, and, although it was my 
 turn to stand-off, the boats of my division volunteered 
 to patrol, for we were all unmarried captains and it was 
 not much to give up a day ashore in Dover, at this time 
 of the year. However, good as were our intentions, we 
 had no say in the matter and so spent our Christmas 
 Day in harbour and made merry at the Burlington 
 Hotel that night, while our less fortunate comrades 
 shivered on their frail bridges and drew what comfort 
 they could from an occasional glimpse of the South 
 Goodwin light and the slow, jerky illuminations of the 
 Dover and Calais searchlights. 
 
 But it was a relief to the Viking's division to have a 
 quiet Christmas day in harbour. The weather was fine, 
 the sun shone, and my splendid ship's company of 
 seventy good men and true mustered aft at 10 a.m., 
 and listened to my amateur efforts as the vicar of 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 37 
 
 our eleven - hundred - and - forty - three - tons - displace- 
 ment parish. 
 
 The very short divine service included that one prayer 
 so well known to us all in the naval service. I read it 
 through for it had its place even in the narrow, crowded 
 quarterdecks of the little destroyers from Dover, and it 
 has been included in the prayer-book with modifica- 
 tions to suit the existing monarch, since 1662, or there- 
 abouts. 
 
 After service, we mustered our sailors, stokers, and 
 signalmen by open list, that is to say, the coxswain called 
 each man's name and, hat in hand, he stepped forward 
 to receive the small but welcome present from Princess 
 Mary's Christmas Fund. Then we lined the side and 
 cheered as the Amazon and her division left for a Christ- 
 mas patrol. It did me good to see the Amazon; she 
 was the prettiest of the class, as she should be — the 
 only lady in the Tribals, and it did one good to see 
 Oliphant handle his ship. 
 
 When we had finished gazing at the unlucky ones, we 
 turned to home comforts in the shape of Christmas 
 cheer. The officers visited the mess deck, which was 
 adorned in a way that left no doubts in the mind as to 
 the state of the ship's company's spirits. The decora- 
 tions were wonderful and the food and sweets available 
 left nothing to be desired. Gibbs, my predecessor, had 
 sent a turkey for every mess, and unknown benefactors 
 had showered boxes and tins of good things upon the 
 ship's company of the Viking. It was just about this 
 time, in fact, that a Mr. Bertie Young appeared upon 
 the scene and adopted all my sailors. 
 
 I had never heard of him, much less met him, but he 
 developed all the faculties of the fairy godmother, and 
 
38 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 be it Christmas, or Easter, autumn or summer, Bertie 
 Young's neat hand-writing would surely appear, convey- 
 ing the information that such and such a parcel " con- 
 taining 10,000 cigarettes, 70 pipes, 25 lbs. of chocolate, 
 etc., etc., has this day been despatched to you, care of 
 the Naval Mail Officer, Dover." Bertie Young was a 
 good friend to the Viking, and his friendship has ex- 
 tended to every ship I have ever commanded, as well as 
 to many I have not. 
 
 The Germans did not worry us with their submarines 
 this Christmas, and I, for one, spent the afternoon in 
 a blissful, careless sleep. 
 
 A destroyer was not given to every one who volun- 
 teered for the command, and one well-known officer, 
 Lieutenant-Commander Harry Rawson, was detailed 
 for coaling duty at Dover, which duty he would have 
 gladly exchanged with any of the Sixth Flotilla skip- 
 pers. Rawson was one of the cheeriest people imagin- 
 able and he gave a Christmas dinner to the toilers 
 of the Straits. We quite forgot the war until the end of 
 dinner, when we drank to absent friends, and we did 
 not forget our flotilla pals at sea. 
 
 It was, I think, about this time that the Modified 
 Sweep was fitted to the larger destroyers of the Dover 
 Patrol. This was the first of the anti-submarine devices 
 with which we were fitted officially. Being the first, it 
 was probably the worst, for we had some very clever 
 brains at work in the anti-submarine division at the 
 Admiralty; and the gentlemen in that department, once 
 they got going, never retrograded. Roughly speaking, 
 the modified sweep consisted of a double line of high- 
 explosive charges, towed at two different depths. The 
 charges were made buoyant by means of wooden floats 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 39 
 
 attached to them, and the whole concern was 
 adjusted to keep a certain depth by means of a 
 wooden kite. 
 
 On commencing a submarine hunt, the modified 
 sweep was put over and towed about in the vicinity. 
 The sweep was able to reach anything from the surface 
 down to a depth of ten fathoms if it was properly 
 worked, and it could be electrically fired at will. A man 
 was always stationed at the firing key, and if anything 
 caught in the sweep, the fact was indicated by the 
 pulling over of a lever; when this happened, the op- 
 erator pressed the key and blew up the submarine, or 
 whatever the obstruction happened to be. 
 
 When the Viking had obtained her modified sweep 
 and had it properly fitted, I got a lot of submarine 
 fellows from H.M.S. Arrogant to come and have a 
 look at it. Having made myself acquainted with all 
 the details of the deadly device, and the proper method 
 of employing it, I proudly explained its working and 
 capabilities. 
 
 The submarine captains thought a bit, and then one 
 of them dashed all my hopes to the ground by saying, 
 " Well, any German submarine who gets caught in a 
 fool device like that, bally well deserves to be sunk," 
 and the others burst out laughing. So much for the 
 modified sweep, but we really did get a submarine once 
 by means of this much maligned appliance; it happened 
 this way: 
 
 On the 1st of March, 191 5, after a series of gales and 
 storms, we suddenly were blessed with a spell of mod- 
 erate weather. There was no wind at all, and nothing 
 but a heavy swell reminded us of what we had put up 
 
40 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 with. On March 4th, we had foggy weather, and the 
 visibility was so indifferent that when I took the Viking 
 out on patrol, it was impossible to make out where sea 
 and sky met. The damp mist rolled up Channel and 
 one's eyes were strained with the constant searching in 
 this very uncertain light. 
 
 The young eyes of my sub-lieutenant, Frank Young- 
 husband, suddenly made out the grey form of a sub- 
 marine about half-a-mile away; he pointed it out and we 
 went full speed at her, firing our foremost 4-inch gun 
 and eagerly hoping to ram. But the increase from 15 
 to 33 knots takes a little time and the submarine, with 
 a few seconds to spare, managed to dive before we could 
 strike her. Our shots fell very close, but we did not 
 secure a hit; I couldn't understand how the gun-layer 
 missed, but I hadn't then tried shooting from a destroyer 
 which is heading into a swell at high speed. We 
 steamed round the place where the submarine was 
 last seen, and rapped out signals which called all the 
 Dover destroyers to our position, to the north-east- 
 ward of the Varne Shoal. In the meantime, "Fritz" 
 had a shot with a torpedo at us. It was reported to 
 me by Younghusband, but it ran badly and did not 
 come very close. 
 
 We got out our comic old modified sweep, and as each 
 destroyer came close to us, she was given an area to 
 hunt. The Captain (D) came out from Dover in the 
 Maori and took over command of the search. It con- 
 tinued for a few hours and we were fortunate enough to 
 sight the U boat's periscope from time to time, as the 
 fog lifted and the visibility became quite good. Sud- 
 denly the Ghurka's sweep caught in an obstruction and 
 
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KEEPING THE SEAS 41 
 
 was promptly exploded. Immediately afterwards a sub- 
 marine slowly rose to the surface. 
 
 The Ghnrka and Maori both opened fire, and one of 
 their shells struck the conning tower of the submarine 
 just as her captain appeared through the hatch with his 
 hands above his head in the attitude of surrender. 
 
 He was slightly burned in the back of the neck by the 
 shell. The remaining destroyers hurried to the scene, 
 boats were lowered and every one of the crew of the 
 enemy submarine was saved. The vessel proved to be 
 " U 8." She was taken in tow by H.M.S. Ure, a 
 " river " class destroyer which had now become one 
 of the Sixth Flotilla. 
 
 The Germans, however, did not mean their vessel to 
 be captured in this way; they had opened the sea cocks 
 and their boat was rapidly sinking. She lay for a short 
 time on the surface with a heavy list, for all the world 
 like a great disabled fish, then she sank in sixteen 
 fathoms of water. Her crew were taken into Dover and 
 placed on board the Arrogant, parent ship for our own 
 submarines. 
 
 That night " U 8's " captain and officers had a good 
 dinner on board and our own submarine officers, after 
 a few gentlemanly leg-pulls, invited their prisoners to 
 sing the " Hymn of Hate." 
 
 The captains of the Ghurka and Maori were awarded 
 the D.S.O. for this, and several D.S.M.'s were given 
 to their crews. The man who pressed the firing key 
 and blew up the submarine with the " modified sweep " 
 deserved his D.S.M., for it was an achievement 
 equal to the slaying of a lion with the jawbone of 
 an ass. 
 
42 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 There were many occasions when we in the " Dover 
 family " had every reasonable excuse for thinking that 
 we had bagged submarines; it was a thankless task, 
 this hunting business, when we were so deficient in 
 arms to meet them with. The Admiralty devised more 
 and more schemes and invented weapon after weapon 
 with which to assist our efforts, and we were only too 
 ready to give them a trial. I heard from one of 
 my old Antarctic Expedition mates that, amongst the 
 inventive suggestions for the destruction of the 
 enemy submarine, the following were sent in to 
 the Board of Inventions and Research, where he was 
 employed : — 
 
 I. Put an enormous quantity of " Eno's fruit salt " 
 into the sea in the English Channel. 
 
 The result will be a great change in the specific gravity 
 of the water, consequently any submerged submarines 
 will either sink or float. If they sink, well and good; 
 if they float, destroyers and seaplanes can rush out and 
 destroy them. 
 
 II. The English Channel should be so filled with 
 ships that there would be no room for a submarine to 
 come up and fire her torpedoes. 
 
 Naturally the submarine sinkings depended on the 
 number of patrol craft, etc., and on the output of anti- 
 submarine devices. 
 
 Whatever may be said on the subject, the Allies only 
 sank about half-a-dozen submarines in the first half- 
 year of the war, and the following table shows how, in 
 spite of all the howling in certain sections of the Press, 
 the submarine sinkings went up in a way that must have 
 put the fear of God into all but the most valorous of 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 43 
 
 the " kultured curs " 
 honour. 
 
 whom the Kaiser delighted to 
 
 Year. 
 1914 
 1915 
 1916 
 1917 
 1918 
 
 Average number of 
 Submarines sunk. 
 
 1 
 
 1.5 
 
 2 
 5.5 
 
 7 
 
 per month 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Auxiliary Patrol 
 
 Early in 19 15 we had a great deal of assistance 
 through the development of that magnificent service, 
 " The Auxiliary Patrol." 
 
 To begin with, it was composed of two sections: — 
 I. The Trawler Patrol. 
 II. The Drifter Patrol. 
 
 The Trawler Patrol was under the control of Captain 
 (retired) W. Vansittart Howard, R.N., who also was 
 at the head of the Dover mine-sweeping administration. 
 The trawlers were armed and they worked such patrols 
 as were obviously unsuitable for destroyers. They were 
 very slow moving compared to our light and dainty 
 vessels, but they did yeoman patrol service close to the 
 coasts and between the shoals, besides being employed 
 as mine-layers, mine-sweepers and in a dozen other ways. 
 
 The drifters, which first came under Captain Hum- 
 phrey W. Bowring, R.N., were used to place nets across 
 the fairway of the Straits of Dover. We experimented 
 with various schemes for net-laying, but the general idea 
 was that light nets, supported by surface floats, were 
 stretched across the channel between Dover and Cape 
 Grisnez and watched by the small wooden steam fishing 
 vessels known as drifters. 
 
 By a study of the tides, it became a reasonably easy 
 proposition to place these nets in such a fashion that a 
 continuous line reached across the Channel and this line 
 
 44 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 45 
 
 drifted between the Varne Shoal to the westward and 
 the outer Ruytingen Shoal to the eastward. Providing 
 the weather was reasonably fine, the nets would not 
 require lifting; if the winds were strong the nets would 
 drift up too far and then the drifters would haul them 
 in and re-shoot them as directed. There were about 
 half-a-dozen boats in the division, and each division had 
 an R.N.R. sub-lieutenant or lieutenant in charge. An 
 armed yacht, usually commanded by a naval officer, 
 attended on the drifters and took command of the 
 whole. 
 
 The drifters' crews were wonderful, and considering 
 the changed conditions they were called upon to face, 
 I think these fishermen take rank in the first row of those 
 who go down to the sea in ships. I am proud to have 
 been associated in the Dover Patrol with this crowd. 
 
 If a submarine passed through the nets, the net-line 
 would contract and speed away up or down the channel, 
 and the drifter would stand by to attack with bomb- 
 lance, a sort of giant hand grenade which was the pre- 
 cursor of the far more efficient depth charge. She would 
 also signal to the nearest destroyer which was patrolling 
 in conjunction, and whatever means were available, 
 according to the war-epoch, would then be ready at 
 hand to attack with. Theoretically, the scheme was 
 excellent, but in practice it did not yield any very great 
 results. The long runs of bad weather made it difficult 
 to keep the nets in more than very approximate position. 
 
 The submarines took to passing through by night, 
 runnning I believe, with their conning towers just awash, 
 ready to dive if attacked. 
 
 They seldom, if ever, attacked the patrol boats, as 
 they were out for bigger game. 
 
46 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 A German submarine captain once told me that he 
 would keep his torpedoes for a thousand-ton merchant 
 ship in preference to sinking a destroyer or even a small 
 cruiser. He said we had so many light cruisers and 
 patrol craft that the loss of one or two did not matter to 
 England, but the loss of merchant tonnage was un- 
 doubtedly losing us the war. Well, it didn't, anyway! 
 
 But to go on with the Auxiliary Patrol. Things were 
 moving by 191 5, and Dover Harbour was becoming 
 more and more congested; it was so full of ships, big 
 and little, that in the bad weather it reminded one of a 
 bucket of water being carried along with about a hun- 
 dred different sized corks floating in it. 
 
 Collisions were frequent, and one wondered, not why 
 they so often occurred, but why they did not occur with 
 far greater frequency. 
 
 We all pulled together extremely well, although 
 Admiral Hood soon found that he had a very mixed 
 team to drive. The auxiliary patrol skippers and deck 
 hands came from all parts, including Hull, Aberdeen, 
 and the Shetlands, and some of those employed found 
 great difficulty in even reading the orders which were 
 issued to them from time to time. However, whatever 
 their educational drawbacks, every man jack in the 
 Auxiliary Patrol had acquired the " habit of the sea." 
 
 The discipline question was a difficult one, and naval 
 punishments could not fairly be applied to willing fisher- 
 men, (who would work their hands to the bone for the 
 country's sake) , if they occasionally had a glass too much 
 or in some petty fashion misconducted themselves dur- 
 ing their resting time in port. 
 
 It sometimes happened that the patrolling vessels got 
 a little way out of their proper course. I fear that the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 47 
 
 destroyers usually put the blame on to the auxiliary 
 patrols when this happened, but, on one dark night, 
 
 the moved into the midst of a lot of drifters 
 
 from Ramsgate, and they forthwith challenged her. 
 The destroyer took no notice and the senior officer of 
 the Ramsgate Patrol being on board one of the drifters, 
 he insisted on a reply. None was forthcoming, and so, 
 
 taking a megaphone, Captain , R.N., shouted 
 
 angrily, "What destroyer is that?" "Oh! Go to 
 
 hell," was the 's reply. The challenging then 
 
 ceased and Captain , R.N., reported the matter in 
 
 writing to the Admiral. In the letter he wrote, " The 
 language used in replying to my hail convinced me that 
 I was talking to a friend." 
 
 Food became more and more expensive in Dover as 
 the number of vessels based on the command increased. 
 A welcome addition to the small ships' larders was 
 afforded by a gratuitous issue of fish from one of the 
 trawlers, which was allowed to trawl on our behalf. Fat 
 plaice and whiting, Dover soles and turbot came oc- 
 casionally our way, and little dietary changes of this 
 sort all helped to cheer, and we wanted cheering at times 
 for we got the coldest welcome imaginable from the 
 grey winter weather and the succession of gales and rain. 
 
 Although not patrollers, I must introduce our friends 
 the oilers; they were certainly auxiliaries to the patrol- 
 ling forces; one lay in Dover Harbour, always at our 
 disposal; and of the oilers, perhaps the Enpion was 
 best known. Destroyers were supplied with oil day and 
 night by the Eupion; her mate, who never seemed to 
 sleep, was an American citizen of Scotch parentage. 
 He was a fairly old man, but I never saw him out of 
 temper. He was so willing to help us that we, in return, 
 
48 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 made him a welcome guest in the Viking's wardroom, 
 where he often disposed of tea and hot-buttered toast 
 which our sub-lieutenant made for us at the stove and 
 handed out in relays. I don't mean to say that we never 
 offered the mate of the Eupion anything stronger than 
 tea; we did, and he accepted it when times were fairly 
 quiet. 
 
 The Eupion, if I remember right, was not one of the 
 vessels classed as Royal Fleet Auxiliaries. Some of the 
 oilers were, and their crews were under a special 
 Admiralty agreement; I think it rejoiced in the name 
 of Agreement Form T. 124.Z. 
 
 I heard of a very smart fireman who had only joined 
 up for the war, and signed on under T. 124.Z. He had 
 come down to Dover to join one of the Royal Fleet 
 Auxiliaries, and in rendering his travelling expenses ac- 
 count, he inserted a charge of 55. for a cab fare from 
 the Burlington Hotel to the Naval Pier. This amount 
 was actually paid him, which is one against the 
 Admiralty, for those who know Dover will appreciate 
 that the distance is only about 60 yards. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Flag Changes and some more Belgian Coast Work 
 
 In the spring of 191 5, Rear- Admiral R. H. S. Bacon, 
 D.S.O., was appointed to command the Dover Patrol; 
 our gallant and brilliant Admiral Hood was transferred 
 to a sea-going command, and subsequently he hoisted his 
 flag in the battle cruiser Invincible, as Rear-Admiral of 
 the Third Battle Cruiser Squadron. To our lasting 
 regret in the Sixth Flotilla, we heard a year later of the 
 loss of this splendid Admiral friend of ours at the Bat- 
 tle of Jutland. 
 
 Admiral Beatty spoke in the Jutland despatch of the 
 magnificent manner in which Rear-Admiral Hon. H. L. 
 A. Hood, C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., brought his squadron 
 into action, saying, " I desire to record my great regret 
 at his loss, which is a national misfortune." In the 
 earlier part of the same despatch Admiral Beatty, 
 speaking of the Third Battle Cruiser Squadron, com- 
 manded by Admiral Hood, said, " I ordered them to 
 take station ahead, which was carried out magnificently, 
 Rear-Admiral Hood bringing his squadron into action 
 ahead in a most inspiring manner, worthy of his great 
 naval ancestors." 
 
 Admiral Bacon had to face greater difficulties than 
 his predecessor, for the Germans were launching sub- 
 marines at an alarming rate. If they could be prevented 
 4 49 
 
5 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 from passing through the English Channel, the ocean- 
 going submarines from Wilhelmshaven, would lose about 
 a week's effective time out of each cruise. 
 
 To make submarines pass to the northward of the 
 British Isles, the Dover Straits had to be blocked. In 
 19 1 5 we were unable to do this effectively, because the 
 necessary material was not then available. A barrage 
 was placed between Folkestone and Grisnez, which was 
 a menace to the submarines; but the strong tides and 
 heavy weather played havoc with it. 
 
 The wire entanglements were supported by a large 
 number of mooring buoys, and every now and again one 
 of these enormous buoys would break away and drift 
 about the Channel. A number of them stranded on the 
 Belgian coast, while others went ashore on the Good- 
 wins; they were a menace to navigation but, to the 
 credit of the look-outs of the Dover patrol, no collision 
 ever occurred with one of them. 
 
 A much better barrage with mine-nets was placed 
 across the Channnel in 191 6. It extended from the 
 South Goodwin to the Snouw Bank off Dunkirk, and for 
 some time this kept submarines out of the Channel. 
 They did not like these barrages, but the submarines 
 eventually were fitted with net cutters and, after a few 
 had successfully won through the Straits of Dover, the 
 Germans became more daring and used the Straits with 
 much greater frequency. The result was that the sink- 
 ings of merchant ships went up alarmingly and other 
 measures eventually were adopted, which, as will be 
 seen later, upset the Hun once more. 
 
 Admiral Bacon very truly stated that it was a case of 
 " going one better " always. First the enemy invented 
 some offensive weapon and then the Allies counter- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 51 
 
 invented. In every case the enemy's triumph lasted 
 only until the remedy was " put on the market." 
 
 In the summer of 191*5, the Dover Patrol com- 
 menced to harass the Hun from the sea again. A num- 
 ber of monitors had been built during the winter for 
 offensive action in the various theatres of war, but they 
 were not ready until about July, and in consequence the 
 enemy was left pretty well alone to fortify the Belgian 
 coast from the Dutch frontier to Nieuport. He cer- 
 tainly did it well, but his defences were not so wonder- 
 ful this year as after the second winter, when they were 
 really worthy of admiration. 
 
 It was trying to the Admiral's patience for him to 
 find that the monitors, which eventually became part of 
 his command, were not to be relied upon. They had 
 been roughly and hurriedly constructed, and the 12- 
 inch turrets taken from old battleships of the Majestic 
 class, fell short of his expectations. 
 
 The commands of monitors were eagerly sought after 
 by commanders and junior captains, who were anxious 
 for some fun, and eventually we had six of them : — 
 
 Sir John Moore . . . . Commander S. R. Miller. 
 
 Prince Rupert . . . . Commander H. O. Reinold. 
 
 Prince Eugene . . . . Captain E. Wigram. 
 
 Lord Clive . . . . Commander C. Carter. 
 
 General Crauford . . . . Commander E. Altham. 
 
 General Wolfe . . . . Commander N. Diggle. 
 
 mounting a couple of 12-inch guns as their main arma- 
 ment, and a few guns of small calibre for anti-aircraft 
 and anti-destroyer purposes. 
 
 The first three to arrive were the Sir John Moore, 
 Prince Rupert, and Lord Clive. Their speed was hardly 
 greater than 6 l / 2 knots, although the "greyhounds" of 
 the squadron boasted they could do 8. The load dis- 
 
52 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 placement of these vessels was about 5,900 tons. Their 
 length was about 335 feet and beam nearly 90. They 
 were fitted with bulges, which made them practically 
 innocuous to torpedo attack, and they only drew io^4 
 feet of water. They waddled about like great ducks 
 and were the butt of the destroyer officers' wit. The 
 monitor captains were always conscious of the absurdity 
 of their vessels' sea-going appearance, but they smil- 
 ingly kept going whatever they were up against. 
 
 About the time the monitors made their bow on the 
 stage of the Belgian coast operations, Admiral Bacon 
 selected the Viking to be his particular destroyer in 
 which to move about the Patrol. It was not very pleas- 
 ing to our Captain (D) to have one of his fastest and 
 best armed destroyers practically withdrawn from the 
 general duties, which were heavy, to say the least of 
 it. But an Admiral is an Admiral and can choose what 
 vessel he likes from his command, and so it came to pass 
 that in 19 15 I saw much more of what was going on 
 than any other Dover destroyer captain. 
 
 We had an unlucky start with the monitors. The 
 working gear of the turrets was not all it might be; they 
 felt the operation of being hurriedly put out of the 
 Majestic, where they had done good service, and being 
 rebuilt into the monitors; actually they showed signs of 
 being a dismal failure. 
 
 The Admiral and his staff, assisted by the crews of 
 the monitors, did all in their power to hustle the turrets 
 into good working order, but they had a fearful task in 
 front of them. The monitors were shepherded together 
 in a channel amongst the shoals and sandbanks which lie 
 in the Thames estuary. The place selected was Middle 
 Deep, and here, away from the sight of all, their crews 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 53 
 
 were exercised and practised, their turrets were worked 
 and their guns fired until, by process of elimination, the 
 numerous defects were made good and the slow steaming 
 squadron prepared to bring off a surprise bombardment 
 of the Belgian coast. How glad those in the monitors 
 must have been when at last three of the ships were 
 really ready for action. I myself had made many a trip 
 to Chatham and Sheerness with the Admiral, who him- 
 self could then be seen carrying a great piece of piping 
 or some other component part of the turret gear for 
 repair or replacement " with all possible despatch." I 
 never saw a man with such obstinate energy or such 
 firmness of purpose. 
 
 The first bombardment was directed against the mili- 
 tary defences, ammunition factories, harbour works and 
 lock-gates at Zeebrugge. The procession of ships had 
 to leave its anchorage in time to ensure being in position 
 for bombarding by daylight. For the first Zeebrugge 
 bombardment we had to cross from the Thames estuary 
 via the Galloper Shoal and make a long detour to the 
 northward in order to avoid the English minefields. A 
 more extraordinary flotilla was surely never seen. 
 
 The Admiral flew his flag on the monitor Sir John 
 Moore; following him came the Lord Clive and Prince 
 Rupert, and in attendance were destroyers, drifters, 
 yachts and mine-sweepers, also four large steam lighters 
 named the Bickford, Lewin, Grans ha and Curran. At 
 the standard monitor sea-speed of six knots, the pro- 
 cession moved across the North Sea. The sweepers, old 
 paddle-wheel pleasure boats, led the way, sweeping for 
 mines in the path of this unusual squadron. 
 
 The destroyers scouted on the flanks and zig-zagged 
 ahead and astern. We scouted at from 12 to 15 knots 
 
54 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 speed, and our constant appearances and disappearances 
 as we worked around the squadron in the darkness must 
 have been very nerve-racking to the drifters, which were 
 steaming in two lines to port and starboard of the 
 monitors. There were no collisions, however, and the 
 station-keeping was good, which was creditable to those 
 in the small auxiliary vessels, who had never worked 
 with a squadron, and were unaccustomed to alter course 
 movements en masse by dark. 
 
 Fortunately we had fine still weather, and still more 
 fortunately we were not molested by the enemy, for our 
 destroyer force was not strong, and it was of necessity 
 split up into half-penny numbers by the nature of its 
 look-out work. A single division of well-organised de- 
 stroyers could have made mince-meat out of the drift- 
 ers and mine-sweepers in no time. The monitors could 
 not have used their 12-inch guns, and they had no 
 secondary armament at that time worthy of the name. 
 The fighting force available consisted of half-a-dozen 
 Tribals and a couple of thirty-knotters, which could not 
 easily have got together in time to put up any good 
 fight. 
 
 But Admiral Bacon was like the fellow in Old Luk- 
 Oie's " Green Curve," who learned the inclination and 
 character of his adversary; he just about sized up the 
 Hun and did precisely what he liked with the material 
 at his disposal. The Admiral took his very immobile 
 squadron about as he pleased, and so far from interfer- 
 ing with his plans at all, the German Navy might not 
 have existed. We had to prepare against submarine 
 attacks, but we were never inconvenienced by them in 
 any coast bombardments. 
 
 The difficulties of spotting were a great handicap, and 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 55 
 
 in order to make sure of doing military damage, the 
 Admiral had conceived the idea of placing tall tripods on 
 the shallow banks off the coast, to be used as observa- 
 tion stations. These tripods were constructed in Dover 
 and used for rehearsal purposes when the monitors did 
 their bombardment practice runs in the Thames estuary. 
 
 Before daybreak, on August 23rd, the four tripod 
 carriers had taken up their appointed positions and 
 lowered their tripods on to the selected shoals. The 
 light was all in our favour. To seaward, a dark sky 
 made the tripod carriers invisible to the batteries ashore, 
 while the prominent objects on the low-lying coast were 
 boldly silhouetted against a good light skyline. As day 
 broke, it found the monitors in line abreast, in perfect 
 position for the appointed operation. The Sir John 
 Moore fired her first round to time almost within a sec- 
 ond. The observers, perched on the small platforms 
 which surmounted the tripods, carefully noted the fall of 
 shot and flashed back by oxy-acetylene lamp the results. 
 Two sets of observers, well practised at this work, were 
 necessary, and once the signals were received on board 
 the monitors, the shots were quickly plotted and the 
 guns lifted onto the target with the various corrections 
 applied. Everything worked according to plan ; the tri- 
 pods were quite close to the shore, but they were so small 
 and the background of dark sky was so bad, that the 
 enemy can hardly have noticed their presence. The 
 bombardment was undertaken at high water and the tops 
 of the tripods were only three or four feet out of the sea. 
 
 The attendant carrier-vessels, with two drifters for 
 life-saving purposes, stood by a half-mile or so away. 
 These vessels were seen indistinctly and a number of 
 salvoes was fired at them from shore batteries, but the 
 enemy cannot have seen the monitors, as no shot was 
 
S6 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 fired near them. While the bombardment continued, 
 the little drifters spread their nets as an anti-submarine 
 zareba around the firing ships. They might have been 
 quietly fishing for herrings; no one on board took the 
 slightest notice of the shore batteries efforts. A division 
 of destroyers tripped daintily up and down the net line 
 to shoreward of the drifters and two or three more 
 patrolled to seaward, lest by chance a casual submarine 
 might catch the monitors unawares and get into position 
 for torpedoing, whilst all eyes were interestedly gazing 
 at the shore-line. 
 
 The chill, moist morning air seemed to work through 
 our damp clothing, and the night's vigil made some of 
 us heavy of eyelid, but one could not help feeling amused 
 at the spectacle which presented itself. 
 
 As the sun rose, the shore line showed up better and 
 better, the chimneys of Solvey Factory stood clear out 
 against the sky and the bombardment was concluded in 
 deliberate and peaceful fashion, like the closing of a 
 text-book. Everything had gone aright, with the ex- 
 ception of the number of rounds fired, which were fewer 
 than intended, on account of defects which developed 
 in the turrets of the Sir John Moore and Prince Rupert. 
 The Lord Clive got off her full number of shells, and 
 we fired quite enough to satisfy our enemies. 
 
 The signal to conclude the operation was made. The 
 monitors waddled their unwieldy forms into single line 
 ahead, the mine-sweepers continued their exploratory 
 sweep, the tripods were once more approached, their 
 observers re-embarked and the tall, trellis-work struc- 
 tures capsized on the sandbanks by their attendant 
 vessels, the transport ships, who in their turn fell into 
 line and slowly steamed after the monitors. The little 
 drifters hauled their empty nets aboard, and their di- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 57 
 
 visional leaders hoisted the flag which told them in their 
 simple code to " follow father home"; their solemn- 
 faced North country firemen put on another shovelful 
 of coal and little wisps of smoke stole towards the 
 zenith to tell the long, black, waiting destroyers that 
 the procession was now complete and that their captains 
 might go off their bridges to get their weary heads down 
 on the flat, damp chart-house cushions and take a couple 
 of hours' rest. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Bombardments and a Few Diversions 
 "the belgian coast." 
 
 The A.D.P stood on the bridge, 
 
 Maneuvering his ships, 
 Taking them as usual, 
 
 For one of their morning trips. 
 
 He took them out of Dunkirk Road, 
 
 He took them to La Panne, 
 He turned them sixteen points to port 
 
 And brought them back again. 
 
 The monitors with blistered sides, 
 
 All bulgeous, and their guns 
 Are cocked up high into the sky 
 
 To flatten out the Huns. 
 
 The anti-aircraft guns are manned, 
 
 But no one cares a bit, 
 For neither bomb nor aircraft gun 
 
 Has ever scored a hit. 
 
 The T.B.D.'s cruise round the fleet, 
 
 They do it night and day, 
 The only signal that they get 
 
 Is, "Get out of my way." 
 
 The sweepers sweep at early dawn, 
 Their paddles keep on flapping. 
 
 And woe betide the Prussian mine, 
 They happen to catch napping. 
 
 The drifters drift with nets in place, 
 
 Deep in the sea so green, 
 Though sometimes muddy, though sometimes 
 brown, 
 
 To ''straffe" a submarine. 
 
 58 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 59 
 
 The seaplane ship sends up her birds, 
 
 They circle in the cloud, 
 The Prussian airmen flutter off, 
 
 To fight they are too proud. 
 
 The airmen in the kite balloon 
 
 Are floating on the breeze, 
 They get a pound a day for that, 
 
 What lucky men are these! 
 
 And this we do at dawn each day, 
 
 In weather calm or choppy, 
 But not a Hun or Prussian gun 
 
 Is seen by Mr. Shoppey.* 
 
 The moral is let's keep our heads, 
 
 And let us all remember, 
 A misty morn, a hazy dawn, 
 
 Is certain in September. 
 
 "Nubian Nonsense." 
 
 The foreging poem illustrates the feelings of a very 
 junior destroyer captain who had less patience than zeal. 
 But it is quite true that the September early morning 
 mists interfered greatly with our work. For instance, 
 after several vain attempts at bombarding Ostend, the 
 weather showed up favourably, and a composite squad- 
 ron, very similar to that described in the last chapter, 
 set out on the morning of September 7th, 19 15, to carry 
 out the bombardment of the harbour works at Ostend. 
 But spotting conditions were impossible, and although 
 everything was ready and in position for the prescribed 
 operation, we were reluctantly forced to abandon our 
 programme on account of a low mist, which hid every- 
 thing, including the lighthouse which was to be used as 
 our aiming mark, or zero point, to work from. We had 
 several targets that day, and it was most disappointing 
 to see the flotilla crawling back to an anchorage off 
 Dunkirk without firing a shot. 
 
 *See end of Chapter. 
 
60 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The Germans knew all about it, however, and so the 
 element of surprise had to be cut out. The " Taubes " 
 and " Albatross " machines circled round like great 
 birds and took stock of all that was to be seen. No 
 sooner had we anchored than they proceeded to bomb 
 us good and true. Bombing was not taken seriously 
 by the Dover Patrol in those days, for we had read in 
 neutral newspapers how Lieut, von Longbow or what- 
 ever he called himself, had won the Iron Cross for 
 bombing Dover Harbour. 
 
 Whatever he thought he did, von Longbow dropped 
 his bombs well outside the harbour. But on this day, 
 September 7th, a small bomb hit the Attentive, the ship 
 of the Captain (D). Two were killed and seven in- 
 jured and a 4-inch gun was disabled. No other successes 
 were registered from enemy air attacks for one whole 
 year after this in the Dover Command, and so we did 
 not trouble our heads about aerial interference. Again 
 and again the bombs fell into the water, while we 
 leisurely ate our midday meal. But the mist dispersed 
 at last, and on the p.m. flood tide another attempt was 
 made to carry out our bombardment. The old Redoubt- 
 able had been fitted with bulges like a monitor, but she 
 drew a great deal of water and was, I believe, employed 
 to fire from the West Deep on the buildings used by the 
 Germans as barracks at Westende. Her spotting was 
 done from tripods, which were soon discovered by the 
 enemy when the mists cleared off. 
 
 The 12-inch monitors came into position very nicely 
 and opened fire on their objectives. The first shot hit 
 the aiming mark and knocked over the lighthouse. This 
 was unfortunate, because when the tripod observers 
 glanced through their telescopes at the zero mark, it had 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 61 
 
 disappeared, and during the delay which followed, the 
 enemy fired some ii-inch shells, two or three of which 
 struck the Lord Clive without exploding. Whether by 
 bomb explosion or gunfire, I do not know, but Com- 
 mander Bickford's tripod had the top blown off and his 
 observing station was out of action. No spotting results 
 were being obtained from the tripods, and as the Lord 
 Clive was being hit to no purpose, the signal was made 
 to abandon the operation. The Viking, with the Tartar 
 standing by, moved shoreward, while the bombarding 
 squadron slowly steamed out of range. The Viking 
 embarked Lieut. Commander Lewin and party from 
 the western tripod. 
 
 Owing to the strong tide, when I put my six-funnelled 
 " freak " destroyer alongside the tripod, the vessel was 
 swept rather strongly against the trellis-work tower and 
 consequently capsized it. The two signal ratings clam- 
 bered on board, but Lewin dived into the sea to avoid 
 being knocked over. We picked him up quickly, and 
 congratulated him on being the only Englishman to 
 bathe in public off Ostend this summer season. 
 
 A desultory fire was kept up on the Viking and Tartar 
 but to no purpose. We, in the Viking, steamed down to 
 meet the little drifter, which had rescued those under 
 Commander Bickford, formerly the observation party 
 for the eastern tripod. We took them on board, hoisted 
 the small boat in which they were being towed and then 
 shepherded the drifter out of the danger zone. We 
 came back to do the same for the net drifters, which had 
 already got in their anti-submarine nets; as usual the 
 drifters' crews, although under fire for some time, be- 
 haved with the most exemplary coolness, carefully stow- 
 ing their nets on board; they were perfectly undaunted. 
 
62 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 No words of mine can ever express the admiration I 
 felt for those cheery, willing fishermen; once again we 
 felt it was an honour for the Viking to stand by them 
 to help, if help were needed. Captain Frederick G. 
 Bird, R.N., was in charge of the drifter divisions, and 
 Commander G. W. C. Venn, R.N.R., his second in 
 command. 
 
 After all had withdrawn, since I had been directed to 
 attend on the Lord Clive (flag), I closed her, and was 
 sent on ahead to find a certain light buoy which marked 
 the end of a channel through our minefields. 
 
 We steamed the requisite course and distance, and 
 then finding no buoy I stopped and anchored. It was 
 almost dark by this time, and having failed to find the 
 buoy, which I concluded had been sunk, I turned a strong 
 light towards the slowly following squadron, and, copy- 
 ing the characteristics of the light on the buoy, I hoped 
 to be sighted by the monitors and made use of. I 
 could not use wireless, which might have given our posi- 
 tions away. We were sighted about 1 1 p.m., and then 
 we weighed and continued until the Kentish Knock light 
 was sighted, when the Admiral boarded my ship and 
 returned full speed to Dover. The monitors went 
 back to their hiding-place to await some fresh laid 
 scheme. 
 
 A fortnight later, we re-appeared on the Belgian 
 coast with something that we anticipated would out-hun 
 the Hun. We had spent the intervening time in practis- 
 ing making smoke screens and in perfecting the gunnery 
 practice of a monitor mounting two really modern 15- 
 inch guns. 
 
 This ship was the Marshal Ney, and she was a curi- 
 ous-looking floating fort of 6,679 tons, propelled by 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 63 
 
 Diesel engines. There were difficulties in getting these 
 engines to work, difficulties that led the Marshall Ney 
 into trouble again and again. 
 
 On September 20th we carried out some good bom- 
 barding work, our spotting being done by shore observa- 
 tion stations and also by kite balloons. The forenoon 
 work was not very exciting, but it was good to see the 
 huge 15-inch guns of the Marshal Ney cocked up sky- 
 wards, belching their cordite smoke into the skies. None 
 of the enemy's shells hit the bombarding squadron, and 
 we had it our own way until the afternoon, when the 
 Marshal Ney went close inshore and moved up to La 
 Panne. There is a narrow passage leading from off La 
 Panne into the West Deep. To assist the Marshal Ney 
 I worked through this passage in the Viking, hoisting 
 small flags on either side, which told the monitor the 
 depth in feet. She got into position and commenced the 
 bombardment, when suddenly she became unmanageable, 
 for her engines broke down, and she commenced to drift 
 ashore. The enemy got her range, and shell after shell 
 whistled through the air and plunked into the sea along- 
 side her. There was nothing to be done to stop the Mar- 
 shal Ney drifting ashore, unless she dropped her anchor; 
 this she did, and we in the V iking made a beautiful 
 smoke screen which effectually hid her from view; then 
 under cover of this black screen we steamed quickly 
 alongside, took a towing wire on board and gently mov- 
 ing ahead the Viking turned the Marshal Ney's bow 
 westward, and with the most delicate increases of speed, 
 got her going towards Dunkirk. It is interesting to note 
 in this connection that the huge monitor was of such 
 shallow draught that, once we got her going, she towed 
 quite easily, and when we were steaming revolutions 
 
64 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 for twelve knots in the Viking, we were towing the 
 monitor along at eight knots. 
 
 Apparently the Attentive became anxious on our ac- 
 count and we received a W.T. message asking " Where 
 is Viking? " I replied, " We are towing Marshal Ney 
 back to Dunkirk." 
 
 My sub-lieutenant, who was on board the Attentive, 
 heard my reply read out, and witnessed the mirth oc- 
 casioned, but when the jeers had subdued, the sub- 
 lieutenant looked out of a scuttle and saw the Viking 
 towing the Marshal Ney past the Attentive. He ran up 
 on deck, to see better and signalled with his hands, 
 " They don't believe it." The first lieutenant sema- 
 phored back, "Tell the monkeys to look out of their cage 
 at the zebra and giraffe." I thought it was rather a good 
 reply, for the Viking was now painted in a coat of striped 
 camouflage, and the Marshal Ney, with a single huge 
 tripod mast towering above us, had an awkward, giraffe- 
 like appearance. To put it in plain English, the Marshal 
 Ney was a dead failure, thanks to her Diesel engines. 
 
 Once more the Marshal Ney cocked up her guns to 
 bombard, but one of her engines broke down and she 
 became unmanageable; her captain dare not stop her 
 other engine on account of the starting difficulties, and 
 so she slowly turned circles until the Admiral, thoroughly 
 disgusted with her and her Diesel engines, ordered me 
 to take her in tow. The Viking repeated the effort of 
 the previous day, and my dainty little destroyer led the 
 great unmanageable monster out of action like a very 
 small boy leading a broken-down cab horse away to the 
 slaughterhouse. The Marshal Ney was now officially 
 recognised as being a failure, and she was returned to her 
 dockyard, disarmed and given some lighter gwns. She 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 6s 
 
 afterwards was used as a floating fort in the Downs. On 
 September 21st, we carried out another bombardment 
 from the West Deep and we employed sea-planes, kite 
 b«J 1r >ons and the shore observation stations for spotting 
 with three '"dependent sets of observers. The spotting 
 was as good as Oil? could wish for in those days. 
 
 Other bombardmeii were undertaken with more or 
 less success by the 12-inch monitors this season, but none 
 I believe succeeded as well as that of August 23rd, 
 when we were credited with having inflicted the follow- 
 ing damage : — 
 
 Two dredges sunk, 
 Two submarines sunk, 
 One factory partly destroyed, 
 Solvey factory destroyed. 
 First lock (ecluse) destroyed. 
 
 What effect our bombardment had on the morale of 
 the German troops can only be gathered by taking 
 notice of the extent of the enemy-adopted counter- 
 measures. In these days when peace is close at hand, 
 one cannot walk anywhere on the Belgian coast without 
 coming across a continuous barrage of barbed wire en- 
 tanglements and a perfect chain of heavy gun batteries 
 and defences. The batteries are in some cases boldly 
 dated 19 15, so that it is evident the Germans " had the 
 wind up," and were not at all happy about attacks from 
 the sea. 
 
 Of the stunts undertaken to worry, annoy and puzzle 
 our enemies, perhaps the most amusing took place in 
 September, 19 15, when I was sent by Admiral Bacon 
 to give a firework display at Ostend. The whole story 
 is rather comic, but it was one of those operations or 
 rather tricks that can only be played once. 
 
 The Admiral had received an intimation that the 
 5 
 
66 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Commander-in-Chief of our armies in France wished us 
 to do all we could to keep the German troops on the 
 coast, presumably in ordler that they could not be 
 utilised at the time of our Western Front attacks. 
 
 The Admiral considered that it would b^ '^advisable 
 to risk destroyers over the German m'.\chelds, of which 
 the existence, but not the position, was known. He 
 accordingly gave me two oil-burning torpedo boats of 
 the class known as the " Oily Wads." These were with- 
 drawn from the Downs, where they were used as a 
 patrol for the protection of shipping, and handed over 
 for the occasion. Brackets were fitted along both sides 
 of the boats to hold socket distress signals, and a large 
 supply of rockets was taken on board. 
 
 A programme for the organised firework display was 
 drawn up and the crews of the tiny vessels given a 
 dummy run at their firework stations. The boats pro- 
 ceeded in the afternoon by the northward route over to 
 the North Hinder light vessel, and thence to the Middle- 
 kerke Bank. 
 
 The night was very dark, but calm, and everything 
 was in readiness for immediate action in case we met 
 enemy patrol vessels, or a submarine entering or leaving 
 Ostend near the time of high water. We worked closer 
 and closer towards Ostende until it appeared impossible 
 for us to escape detection; searchlights were working on 
 the coast, slowly sweeping to and fro, and star shells 
 could be seen to the southward flickering in the sky. 
 They were evidently fired at certain definite intervals. 
 
 We had decided that it would be unsafe to remain off 
 the port after 2 a.m., when the tide would have fallen 
 sufficiently to make navigation over minefields a fool- 
 hardy business. We hoped most earnestly to run across 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 67 
 
 a submarine, for she would not have been very ready 
 to dive when trimmed for navigating near the Ostend 
 Banks; and had we met one, it would have meant her 
 certain destruction. 
 
 About 1 a.m., when all eyes were accustomed to the 
 darkness, what appeared to be the conning tower of a 
 submarine, suddenly presented itself almost dead ahead 
 of the leading torpedo boat; engines were put at full 
 speed, a touch was given to the helm and we had almost 
 rammed the supposed enemy vessel when a dismal howl 
 arose, a second before the foremost 12-pounder gun 
 had been laid on the object. Those on the bridge real- 
 ised that, instead of a submarine, we were attacking 
 one of the whistle buoys which mark the Belgian coast 
 sandbanks. The helm was quickly put over to avoid a 
 collision and the boat astern of us warned. The buoy 
 passed along our port side, almost touching the frail 
 torpedo boat. Everybody burst out laughing, our sup- 
 posed enemy gave another dismal groan, and that was 
 all our submarine hunt yielded for the night. 
 
 The time passed very quickly and, at 1.50 a.m., not 
 daring to remain any longer over this mined area, I blew 
 the pre-arranged signal on a whistle, and then another 
 blast. From the two torpedo boats three bouquets of 
 rockets, port fires, Very's lights and star bombs ascended ; 
 the display was repeated after a minute's interval, and 
 the absurdity of the situation made me laugh until I 
 nearly fell into the sea. What the Germans thought, I 
 never heard until I met some of those who had been at 
 Ostend all through the war. Comparing the dates, one 
 realised that the enemy had been seriously alarmed and 
 preparations made for repelling a landing. 
 
 We were very proud of that firework display, and I 
 
68 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 am sure that the Germans, who so little understand the 
 English, would have sent out any available craft to 
 destroy us had they known that two feeble little vessels 
 were so close to the shores they occupied; it was almost 
 possible to knock a hole in these with a good fisherman's 
 boathook. To those in the torpedo boats the evening's 
 " stunt " was merely a joy ride. 
 
 We turned northward at 2 a.m. and steamed away 
 into the darkness. Suddenly, however, the whole coast 
 line was illuminated, and it appears that many star-shells 
 were fired out to sea. The second boat signalled 
 ' Regret can only keep up 13 knots." This was not 
 much good to us because we naturally imagined that 
 the enemy would send out what they had to attack us 
 when they saw our two small torpedo boats. The 
 armament of the squadron consisted only of four 12- 
 pounder guns and six 14-inch torpedo tubes. I reduced 
 speed to keep in company with our boat, and then a 
 pathetic signal blinked forth from the shaded signal 
 lamp of the boat astern — the signalman spelt out, "We 
 are being followed by four large ships." 
 
 There was nothing for it except to turn round and 
 attack, for we could not run away at 13 knots, and I 
 did not propose to leave my companion ship. We 
 commenced to turn round in order to begin the engage- 
 ment, hoping to sink or damage one ship at least, but 
 realising that we had very little chance, when our com- 
 panion again signalled, and we made out " Annul my 
 signal, they are only lights on Ostend pier." I confess 
 I was very relieved, for we had no speed in those boats 
 with which to manoeuvre and we could have been run 
 down by any kind of modern destroyer. 
 
 My sub-lieutenant from the Viking, who had gone 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 69 
 
 with me, asked if I wanted to make any further 
 signal. I laughed and replied, " Yes, make T.G." 
 The sub-lieutenant said, " What do you mean, 
 sir?" I said "Thank God," and off we toddled 
 homewards. 
 
 We were back in Dover again long before people were 
 awake; the torpedo boats were completed with oil fuel 
 preparatory to returning to the Downs patrol, and 
 nobody watching us bathing in Dover Harbour from the 
 Viking realised that we had had a night out. I doubt 
 if anybody but the Vice-Admiral even knew of our 
 escapade. These little parties were welcomed by de- 
 stroyer officers as departures from the dull routine pa- 
 trolling, and later, when destroyers were fitted as mine- 
 layers, they became very frequent occurrences. 
 
 In the first three years of the war, the only casualty 
 that ever occurred to the Dover torpedo craft, during 
 coastal reconnaissances, took place on May 7th, 191 5, 
 when the Maori and the Crusader were sent along the 
 Belgian coast to sketch some of the land marks. The 
 Maori unfortunately struck a mine and was in a sinking 
 condition when her crew took to their boats. The 
 Crusader could not approach her on account of mines, 
 but sent two boats' crews to her assistance. Before the 
 Maori actually sank, her Captain, Commander Ben- 
 jamin Barrow, destroyed all confidential books and 
 memoranda, lest they should subsequently be recovered 
 by divers and be of use to the enemy. 
 
 Unfortunately, the loss of the Maori was witnessed 
 from the enemy positions, and whenever the Crusader 
 approached near the boats which were pulling out to 
 meet her, she was heavily fired upon. The Captain of 
 the Maori signalled to her to keep away as he did not 
 
7 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 wish us to lose another destroyer by mine or gun-fire, 
 for the sake of a handful of men. 
 
 The Crusader carried only a few seamen on account 
 of her small armament, and when her boats were away, 
 she stood off and on, hoping the Maori's could pull to 
 seaward until they were out of range. It was an un- 
 fortunate situation, because when the two ships origin- 
 ally worked up the coast, the visibility was only about 
 two miles. After the Maori struck the mine, the 
 morning mists rolled away and the visibility became so 
 good that it really was foolhardy for the Crusader to 
 remain close to the shore batteries. 
 
 An enemy armed trawler eventually came out and 
 took the boats' crews prisoners. These were the only 
 officers and men from the Dover Patrol who fell into the 
 hands of the enemy during the three and a half years 
 I served in this command. 
 
 I can hardly close this chapter without a word about 
 two of the Dover naval officers who worked ashore in 
 connection with the bombardments and other naval 
 efforts in our Patrol. The first is Commander 
 W. G. H. Bickford, who was the principal officer in 
 connection with Admiral Bacon's spotting tripod 
 schemes. 
 
 Bickford had left the Navy some time before the 
 war, but like most others, appeared at the outbreak of 
 hostilities and offered his services in whatever capacity 
 they might be found useful. Bickford was discovered 
 by Admiral Bacon, who watched him unloading 15-inch 
 howitzers and other heavy artillery in the Port of Havre. 
 The light-hearted way in which he overcame all the 
 difficulties of unloading, commended him to Admiral 
 Bacon's notice as a " Handy Billy," he knowing no 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 71 
 
 French and his French labourers knowing no other 
 language than their own. 
 
 I remember on September 7th, 19 15, Commander 
 Bickford was taken on board the Viking after he had 
 been left on his spotting tripod for fourteen hours, 
 when the bombarding squadron had withdrawn on ac- 
 count of mist. 
 
 He was to have had a little dinghy with him and an 
 attendant drifter. Owing to other duties being assigned 
 to the drifter, Bickford was left perched on his tripod 
 with two signalmen; the tripod sank a little into the 
 sand, and the tide rising, came to within nine inches of 
 the top and it looked as if our friend would have to 
 choose between a several thousand yards swim to Ostend, 
 or a porpoise-like chase after the various ships that 
 Admiral Bacon had, whose whereabouts he knew not. 
 Apart from these discomforts, Bickford's weight, some- 
 thing over fifteen stone, caused him further unhappiness, 
 sitting as he did on the grating-like top of his observa- 
 tion tower, and when eventually he was rescued and 
 taken on board the Viking, a kind-hearted lieutenant 
 asked him if he would not sit down; he replied, " Sit 
 down ! I don't care if I never sit down in my life again. 
 I have a patchwork pattern on my quarterdeck from 
 which I shall never recover." 
 
 We got him some refreshment on that occasion, and, 
 as he had had no chance to sleep for thirty hours, I took 
 him to my cabin, and told him to turn in. I then went 
 in search of a brandy and soda, for he had been badly 
 shaken when the Huns blew the top off his tripod. 
 Armed with a drink, I returned to my cabin and, to my 
 consternation and amusement, I found old Billy arrayed 
 in my pyjamas; his measurement amidships was pro- 
 
72 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 bably more than double mine. The pyjamas would not 
 button up, nor would they tie up and for all the world, 
 he looked like a bit of raw beef wrapped in butter mus- 
 lin. Bickford was one of the Dover D.S.O.'s, and we 
 all appreciated the fact that he thoroughly deserved it 
 
 Lieut. D. G. G. Shoppey is another officer whose serv- 
 ices were a valuable auxiliary to the Dover bombarding 
 forces, and one who should also be mentioned here. 
 Shoppey was landed from the Amazon in September, 
 19 14, when the Germans made their first push along the 
 coast of Flanders. He originally landed to establish and 
 maintain communications between the military and naval 
 forces, and was accompanied by a party of Marines 
 with the machine guns from one of the small monitors. 
 This party was subsequently annihilated, but Shoppey 
 escaped and joined the Staff of Colonel Bridges, who 
 was then in charge of the Belgian Military Mission. 
 
 Shoppey became our principal observer during bom- 
 bardments, and, although a very young officer, his 
 judgment was remarkable. He was full of energy and 
 zeal; no sooner was he shelled out of one observation 
 post than he would remove himself to another with the 
 greatest possible sang froid. He had observation posts 
 at Templar's Tower, the Cafe de l'Yser, the Station 
 Hotel and Ramscapelle, among other places in and 
 around Nieuport. It was to Shoppey that we were 
 indebted for establishing our wireless communications 
 and our visual signalling posts. He had only a very 
 small staff of signalmen, who were as zealous as Shop- 
 pey himself. 
 
 Before finally saying good-bye to the tripod spotting 
 arrangements, which were superseded by other devices, 
 I once heard a distinguished official ask Admiral Bacon 
 whom he got to sit on the tripod; his reply was " Oh! 
 
TWELVE-INCH GUNS MOUNTED IN IMITATION BARN NEAR 
 ADINKERQUE, BY COMMANDER BICKFORD. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 73 
 
 they are retired officers." In connection with these 
 retired officers I heard a story, though it did not happen 
 in the Dover Patrol. It is well known that many retired 
 admirals joined the Naval Reserve as temporary com- 
 manders, for service with yachts and other vessels in 
 the Auxiliary Patrol. One of these officers, distin- 
 guished in many wars before he retired, had come to re- 
 port at the headquarters of a certain senior naval officer, 
 who had a Royal Marine Light Infantry man for or- 
 derly. The senior naval officer was very busy, but the 
 temporary R.N.R. commander was very pressing, and 
 he continually urged the orderly to inform the S.N.O. 
 of his presence, in spite of being informed that this 
 officer was engaged on very important business. 
 
 At last the marine yielded and said he would do his 
 best. He knocked at the S.N.O.'s door, walked in, and 
 risked the scowls of his superior, " There is an officer 
 whom I think you ought to see," said the marine. " I 
 can see no one now," replied the S.N.O. " Well, I 
 think you ought to see this one," urged the marine. 
 " He is one of them there disrated admirals, and he 
 has medal ribbons like a rainbow on his chest. I think 
 you ought to see him, sir," and the S.N.O. gave way. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Escort Work, a Second Winter and a Bit of 
 Salvage 
 
 The second winter set in rather more severely than the 
 first winter of the war; the monitors did an occasional 
 shoot, but spent most of their time at anchor, and since 
 destroyers were not required to work in conjunction with 
 them, we returned to our patrolling and escort work. 
 
 The transports did wonderfully well. Running be- 
 tween Folkestone and Boulogne in fog, gale or calm, 
 they stuck to their high speed and time-table punctuality, 
 and we in the destroyers stuck rigidly to the transports. 
 Hundreds of little close-packed khaki figures were 
 jambed into each transport; how uncomfortable and 
 unsheltered they looked ! In the winter, spray dashed 
 over the fast-running cross-channel steamers and, in 
 spite of the wind screens rigged both sides of their 
 decks, the soldiers often got wet through, and one could 
 not help feeling that these men, who were going out to 
 fight, would prefer to do so rather than stand on the 
 draughty decks, to be soused in the sticky showers of 
 cold, salt water. 
 
 The transport captains were the best hearted, cheeri- 
 est men one could wish for, their only anxiety being to do 
 their utmost to help win the war. They certainly made 
 good, and the seasoned merchant seamen and firemen 
 who worked the vessels acquitted themselves admirably. 
 
 74 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 75 
 
 It was a pleasure to watch the transports handled by 
 their commanders and, out of probably more than ten 
 thousand crossings, they had but a couple of collisions, 
 as far as I can remember. This speaks volumes for the 
 careful and skilful way in which they were handled, for 
 it must be remembered that they frequently navigated 
 at 20 knots, without lights and with other vessels in 
 close company. I think the Leven and Cossack collided 
 with transports, but I never heard of the transports 
 being in collision with one another. 
 
 On the occasion of the Leven' s collision, I was out on 
 night patrol in the Viking. It was on a dreadfully dark, 
 wintry night, when we intercepted a plaintive little 
 wireless message concerning the collision. The escort 
 vessels had gone to the assistance of the troop transport, 
 which, in her heavily-laden condition, would naturally 
 require attention with her valuable human cargo of two 
 thousand British soldiers. We moved away from the 
 patrol line to succour which ever ship needed help; and 
 on arriving at the scene of the accident, I was soon 
 satisfied that the troop transport needed no help from 
 the Viking. I then turned my attention to the Leven, 
 now two or three miles away. I discovered her at last, 
 and, switching on my searchlight, I found before me a 
 most pathetic sight. The bow of this old-fashioned 
 destroyer appeared to be flattened out of all recognition. 
 She was drifting broadside to the swell, rolling about in 
 the troughs of the waves in a manner calculated to make 
 even an onlooker sea-sick. We worked the Viking close 
 to her, and to windward, and then pumped oil overboard 
 until there was a chance of getting close alongside. Once 
 communication was established, I found that the Leven 
 could not steam ahead, owing to the serious nature of 
 
76 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 the damage. The wind was from the westward, and 
 we were unpleasantly close to the French coast, south of 
 Boulogne. After a megaphone conversation with her 
 captain, whom I had brought up as a " Sub," I decided 
 to tow the injured destroyer stern first. We soon got 
 hold and moved her away from the coast. However, 
 the tow parted in the seaway, and while the Tartar 
 stood by us, I got my ship alongside the Leven, and 
 being protected by large hazelwood fenders, which I had 
 " accidently " possessed myself of, I got thoroughly well 
 secured to the Leven, with all our hawsers and theirs. 
 
 Lieut. E. J. B. Shouler, my No. i, was a perfect glut- 
 ton for salvage and towing, and a perfect genius for 
 equalising the strain and distributing the pull. Thanks 
 to his perfect seamanship, we held on to the Leven 
 through the night, and by daybreak we had got under 
 the lee of the Kentish coast, the wind having veered to 
 the N.W. Once in the neighbourhood of Dover, the pow- 
 erful tug, Lady Crundell, came to our assistance, and 
 giving us a stout hawser to our bow, she manoeuvred the 
 pair of us safely to a buoy in Dover Harbour, where we 
 found calm water and had time to study the Leven's 
 damage. It was certainly pretty bad. 
 
 Connected with the foregoing incident, I must set 
 down a short history, which had a humourous side as 
 well as a gruesome one. 
 
 When the collision occurred, a poor fellow was severe- 
 ly injured through the collapse of the Leven's bow. 
 After we had got our towing hawsers secured, we heard 
 about the injured man, and I sent my coxswain down to 
 ask if everything possible was being done for him. The 
 coxswain returned and informed me of the man's pitiful 
 condition. I sent out a W.T. signal to Cossack, asking 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 77 
 
 for the services of her surgeon probationer; the Cossack 
 
 approached and the young man boarded us with some 
 
 difficulty, in the bad weather. After the surgeon had 
 
 had time to make an examination, I sent my coxswain 
 
 down to report what was being done for the injured 
 
 man, and the following dialogue took place : — 
 
 Captain. Is the man very bad? 
 
 Coxswain. Yes sir, 'is legs is all jambed up and broke. 
 
 Captain. Go down and tell the doctor to put him on 
 a stretcher and get him into my cabin, if he can 
 arrange to get from one ship to the other — wait for 
 a lull. 
 
 Coxswain. (After descending from bridge to give 
 message). I give the doctor the message, 'e says 'e 
 daren't move the man jus' yet. But sir, you don't 
 want 'im in that cabin of yours, 'es, all blood and 'e'd 
 muck up the sheets frightful. 
 
 Captain. Never mind, you get the poor man down 
 there, we can easily get new sheets later on when we 
 are safely in harbour. 
 
 Coxswain. (Shaking his head, obviously unwilling). 
 Aye, aye, sir. 
 
 (Five minutes later) — 
 
 Coxswain. The doctor says 'es too bad to be moved, 
 but 'e thanks you all the same. 
 
 Captain. Can nothing be done for him? 
 
 Coxswain. No, sir. Why the bones of 'is legs is stick- 
 ing right out through 'is flesh. 
 
 Captain. Good God! 
 
 Coxswain. Oh, you have no call to worry, sir, that's 
 alright. Why 'E's only one of them there ullages 
 that's joined up for the war. 
 
78 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 This was the coxswain's tender way of setting my 
 mind at rest. 
 
 I was very angry with him at the time, but I sub- 
 sequently learnt that he was one of the most generous 
 and kind-hearted of men. He was relieved in the 
 Viking by C.P.O. Williamson, who was for a year 
 boatswain of Captain Scott's exploring ship, the Terra 
 Nova. Williamson was a great friend of mine, and one 
 day, when I told him of his hard-hearted predecessor, 
 he expressed surprise and told me how very good the 
 other coxswain had been to all the younger ones, whom 
 he had classed as " Them there ullages what's joined 
 up for the war." 
 
 In December, 191 5, while I was taking my turn with 
 the Dunkirk Destroyer Division, a transport steamer, 
 the Southgarth, full of trench material, bound for Dun- 
 kirk, ran past the port during the night, and, after 
 passing over a great portion of the Traepegeer Bank, 
 stranded near the buoy marking the north part of the 
 shoal. She was abandoned by her crew about the 13th 
 December, when, the weather being moderately fine, 
 German aeroplanes came out to investigate. One of 
 these flying machines arrived whilst a portion of the 
 Southgarth' s crew were in a boat quite close to her, and 
 an apprentice, seeing the aeroplane flying low, pointed a 
 small pistol at it. In reply, the aeroplane opened fire 
 with her machine gun, without, however, hitting anyone. 
 
 The Commodore, Dunkirk, on being informed of the 
 Southgarth grounding, moved out in the Attentive and 
 took charge of the vessels at his disposal, with the idea 
 of salving the grounded transport. The weather was too 
 bad to do any salvage work on December 13th, so a 
 destroyer patrol was kept in the West Deep to prevent 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 79 
 
 enemy interference. On the 14th, the weather was 
 again fine enough for aeroplanes to work, and they came 
 out from Ostend and dropped bombs all around us. A 
 few shots were also fired by German batteries at the 
 Southgarth, without doing any damage. One of the 
 hostile aeroplanes dropped a line of great bombs close 
 to, and parallel with the Viking, and one of our stokers, 
 a New Zealand man named Williams, having watched 
 the whole business, waved his hand and shouted out 
 " That's right, Cooey, one for each funnel; if you wasn't 
 so cock-eyed and so cocksure." Just after this another 
 aeroplane appeared and we prepared to shoot at her with 
 our only anti-aircraft defence, a couple of old-pattern 
 maxims, but recognising her as friendly, we desisted. She 
 flew at our late attacker and, after a sharp little fight, sent 
 her down in flames to the sea. Several small craft made 
 for the spot, but the enemy aeroplane disappeared. 
 
 Almost immediately afterward, down came our own 
 machine close to the spot, and it sank in a couple of 
 minutes. One of the mine-sweepers near by fortunately 
 saved the pilot and observer, and they were none the 
 worse for their cold bath. They turned out to be Flight 
 Lieutenant Graham and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Ince of 
 the Royal Naval Air Service. 
 
 After losing a machine, the Germans desisted from 
 any further bombing. We waited again in the West 
 Deep, expecting the tug Conqueror and a smaller vessel, 
 the Goole X, to make an attempt to tow the Southgarth 
 off, but they were so long approaching her that I sig- 
 nalled to the Commodore on the Attentive asking his 
 permission to attempt to salve the ship. He signalled 
 back to me, " Certainly," and afterward signalled, 
 f Viking take charge of salvage operations." 
 
80 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 A boat was lowered from the Attentive and an at- 
 tempt was made to board the Southgarth, but in the 
 rough sea and strong tide this boat was carried away to- 
 ward the Belgian coast, and I ordered H.M.S. Syren to 
 stand toward her and tow her back, with a view to an- 
 other attempt being made to board the vessel. 
 
 Eventually the boat reached her, and some of the 
 Attentive* s men and a few of the Sonthgarth's crew 
 were able to get on board. The Viking approached the 
 Southgarth and discharged large quantities of oil near 
 her, in order to assist the boat. The weather now 
 moderated again, and at about 4 o'clock in the after- 
 noon I put my ship alongside and made fast with every 
 available hawser. 
 
 In addition to my own hawsers, the Attentive men 
 on board the Southgarth, directed by the master of the 
 ship, passed us several large hawsers from the South- 
 garth herself, which were secured so as to hold the 
 Viking alongside. When we had secured and equalised 
 the hawsers from my ship to the Southgarth, I went 
 ahead at the top of high water and, to my great joy, at 
 last got the Southgarth to move. Once we had got into 
 the West Deep, two tugs approached, and one of them 
 assisted me to tow. 
 
 We in the Viking were as proud as peacocks when we 
 returned to Dunkirk with our salvaged prize, and we 
 received a signal of congratulation from the Commo- 
 dore when we anchored the steamer off Dunkirk pier, 
 and handed her back to her crew. 
 
 As far as I was concerned, the incident was closed. 
 Some time afterwards I heard that a claim for several 
 thousands of pounds was being made by the master of 
 one of the tugs for salving the Southgarth. I have now 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 81 
 
 received a letter asking me to be witness at the trial 
 wherein the master of the Conqueror claims on the 
 owner of the Southgarth for the salving of the vessel. I 
 wonder what he will say when he sees me in the court. 
 
 The incidents that marked the second year most were, 
 as far as the Dover Patrols were concerned, the losses 
 due to enemy mine-laying from submarines. 
 
 In December, 191 5, I exchanged the command of the 
 Viking for the Crusader, it being a convenient arrange- 
 ment for Commander Williams, the Crusader' 's skipper, 
 as well as myself. 
 
 I had had rather more than my share of running in 
 19 1 5, and as I was constantly getting migraine, Staff- 
 Surgeon Louis Greig, our medical officer in the parent 
 ship, recommended to our Captain (D) that I should 
 have a rest; and since the Crusader had boiler troubles, 
 and her captain wanted to get back to the patrol, we ex- 
 changed commands by agreement. 
 
 It was an unlucky change for Williams and a lucky 
 one for me. Only a week after my successor had taken 
 over the Viking she struck a mine off Boulogne and her 
 stern was blown off. The accident took place about the 
 end of January, 19 16; the officers were at lunch and all 
 lost their lives, with the exception of the gunner, who 
 was on watch at the time. This was a severe blow to 
 me, for the Viking's officers had had a very hard year 
 with me and I had grown to know them as friends who 
 counted. The tiny little wardroom had become quite 
 dear to us, and we had met there so often to plan, dis- 
 cuss and work, as well as to sing and play. It was in 
 the wardroom of the Viking that I first learned to fox- 
 trot of all things, and of all places to learn in. 
 
 I was spared the sorrow of seeing the Viking spoilt by 
 6 
 
82 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 a German mine, but so many have told me how the oil 
 fuel caught fire and, spreading itself over the sea as it 
 ran from her, flamed away horribly, with my poor dear 
 loyal sailors dying before help could arrive. 
 
 I lost many friends that day, including a great Her- 
 cules named Stowe, who had just received the Distin- 
 guished Service Medal for his good work in my ship. 
 
 Sailors are great believers in mascots. I always car- 
 ried a toy penguin at my masthead, and I think my 
 successor had sent it away on the Viking's unlucky day. 
 Poor little Viking! She was repaired and rebuilt, but 
 she has never quite recovered her speed, nor her former 
 shape. Connected with the foregoing disaster, my 
 late coxswain, Chief Petty Officer Williamson, was in 
 a storeroom when the mine exploded; all with him 
 were killed outright, but Williamson was blown up the 
 little hatch and into the sea. He sustained severe con- 
 cussion of the brain but, in spite of being unconscious, 
 he swam about for 40 minutes before being picked up; 
 he fortunately was wearing a life-saving waistcoat to 
 which he undoubtedly owes his life. 
 
 I took over command of the Crusader in January, 
 19 1 6, and found a delightfully efficient ship, with keen, 
 able officers. The first lieutenant evidently considered 
 that my appearance would bring good luck, and observ- 
 ing that the Mohawk and Viking had both struck mines 
 within a very short time after I had left them, he sug- 
 gested that they should nail me down once I was settled 
 on board. 
 
 The Crusader was one of " White's " ships, built at 
 Cowes, like the Mohawk, but she was an improvement 
 in every way, being one of the latest of the Tribals. 
 
 I may say that her ship's company were typical of 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 83 
 
 the " new navy." They were always clean and they 
 seemed to take such a delight in putting on their uni- 
 form properly, giving no trouble, keeping guns and tor- 
 pedo tubes in tip-top working order and so forth, that I 
 concluded that the only really vile thing in the Crusader 
 was myself. 
 
 Apart from striking mines, the Dover destroyers spent 
 a good deal of time in dodging these things, and we 
 were fairly successful. We had frequent opportunities 
 of sinking them by rifle and gun fire, when floating 
 mines were met with on patrol. I remember sinking 
 forty-two in one afternoon, with the Viking and Cos- 
 sack; it seemed a dreadful waste of money, but war is 
 an expensive luxury after all. 
 
 One of my Dover destroyers — I forget whether 
 Viking or Crusader — was one day conveying a highly- 
 placed official across the channel; he had received a 
 K.C.B. and a K.C.V.O. for his services. Most officers 
 of the Dover sea-keeping flotilla considered that he 
 ought to have been put in prison for these same services, 
 but we didn't decide these things. He had aired his 
 opinions very freely on the destroyer's bridge, and he 
 certainly was a good sailor, for it was blowing very 
 hard and he wasn't sick. 
 
 Suddenly a horned mine was sighted, bobbing and 
 squirming like the head of one of Heath Robinson's 
 imagination sea-serpents. The destroyer was proceeding 
 at full speed and there was no time to stop, for we had 
 to be at Dunkirk for other duty at a specified time. 
 Orders were given to train and fire the foremost 4-inch 
 gun at the mine en passant. The gun-layer swung the 
 gun round, gave a few turns to the elevating wheel and 
 fired; the shell struck the bobbing mine, and the con- 
 
84 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sequent explosion even shook our superior friend, the 
 highly-placed official. He opined that it was a wonder- 
 ful shot. " Well, you didn't expect him to miss it? " 
 I replied, and then even the highly-placed official began 
 to realise that in our poor, old Navy, people really knew 
 their job, whilst I, delighted at the fluke, realised that 
 the penguin on the masthead had given a lucky flap in 
 time to hit first shot for the honour of the Navy ! 
 
 The saddest of all the incidents in our Dover area was 
 the loss of the hospital ship Angl'ia. She was mined 
 between Dover and Folkestone; a small merchant ship, 
 curiously enough another Lusitania, stood to her assist- 
 ance with splendid pluck and attempted to save life. 
 One of the Dover torpedo boats and H.M.S. Ure came 
 along as well. The Lusitania also struck a mine, un- 
 fortunately, and sank almost at the same time as the 
 hospital ship. The wounded and survivors of the two 
 vessels were picked up in a frightful condition, too 
 dreadful to dwell upon. The hospital ship was certainly 
 not torpedoed, although her loss made one feel vindic- 
 tive, to say the least of it. 
 
 The torpedoing of the Sussex, full of passengers, was 
 a crime committed in our area of patrol. Lieut.-Com- 
 mander Percival, in H.M.S. Afridi, was responsible 
 for a fine bit of life-saving work here, for he intercepted 
 a signal to the effect that the Sussex was sinking. He 
 dashed to her position with Afridi, then placed his ship 
 right alongside and rescued all he could find. Recently 
 I met one of the survivors, an American, who told me 
 that the way the Afridi was handled excited the utmost 
 admiration and enthusiasm amongst those who waited 
 to be taken off. 
 
 A P. & O. steamer, the Maloja, was mined and sunk 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 85 
 
 off Dover, simultaneously with four other vessels, in the 
 space of only an hour, and mine-sweeping now became 
 a very important duty in the Dover Patrol. Area after 
 area was declared dangerous and our charts of Dover 
 Straits were a sight for sore eyes; circles were drawn 
 all over them with "Dangerous owing to mines"; 
 where there were no circles, one generally found there 
 the little symbols employed by navigators to denote 
 wrecks. From the Thames entrance to Beachy Head, 
 the whole traffic had to be marshalled into " lanes," 
 which were marked by buoys and wreck-marking vessels, 
 whilst trawlers were employed all along the route to 
 guide vessels passing up and down channel. The traffic 
 routes were patrolled by destroyers, and very few losses 
 were experienced from torpedoing, for the enemy con- 
 fined their offensive operations to mine-laying, for the 
 most part. 
 
 The mine-sweeping flotilla increased to a great num- 
 ber of vessels. They swept at all states of the tide, ex- 
 cept where areas were known to be dangerous. 
 
 Our loyal wit, the author of "Nubian Nonsense," 
 included the following verse in his poem, " The Laws 
 of Patrolling." 
 
 "When you are warned off a spot that is dangerous, 
 
 And all traffic from there's being kept, 
 If you want to go through it, don't panic, 
 
 It's the only place round that's been swept." 
 
 He very pithily expresses the situation for 1916, as 
 far as the destroyer officers' sentiments were concerned. 
 
 The Germans were very clever in their placing of 
 the mines, but under Admiral Bacon's direction, a traffic 
 route organisation was perfected, which succeeded so 
 admirably that, after a comparatively short time, 
 
86 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 navigation in our part of the channel was almost quite 
 safe for merchant vessels and other ships making the 
 passage, provided they stuck to the traffic routes pre- 
 scribed, and complied with the orders issued regard- 
 ing the hours before and after high water, between 
 which navigation was authorised. 
 
 As Admiral Bacon said in his despatch of May 29th, 
 1 9 1 6 : — 
 
 " The same factors that impeded offensive action, 
 owing to gales of wind and bad weather on the Belgian 
 coast, facilitated the work of the enemy in laying mines 
 and in attacking our commerce in the narrow waters of 
 Dover Straits, since it assisted them to elude our patrols 
 of protective vessels." 
 
 The following extract from the same despatch is worth 
 reading, and what we destroyer folk were most proud of 
 was the paragraph that stated that not one single sol- 
 dier's life was lost when crossing the channel hereabouts : 
 
 "The services of the Dover Patrol can be best ap- 
 preciated from the following facts: — 
 
 "Over 21,000 merchant ships, apart from men-of- 
 war and auxiliaries, have passed through this patrol in 
 the last six months. Of these twenty-one have been lost 
 or have been seriously damaged by the enemy. The 
 losses in merchant vessels, therefore, have been less 
 than one per thousand. On the other hand, to effect this 
 very considerable security to our merchant shipping I 
 regret that over 4 per cent, of our patrol vessels have 
 been sunk and the lives of 77 officers and men lost to 
 the nation. No figures could emphasize more thor- 
 oughly the sacrifice made by the personnel of the Patrol 
 and the relative immunity ensured to the commerce of 
 their country. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 87 
 
 " Besides the foregoing the Patrol assists in the pro- 
 tection of the flank of all the sea transport to and from 
 our Army in France. The number of vessels that have 
 passed and also of the troops that have been carried 
 are known to their Lordships, but it is well to call at- 
 tention to the fact that this vast transport of troops has 
 been so thoroughly safeguarded that not one single life 
 has been lost during the sea passage. 
 
 The work of the destroyer flotilla throughout the 
 winter has been incessant and arduous and thoroughly 
 well carried out. 
 
 Certain opportunities have arisen of bombarding 
 the enemy's positions in Belgium. On these occasions 
 the necessary minor operations have been carried out." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " Fred Karno's " Navy and the Belgian Barrage 
 
 " I take this opportunity to express my most 
 " cordial thanks for the assistance which you have so 
 " freely given to me in the joint operations which 
 " have been carried out. Although at the present time 
 " it is not possible to estimate the full effect of the 
 " action which you have taken, and the results may 
 " never be completely known, I am convinced that the 
 " success of the attack carried out by the Armies under 
 " my command on the 15th September, derived con- 
 " siderable assistance from your co-operation." 
 
 Extract from letter from Commander-in-Chief of British 
 Armies in France. 
 
 Distributed to H.M. commands and vessels concerned. 
 
 In the spring of 19 16, an entirely new scheme of 
 patrolling and offensive mine-laying was adopted by the 
 Admiral of the Dover Patrol, and the subsequent change 
 in our work resulted in a less strenuous summer for 
 everybody concerned. 
 
 The number of vessels in the patrol had now swollen 
 to such an extent, and the types of ships presented so 
 many variations of size, shape and character, that an 
 officer commanding one of our destroyers christened us 
 
 88 
 
THE HEROINE — QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 89 
 
 " Fred Karno's Navy." The name was quite appro- 
 priate. Fred Karno, I imagine, was Admiral Bacon, 
 and he certainly made good use of the material at his 
 disposal; I never heard that he complained to the 
 Admiralty that he could not compete with the situation 
 owing to lack of material and inferior armaments; he 
 made the best use out of what was supplied to him 
 and certainly had the absolute confidence of his officers 
 and men. 
 
 The epoch written about in this chapter includes the 
 summer and autumn of 19 16. It found Admiral Bacon 
 in possession of an even more extraordinary collection 
 of ships than his predecessor, Admiral Hood, had at 
 his disposal in 19 14. 
 
 At this time, we had light cruisers, destroyers, tor- 
 pedo boats, submarines, armed trawlers, drifters, motor- 
 boats and launches, converted yachts, mine-sweepers and 
 mine-layers, transports and hospital ships, lighters, 
 boarding steamers, patrol boats, rafts, colliers and oilers, 
 monitors of at least three different types, gunboats and 
 what not, all dependent and inter-dependent on one 
 another, like a gigantic, floating jig-saw puzzle. 
 
 We likewise had several types of different war-vessels 
 flying the French flag, and then we had seaplane-carriers 
 and a collection of aeroplanes and other flying craft, with 
 a huge steamer, in which we kept our kite balloons, to 
 complete this strange naval assortment; and whilst I 
 dwell on such details of our composite flotilla, it would 
 be well to say a word about the floating population of 
 swashbucklers who manned these divers craft. 
 
 Commencing with the Admiral himself, I will say that 
 he was the cleverest man I have ever met and probably 
 the hardest worker. It is fair to say that many of the 
 
90 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 schemes he perfected never came to anything because he 
 was not given the chance to carry them out. One great 
 scheme, the landing on the Belgian coast, was stopped 
 at the last moment because our army plans were altered 
 and the military landing party was not available. 
 
 Another scheme he had, of blocking Ostend, was 
 nipped in the bud because the soldiers asked that it 
 should be, in order that Ostend would be available as a 
 base port, provided our Army captured this part of the 
 Belgian coast in 19 15, as they imagined they would. 
 
 Admiral Bacon was the only man I ever feared, but 
 fortunately, he never really found me out, and I had 
 the honour of serving as his flag captain eventually. 
 
 His officers consisted of gunnery, torpedo and sub- 
 marine officers with very expert knowledge. We had 
 trawler skippers and deck hands from Hull, the Ork- 
 neys and Shetlands, men who in cases could hardly write 
 their names, but as I have said elsewhere, men with 
 the " habit of the sea." We had learned professors, 
 holding commissions in the motor-boat section of the 
 R.N.V.R., and we had, hand in hand with them, the 
 rag-tag and bobtail of the new navy which sprang up 
 during the war, side by side with the new army that 
 so thoroughly and successfully gnawed at the heart of 
 the Boche until he broke down and collapsed. 
 
 We had also captains of ocean liners in quite sub- 
 ordinate positions and we had Royal Naval Reserve 
 officers commanding destroyers, trawlers, or sections of 
 drifters, and commanding them finely too. The little 
 old-world town of Dover changed during these last five 
 years like Klondyke in the '97 rush. 
 
 Our air service people in the Dover Patrol turned out 
 some famous aviators, who did magnificent work spot- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 91 
 
 ting for bombardments, attacking air raiders and bomb- 
 ing the enemy on the Belgian coast, until his life was a 
 perfect hell. Brigadier-General Lambe was our local 
 air service chief, and he very firmly insisted that for 
 air raids to be successful, they must persistently continue 
 to attack the same targets. 
 
 As we found from our own experience, nobody cared 
 a tinker's curse for a casual bombing raid on us, but we 
 did care when we saw poor old Dunkirk get mercilessly 
 bombed for fifty nights out of sixty. 
 
 With this collection of material and personnel, we 
 practically moved out of Dover for the summer and 
 autumn months. On April 23rd, a number of large 
 mine-layers, carrying hundreds of mines and escorted by 
 several divisions of modern destroyers from Harwich, 
 moved over to a rendezvous off the Belgian coast, where 
 the Dover forces met them at dawn. 
 
 Admiral Bacon and his staff were on board the 
 Crusader, which ship I am glad to say the Admiral had 
 set apart for his own use during the forthcoming opera- 
 tions. I was particularly glad to have this opportunity 
 of carrying him about again, because I learnt a great 
 deal from my chief and from his flag captain. 
 
 Having satisfied himself that all his force were as- 
 sembled and that our own mine-sweepers had swept a 
 broad channel along the lines on which the mines were 
 to be placed, a stately Orient liner and a beautifully 
 graceful steamer formerly belonging to the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway, steamed with their escorts parallel to 
 the Belgian coast, within sight of Ostend and Zee- 
 brugge, and laid their mines without any interference 
 from the shore batteries. 
 
 With the assistance of other mine-layers, many thou- 
 
92 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sands of mines were laid on a barrage which extended 
 from the banks off Nieuport to the outer Ratel Shoal 
 and thence to the E.N.E. ward for twenty miles or so 
 before bending to the south and east, until it reached the 
 shoal banks again; thus making it dangerous for enemy 
 submarines to approach the Belgian coast ports unless 
 they took the route close to the Dutch shore, within 
 territorial limits. 
 
 To the northward of this mine barrage, a number of 
 ordinary navigating buoys were placed by one of the 
 Trinity House steamers, under the direction of Com- 
 mander J. S. G. Fraser, and between these buoys and 
 the mines laid by the large liners, a continuous line of 
 mine nets, dangerous for craft navigating on the surface, 
 was placed. The barrage was practically formed in a 
 day, and from that time destroyers patrolled it. The 
 light craft steaming up and down at 15 knots used the 
 large monitors for rallying points, in case of attack by 
 superior forces, and a daily sweep was carried out by 
 six paddle-wheel steamers, who were usually guarded 
 by a small monitor armed with one large gun. 
 
 I believe I am correct in saying that the large mine- 
 layers did their work in the early morning of April 24th, 
 while the mine nets were placed during the ensuing day. 
 The weather was reasonably clear, and during the fore- 
 noon a naval review was held along the barrage to sea- 
 ward. Commodore Tyrwhitt arrived on the scene about 
 10 a.m. with his light cruisers and a number of powerful 
 modern destroyers from the Harwich striking force. 
 The day turned out beautifully fine, and one experienced 
 a thrill of pleasurable pride at the sight of this perfectly 
 manoeuvred flotilla, steaming at high speed up and down 
 in full view of our Belgian friends ashore. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 93 
 
 I know now, after living a little while in Ostend, that 
 spectators who from their housetops could make out the 
 line of grey hulls on the horizon smiled superciliously at 
 the German soldiers whom they met on the Digue. The 
 Belgians had by this time got to know how terribly the 
 oppressor feared a naval attack or a landing on the 
 coast. 
 
 A number of modern German destroyers were now 
 assembled at Ostend and Zeebrugge and, on the first day 
 of the barrage patrol, the division of destroyers working 
 along the N.E. half of the mine line came into contact 
 with the enemy. Commander G. L. D. Gibbs, who 
 had originally commanded the Crusader, was in charge 
 of three " M " class destroyers, when several enemy 
 torpedo craft dashed at the drifters who were placing 
 the mine nets. Before they could do any damage to the 
 little vessels, Gibbs and his companion boats swept down 
 on to the enemy and a short, sharp skirmish took place. 
 The Germans took to flight, running right in under the 
 shelter of the shore guns; our destroyers pursued them, 
 using a small gap in the barrage to get through to the 
 attack. We heard that the whole coast line was a blaze 
 of flashes, for the enemy were not proposing to allow our 
 torpedo craft to come into short range by day. 
 
 One of our vessels was hit by a small shell, which 
 unfortunately exploded in her engine-room, putting her 
 out of action. She was, however, towed away and sub- 
 sequently docked at Dunkirk. 
 
 Captain Wigram, of the monitor Prince Eugene, 
 watched this little scrap with keen delight. He told me 
 our destroyers were splendid. Gibb's three vessels were 
 as already stated, " M " class, armed with three 4-inch 
 guns and two pairs of 21 -inch torpedo tubes. These 
 
94 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 vessels were much superior to the Tribals, but although 
 their guns were better and more modern, they had a 
 shorter range than those which the larger of the Dover 
 boats were armed with, on account of the low elevation 
 possible with the " M " boats' guns. 
 
 The patrol of the Belgian coast barrage was continued 
 for more than six months. There were, of course, oc- 
 casions when, owing to bad weather, it could not be 
 maintained. It was not always kept up throughout the 
 night, but since the hours of darkness were very short 
 during these six months, it is doubtful whether the 
 enemy ever molested the barrage. 
 
 Of the total Belgian coast watching period, we found 
 it impossible to maintain the patrol on about 17% of the 
 days, which is not a very large proportion when one 
 considers that the meteorological conditions of the 
 Belgian coast are very similar to those of the English 
 shore. Taking it all round, we had a very pleasant 
 summer. The night work was chilly, but the days were 
 usually mild enough to make life enjoyable. The 
 Germans afforded us plenty of amusement by their 
 promiscuous shelling, occasional " dot and carry one " 
 attacks by destroyers if they happened to come across 
 us in very inferior numbers, and we also had a moderate 
 amount of excitement from the air. 
 
 The enemy flying machines had by this time learnt to 
 appreciate that destroyers were difficult to hit, and they 
 gave up molesting us, although the slow moving moni- 
 tors afforded them a more tempting bait, which they 
 occasionally bit at. 
 
 Sunday afternoon was the favourite time for the 
 aeroplanes to drop their bombs, especially on ships in 
 harbour. There was a good deal of sense in this, for 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 95 
 
 Sunday was Sunday to us, even in war, and those who 
 worked their hardest during the week, were apt to relax 
 a bit on the Sabbath. 
 
 One beautiful Sunday, I brought General Sir William 
 Robertson over to Dunkirk, and berthed my ship along- 
 side the monitor Marshal Soult. When the General had 
 landed, accompanied by Admiral Bacon, I had lunch 
 with Captain Paton on board his monitor. After lunch 
 I stood on the gangway of the Marshal Soult for a few 
 seconds, wondering whether I should go and see my 
 friends on the other monitors there. I reflected, how- 
 ever, that being Sunday afternoon, those who had no 
 duties would either be getting some exercise, or if they 
 were too tired, " taking a stretch off the land." 
 
 I saw an aeroplane appearing and disappearing in the 
 rather low-lying clouds, and, never dreaming that it was 
 a Hun, stepped on board my vessel and went down to 
 my cabin. I had no sooner gone below than I heard 
 some heavy banging, which I took to be the breaking of 
 the wire hawsers which secured us to the monitor. It 
 was low tide, and any destroyer coming into the harbour 
 at speed would easily have caused the hawsers to carry 
 away. I ran up on deck to set things right when, to my 
 dismay, I realised that a line of bombs had been 
 dropped, some of which had reached their mark. 
 
 The first bomb dropped alongside the Crusader, ex- 
 ploded and did some insignificant damage to us. The 
 next one hit the Marshal Soult on her thick steel deck, 
 which was bomb-proof, and this unfortunately exploded 
 just where I had been standing. It killed five men 
 and wounded many others. Most of the casualties oc- 
 curred to my ship's company, who had been out on 
 to the sands near Dunkirk to collect cockles, of which 
 
96 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 they were very fond. This bomb had exploded right 
 among the cockle party. The deck of the monitor was 
 in a frightful mess of mangled bodies. We did what we 
 could for the wounded, one of whom shook his fist at 
 the departing aeroplane and exclaimed, " We will get 
 you yet." He certainly was a true prophet, for later 
 that afternoon I heard this same aeroplane had been 
 chased down and destroyed by Flight Sub-Lieutenant 
 Goble, who brought the enemy machine to action and 
 sent it in flames crashing down to its own aerodrome. 
 
 Another of the bombs from this machine struck the 
 Marshal Soult on one of her bulges, where it exploded, 
 tearing a big hole. The fourth and fifth bombs fell on 
 to the quay, amongst a crowd of motor transport drivers 
 and French soldiers, but, wonderful to relate, only three 
 or four were injured. 
 
 It took us but a couple of days to settle down to the 
 Belgian barrage patrol. routine. We kept the regular 
 patrol from dawn till dusk, and occasionally we would 
 be called in to our anchorage off Dunkirk at odd times, 
 in order to tempt German above-water craft out. At 
 the end of April it was light enough to work from 4 a.m. 
 until 8 p.m., which meant 16 hours daily on the patrol 
 line proper; add to this the time we took from our 
 anchorage to the north-east end of the outer Ratel Shoal, 
 a matter of 15 miles, and the time returning in the 
 evening, and it will be seen that the monitors were forced 
 to be under weigh daily for 20 hours out of the 24. The 
 destroyers often shortened the time down to about 18 
 hours, on account of their speed; in the long run, how- 
 ever, there was nothing much to choose, because we 
 made occasional night reconnaissances with destroyers, 
 which equalled up the average of hours under weigh. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 97 
 
 We got so used to the sight of the daily barrage pro- 
 cession, which usually consisted of some large monitors 
 creeping to the north-eastward, accompanied by a small 
 anti-submarine escort of two or three thirty-knotters; 
 a little distance off, the graceful grey shapes of the 
 "Dover surf deer" sped out to scout ahead of the 
 heavier craft, while the long, rather straggling line of 
 little drifters puffed and snorted along on their way to 
 tend the mine-nets; the mine-sweepers, in three pairs, 
 swept ahead of the weird flotilla, with their attendant 
 little monitors armed with their long-range guns. 
 These small monitors were not much use for bom- 
 barding, this work being better carried out by the large 
 12-inch and 15-inch vessels, which have already been 
 described, but the little monitors helped us very much 
 in defending the long line of auxiliary craft which was 
 always employed on the barrage line, repairing the mine- 
 nets, weighing buoys, and carrying out the manifold 
 duties for which they were sent out. 
 
 Once the patrolling flotilla was established on the 
 barrage line, every opportunity was taken of doing a 
 friendly shoot, but it must always be remembered that 
 our forces were not, like the Huns, able to plaster towns 
 the size of Ostend say with large shells; we had certain 
 specified targets which boiled down to known gun po- 
 sitions and the harbour works, and we had to remem- 
 ber that we had friends in Ostend. The greater part of 
 the time spent on the barrage reduced itself to dull 
 patrol work. 
 
 The Dover family were certainly a happy lot, and the 
 most junior lieutenant in command would not hesitate 
 to send a cheeky signal to one of the monitor captains if 
 an opportunity were given him. 
 
 7 
 
98 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The senior officers of destroyers invariably took a 
 delight in passing close to the slow going monitors and 
 hoisting such signals as " Course W.S.W. speed 25 
 knots." If the patrol was returning, this meant that 
 we got back to our anchorage some hours before the 
 monitors, and it used invariably to bring forth a rude 
 signal, for the monitor captains were our seniors. 
 
 Captain Collard, commanding Lord Clive, in par- 
 ticular, took it all very quietly and one day when I 
 passed him, knowing he was about to proceed on leave, 
 I wished him a good time. He replied by semaphore, 
 " I am going to the Zoo for my leave and I propose to 
 spend my time watching the tortoises crawl." I think 
 Collard had thought of the only creature that moved 
 more slowly than a monitor. 
 
 As the season progressed, the monitors, from various 
 causes, began to lose speed, or rather to go more slowly, 
 for their customary sluggish movement forward could 
 hardly be called " speed." The Marshal Soult at one 
 time was not capable of doing more than four knots, 
 and on another occasion the Prince Rupert and Prince 
 Eugene were caught in a westerly gale against which 
 they could make no progress whatever. Their captains 
 wisely anchored and, their holding gear being good, they 
 were able to ride out the storm with the assistance of 
 their engines, which they constantly kept going. To the 
 destroyers who stood by them, it looked at one time as 
 though the Prince Rupert and Prince Eugene would be 
 carried stern first up the river Scheldt. 
 
 The Admiral continued to use the Crusader whenever 
 he went afloat, which was very often this year, for not 
 only was our flag officer constantly on the patrol line, but 
 he spent a great deal of time away from Dover, mount- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 99 
 
 ing heavy naval ordnance for straffing purposes, in vari- 
 ous shore gun emplacements, as will be seen a little later. 
 
 On account of the use made of the Crusader by Ad- 
 miral Bacon, she came to be known as the " taxi-cab." 
 A destroyer's accommodation and messing arrangements 
 are hardly suitable for a Vice-Admiral, and our chief 
 generally slept on board the monitor Marshal Soalt; he 
 and his staff usually had their meals there also, and in 
 consequence of this the Soult was christened the 
 " restaurant." 
 
 Early one morning I rather impudently signalled to 
 Captain Paton, whilst passing him in the Crusader, 
 " Taxicab to restaurant, submit, good-morning. I can't 
 see any Huns." The reply came back immediately, 
 " From Marshal Soult to taxicab. Go away. I didn't 
 blow the whistle." 
 
 On another occasion, when the Crusader, flying the 
 Admiral's flag, was dashing by the Prince Rupert, the 
 Admiral had gone down to the chart room to get some 
 breakfast, and very wrongly I made the following sig- 
 nal, " What speed are you doing? " The reply came 
 back, " 5.8 knots "; to which I made the further reply, 
 " Put on another shovelful." 
 
 Captain Reinold, of the Prince Rupert, knew per- 
 fectly well that the Vice-Admiral would not descend to 
 such childish frivolity, and he shook his great fist at me, 
 perched up in his position under the monitor's tripod 
 mast; I knew there would be a rough and tumble the 
 next time that we met. 
 
 All this variety of patrol developed in us a sort of 
 " rat-catcher " wit, and although the great amount of 
 sea time that we did prevented us from studying the 
 scientific side of our profession, and becoming conversant 
 with the technique of the new types of vessels, we 
 
ioo KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 certainly got into the habit of using our craft to the 
 greatest advantage, confident that behind us the best 
 brains of the Navy were perfecting inventions, plans 
 and schemes for helping us, who, as it were, constantly 
 held the front line trenches. 
 
 New-comers generally made a few blunders to begin 
 with, although there were exceptions. In wireless sig- 
 nalling one could almost tell by the signal the new hand 
 from the old fox. For instance, we received from a 
 certain destroyer a wireless signal as follows — " Am 
 sinking. German mine." The gentleman in question 
 was merely firing with rifles at a German mine, and when 
 his would-be rescuers arrived and found him doing so, 
 he was quite hurt because they turned their searchlights 
 on to him and signalled in unison, "B.F., B.F., B.F." 
 
 Our poet, Lieut.-Commander Hallett, includes this 
 incident in his "Laws of Patrolling," as follows: — 
 
 "When you see a horned object that's floating, 
 And you've got all your rifles in line, 
 
 Please don't make a wireless signal 
 
 Am sinking, full stop, German mine." 
 
 "If you sink it or burst it, just say so, 
 
 That certainly cannot do harm, 
 But to make the above stupid signal, 
 
 Causes panic and useless alarm." 
 
 Commander H. G. L. Oliphant, of the Amazon, was 
 one of the first Dover vessel commanders to fight a de- 
 stroyer action. Returning after the patrol had with- 
 drawn from the eastern extreme of the barrage, he came 
 across a number of enemy destroyers, stopped and lined 
 up ready for him. H.O. was delighted and he sped into 
 action against them. The enemy fired a number of sal- 
 voes, which were carefully controlled, without, however, 
 inflicting any damage on our own destroyers. As 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 101 
 
 Oliphant said afterwards, " Their firing was so magnifi- 
 cent that they did not get a hit." He did not mean this 
 sarcastically, for the enemy salvoes always fell very 
 close, but were either just short or just over their 
 target. The calibration of their guns had certainly been 
 well carried out. Nevertheless, the Tribals never 
 brought them to close action, for when it was seen that 
 our T.B.D.'s meant close fighting, the enemy, working 
 a smoke screen, withdrew inshore again and could not 
 be followed without Oliphant's squadron crossing the 
 mined-nets. 
 
 The enemy destroyers carried three 4.1-inch low 
 trajectory guns, which were vastly superior to the wobbly 
 old things we had in the Tribals. This was recognised 
 by the powers that be. However, it was pointed out 
 to us that it did not matter since we had the monitors to 
 fall back upon by day time; all the same, we were not 
 particularly anxious to fall back on the monitors, and 
 we longed for something faster and better armed, which 
 would give us a chance at long range, since there was 
 obviously little chance of a respectable, close, slogging 
 match. 
 
 I happened to be in charge of three English and one 
 French destroyer, one morning early, when we had gone 
 well ahead of the out-coming monitor patrol. We saw 
 smoke to the eastward and soon after encountered a large 
 number of enemy vessels, with their infinitely superior 
 armament. We could not possibly have put up any 
 kind of fight against them, and the only thing to do was 
 to bluff them and fall back. Accordingly, without at- 
 tempting to run away, I fired my foremost 4-inch gun 
 at a range of 12,000 yards, and the enemy, who had got 
 our range, was certainly perplexed. Our guns were 
 really only sighted up to 10,000, and a greater range 
 
102 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 could not be put on because the guns would not elevate 
 further. I obtained the elevation for the extra 2,000 
 by running my ship's company from side to side until 
 we had got a considerable roll on the ship — then, by 
 firing at the maximum upward roll, a large increase of 
 range was obtained. This range was probably as great 
 as the German destroyers could get on their 4.1-inch 
 guns at that time, so they retreated to Ostend and 
 Zeebrugge; for which I was exceedingly thankful — I 
 did not think we were fast enough to have got away 
 from them. Some days later, with a similar small 
 division, I again encountered the German destroyers, 
 but a minefield lay between the opposing forces, which 
 we were both aware of, and so only a long range fight 
 could have taken place. I was about to open fire in the 
 previous primitive fashion when, suddenly, five very 
 large German destroyers, steaming slowly towards us, 
 commenced firing salvoes. They had got our range to 
 a nicety and the shots were all straddling us. The 
 second of my destroyers, the Amazon, was hit on her 
 mast and it was obvious to me that not only were we out- 
 matched, but outranged this time, so I turned my di- 
 vision away three points together; a number of salvoes 
 fell just short when we turned, and then the enemy, 
 seeing us apparently running away, put up their sights 
 by 500 yards or so and their salvoes then went over; 
 they evidently expected me to go away full speed, be- 
 cause several salvoes fell well beyond. Not getting 
 any hits, they then came down about 800 or 1,000 yards 
 and once again fell short; all very splendid in its way, 
 but the moment they came down, I hauled down my 
 signal to proceed at full speed, and my four little ships 
 sped away before the Germans knew what we had done. 
 They were unable to pursue us directly, owing to the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 103 
 
 minefield, but approached as near as they dared; we 
 lay comfortably out of range and counted them, made 
 our report by wireless, and then closed as near as we 
 could without coming again into range, turned to the 
 westward, and straight towards five innocent looking 
 craft in the distance; these were our mine-sweepers and 
 one small monitor with a 7.5 gun. We led the Germans 
 towards this nondescript flotilla and suddenly the small 
 monitor opened fire at about 13,000 yards; she was 
 fortunate in obtaining a hit, which upset the Hun 
 flotilla, and we had the laugh of them for the second 
 time. Later in the day they came again to chase my 
 division, but by this time we had big monitors to fall 
 back on and very nearly entrapped them. I am sorry 
 that the big monitors did not secure any hits with their 
 12-inch guns, as the Germans had now become more cau- 
 tious, and made a smoke screen to hide behind. Not- 
 withstanding, we had got the only effective hit with the 
 7.5-inch gun, which must have done a good deal of dam- 
 age on that lightly constructed German torpedo craft. 
 The strength of the patrol was considerably varied, 
 for instance, on the 4th May we had the following ships 
 on the barrage : — 
 
 Flotilla Leader 
 
 New Destroyers 
 
 "L." Class .. 
 
 French Destroyer . . 
 Dover Destroyer . . 
 
 Monitors 
 
 Submarines (Night only) 
 
 Sivifl 
 
 Meteor 
 
 Mastiff 
 
 Minos 
 
 Myngs 
 
 Murray 
 
 Milne 
 ) Lysander 
 \ Leonidas 
 
 Aventurier 
 
 Zulu 
 S Lord Cli-ve 
 \ General Crauf 
 SVA 
 \ C.34 . . 
 
 Dover 
 Harwich 
 
 Dover 
 
 ord 
 
io 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 while on June 2nd, we had the rather obsolete light 
 cruiser Attentive, and Crusader, Nubian, Afridi, Cos- 
 sack, Tartar, Leven, Crane, Greyhound, and monitors 
 General Wolfe, General Crauford, small monitor, M.27. 
 
 The effective guns of the destroyers on the first date 
 were thirty-three 4-inch, while on the latter date we had 
 only six 4-inch and a number of little 12-pounders. It 
 didn't matter how much we varied the patrol, for the 
 Germans never quite knew what force would be out. 
 
 On June 1st the Attentive picked up the pilot and 
 observer of an English aeroplane after eight hours in the 
 water. On the same date our mine-sweepers were at- 
 tacked by aircraft. One of our destroyers signalled, 
 " How many babies have you killed lately," to the air- 
 craft. A faint reply came back, "Pigs! Swine! 
 Cowards!" I am told. 
 
 On June 8th, when only the Dover destroyers were 
 out, my ship, the Crusader, sighted three enemy de- 
 stroyers six miles distant. They opened fire at long 
 range, and we found that our fire was useless; though 
 our own vessels were reached, the only damage was the 
 mast of a destroyer splintered. Monitor M.25 was 
 coming up astern and she soon got into action, the third 
 round fired was very close if not a hit; M.25 fired 24 
 rounds altogether, but the enemy destroyers made 
 smoke screens behind which they retired. It was no- 
 ticed that the enemy always turned with the flash of 
 the monitor's gun. 
 
 This day the large monitors again opened fire on the 
 three German torpedo boat destroyers at 18,000 yards 
 range, but it is unlikely that any hits were obtained, 
 for the target vessels were only occasionally visible 
 through their smoke screen. 
 
THE KING AND QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS WITH THE EARL 
 
 OF ATHLONE AND ADMIRAL BACON ON BOARD 
 
 ONE OF THE DOVER DESTROYERS. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 105 
 
 At 10.30 a.m. enemy vessels appeared in force, and 
 steamed up and down parallel to our old-fashioned di- 
 vision of Tribals, but keeping well back from the bar- 
 rage and out of the monitors' range. The Admiral 
 came out in a thirty-knotter, transferred to the Crusader, 
 and took charge. I think this was merely a return naval 
 review by the Huns, but there was no real fight that day. 
 Unfortunately, when the Lord Cltve had fired early she 
 had a premature explosion, and I regret to say several 
 pieces of shell struck the French destroyer Aventurier, 
 wounding several men. 
 
 On July 15th, when the drifters were out replacing 
 broken sections of mine nets, they found the dead body 
 of a German in naval uniform, which came up when 
 hauling in — an added piece of evidence that the mine- 
 nets were fulfilling their functions. This evidence was 
 pleasing because we destroyer people had little faith in 
 English mines of any kind. We picked up more German 
 naval men's bodies on the 19th, near the net line. 
 
 On the 1 8th July, two divisions of five enemy de- 
 stroyers of modern type were engaged by Cleopatra, a 
 Harwich light cruiser and the Prince Eugene, but no 
 evidence was forthcoming as to damage inflicted, al- 
 though the Eugene appeared to hit once, with a 12-inch 
 shell. 
 
 The Germans were now beginning to make more use 
 of their destroyers, and, as far as we could make out 
 they kept about 15 modern torpedo-boat destroyers at 
 their Belgian coast bases, together with some vessels of 
 a smaller type, including the little " A " boats, which 
 were not of much account; whenever these latter came 
 into action they appear to have met with disaster. 
 
106 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 One night a torpedo craft attack was made upon the 
 little French patrol boats which guarded the approaches 
 to Dunkirk Roads from the eastward. After a spirited 
 little fight, when a great number of rounds were fired 
 at the French boats by the enemy, an opportunity pre- 
 sented itself to one of our allied friends to let go a 
 torpedo; this he did, at very close range, and his target 
 vessel blew up. I believe she was a torpedo boat of 
 the " T " Class. 
 
 The French destroyers working with us this year were 
 the Francis Gamier, Aventnrier and Intrepide. 
 
 They were all useful for the knock-about work on the 
 Belgian coast, but, like our own earlier type vessels, their 
 armaments were not sufficiently modern to be useful in 
 anything but close fighting, which, as I said before, 
 was denied to us this year, except for the encounter 
 between the small French patrol boats and the small 
 force of German light torpedo craft. 
 
 Much as I dislike the Germans, I must say they did 
 not waste their ships in useless attacks, but kept them 
 as a force in being, ready to strike at our shipping in 
 
 the Downs, to bombard Dunkirk or to make those oc- 
 
 * 
 casional " tip and run " raids with which we later be- 
 came familiar. 
 
 It was always a wonder to us that a destroyer attack 
 was never made on the shipping in the Downs, but the 
 presence of the Dover vessels in the vicinity of Dunkirk 
 undoubtedly kept this from taking place. A captured 
 German officer explained a good deal about the German 
 destroyer tactics. He said that the reason they so 
 seldom risked their ships in night fighting or action at 
 close range was because they dare not have them in- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 107 
 
 jured; the only facilities for repairing torpedo craft were 
 at Bruges, and even there extensive damage to torpedo 
 craft was very difficult to make good. 
 
 As far as comparison went, the " G's," " S's " and 
 " V's," or later classes of German destroyers, carried 
 three 4.1 -inch guns and six torpedo tubes; this armament 
 compared to our poor old Tribals, with two guns and 
 two old-fashioned tubes, put our vessels rather to shame, 
 and we cannot lay claim to damaging any of the enemy 
 boats considerably with the Dover destroyers un- 
 til our flotilla was strengthened with later pattern 
 craft. 
 
 Whether the Belgian coast mine barrage was respon- 
 sible for the destruction of many German submarines, 
 it is difficult to say. The evidence is strong enough in 
 support of its efficiency, for one may fairly assume that 
 a submarine has been destroyed when a huge explosion 
 takes place, after which the body of a uniformed Ger- 
 man sailor is picked up, and when on searching the 
 body, one finds a pass made out in German to go ashore 
 at Bruges. The evidence is circumstantial enough to 
 be accepted in favour of a " U " boat's destruction. 
 This sort of thing happened several times, but at the 
 same time, mines exploded for other reasons, and if 
 every explosion reported meant a submarine downed, 
 we should have sunk all the German submarines sev- 
 eral times over. 
 
 In 19 1 6 enemy submarines did not make much use 
 of the Dover Straits, but went north about to do their 
 dirty work. 
 
 As far as mines were concerned, the Germans were 
 much ahead of us at this time; their mines were really 
 
io8 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 dangerous, while ours, whatever their merits when in 
 position, possessed the great fault that they broke adrift 
 too easily and were often to be found drifting on the 
 surface, fortunately innocuous. We did not seem to 
 have appreciated the difficulties of keeping mines 
 moored in the strong tides and rough seas of Dover 
 Straits and the Belgian coast. Later on, our mines be- 
 came just as dangerous as the Germans'. 
 
 The Belgian barrage patrol continued until the end of 
 October, after which the greater part of the destroyers 
 were withdrawn to patrol Dover Straits during the 
 long hours of winter darkness, when submarines and 
 above water craft had a better chance of stealing close 
 to our own coast. We also had by now perfected our 
 barrage from the Goodwin Sands to the Snouw Bank 
 with mines and mine-nets, which were more efficient than 
 those used earlier on. 
 
 Our good-bye to Dunkirk and the Belgian barrage 
 was always rather a sad one for it took us further from 
 the fighting, and we no longer could hear the guns of 
 the opposing armies, which kept the warlike instinct 
 alive in us; the Belgian barrage was infinitely more in- 
 teresting with its occasional excitements, bombardments 
 and skirmishes, than the long night patrols off Dover in 
 heavy weather, when sheets of icy spray used to break 
 over our bridges and decks and froze us until our fight- 
 ing instincts were numbed and our only pleasure con- 
 sisted in hot brews of cocoa and tea to keep body and 
 soul together. 
 
 November saw us all on the Dover patrol line again, 
 how we hated it ! Fortunately the destroyer captains 
 continued as a band of brothers who pardoned one 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 109 
 
 another's shortcomings and realised that the biggest 
 bounce made the best man. 
 
 The following verses from the " Laws of Patrolling " 
 will give a little colour to the end of this chapter, and 
 will also give a few glimpses of our winter work. We 
 had our fun on the Belgian coast to look back upon, and 
 another Belgian coast to look forward to, for those 
 who survived the winter. 
 
 ''Now these are the laws of patrolling, 
 And novices please take the hint, 
 
 If you carry them out you'll do better 
 
 Than by doing what's already in print. 
 
 If the boat you relieve on patrol line 
 Is ordered an escort at noon, 
 Don't slip from your buoy at eleven, 
 You'll only get out there too soon. 
 
 If you find yourself close to the entrance 
 
 In fog or in mist or in rain, 
 Take permission to enter as granted, 
 
 Get inside where the guns cannot train. 
 
 When you're sent down to Folkstone for escort, 
 And a transport is leaving at eight, 
 
 It's quite normal to be there at midnight, 
 For a transport will always be late. 
 
 When you get to a buoy from patrol line, 
 And it's blowing and pouring with rain, 
 
 Don't be silly and put on two bridles, 
 Or you'll soon have to go out again. 
 
 When a submarine's sighted off Beachy, 
 And Destroyers are ordered to slip, 
 
 Don't be in too much of a hurry, 
 
 'Twill be cancelled, just take my tip. 
 
 Or perhaps to Boulogne for the leave boat, 
 You're sent to be there at night fall, 
 
 Don't be angry or rattled at daylight 
 
 When you're told the boat won't leave at all. 
 
no KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 If a trawler won't answer the challenge, 
 Don't sink him before you ask why, 
 
 For he's perfectly certain to tell you 
 
 That's he's never been told the reply. 
 
 If you're tired of patrolling and escort 
 
 And you're fed to the teeth with your work 
 
 Just pray for a refit or stand off, 
 
 Or a fortnight detached at Dunkirk." 
 
 ''Nubian Nonsense. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 A Third Winter and H.M.S. " Brokk " 
 
 On October 27th, 19 16, a German destroyer flotilla 
 from the Flanders coast made a night raid on the Dover 
 Strait. My ship was refitting at Portsmouth and un- 
 fortunately missed this stunt, and so I cannot describe it 
 as an eye-witness. The enemy sank the poor little 20 
 years old Flirt under the following circumstances : — 
 
 On arriving in the Dover Strait the enemy attacked 
 the drifters who were attending the mine nets and sank 
 one or two of them. The Flirt arrived on the scene after 
 the enemy destroyers had finished pounding the little 
 fishing craft, which they had every right to do for the 
 drifters were to all intents and purposes men-of-war. 
 
 Finding some of the drifters' crews swimming about 
 in the sea, the Flirt lowered a boat, which attempted to 
 save life. While the boat with the first lieutenant was 
 pulling about, looking for the drifters' crews, the Ger- 
 man destroyers came back and riddled the Flirt with 
 shell until she finally sank. The enemy flotilla evidently 
 expected to cut off the transports which they imagined 
 were carrying troops between Folkestone and Boulogne. 
 Some of their destroyers came across the troop trans- 
 port Queen, which they fired on heavily until she was in 
 a sinking condition. No transports were being run 
 across at night, which was fortunate for us. 
 
 Ill 
 
ii2 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The destroyers in Dover, under the Amazon (Com- 
 mander Harry Oliphant), dashed out of harbour and 
 attacked the enemy, but neither side did much damage; 
 there were some casualties on board the Amazon, who 
 was struck once or twice, while some light damage was 
 done to one of the other Tribals. 
 
 The enemy made off, but coming across the Nubian, 
 which had separated from the other torpedo craft, the 
 Germans hotly engaged her. The Nubian attempted to 
 ram one of the enemy destroyers, but unfortunately 
 was hit with a torpedo before she brought off this 
 coup. She did not, however, sink, for her commander 
 ran her ashore under the South Foreland, from which 
 position she was salved later in the war. 
 
 We had nothing to crow about on account of this 
 raid, for the enemy got off lightly. It was one of those 
 cases when the luck was with the Germans. 
 
 It was unfortunate that the Nubian did not bring off 
 her ramming, as had she struck and sunk an enemy 
 destroyer, it would have made up for the loss of the 
 Queen and the Flirt. 
 
 After this incident, the Dover Patrol was strength- 
 ened by the addition of more modern destroyers per- 
 manently, and the Straits patrol was re-organised to 
 compete with raids of this kind. 
 
 A rather grim humour is attached to the story of the 
 Flirt's boat, which contained the only survivors of the 
 unfortunate little ship. After the Flirt had been sunk, 
 the boat's crew pulled out, looking in vain for their ship- 
 mates, and whilst so engaged, an English destroyer 
 came speeding along and dropped a depth charge near 
 them, mistaking the boat for a submarine in the dark- 
 ness. This fairly shook them up, but their adventures 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 113 
 
 were not all over, for an enemy submarine on the surface 
 had a look at them and, I understand, also took them 
 for a submarine and dived to escape destruction. 
 
 We now adopted what was known as the dark night 
 patrol. During the ten days or a fortnight of each 
 month when there was no moon, the Dover destroyers 
 were employed in two divisions to patrol the Straits with 
 a view to competing with these destroyer raids. 
 
 The concentration of destroyers meant better protec- 
 tion against above water craft, but a lesser degree of 
 vigilance against submarines. There was, of course, 
 an outcry because enemy destroyers had been allowed to 
 penetrate the Channel. I don't think anybody in Dover 
 was ever very rattled on account of newspaper outcries; 
 at the same time it would have been a very good thing 
 if those who were doing the patrol work and facing the 
 third winter, with its attendant strain and hardship, 
 had been allowed to point out what they had to contend 
 with, and to display their rotten collection of craft for 
 comparison with the splendid vessels in other Admiral's 
 commands. The eastern patrol division, which worked 
 near the tail of the Ruytingen Shoal, was only a short 
 two hours' run from Ostend, and the crews of their 
 ships were called upon to exercise the greatest degree of 
 vigilance and readiness, often for ten nights on end in 
 the winter. By day they were employed on anti-sub- 
 marine patrol work, when they were not oiling, or 
 carrying officials across who were too proud to go over 
 on troop transports. 
 
 While I take off my hat to the efficient, patient, 
 highly-trained body of officers and men who proudly 
 served in the Grand Fleet, they had a gentleman's life 
 compared to the Dover lot. My own South Polar train- 
 
ii4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ing, which took me four voyages into the Antarctic 
 seas, certainly had fitted me for work such as we were 
 called upon to face on our patrol; I had my sleeping 
 bag, into which I could crawl on the bridge, and a com- 
 plete set of most beautiful warm Antarctic under-cloth- 
 ing, which defied competition. But there were many in 
 the Dover service who had been more carefully and 
 gently brought up, and these people, I consider, put up 
 no end of a good show. 
 
 I felt a personal grievance against the loss of the 
 Flirt; she had an R.N.R. Lieut.-Commander as captain 
 and an R.N.R. first lieutenant, two of the nicest, cheeri- 
 est beings one could possibly wish to see, and I had 
 been once or twice on board for some purpose or other. 
 There was nothing beautiful about the Flirt, except, 
 perhaps, her name; she was just a dirty, pre-war type of 
 destroyer of that kind which only burns coal and which 
 seems to make a point of collecting cinders from her 
 funnels on her bridge, in her boats, and in every con- 
 ceivable corner of her much congested deck space. 
 Down below, in her wardroom, especially in winter, 
 there was not room to swing a cat, for the bunks all 
 round were crowded with clothes, books and other gear, 
 to permit chair room for the officers to take their meals 
 or sit at their table. There was nothing in their sur- 
 roundings to make these people cheerful, but no one 
 could accuse them of being anything else. Forward, on 
 the messdeck, the accommodation was even worse, but no 
 one ever heard a moan; complaint was unknown to these 
 men. The Flirt was a happy ship, but why she was de- 
 signated ship, or what her over-worked, uncomfortable 
 crew had to make them happy about, God only knows. 
 There is no disputing the fact, however that she was 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 115 
 
 once His Majesty's Ship and she was happy, and what 
 was more, after twenty years of bumping and buffeting 
 about, she met a greatly superior force of the enemy and 
 took them on, bravely firing her guns until she sank, for 
 the honour of her country. Poor little Flirt! 
 
 When we, in the Crusader, came back from our refit 
 at Portsmouth, the day after this incident, we heard 
 these things, and I for one made up my mind that I 
 would try and pay off this account. I am glad to say 
 I did so, a few months later on. 
 
 We in Dover knew how hard it was to satisfy all 
 demands, but this raid resulted in our getting some far 
 more powerful destroyers, and a few days afterwards I 
 received an appointment to command a destroyer,- or 
 rather flotilla leader, that was perfectly fitted for night 
 fighting. She fairly bristled with guns. 
 
 I was sent up to Cammell Laird's yard to run the 
 trials of H.M.S. Seymour and then, directly she was 
 ready, to hand her over to the Grand Fleet. In return 
 for her I was to obtain the battle-scarred Broke, which 
 ship had been much hammered by the German warships 
 in the Jutland Battle six months before. 
 
 The Broke was to work with her sister vessels the 
 Botha and Faulknor, in the Dover Strait. Each of these 
 vessels carried six 4-inch guns and four 21-inch torpedo 
 tubes, a vast improvement on the armament of our now 
 very obsolete Tribals. 
 
 I did not waste much time in getting clear of the 
 Seymour, much as I would have liked to retain this beau- 
 tiful, modern ship. I proceeded from Liverpool up the 
 west coast of Scotland and thence to Scapa Flow, and 
 from here, after getting instructions, I sped down to 
 Invergordon, where I saw " my future home," a power- 
 
n6 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ful, and fairly new ship, but a dirty contrast to the beau- 
 ful, oil-burning ship I had got from Cammel Laird's. 
 
 In half a day I had turned over my crew, self and 
 baggage, from the Seymour to the Broke. My old 
 friend, Captain Gladstone, who had served in the Dover 
 Patrol, relieved me in the Seymour, and then I took my 
 new command at 20 knots down the east coast through 
 the war channel to Lowestoft, where I had been ordered 
 to stop to obtain my route instructions for the latter 
 part of my voyage. This was the only glimpse I had 
 of the North Sea during the war. 
 
 Very proudly I berthed the Broke alongside the east- 
 ern arm at Dover. My envious confreres flocked on 
 board to see and decide before airing their opinions as 
 to her fighting qualities. I had taken with me a few 
 satellites from the Crusader, including the weather- 
 beaten Petty Officer Smith, who had already won the 
 D.S.M., when yeoman of signals to Admiral Hood. 
 Smith was the coolest hand I ever met, and he knew all 
 about everything concerning the Dover Patrol, its dis- 
 position and signals. Smith, fortunately, was human, and 
 he had two faults, he could not read morse or semaphore 
 as well as other signalmen. Sometimes I got very impa- 
 tient with him for this — not that it mattered to Smith. 
 
 Of all things that surprised the Dover destroyer peo- 
 ple most on board the Broke, was that we carried ten 
 marines. Marines in a destroyer! They had never 
 heard of such a thing. 
 
 The Broke was certainly a comfortable ship, beautiful 
 in a seaway, with splendid bridge accommodation, al- 
 though, like the poor little Flirt, she had a habit of 
 covering herself with cinders. She was originally built 
 for the Chilian Navy, and had beautiful accommodation 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 117 
 
 for the captain and " rotten quarters " for everyone 
 else. She was "requisitioned before delivery" from 
 the Chilian Government, under the 19 14 Emergency 
 War Programme, when her name was changed from 
 Almirante Goni. Her speed was 29 knots and her prin- 
 cipal fuel was coal, but we had a method of squirting 
 oil into her furnaces that gave us an extra turn of speed 
 if required. 
 
 One remarkable feature about this ship was the dis- 
 position of her gun armament. We could fire four 
 4-inch guns right ahead. 
 
 I hardly expected Admiral Bacon to take on the 
 Broke as his taxi-cab, but as a matter of fact he did, 
 when there were any operations afoot, and also when 
 the " Knuts " crossed over, if they were " Knuts " he 
 fancied. 
 
 It was a great change for the destroyer commanders to 
 move into the flotilla leaders, of which we secured four 
 in the Dover Patrol in the third year of the war, viz., 
 the Swift, Broke, Botha and Fanlknor. Our destroyer 
 patrol on January 1st, 19 17, consisted of the following 
 vessels : — 
 
 Attentive 
 
 Greyhound 
 
 Active 
 
 Flirt 
 
 Faulkner 
 
 Mermaid 
 
 Swift 
 
 Leven 
 
 Broke 
 
 Faivn 
 
 Afridi 
 
 Kangaroo 
 
 Amazon 
 
 Syren 
 
 Ghurka 
 
 Myrmidon 
 
 Viking 
 
 Gipsy 
 
 Crusader 
 
 Racehorse 
 
 Nubian 
 
 Crane 
 
 Zulu 
 
 Fah on 
 
 Cossack 
 
 T.BA 
 
 Tartar 
 
 T.B.1S 
 
 Mohawk 
 
 T.B.2\ 
 
 Saracen 
 
 Lapwing 
 
 Ure 
 
 Phoenix 
 
 Unity 
 Porpoise 
 Ambuscade 
 Victor 
 Paragon 
 
 P.34 
 
 P.17 
 
 P.ll— 
 
 P.12— 
 
 P.19— 
 
 P.21— 
 
 P.24 — 
 M.24 — 
 M.25 
 M.26 
 M.27— 
 
 • Patrol Boats 
 
 Small Monitors 
 
n8 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The younger officers who had originally commanded 
 the thirty-knotters had moved up into the Tribals, and 
 the Tribal commanders had moved into " M " boats 
 or flotilla leaders. 
 
 I am afraid I always was, and always shall be, one of 
 those who really hate the German and all his works. I 
 did not always agree with my confreres in the patrol, 
 and I certainly fell out for a moment with one of them 
 who, on first visiting my new command, stated as his 
 opinion that what we wanted was Prussianism in Eng- 
 land. I told him that I was out to fight for that demo- 
 cratic freedom that we in old England had been accus- 
 tomed to, and I must say I brought up my men in the 
 Broke to realise that, for however many winters the war 
 continued, we must go on until the Germans were 
 smashed, and until the Kaiser no longer controlled the 
 destinies of a huge nation. 
 
 To-day, when the history of the war is more or less 
 public knowledge, one is able to form a pretty good 
 opinion of the general characteristics of the belligerent 
 nations. To-day, in Belgium, the name " German " 
 is a by-word for all that is vile, for domination sought 
 by brutality, espionage, treachery and underhand com- 
 mercial tactics; no true Belgian will ever forget the 
 Hun occupation. In this brave little country the people 
 are disgusted with Germany, and they loathe her and 
 all that the word " German " stands for. 
 
 At the beginning of 19 17 the Germans realised that, 
 although they were not beaten, they could get no further, 
 also that they were held by us and our glorious, splendid 
 allies; they must have felt when they looked into those 
 grey, steadfast, fearless eyes, as they occasionally did 
 when they got a handful of British prisoners, that the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 119 
 
 game was up and that they would eventually be called 
 upon to pay the price of outrage and atrocity. 
 
 From the moment the Germans realised that they 
 could not win, they entirely changed towards the people 
 of Belgium, and treated them first with strictness, then 
 almost with friendliness. 
 
 People in Germany were beginnning to mistrust the 
 " Eat 'em alive " group headed by Von Hindenburg, 
 Ludendorf, and the fire-eating Crown Prince, and, in 
 order to keep up the spirits of the populace, all kinds of 
 little stunts were undertaken for propaganda purposes. 
 The Germans would not risk another naval battle after 
 Jutland, for their ships would only have been sunk had 
 they afforded us another opportunity of meeting them 
 in sea battle; they therefore appear to have used the 
 best of their personnel in submarines, on which they 
 pinned their faith. The unemployment of their battle 
 fleet freed the light forces, and eventually a fair number 
 of modern torpedo craft were based on the Flanders 
 coast. Presumably the enemy gave us credit for 
 strengthening the Dover Patrol after the raid on Oc- 
 tober 27th. 
 
 On the 1 8th March, 19 17, during the dark night 
 period, some enemy destroyers crept up the Dover Strait 
 barrage and, waiting for our patrols to approach and 
 turn, the enemy were fortunate enough to torpedo and 
 sink the Paragon, with no loss to themselves. It was a 
 well-executed bit of work, and it proved that the enemy 
 had not finished with the use of above-water craft in 
 our area. 
 
 Apparently the destroyers thought that they could 
 now enter the Dover Strait with impunity, and therefore, 
 on the night of the 20th April, only one month later, 
 
120 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 when the weather was fine but the sky overcast and there 
 was no moon, an attack was made by a flotilla or half 
 flotilla of large destroyers on Dover and Calais. 
 
 My ship, the Broke, was patrolling with H.M.S. 
 Swift near the western end of the barrage. 
 
 The night was so dark and the conditions so suitable 
 for an attack, that I had passed the word round that 
 the Germans would probably attempt to bombard 
 Dover, in order to please their local "Daily Mail." This 
 would be a fairly easy thing to do if they fired a few 
 rounds and then left at full speed; the odds were on 
 their getting away in the darkness. But in spite of these 
 excellently favourable conditions, what took place sub- 
 sequently proved to be quite a bold piece of work. 
 
 As far as we have been able to make out, the enemy 
 approached at moderate speed with six destroyers of a 
 very modern type and, when about three miles from 
 Dover, they carried out a very rapid bombardment. 
 We in the Broke followed the Swift towards the gun 
 flashes at full speed but, not coming across the enemy 
 vessels, we returned to the eastern end of our patrol, 
 hoping to prevent these destroyers from damaging the 
 shipping in the Downs. The German vessels actually 
 passed close to the eastward of the Goodwin Sands 
 without being seen, and then, after steaming some little 
 time to the north-eastward, they turned and came back 
 again, evidently expecting to be joined by another lot 
 of their destroyers. These, we subsequently learned, 
 had bombarded Calais. 
 
 Suddenly the Dover raiders were sighted by the Swift 
 and ourselves in a position about seven miles east of 
 Dover. The vessels were steaming quickly to the east- 
 ward in line ahead; they immediately opened fire, which 
 
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KEEPING THE SEAS 121 
 
 the Swift returned, firing her three guns as she passed 
 down the line at full speed. Nothing could have suited 
 us better than the situation on meeting, for although 
 the comparison of numbers and armaments left us at 
 a great disadvantage, the Broke's right-ahead fire of 
 four 4-inch under easy control from the bridge, was 
 more than equal to the broadside of any single German 
 destroyer. 
 
 Both ships converged towards the enemy, after the 
 first exchange of rounds between our leader and the 
 Germans, and then, to close them quickly, I altered 
 course out of the wake of the Swift for a few seconds 
 and held my fire until the director sights on the bridge 
 came on for firing the port foremost torpedo. I saw the 
 first lieutenant, Despard, making ready to fire at the sec- 
 ond ship in the line. He was very deliberate about his 
 shot, and after he had given the order to fire the port 
 foremost torpedo, I held on for a few seconds in order to 
 give the torpedo a chance to clear the tube, before alter- 
 ing course to go right in amongst the squadron of raid- 
 ers. Standing at the compass I conned the Broke with 
 the intention of ramming the destroyer against which we 
 had launched a torpedo, and before I had steadied, the 
 controlling officer opened fire with our foremost guns 
 with independent firing, for the range was so short. 
 Despard was watching the torpedo he had fired speeding 
 through the water, and quite suddenly he yelled out, 
 "We've got her." I replied, "Got what?" and before he 
 could answer our torpedo reached its mark, striking a 
 destroyer which afterwards turned out to be G.85, 
 plumb amidships. My intention had been to ram this 
 vessel, but it was now not necessary to do so. I put my 
 helm hard aport and swung away to starboard for a mat- 
 
122 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ter of seconds and then, just as I had made up my mind 
 that it was time to turn again in order to ram the next 
 boat following astern of the torpedoed one, my navi- 
 gator, Lieut. G. V. Hickman, said quickly, " If you put 
 the helm over now, sir, you'll get this next one all right." 
 I put the helm hard starboard, righted it and then we 
 watched. Those in the destroyer we intended to run 
 down had gathered what our intention was, but for them 
 it was too late. A cloud of smoke and sparks belched 
 forth from their funnels, and we got a momentary whiff 
 of this as we tore towards her; it all happened in a few 
 seconds, and the feeling of exhilaration as we were about 
 to strike her can never be repeated; at the moment we 
 crashed into her port side, abreast of the after funnel, 
 my enthusiasm overcame me and I shouted out, " That 
 means two months' leave." 
 
 Our strong bow ground its way into the enemy ves- 
 sel's flank; in the blaze of gun flashes we read her name, 
 G.42, as her bow swung round towards us, while we 
 carried her bodily away on our ram. 
 
 The Broke, steaming at 27 knots, whirled this de- 
 stroyer practically on her beam ends, so that she could 
 not fire. It must have been a dreadful moment for those 
 on board. One of her torpedo tubes stuck into our side 
 and was wrenched right off its mounting. Our guns, 
 which would bear at maximum depression, were turned 
 on to this wretched ship and we literally squirted 4-inch 
 shell into the helpless vessel. 
 
 In fine weather we always kept three loaded rifles, 
 with bayonets fixed, at each gun, and one at each tube 
 and after-searchlight. Cutlasses were provided all 
 round the upper deck, besides which revolvers were sup- 
 plied to petty officers, and there were many kept loaded 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 123 
 
 on the bridge. The anti-aircraft pom-poms were also 
 manned, and at the moment of ramming, when Lieut. 
 Despard piped " boarders " on the forecastle, the weap- 
 ons practically fell into the hands of the men who were 
 waiting to use them. 
 
 In a few seconds after the shock of the collision had 
 been felt, a deadly fire was poured from our fore part 
 into the huddled mass of men who, terror-struck, were 
 grouped about the enemy destroyer's decks. Many of 
 them clambered up our bow and got on to the forecastle, 
 to meet with instant death from our well-armed seamen 
 and stokers. There was no question of the enemy board- 
 ing us with the idea of inflicting damage, they came on 
 board to save their own lives, but in the confusion of 
 the action, the Broke' s men took no chances. 
 
 Midshipman Donald A. Gyles, R.N.R., who was 
 wounded with a shell splinter, took charge on the fore- 
 castle, and organised a gun crew from the survivors of 
 those foremost gun crews who had suffered many casu- 
 alties, and thus kept the guns continually going. He 
 also repelled the German sailors who swarmed on board 
 from the destroyer, freely using his revolver. 
 
 Up on the bridge we had quite a merry time. Accord- 
 ing to our custom we had laid a number of loaded 
 revolvers round the little range-finder platform on the 
 after side of our bridge. There was nothing very much 
 for us to do while we were steaming ahead with G.42 
 on our bow. The next destroyer astern of her passed 
 ahead of us, and the one following after passed astern. 
 This one I attempted to torpedo by order from the 
 bridge, but all our controls were shot away and we could 
 get no answer from the tubes. One of these destroyers, 
 passing us at close range, was torpedoed by order of 
 
124 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Mr. F. Grinney, our torpedo gunner, but the No. i of 
 the tube, Leading Seaman G. Ivens, was killed imme- 
 diately he had fired his torpedo, before he had the sat- 
 isfaction of seeing it run true. 
 
 I do not pretend that we in the Broke escaped with- 
 out injury during this welcome action. The German ac- 
 count made out that the enemy torpedoed several light 
 cruisers and sank sundry torpedo craft, and if two super 
 destroyers were mistaken for a flotilla of light cruisers 
 and torpedo craft, one can excuse the Germans, because, 
 although there were only six against us, there was a 
 moment when we on the bridge of the Broke thought 
 that quite fifteen ships were against us, in the confusion 
 of the blaze of the fire, the choking smoke, the men's 
 cries and the noise of exploding shells. 
 
 I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although 
 at one time I was very frightened, for a shell from one 
 of the German destroyers passing down our starboard 
 side hit a box of cordite on the Broke's forecastle, and 
 this, after being thrown into the air, fell on our bridge. 
 The cordite was scattered about and on fire. The high 
 flames lit us up so much that we were a target to the 
 enemy vessels, and we certainly were punished severely. 
 We had killed everything we could see on board G.42 ; 
 her stern was sinking more and more until we finally 
 steamed right over her, and we then made to ram 
 another enemy vessel; this we missed, owing to our loss 
 of speed, due to an explosion in one of the boiler rooms 
 which cut our main steam pipes. The Broke was now 
 on fire amidships as well as on the bridge, steam was 
 escaping with a horrible noise and we were rapidly 
 losing headway. I remember blowing up my life-saving 
 waistcoat, which I had put on for the first time; I gave 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 125 
 
 it three good sturdy puffs, said about three words of 
 prayer that I should be spared for my wife's sake, and 
 then turned my attention to doing more damage to the 
 enemy. 
 
 We in the Broke were heading to pursue the remain- 
 ing enemy destroyers, of which we could make out one 
 ahead and one to starboard, but they slipped away in the 
 darkness and we could discern the Swift in chase. As I 
 said before, the night was very dark, but the Germans, 
 when they attempted to get away, were flaming from 
 their funnels, as also was the Swift. After a very short 
 interval my artificer engineer came up on to the bridge 
 and informed me that the loss of feed water was so 
 great that he could not steam more than half speed. 
 He pointed out that we must eventually stop, and we 
 therefore turned and made towards two sinking destroy- 
 ers. A mile from them we passed through a great 
 number of Germans swimming in the sea. Possibly 
 phosphorescence was responsible for what we saw, but 
 the swimming Germans appeared to have some calcium 
 light fitting in the life-saving waistcoats which they 
 wore, and this we thought made a flicker of flame in the 
 water, to which we attributed the number of twinkling 
 lights which could be seen in the sea all round us; these 
 flickered and blinked like fairy lights on pantomime 
 elves. The unfortunate Germans cried out, " Save, 
 save," but the action was not yet finished, and though I 
 should in all probability have returned to save what I 
 could, I did not at that time forget the poor little Flirt, 
 the recent bombardment of our undefended coast towns, 
 the torpedoing of hospital ships, and the crime of the 
 Lusitania. My first lieutenant asked me whether I 
 would not stop then and lower boats, but I had to in- 
 
126 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 form him that I was out to finish the fight first, before 
 attending on midnight bathers. 
 
 I expected the enemy to return and put up another 
 fight, and it was not long before we saw in the darkness 
 the phosphorescent wake of an approaching destroyer. 
 She flashed out the challenge, but we could not reply, 
 owing to all our electric circuits having been shot away, 
 besides which, our bridge had been gutted fairly well, 
 for it had been hit in thirty-two places by shells, shell 
 splinters and small stuff. Fortunately, the yeoman 
 Smith had an electric torch; I told him to spell out 
 " B-R-O-K-E-" which he did, and then we learnt that 
 the destroyer was the Szvift. 
 
 We heard them cheering in the darkness, and gave 
 them a faint cheer back. We closed one of the two sink- 
 ing destroyers, and I observed that her upper deck was 
 aflame and that she had a big hole under the forecastle 
 through which fire could be seen. Some men on her 
 cried out, " Surrender," and I shouted through the 
 megaphone, " All right, we will pick you up," but an 
 inconsiderate fellow on board her fired a round from the 
 foremost 4-inch gun, which passed through our bridge, 
 and we therefore gave it them in the neck with four 
 rounds of our own 4-inch, three of which were hits. 
 
 Peppe, our sub-lieutenant, earlier in the action, finding 
 that the torpedo control had been shot away, reported 
 this and was sent off to torpedo with the starboard tube, 
 whenever he got his chance. As I have already ex- 
 plained, the torpedo gunner had fired one torpedo from 
 the starboard tube, the after one as it happened, as the 
 foremost torpedo could not be fired, owing to a shell 
 having struck and bent the firing lever. Peppe, the 
 moment he saw the sinking German ship open fire as 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 127 
 
 described, let go the port after-torpedo at a 200 yards 
 range, and we on the bridge witnessed the track of this 
 as it sped along towards its target. The torpedo had 
 been set to run at a six foot depth, and it hit the enemy 
 vessel on the starboard side, near the stern. She still 
 took some few minutes before sinking, and, unfortu- 
 nately for us, we were then compelled to stop on account 
 of such a loss of feed water that, although the engineers 
 had attempted to use salt water in the boilers, there was 
 a danger of burning them out. While watching this 
 vessel sink, the navigator pointed out that it would be a 
 toss up whether the flames reached her magazine and 
 blew her up, or whether she sank first. Had she blown 
 up, we might have suffered severely — we were drifting 
 on to her and my ship would no longer steer; I accord- 
 ingly sent an officer down to the engine room to explain 
 the situation, and we managed to get a little steam on 
 to the engines, with which we went slowly astern, and 
 then stopped. This sternway, fortunately, was sufficient 
 to keep us from colliding. H.M.S. Mentor came out 
 from Dover and closed us; I ordered her alongside; her 
 captain, Lieut.-Commander Landon, berthed her splen- 
 didly on my port side, and hawsers were quickly passed 
 from one ship to the other. He started going astern 
 and got some way on us just as the enemy vessel sank. 
 This all took place in a very short time, and I was 
 delighted at Landon's seamanship. He was mentioned 
 in despatches for this piece of work. 
 
 The Swift now closed the other sinking destroyer — no 
 lights were burning in her and apparently she was 
 G.42, the one that we had rammed; some of her crew 
 had taken to the boats and could be seen in the glare of 
 the Swift's foremost searchlight, pulling desperately 
 
128 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 towards the British vessel. All her survivors were taken 
 on board, and from them we subsequently learned that 
 six vessels had come out from Zeebrugge — three of them 
 in the action appeared to be sunk by " a colossal naval 
 force almost simultaneously." The Mentor had picked 
 up a number of prisoners, which she transferred to us in 
 exchange for our wounded, and took these to Dover as 
 quickly as possible. We, in the meantime, anchored to 
 wait for dawn, when we hoped to be towed back into 
 port. Having nothing better to do, I interrogated 
 these prisoners, and finding one who spoke Danish, ob- 
 tained a good deal of information from him. He told 
 us that he understood that seven cruisers had attacked 
 them, and when I informed him that we were only two 
 large destroyers, he would scarcely believe it, and con- 
 tinually shook his head. He told me that the prisoners 
 were most indignant that a ship should charge right 
 down their line, and he said that it was most unlooked 
 for and gave them no chance to torpedo us. We ob- 
 tained from this man the number of his ship (G.85), 
 which was torpedoed, and that of G.42, the rammed 
 vessel. He also gave us particulars as to their crews — 
 they apparently carried 90 men each. 
 
 The damage sustained by the Swift was one hit under 
 the forecastle with a 4.1-inch shell. This exploded, 
 killed one man and wounded four, besides making a hole 
 in the side. Our own damage was a bent and buckled 
 stem, two large holes, port side of the forecastle, above 
 the water line, one shell on the forecastle which struck 
 our own shell in the rack and exploded two; unfortu- 
 nately, this caused a great number of casualties amongst 
 the gun crews there. One shell came through the 
 bridge from forward on the port side, and exploded 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 129 
 
 on the side of the lower bridge, killing the signalman 
 of the watch and badly wounding the quartermaster and 
 telegraph man. Another shell went through the star- 
 board side wing of the fore bridge. One shell hit the 
 port side, above the water line, and passing through the 
 coaling bunkers exploded in the boiler room, killing all 
 in it and carrying away the main steam pipe. Another 
 shell abaft the after wireless house exploded on the star- 
 board side, before the after torpedo tube there, and 
 killed several men. The compass, wireless telegraph in- 
 stallation and after searchlight were all knocked out of 
 action by small ammunition. All the electric wires and 
 voice pipe communication were shot away, and we had a 
 number of minor damages caused by shell fragments, 
 presumably. The foremost funnel had a great number 
 of holes in it — in fact it resembled a sieve as seen from 
 the bridge. The bridge, as stated, suffered a good deal, 
 and it is surprising to me how few casualties we had 
 up here. I remember an interesting episode which oc- 
 curred just after we had rammed G.42. " Our Mr. 
 Smith," who was holding a telescope, which he always 
 did night and day, was looking over the port side of the 
 Broke' s bridge on to the huddled mass of frightened men 
 on the German destroyer's deck below him. Suddenly 
 he skipped to the range-finder platform, took two loaded 
 revolvers and handed them up to the first lieutenant. 
 " Come on, sir. Here's your chance," he said, and in 
 a few seconds Despard's tall, grim figure was to be seen 
 emptying the contents of the two automatic pistols into 
 the scared group of Boches. Smith was not much be- 
 hind him and between the two, I am told, they got rid 
 of sixty rounds of pistol ammunition — one hardly ex- 
 pects this sort of thing in modern naval warfare. 
 9 
 
130 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 I am sorry to say we had fifty-seven casualties on the 
 Broke, of which twenty-one were killed outright and 
 one or two more died later. 
 
 While I do not pretend that our wounded in this little 
 action suffered more or even as much as many of those 
 that we have seen clothed in that blue hospital garb that 
 we all know so well — those who have faced the barbar- 
 ism of the German and who have borne, perhaps, the 
 infliction of torturing gas and liquid fire — I cannot re- 
 frain from mentioning one case which is significant of 
 the true spirit of the Navy. 
 
 When we had satisfied ourselves that no further 
 enemy action was to be expected, I left the bridge of 
 the Broke with my first lieutenant and proceeded to 
 make a little tour of inspection to visit the wounded, 
 and to see what damage had been done. 
 
 I came down into my cabin, which was the after 
 dressing-station in action, and here I found many 
 wounded sitting round my cabin table, cheerful and 
 uncomplaining. A man apologised for bleeding all over 
 the seat of my settee, and I quickly put his mind at rest 
 on that subject. One of the wounded with whom I 
 conversed was Stoker John Clasper; this man was off 
 watch during our little scrap, but his action station, 
 while not employed below, was to assist in loading a 
 gun. A German shell had exploded near him, blowing 
 men to pieces, and fragments of hot steel had torn their 
 way into his back and hips. He must have suffered 
 agony, but Clasper continued at his post until the action 
 was over; he was visited by a stretcher party, but he 
 sent them off to succor others and made his way down 
 to my cabin to await his turn for surgical aid. Even 
 when Helsham, our surgeon probationer, could help him, j 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 131 
 
 he remarked that he was in no hurry and begged the 
 doctor to attend to others who were in worse pain per- 
 haps. I was told that this man could never properly re- 
 cover, and a few days later, when I stood at his bedside, 
 I met his wife, a little woman from Newcastle, who in- 
 formed me with brave cheerfulness that he had been a 
 good husband to her and that she would work for him 
 willingly, and that to do so was going to be the pleasure 
 of her life. This woman was typical of many who 
 bravely gave their men to fight for the allied cause, and 
 the man Clasper, was typical of the Broke' s ship's com- 
 pany. 
 
 Often now, when there seems a rather doubtful future 
 for the naval officer and the man trained to arms, I 
 think, like many others, that perhaps it is not too late to 
 break away from the navy and start a new profession; 
 but when I think it all over, I feel I cannot tear myself 
 away from men like these, whom it is such an honour to 
 command. I feel that they have done so much for me 
 and I have got so much good out of my association with 
 them that perhaps, after all, I shall be happier remain- 
 ing in the service and going where I am sent. For, what- 
 ever one hears of Bolshevism, and revolutionary talk, I 
 can say truly that I have never found anything but gen- 
 erosity, pride of ship, and big-hearted willingness 
 amongst these splendid men. I am quite confident that 
 nothing can change the brotherhood of the seas. 
 
 Concerning this destroyer fight, in which we were so 
 fortunate, there were, of course, the bright and the 
 sad side. 
 
 When dawn sulkily broke, I walked round our decks, 
 which were all slippery with blood, and found the doctor 
 identifying the dead. When they had been collected 
 
132 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 and reverently covered with flags, the remainder of the 
 ship's company scrubbed down and white-washed over 
 all the blood-splashed places, so that nothing horrid 
 remained to hurt the eye or to remind one of this, the 
 grim aspect of the story. Once this had been done, the 
 injured ones cheered up splendidly, and when it became 
 light, my sailors were all smiles, for they had got their 
 own back once again. 
 
 Many of my ship's company had served in the Glas- 
 gow, when she witnessed the sinking of the Good Hope 
 and Monmouth off Valparaiso on November ist, 19 14, 
 by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and they had also 
 been present when Admiral Sturdee's squadron in the 
 Falkland Islands battle had sunk the Scharnhorst, 
 Gneisenau, Leipzig and Niirnberg; and yet again they 
 paid their debts in full when the Glasgow sank the 
 Dresden on March 14th, 19 15, near Juan Fernandez 
 Island. We certainly had a well-trained fighting ship's 
 company, although the Broke had not been in action 
 since the Jutland battle on the 31st May, 19 16, nearly a 
 year before. There is no doubt that they were men who 
 were made of fighting stuff. 
 
 The Broke was towed into harbour and berthed by 
 two large tugs from Dover. One could not help feeling 
 a bit lumpy in the throat when the other ships' com- 
 panies cheered us again and again. Not least among 
 these cheers were those of the little drifters' crews, who 
 made cock-a-doodle-doo's on their syrens until the din 
 of hooting was almost deafening. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the Broke had been nine 
 nights on patrol, had coaled ship twice during that 
 period, and that on the afternoon of the 20th April, she 
 had taken in a large amount of coal at the rate of eighty- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 133 
 
 seven tons an hour. In spite of this her crew never 
 considered that they were overworked, and were always 
 full of zeal. 
 
 On counting up the prisoners taken by the Swift and 
 picked up by various boats, which were sent out to 
 search, we found we had saved 140 German officers and 
 men. I saw' them marched away from the naval pier. 
 They were a very big lot, of good physique, with one or 
 two exceptions. A crowd of people was waiting to see 
 them when they landed, and everybody was quite quiet 
 and well-behaved towards the prisoners. There was 
 nothing cock-a-hoop about the onlookers, only one me- 
 chanic from the R.N.A.S. quite spoilt the dignity of 
 the proceeding by yelling " Are yer 'ungry? " which he 
 might have left unsaid. This was, of course, in the days 
 before coupons were inflicted on us. 
 
 The German dead were buried on the 22nd April, and 
 many of us from the destroyers attended their funeral. 
 The Vice-Admiral sent a wreath, on which was written, 
 " To a brave enemy." This seems to have caused a lot 
 of adverse comment in the newspapers at that time, 
 because it was stated that Admiral Bacon's inscription 
 was, " To a brave and gallant enemy," which he had 
 not written; not that it really mattered, but in those 
 days of submarine murders one could hardly attribute 
 the quality of gallantry to German naval men. 
 
 Our own brave dead were buried the following day 
 when all Dover turned out to pay their last mark of 
 respect to our fallen sailors. The funeral of the Broke' 's 
 men and the one man killed on the Swift, naturally left 
 a lasting impression on one's mind, and made one feel 
 how hateful war was. We who had come out unscathed 
 received a lot of decorations and rewards for our serv- 
 
134 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ices, but we were not unmindful of the poor relatives 
 who had lost their nearest and dearest; their drawn 
 cheeks, dimmed eyes and pale faces, one cannot forget. 
 I marched alongside Captain Peck, immediately behind 
 the coffins, and we passed through the crowded streets 
 in slow time. 
 
 I still have my memories of that funeral; the children 
 craning their necks to gaze at the enormous wreaths of 
 flowers which almost covered the bright coloured union 
 jacks in which the coffins were wrapped; the solemn 
 notes of music that echoed and reverberated through the 
 old-fashioned town that has witnessed so much of his- 
 tory; and Dover Castle towering high above everything, 
 proudly defiant, with its fluttering flag almost exclaim- 
 ing to the dead, " You did not die in vain." 
 
 When, after the service was over, we who had paid 
 our last tribute to our fallen comrades, took our ship to 
 London under her own steam, for by this time we had 
 patched our steam pipe and already made good many 
 of the defects consequent upon the action. 
 
 It took two months to repair our bows and fit us with 
 a new stem, and we got a fine slice of leave. I knew, the 
 moment that we had rammed G.42 that this would 
 happen, because we could not get off scot free from a 
 bump like that, and so my enthusiastic prophecy, which 
 escaped my lips in that second of excitement, came 
 true. 
 
 The appended copy of a page from the " London 
 Gazette " gives the awards and honours conferred by 
 His Majesty on those who took part in this particular 
 destroyer action, and the lists following the despatch 
 show what our casualties were in the Broke. In addi- 
 tion to the wounded mentioned, there were a number 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 135 
 
 of slightly wounded, which made the total casualties 
 up to fifty-seven. 
 
 SIXTH SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE 
 Of TUESDAY, the %th of MAY, 1917 
 
 Admiralty, S.W. 
 
 10 th May, 1917 
 
 Honours for Service in the Action between H.M. Ships Swift and 
 Broke and German Destroyers, on the Night of the 20th to 21st 
 April, 1917. 
 
 The KING has been graciously pleased to give orders for the ap- 
 pointment of the undermentioned Officers to be Companions of the 
 Distinguished Service Order, in recognition of their services in com- 
 mand of H.M.S. Swift and H.M.S. Broke respectively, on the night of 
 the 20th to 21st April, 1917, when they successfully engaged a flotilla 
 of five or six German destroyers, of which two were sunk: — 
 
 Cdr. (now Capt.) Ambrose Mavnard Peck, R.N. 
 
 Cdr. (now Capt.) Edward Ratc'liffe Garth Russell Evans, C.B., R.N. 
 
 The KING has further been graciously pleased to give orders for 
 the award of the Distinguished Service Cross to the undermentioned 
 Officers for the services during this action: — 
 Lieut. Goeffrey Victor Hickman, R.N. 
 
 Navigator and second in command of H.M.S. Broke. He assisted 
 with great coolness in handling the ship in action. His proper appre- 
 ciation of the situation when one enemy destroyer was torpedoed, 
 which his commanding officer had made ready to ram, enabled course 
 to be altered in time to ram the next astern. 
 
 Lieut. Robert Douglas King-Harman, R.N. Navigating Officer of 
 
 H.M.S. Swift. 
 
 He was of the utmost assistance to his commanding officer through- 
 out. 
 
 Lieut. Maximilian Carden Despard, R.N. 
 
 First and Gunnery Lieut, of H.M.S. Broke. He controlled gun fire 
 
 and gave the orders which resulted in an enemy destroyer being 
 
 torpedoed. 
 
 Lieut. Henry Antony Simpson, R.N. 
 
 Executive Officer and Gunnery Lieut, of H.M.S. Swift. He dis- 
 played great coolness and method in the control of fire which he 
 
 had very ably organised and zealously drilled, and greatly assisted 
 
 his commanding officer throughout the action. 
 
 Surg. Prob. Christopher Thomas Helsham, R.N.V.R. (Broke). 
 
 Surg. Prob. John Sinclair Westwater, R.N.V.R. (Swift). 
 
 Worked with great energy and ability in attending to the 
 
 wounded. 
 
136 
 
 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Gnr. (T.) Henry Turner, R.N. (Swift). 
 
 Obtained a hit with a torpedo on one of the enemv destroyers. 
 Gnr. (T.) Frederick Grinney, R.N. (Broke). 
 
 Gave orders for the firing of the torpedo which struck on to the 
 enemy destroyers. 
 Mid. Donald Allen Gyles, R.N.R. (Broke). 
 
 He took charge on the forecastle, and, although wounded in the 
 eye, organised a gun's crew from the survivors of the crews which 
 had suffered heavy casualties and kept the guns on the forecastle 
 going. He repelled the German sailors who swarmed on board 
 from the destroyer which was rammed, and remained at his post 
 until after the action was finished. 
 
 The following awards have also been approved: — 
 
 To receive the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. 
 
 A.B. William George Rawles, O.N., 201767 (Po.). 
 
 Although he had four bad wounds in his legs, in addition to other 
 injuries, he continued to steer H.M.S. Broke in action until the 
 enemy destroyer had been rammed. 
 
 To receive the Distinguished Service Medal 
 
 *Yeo. Sig. William Smith, ON., 213714 (Po.). 
 
 O.S. Herbert Thomas Huntley Fowle, O.N., S.S., 7516 (Po.). 
 
 Sto. Charles Williams, R-N.R. (New Zealand), O.N., 27358. 
 
 Sto., 1st CI., John Clasper, O.N., S.S., 103869 (R.F.R., Po./B. 4652). 
 
 Ch. Sto- William Shearn, O.N., 279752 (Po.). 
 
 P.O. Tel. Harrv Sedglev, O.N., 239909 (Dev.). 
 
 P.O. William Edward Strevens, O.N-, 232542 (Po.). 
 
 P.O. George Henry Froud, O.N., 218906 (Po.). 
 
 P.O. Albert Last, O-N., 208689 (Po.). 
 
 A.B. Sidney Clarke, O.N., J. 5244 (Po.). 
 
 A.B. Charles Reginald Norton, O-N., J. 18427 (Po.). 
 
 A.B. Ernest Ramsden Ingleson, O.N., J. 5723 (Po.). 
 
 A.B. Walter Frederick Mair, O-N., J. 55500 (Po.). 
 
 C.P.O. John Crother Ashton, O.N., 157639 (Po.). 
 
 P.O. Sidney Albert Simmonds, O-N., 180242 (Po.). 
 
 P.O. Charles Henry Daish, O.N., 182240 (Po.). 
 
 Ch. E. R. A. William Culverwell, O.N., 268992 (Ch.). 
 
 P.O. Frederick Percy Mursell, O.N., 162299 (Po.). 
 
 Ch. Sto. Henry Simmons, O-N., 276070 (Ch.). 
 
 Sto. P.O. William Edward Heaseman, O.N., 361422 (Po.). 
 
 Yeo. Sig. Albert Ebenezer James, O.N., 210513 (Po.). 
 
 Sto. P.O. James Bryant, O.N., 310822 (Po.). 
 
 Sto. Edward Gilfillan, R.N.R., O.N., 9099, S. 
 
 Sto. Sidney Frederick Brooks, O.N., S.S. 111490 (Po.). 
 
 * Smith received a bar to the D.S.M-, which he had already gained 
 in the earlier coast bombardments. 
 
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KEEPING THE SEAS 137 
 
 The following Officers and Men have been mentioned in despatches: 
 Engr. Lieut.-Cdr. (now Engr. Cdr.) James Hughes, R.N. 
 Engr. Lieut.-Cdr. (now Engr. Cdr.) Thomas George Coomber, R.N. 
 Lieut.-Cdr. Arthur Jermyn Landon, R.N. 
 Sub-Lieut. Whitworth Brady Nicholson, R.N. 
 Act. Sub.-Lieut. Lionel Hill Peppe, N-R. 
 Wt. Mech. James Coughlan, R.N. 
 Act. Art-Engr. Charlie Rodges Barter, R.N. 
 Mid. Maurice Theobald Maud, R.N.R. 
 P.O. Charles Christmas Brown, O.N., 155936 (Po.). 
 Ldg. Sig. William Page, O.N., 227145 (Po.). 
 Ldg. Sto. Frank William King, O.N., 306009 (Po.). 
 Ldg. Sto. Eli Daniels, O.N., 294996 (Po.). 
 
 E.R.A., 2nd CI., Walter Blanchard Wellman, O-N., M. 1218 (Po.). 
 A.B. William George Cleeter, O.N., J. 21405 (Po.). 
 0-S. Sidney John Thomas Taylor, O.N., S.S. 7576 (Po.). 
 Sto., 2nd CI., Frederick Arthur Hickman, O.N., K. 33575 (Po.). 
 Sto., 1st CI., George Henry Doe, O.N., K. 7694 (Po.). 
 A.B. John Henton, O.N., J. 17762 (Po.). 
 Sto., 1st CI., Albert Edward Glover, O.N., 232320 (Po.). 
 A.B. Henry Alfred Hitchin, O.N., 228372 (Po.). 
 Ldg. Sig. Charles Clause Higgins, O.N., J. 10417 (Po-). 
 S.B. A. James Gradwell, O.N., M. 16759 (Po-). 
 Sto., 1st CI., Ernest Muff, O.N., K. 32517 (Po-). 
 Sig. Sidney Charles Helps, R.N.V.R., O.N., Z/9587 (Tyneside). 
 Ch. E.R.A. Ralph Victor Nelson, O.N-, 272497 (Po.). 
 E.R.A. Henry Albert Riley, O.N., M. 4676 (Po-). 
 Sto. P.O. Matthew Lawson, O.N., 303088 (R.F.R., Ch/B. 5783). 
 Ldg. Stoker Frederick Thomas Yapp, O.N., K. 1672 (Po.). 
 Sto., 1st CI., John Kempton Falconer, O.N., K. 32518 (Po.). 
 Sto., 1st CI., Charles Herbert Harvey, O.N., S.S. 115725 (Po.). 
 Sto. P.O. Thomas Davies, O-N., 289400 (Po.). 
 Ldg. Sto. Charles Edward Walls, O.N., K. 969 (Po.). 
 Sto. Albert Bovland, R.N.R., O.N., S. 4945. 
 Sto., 1st CI., Charles Edward Miller, O.N., 280751 (R.F.R.Po/B.2355). 
 
 The following promotions have been made for service in this action: 
 Commanders to be Captains. 
 Cdr. Ambrose Mavnard Peck. 
 Cdr. Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, C.B. 
 
 Engr. Lieut.-Com manners to be Commanders. 
 Engr. Lieut-Cdr. James Hughes. 
 Engr- Lieut.-Cdr. Thomas George Coomber. 
 
 All to date, April 21st, 1917. 
 
 The following officers have been noted for early promotion: 
 Sub.-Lieut. Whitworth Brady Nicholson, R.N. 
 Act. Sub.-Lieut. Lionel Hill Peppe, R.N. 
 Wt. Mech. James Coughlan, R.N. 
 Mid. Maurice Theobald Maud. R.N.R. 
 
i 3 8 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, I must say that the 
 night patrol organisation of the Broke didn't give us 
 much rest; it was not meant to, and we on the bridge did 
 all we could to keep ourselves awake, and to qualify 
 properly for membership of the " Owls' Club," as we 
 called ourselves. Generally speaking, the navigator and 
 I conned the ship alternately for an hour at a time, the 
 first lieutenant and the sub, took charge of the torpedo 
 and gunnery control in hourly turns as well, and those 
 not actually taking charge, crouched under the shelter 
 of the bridge screens and, with half-closed eyes, listened 
 to the other pair discussing with gay seriousness the 
 affairs of the nation, the conduct of the war and the 
 hundreds of little items of interest that go to fill up the 
 horizon of a sailor's utterable thoughts. 
 
 The navigator of the Broke, in particular, possessed 
 the retentive memory of the sailor, which, combined 
 with his gift of expression, made him an excellent bridge 
 companion and a worthy supporter of the " Owls' 
 Club." 
 
 We stuck to facts at these seances, and kept those 
 occasional waves of sentiment and patriotic appreciation 
 for the wounded soldiers in the hospital ships, that we 
 now and then rubbed shoulders with, in Calais or 
 Boulogne, when we gladly contributed for their comfort 
 those little stores of " Woodbines " and " Three 
 Castles " that our miniature canteen contained — that 
 was about all we had to give. 
 
 Before I finally break away from the subject of the 
 Szvift and Broke destroyer scrap, I must include a lit- 
 tle story about the R.N.V.R. signalman, whose curios- 
 ity led him into trouble. 
 
 The Webley-Scott magazine revolvers with which we 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 139 
 
 were supplied are not nice things to play with; accidents 
 very easily happen to men unskilled in handling them. 
 To avoid constantly loading and unloading them, and to 
 have them always ready for action, in this ship 
 I kept the revolvers loaded. Directly the Broke was 
 secured to her buoy in Dover Harbour, after her night 
 patrol, it was one of the duties of " our Mr. Smith " to 
 take these revolvers down from the range-finder plat- 
 form and place them on the mattress of the bridge cabin 
 which was never occupied by day. He then locked the 
 cabin and returned the key to the keyboard. 
 
 So much for our state of readiness ; but there is such a 
 thing as being too ready, especially when people are 
 over-curious. I had given orders that no one was to 
 be admitted into the bridge cabin without my own per- 
 mission; but the day before we had this fight, our ship- 
 wright was working in the cabin while most of us were 
 asleep. A young signalman was keeping watch, and 
 seeing the shipwright come out of the cabin and leave 
 the door open while he went down for some tools, the 
 youngster, whose curiosity overcame him, walked into 
 the cabin and found all the revolvers sleeping peacefully 
 side by side, under the notice, " Dangerous; don't 
 touch." 
 
 But the warning was not good enough for our young 
 friend. He picked up one of the revolvers and while he 
 was turning it over in his hands to examine it, it suddenly 
 went off and shot him in the fleshy part of his left arm. 
 The poor boy was very frightened when blood spurted 
 out and covered the deck of the bridge cabin. Then my 
 surgeon was called and, after inspecting the wound and 
 bandaging it, he came to me and reported. I was not 
 very pleased at being awakened from my sleep after so 
 
i 4 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 many nights at sea, but hearing that there had been an 
 accident I quickly made my way on deck, where the 
 doctor, the patient and Smith, the yeoman of signals, 
 were waiting for instructions. To say the least of it, 
 I was annoyed at the man putting himself out of action 
 when signalmen were so scarce, and I was angry that 
 the man should have pryed into my cabin when he 
 should have been keeping his signal watch. I deter- 
 mined to give him a lesson, and instead of his getting 
 any sympathy, I said, " What do you mean by shooting 
 yourself in my cabin." The poor little signalman was 
 taken aback at the sharp way in which I addressed him 
 and, being thoroughly unnerved by the accident, he sud- 
 denly burst into tears. I am afraid I was brute enough 
 to say, " I shall give you fourteen days cells when you 
 come out of hospital for unlawfully shooting yourself 
 in my cabin." 
 
 The man then went to hospital, and a few days after- 
 wards I came to the naval sick quarters at Deal with a 
 motor-car loaded with cigarettes, fruit, papers and 
 every variety of article that I could think of for my 
 wounded. My wife came with me, carrying two large 
 baskets full of nice things. The naval nursing sisters 
 showed us to the bedsides of the wounded men from the 
 Swift and the Broke, and we plied them with about as 
 much as the tables by the little beds would carry. 
 Looking at the report over one man's bed, I saw that he 
 was a signalman, which I could not understand, seeing 
 that the only injured signalman in the action had been 
 blown to smithereens. I said to the man before me, 
 " Where were you in the action " ? He looked rather 
 wistfully at me and replied, " I'm afraid sir, I am the 
 one you gave fourteen days' cells to, for shooting myself 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 141 
 
 in your cabin," and then he added that he was very un- 
 happy at missing a nice little fight through such an act 
 of thoughtlessness. 
 
 I felt most awfully sorry for him, and quickly put 
 his thoughts at rest by informing him that I thought he 
 had been punished enough and that I would not sign 
 the warrant for sending him to cells. His boyish face 
 lit up and he was soon weighing in with the best of them 
 at the chocolates and fruits. 
 
 
 H.M.S. 
 
 BROKE 
 
 
 
 21 st April, 1917 
 
 
 Killed 
 
 Geoffrey G. Ivens 
 
 
 
 Leading Seaman 
 
 George Tubb 
 
 
 
 . A.B. 
 
 Joe W. Bagnall 
 
 
 
 . A.B. 
 
 Christopher T- Samways 
 
 
 . A.B. 
 
 Robert V. Towers 
 
 
 
 . O.S. 
 
 Harry Hosier 
 
 
 
 . O.S. 
 
 Harry G. Orchard 
 
 
 
 . Sto. P.O. 
 
 Charles E. Dart 
 
 
 
 . Ldg. Sto. 
 
 David Brian 
 
 
 
 . Ldg. Sto. 
 
 Thomas B. Bannister 
 
 
 
 . Ldg. Sto. 
 
 Alfred Webb 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 Robert Norford 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 Fred Carder 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 George W. Thompson 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 Fred. R. Bailey 
 
 
 
 . Sto., R.F.R. 
 
 William Thorpe 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 James J. Rafferty 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 Epton, Bellamy 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 William Foxhall 
 
 
 
 . Sto. 
 
 Samuel Field 
 
 
 
 . Sto., R.F.R. 
 
 Walter H. Lockett 
 
 
 
 . Sto., R.N.V.R. 
 
 
 Tota 
 
 1 21 
 
 
 Herbert Fowle 
 
 Wounded 
 Dangerous 
 19, O.S- Multiple injuries. 
 
142 
 
 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Donald A. Gyles . . 
 Arthur Read 
 Victor Yates 
 George Featherstone 
 Henry Camm 
 Charles G. Jess 
 Sidney Clarke 
 William C. Turner 
 John Clasper 
 William Hanwell 
 
 Severe 
 
 19, Mid. R.N.R. 
 24, Sto. 
 21, A-B. 
 21, A.B. 
 
 30, Ldg. 
 26, O.S. 
 
 24, A.B. 
 28, Sto. 
 
 31, Sto. 
 
 25, Sto. 
 
 Sto. 
 
 Serious 
 
 William G. Rawles 36, A.B. 
 
 Harry Sedgley 
 Albert J. Mitchell 
 
 Ernest Taylor 
 
 Thomas E. Chitty 
 Ernest E. Stoles . . 
 John T. Mabey 
 Leonard Robinson.. 
 James Pott 
 Herbert Clarke 
 
 George Huke 
 Samuel Pichess 
 J. W. Wright 
 
 25, P.O.Tel. 
 
 26, Ldg. Sto. 
 
 38, Sto. 
 
 Slight 
 
 25, Sto. 
 
 21, O.S. 
 20, A.B. 
 
 22, A.B. 
 20, C.Q.S. 
 35, Sto. 
 
 19, Off. Std. 
 19, Sig. 
 46, Sto. 
 
 Wound of Orbit. 
 Wound of back. 
 Multiple wounds. 
 Wounds left foot. 
 Multiple wounds left buttock. 
 Multiple wounds. 
 Wound of buttock. 
 Multiple wounds. 
 Wounds of hip and buttock. 
 Multiple wounds. 
 
 Shrapnel wound left side 
 
 and left buttock. 
 Shrapnel wounds left thigh. 
 Shrapnel wounds left eye, 
 
 both shoulders, left knee- 
 Shrapnel w o u n d,s, chest 
 
 scalp and arms. 
 
 Multiple wounds. 
 
 Wounds of head & forearm. 
 
 Abrasions over left clavicle. 
 
 Abrasions. 
 
 Wound right forearm. 
 
 Wound right upper arm, 
 
 forearm and right leg. 
 Wound left forearm. 
 Wound left side. 
 Wound head. 
 
 Slightly wounded Returned to Duty 
 
 F. Sleight . . . . Sto. P.O. Wound left big toe. 
 
 Fied Main .. .. A.B. Grazes- 
 
 Thomas Maguire . . Ldg. Sto. Grazes- 
 
 Killed 
 Wounded — 
 
 Dangerous 
 
 Severe 
 
 Serious 
 
 Slight 
 
 Returned to duty 
 
 Officers. 
 . 
 
 Men. 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 4 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 Total 
 21 
 
 27 
 
 Total, 48 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 A Busman's Holiday 
 
 When I said in the last chapter that we got two months' 
 leave while a new bow was being fitted to the Broke, I 
 meant that we got two months' respite from Dover and 
 the dark night patrols. 
 
 The day of her arrival in London Docks, the Broke 
 was taken charge of by Messrs. Fletcher, Sons and 
 Fearnall, who set to work to make good her defects and 
 to patch up the ragged holes that were everywhere ap- 
 parent in her funnels and upper works. The lip of the 
 German torpedo tube which had stuck in her bow was 
 lifted out, and subsequently made into a huge bronze 
 bell, which now hangs, suitably inscribed, on the quarter 
 deck of the ship. 
 
 Fletcher's yard being so close to London, Sir Edward 
 Carson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Jelli- 
 coe, the First Sea Lord, and other members of the Board 
 motored down to inspect the ship and to address a few 
 words of congratulation to our ship's company. I learnt 
 from Admiral Jellicoe that he wished me to go toQueens- 
 town in order to meet the first six United States des- 
 troyers, that were due to arrive on or about the ist May. 
 The idea of my going there to welcome the first division 
 of destroyers which were being sent over by our new 
 naval ally, was to give them fresh impressions of de- 
 
 143 
 
144 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 stroyer fighting, and to tell them anything that I found 
 out in my patrols which would help the American de- 
 stroyer officers who had had no recent war experience. 
 
 It was a delightful opportunity for me to renew my 
 friendship with the Americans, from whom I had re- 
 ceived unbounded hospitality during four months holi- 
 day in the States in 19 14. To begin with, I met Ad- 
 miral Sims and his staff in London. The keenness and 
 enthusiasm of this great American naval officer had a 
 most refreshing effect upon me, and I set off for Queens- 
 town with his aide-de-camp, Lieut.-Commander Bab- 
 cock and Lieut.-Commander Tobey, of the United States 
 Naval Pay Corps, delighted at being selected to work 
 with the Americans. I had not. landed in Ireland since 
 the war. 
 
 When our little party arrived in Kingstown, the 
 Americans were interested in everything they saw. The 
 well-known old man on the railway station platform, 
 who walked up and down shouting out, " Irish Times, 
 a penny," marked them down for his special prey when 
 he saw that they were in a different uniform from those 
 he had grown accustomed to. Everything here seemed 
 so unwarlike and when, about midday, we arrived at 
 Queenstown and looked at the peaceful scene from the 
 Admiral's windows, we never dreamed of what was be- 
 ing carried on under the direction of Admiral Sir Lewis 
 Bayly, the Naval Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Queenstown was the home of the " Q " ships, the 
 disguised merchant vessels that went forth to be tor- 
 pedoed and attacked until, when they were sorely in- 
 jured and sinking, their aggressor, the big, ocean-going 
 German submarine, would approach them to gloat over 
 the damage done and then herself be laid out by the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 145 
 
 hidden batteries of guns, if a sufficient number of fight- 
 ing men were left alive and so available when the op- 
 portunity presented itself. 
 
 No better example could have been set us than that 
 afforded by those in the " Q " ships, who won their 
 V.C.'s and D.S.O.'s under conditions which, to hear of, 
 made one's flesh creep. We spent a few days at Queens- 
 town before the American destroyers arrived, and dur- 
 ing this short time we learnt something of the feats of 
 arms performed by the " Q " ship heroes. It must be 
 remembered that the " Q " boats were employed to 
 sink submarines when our anti-submarine devices were 
 very far from perfect and the Allies were hard put to it 
 to hold their own against the ever-increasing number of 
 enemy submarines, which were now being met in almost 
 every part of the sea. 
 
 The American destroyers and patrol boats were sent 
 over first to Queenstown and then to Brest, Cherbourg, 
 Gibraltar, etc., to patrol along the traffic routes and hunt 
 the submarine down. At this time the Germans were 
 endeavouring to force us to adopt the convoy system; 
 when we eventually did adopt the convoy system, the 
 Germans did all they possibly could to stop us employ- 
 ing it; but of that, more later on. 
 
 I suppose 19 1 7 was for us the most critical year of the 
 war at sea, and the welcome addition of the American 
 naval forces undoubtedly tightened the Allies' grip and 
 served to harass the enemy more and more, as the 
 United States continued to pour in their patrol boats, 
 which now were being built with astonishing swiftness. 
 
 On a beautiful spring morning the first six destroyers 
 appeared on the western horizon. Our little party 
 boarded the Wadsworth, the senior officer's ship, and 
 10 
 
146 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 accompanied the division up harbour. This division 
 consisted of the : — Davis, JVadsworth, Pvrter, Mc- 
 Dougall, Conyngham, Wainwright. 
 
 They were splendid little ships, speed from 29 — 30 
 knots, nearly 1,100 tons displacement, capable of steam- 
 ing 3,000 miles at 15 knots without re-fuelling. The 
 JV adsworth class were armed with four 4-inch guns and 
 four pairs of 21-inch torpedo tubes. They carried a 
 hundred officers and men each, and from the day the 
 first six boats arrived at Queenstown, the training of the 
 personnel was carried out, with a view to manning more 
 and more destroyers, in the following manner: — 
 
 One extra officer was carried in each ship and a certain 
 number of ratings were continually drafted on board, 
 extra to the complements. As soon as these men had 
 attained the proper degree of efficiency, which they 
 quickly did under the war patrol conditions, a propor- 
 tion of senior officers and ratings returned to the United 
 States, to form the nucleus of a brand new destroyer 
 crew. This highly trained proportion quickly handed 
 out their experience in tabloid form to the remainder 
 of their ship's company, and the constant circulation 
 yielded wonderful results. It also served to promote 
 competition and to make the younger officers extra keen, 
 so that they would the sooner become eligible to com- 
 mand the older vessels. 
 
 Those in the first six destroyers lost no time in getting 
 themselves ready for their patrol work; in fact, they 
 expressed their readiness to go out on patrol directly 
 their boats had oiled, but the Admiral kept them at 
 Queenstown for four days while they were fitted with 
 depth charges and depth charge release gear; besides 
 which, they had our identification signals arranged for 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 147 
 
 them. A set of confidential books, similar to those sup- 
 plied to our own ships, was given to each vessel. 
 
 Commander Taussig, of the Wadsworth, was in 
 charge of the six destroyers, and he was an old friend of 
 Admiral Jellicoe's, having been wounded in the Boxer 
 Rebellion in 1900 as an Ensign, when by chance he had 
 been a hospital mate of the Admiral, who was himself 
 wounded in that campaign. Taussig was full of brains 
 and go, and I was very much impressed by him, but the 
 same may be said of all the destroyer captains who came 
 over with these six splendidly suitable vessels. In the 
 later days of the war I occasionally heard from one or 
 other of these men, with whom I have endeavoured to 
 keep in touch. If I was impressed with the Americans, 
 I may safely say that they were all impressed with Ad- 
 miral Bayly, who was one of the sternest and straightest 
 men with whom I have ever come in contact. 
 
 In the very short time I was at Queenstown, I learned 
 to respect the Admiral and to admire him as I have 
 seldom admired any man. But with all his sternness 
 and in spite of his exacting way, which got the best pos- 
 sible effort out of every man in his command, Admiral 
 Sir Lewis Bayly had a heart of gold, and I only wish 
 I had had the honour to serve under him for years in- 
 stead of only for days. 
 
 I watched with consuming interest the building up of 
 the "Queenstown Navy." It did one good to hear the 
 Admiral talk to the United States Naval officers, and my 
 word, it did one good to hear them talk of " Uncle 
 Lewis," as they called him. It was my privilege to 
 accompany the commanding officers to Admiralty House 
 whenever they were invited up to dinner, and we used 
 to spend the happiest evenings in the society of the 
 
148 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Admiral and his niece. Perhaps we talked " shop " 
 and war, but " Uncle Lewis " had a happy knack of 
 making one as interested in " shop " and war as he did 
 in everything else, with his magnetic personality and 
 steel-true nature. I could not believe that this was the 
 Lewis Bayly whose name had struck terror into the 
 hearts of certain naval officers I had met, but I realise 
 now that they must have been the exceptions who did 
 not do their job. 
 
 Sir Lewis Bayly soon won the confidence of all who 
 were placed under him, and he picked out and secured 
 for his commanders, men whose achievements in this 
 war make one's pulse quicken and one's heart leap with 
 joy and pride of race. 
 
 Captain Gordon Campbell, V.C., the celebrated sub- 
 marine "strafer," was just one of Uncle Lewis's pro- 
 teges, and I will warrant that if Admiral Bayly was 
 proud of Captain Campbell, this gallant officer was 
 proud enough to be numbered amongst Admiral Bayly's 
 friends. Of the Admiral, it hurts me to feel that some- 
 where in South Devon that very gallant able gentleman 
 is devoting his time and occupying his energies on the 
 land, for the Navy employs him no more. But there are 
 some of us in the Navy now with minds of our own and 
 nothing in our naval careers of which to be ashamed, 
 Who have learnt from " Uncle Lewis " how to face 
 danger, moral and physical, with the unflinching gaze of 
 that very true British sailor, and it is up to us to benefit 
 by his example. I don't think any American naval of- 
 ficer will disagree with what I have said. 
 
 In a matter of four days, the first six United States 
 destroyers left for their various patrol stations. It was 
 my privilege to go out in the Wadszvorth, and that was 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 149 
 
 what I meant by the heading of this chapter. For me 
 it was a " Busman's holiday " to go out in a destroyer 
 on patrol after five hundred nights at sea in the war, 
 and to have no responsibility. 
 
 But I am sea-wolf enough properly to appreciate such 
 a privilege. The destroyers steamed out in the early 
 afternoon, and the Admiral stood on the roof of his old- 
 fashioned house to see us one by one pass by. I expect 
 every captain glanced aft and along his destroyer's side 
 to see that nothing was amiss, for nothing escaped the 
 searching glance of the Vice-Admiral commanding on 
 the coast of Ireland. In a short half-hour these six 
 beautiful ships were lifting their noses and gently re- 
 sponding to the heave of the Atlantic swell. As they 
 dipped after rising to each successive wave, the well- 
 known hiss of rushing water struck its familiar note on 
 my ear, and my heart leapt with gladness to be again 
 at sea, with new forces, to seek out and destroy the 
 enemy. If ever man could infuse patriotism and keen- 
 ness into a seaman's soul, it was Admiral Bayly. Long 
 after the last golden rays of the setting sun had 
 ceased to reflect on the side lights of the six United 
 States destroyers, and long after darkness had spread 
 over the waters of this vast Atlantic, one felt that there 
 was one sitting at Admiralty House, reading every sig- 
 nal that our wireless sparked out, thinking, disposing 
 and working us like chessmen to the best advantage; but 
 what comforted and cheered us most was that that real 
 man would reach out and save if anything befell us, his 
 newly-adopted children of to-day. I spent the best part 
 of a week with the U.S. naval force. The first night 
 out a terrific explosion occurred at about eleven o'clock; 
 I thought we had been torpedoed, but no, the officer 
 
150 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 of the watch had seen what he took to be the wash of 
 a submarine and had charged right at it, and then let 
 go a depth charge. We couldn't say what he had seen, 
 but he had certainly done right. 
 
 The alarm bells rang, the members of the ship's 
 company not on watch went to their station forthwith, 
 and a search was made by Captain Taussig round about 
 this position, but nothing was ever seen. 
 
 It took one very little time to appreciate that the 
 American destroyer officers needed no one to " hold 
 their hands." They were very quick of brain, keen and 
 enthusiastic, and all out to fight and help the Allies to 
 make good. After four or five days at sea in the Wads- 
 ivorth our patrol expired, and we proceeded to Bere- 
 haven to oil and rest for two days before going out on 
 the next patrol, which was to last for the best part of 
 a week. If I remember rightly, the patrols were ar- 
 ranged to do six days out and two days in harbour for 
 fuelling, standing off, and making good the little defects 
 which make their appearance even in the best constructed 
 torpedo craft after constant steaming and knocking 
 about in a seaway. 
 
 The men of the United States Navy appreciated the 
 beauty of Berehaven, surrounded as it was with mag- 
 nificent hills, pretty little land-locked creeks, such as 
 Glengariff, and dotted about with islets and rocks, which 
 afforded a welcome change to the eye after the long 
 patrols, which had a certain sameness about them, and 
 were not usually marked by any incident of particular 
 interest. After my sea-trip I said good-bye to the 
 " Wadsworths " and felt that I had been made a really 
 welcome guest. 
 
 The Americans realised as quickly as any of the Allies 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 151 
 
 that depth charges, to fulfil their proper mission, should 
 be used as freely as possible, and it was not long before 
 the U.S. destroyer captains were begging Admiral Bayly 
 to fit their ships with tiers of depth charges, instead of 
 only a couple, which was the number carried by the first 
 destroyers to patrol. As the supplies became available 
 and the sterns of the ships were fitted to carry a large 
 number, one grew quite used to seeing these craft prac- 
 tically laden with water bombs, which could be set to 
 go off at four or six different depths ranging from 50 
 to 300 feet. 
 
 I told the American destroyer officers what I had 
 found, from my own experience, was useful in patrol 
 work, just as I should have imparted the information to 
 any new destroyer captain who had joined my own 
 division; that is briefly as follows: — 
 
 (1). Not to make unnecessary wireless telegraphy 
 signals, and to reduce all signalling to a minimum. 
 
 (2). Not to make unnecessary reports to the Ad- 
 miral, who wants to know when things are going wrong, 
 rather than when things are all in order. 
 
 (3). To be most particular about look-outs and not 
 to allow any look-out to be on for more than half-an- 
 hour, nor to be relieved at night time until his relief 
 had been with him for at least five minutes, so as to get 
 accustomed to the darkness. 
 
 (4). To fire a shot at a periscope for the simple rea- 
 son that the splash would be a good guide to the eye 
 and thus facilitate the dropping of the depth charge near 
 to the objective. 
 
 (5). To be most careful about darkening the ships 
 at night; one of my few criticisms of the American de- 
 stroyers was that they used canvas covers over their 
 
152 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 scuttles, which should, I thought, have been fitted with 
 " dead lights " — these canvas covers were apt to work 
 off in heavy weather, especially if they were only secured 
 by officers' stewards, who, in the case of the U.S. naval 
 forces, were usually Phillipine boys or coloured men, 
 not necessarily possessing the " habit of the sea." 
 
 (6). To ram whenever possible, even although their 
 own ships might sink in consequence, for they were to 
 be supplied with Carley life floats, which were likely to 
 be picked up; and I emphasised that the Allies could 
 well afford to lose a ship for every submarine sunk. 
 
 In the matter of colouring, I thought the upper works 
 of these destroyers should have been painted a lighter 
 grey than their hulls, and the top-masts should be 
 lowered if possible, for these destroyers were rather 
 lofty and their tall top-masts served to attract attention. 
 This was before the days when we employed different 
 colour schemes for camouflaging to any great extent. 
 
 I am afraid I was also guilty of suggesting that small 
 arms should be in a very accessible place in fine weather, 
 and ready for instant use. This may be considered a 
 little unnecessary in the Atlantic patrol, where we were 
 a long way from the enemy shores, but I always thought 
 it better to be prepared to kill Germans who might sud- 
 denly be found on the deck of a submarine on the sur- 
 face at night. This remark applied also to machine- 
 guns, where they were carried. 
 
 I did not think that the American officers and men 
 had adequate clothing at this time, to keep them warm 
 and comfortable in bad weather; nor were they well sup- 
 plied with leather sea boots. I thought the Americans 
 wore insufficient under-clothing, too, which would lead 
 them into all sorts of trouble later on, when they had 
 
X 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 < 
 
 w 
 
 CO 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 153 
 
 to face the rigours of the damp climate hereabouts; 
 besides which, nobody can do his work properly at sea 
 unless he is well clad. 
 
 I suggested that paper work should be reduced to a 
 minimum, but in the elimination of unnecessary corres- 
 pondence I think the U.S. naval forces had us well 
 beaten at all times. Apropos of this subject, I noticed 
 that every American destroyer carried a yeoman, who 
 acted as stenographer and clerk; much of the C.O.'s 
 time was saved by his employment, and the introduction 
 of ratings skilled in shorthand would be an asset for our 
 own destroyers and small craft. It is my experience that 
 conscientious officers waste, I will not say spend, a great 
 deal of their time over correspondence and office work 
 which probably would be better done if the American 
 system were employed. I myself have never treated 
 office work very seriously during the war, although I 
 must confess I have often been worried and hampered 
 by it. An instance: After being nine or ten nights 
 at sea in succession, I had secured my destroyer to the 
 buoy in Dover Harbour, gone down to my cabin, where 
 I thawed myself out with a cup of boiling cocoa, and then 
 turned into my bunk to sleep during the forenoon. I 
 had just dozed off when a signalman came in and read 
 out, " From Captain (D) to Broke. Report by signal 
 
 why you have not complied with my ," 
 
 referring to some order that had evidently been over- 
 looked. I was very sleepy, but my conscience was fairly 
 clear, since I never let the correspondence accumulate. 
 I could not think what it referred to and so I said, 
 " I will answer it when I have had a couple of hours' 
 sleep," for it was evidently not important. I had no 
 sooner fallen asleep, or so it seemed to me, when down 
 
154 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 came the signalman again with a somewhat rude re- 
 minder from Captain (D). So I got out of bed and 
 hunted out the order, which I found stated that a report 
 was to be sent in every month giving the amount of 
 ammunition above 4-in. expended by the vessels under 
 the Captain (D's) orders. I had read the order to mean 
 the Swift and the small monitors which were armed 
 with 7.5-inch and 9.2-inch guns, and had therefore paid 
 no attention, but as I had twice been woken up I decided 
 to go ashore and protest, for I had not really deserved 
 to be shaken up in this way for no reason whatever. 
 Accordingly I went to Captain (D's) office, full of fury 
 and ready to explain that since my ship carried no guns 
 bigger than a 4-inch, we had not expended ammunition 
 of a greater size, and that on behalf of myself and 
 others who might be so disturbed in the few quiet hours 
 we got during the long dark night patrol this damn non- 
 sense should cease. But I found that it was not Captain 
 (D) who had sent the signal, but a long white-faced 
 lanky gentleman with well oiled hair, who acted as his 
 secretary. Since this time I have paid less attention 
 than ever to paper work in destroyers, realising that 
 half the rude signals and urgent memos come from peo- 
 ple who have nothing better to do, rather than directly 
 from the powers that be. 
 
 All service in light craft, which ships are commanded 
 by youngsters, tends towards a kind of destroyer Bol- 
 shevism; most of us did our paper work with a fair 
 degree of conscientiousness, but one destroyer officer 
 who once served in the Dover Patrol developed into a 
 perfect Trotsky; he never answered a letter; he never 
 read an order, and moreover he prevented anybody else 
 in his ship from paying any attention to the accumulating 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 155 
 
 enquiries as to why this or that had not been done. He 
 was tolerated for some time because he had a happy 
 knack of always getting there when it was necessary to 
 be on the spot. However, those in the pay, victualling 
 and discipline offices eventually united, very properly 
 it is true, and brought about his downfall, for the sake 
 of law and order. A successor was appointed, who 
 boarded the " Unnamed One's " craft. Mr. Nameless 
 conducted him round the beautifully clean and orderly 
 little ship, if it is possible to have a thirty-knotter beauti- 
 fully clean and orderly in war time. The little destroyer 
 was obviously efficient and the newcomer, taking her 
 at face value, consented to assume that the confidential 
 books were as they should be, when the captain sud- 
 denly threw open a little trap hatch on the deck abaft 
 the ward room, and, taking from his pocket a bundle 
 of weekly orders, he slung them down with a swish, 
 slammed the hatch and said, " If you want any orders, 
 letters or instructions, you will find them all down there. 
 I never read them, but I take care not to lose them. 
 They go down directly they come." 
 
 Although I do not pretend to set this young gentleman 
 up as an example, I do consider that we have been 
 unnecessarily handicapped by paper work in war time, 
 and much time might have been saved by the inclusion 
 of a stenographer in every destroyer's complement, who 
 could have shepherded the papers and reduced them to 
 the aforesaid law and order. 
 
 Pardon the digression, and return to my friends 
 from the States. I also suggested to the Americans that 
 when in Berehaven or other such places, the crew should 
 be encouraged as much as possible to get physical exer- 
 cise and fresh air. This may sound rather nonsense, but 
 
156 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 a destroyer in bad weather is not the place to get fresh 
 air, except for those on the bridge, for the decks are 
 awash and heavy seas break over them, making it impos- 
 sible for people to remain on deck, and the fug and 
 frowst in all torpedo craft, down below, would take 
 more than pen and paper to describe. 
 
 I gave them our own gun and torpedo stations for 
 fighting patrol work, which were very good since they 
 were the outcome of many officers' experience for several 
 years of war. Amongst other things I advised them to 
 zig-zag as much as possible when steaming under 18 
 knots; Taussig and I both agreed that during the hours 
 of darkness, and particularly during twilight hours, 
 either the captain or the second in command should be 
 on the bridge in addition to the officer of the watch; this 
 being at a time when the submarine could see a de- 
 stroyer without being seen herself, and therefore the 
 most dangerous time for the T.B.D. I reminded my 
 friend about taking advantage of the moon and sun, 
 with reference to placing vessels in position for at- 
 tacking. 
 
 I noticed that American destroyers were supplied with 
 light yellow or neutral shades over their prismatic 
 binoculars, which made it possible to see extremely well 
 when looking in the direction of the sun. We have not 
 this arrangement fitted to our glasses, but it is, I think, 
 a good thing to make use of. 
 
 Our fellows in the Dover Patrol got very clever at 
 snap-shot firing; driftwood or other floating wreckage, 
 which was constantly met with, would be used as a tar- 
 get, and I know in the U.S.S. JFadszvorth the officers 
 were always practising their men in this way. I also 
 advised them to take constant advantage of the aiming 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 157 
 
 rifles on their guns, to practise the crews quickly at 
 coming into action. I suggested to them occasionally 
 firing off their guns to exercise the crew and keep them 
 from being gun-shy. There were a certain number of 
 very young hands in the United States destroyers, and 
 like our own youngsters, they probably suffered from 
 gun-shyness to begin with. 
 
 I remember Admiral Bayly gave the American of- 
 ficers some very good hints with reference to closing tor- 
 pedoed or sinking ships, and he told them many little 
 stories concerning survivors. I remember he mentioned 
 picking up, with the Adventure, a crowd of survivors 
 from a sloop which had been torpedoed. The men had 
 got on to the upper of two Carley floats, which had 
 stuck together, and they were able to keep quite dry; in 
 fact, if I remember rightly, when picked up after being 
 two or three days at sea, one of these men was playing 
 a mandoline and the other the good old sea-service 
 mouth organ. It was, of course, summer weather. 
 
 It would be well to insert a little story I heard about 
 Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, concerning the unrest in south- 
 west Ireland at the time of which I am writing. I give 
 it without prejudice — it may not even be true. 
 
 The Mayor of Cork asked that his city should be 
 placed out of bounds to British and American sailors. 
 Cork was not interested in the Allied navies, and did not 
 wish to have our sailors in her city, at least that is how 
 the story goes. But the development of Queenstown as 
 a naval base brought more and more money to the port 
 until, after the Americans had settled down, it almost 
 became " their city "; money was spent most lavishly in 
 Queenstown by Uncle Sam's boys, and the residents in 
 consequence grew richer and richer, until their neigh- 
 
158 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 bours in the larger city of Cork were worked up to a 
 splendid pitch of jealousy. The Mayor, supported by 
 sundry members of the corporation, visited the Naval 
 Commander-in-Chief at Admiralty House by appoint- 
 ment; according to the story, which was told me by an 
 American naval officer, the following dialogue ensued: — 
 
 Uncle Lewis (On the mayoral party entering the 
 room) : Sit down. 
 
 Mayor: On behalf of the city of Cork I ask you, 
 Admiral, to cancel your order that Cork should be out 
 of bounds to officers and men of the British and U.S. 
 naval forces. 
 
 Uncle Lewis (looking severely at the Mayor) : Can 
 you guarantee that officers and men of the British naval 
 forces can visit Cork and walk through the streets with- 
 out being insulted? 
 
 Mayor: I can not. 
 
 Uncle Lewis: Can you guarantee that officers and 
 men of the U.S. naval forces can visit Cork and walk 
 through the streets without being insulted? 
 
 Mayor: I can not. 
 
 Uncle Lewis: Can you guarantee that if the National 
 Anthem is played in theatres and places of amusement 
 in the presence of British officers and men, that the 
 citizens of Cork will respect it and not receive it with 
 booing and hissing? 
 
 Mayor: I can not. 
 
 Uncle Lewis: Can you guarantee that if the National 
 Anthem of the United States of America is played in 
 theatres and places of amusement in the presence of 
 officers and men of the U.S. naval forces, that the cit- 
 izens of Cork will respect it and not receive it with 
 booing and hissing? 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 159 
 
 Mayor: I can not. 
 
 Uncle Lewis (throwing the door open, in a voice of 
 thunder) : Good-day. 
 
 Outside Admiralty House a number of friends and 
 others interested in the deputation awaited, hopefully 
 anticipating that the attractions of Cork would result 
 in the lavish expenditure of money by the naval units, 
 which it was supposed would shortly re-visit the city; 
 they eagerly crowded round the Mayor, and one amongst 
 them anxiously asked the Mayor to inform them of the 
 results of the interview. The Mayor looked his in- 
 terrogator straight in the face and replied: "Begorrah! 
 We were lucky to escape with our loives." 
 
 It is interesting to note that the Americans launched 
 over 60 magnificent sea-going destroyers in the year 
 and a half of war which followed the epoch of this 
 chapter, compared with a matter of four or five in 19 14. 
 
 Before closing this chapter it might be mentioned that 
 a splendid scheme for entertainment of the seamen was 
 adopted by the Americans. The old swimming-bath at 
 Queenstown was taken over and fitted up as a U.S. 
 naval club, and an excellent temporary theatre was con- 
 structed where kinema exhibitions were held nightly, the 
 films being displayed to the enlivening music of the 
 " Dixies " naval band. Almost every variety of enter- 
 tainment was catered for by the American Chief-of-Staff 
 and his assistants. At this club one could get refresh- 
 ments, which varied from an ice cream soda to a seven- 
 course dinner, at almost cost price. I am bound to say 
 that the comforts of the American sailors were infinitely 
 better studied than those of the British blue. When one 
 considers the difference in the pay of the two navies one 
 cannot help an uneasy feeling that we have not done 
 
160 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 enough for our own men. On the other hand, it struck 
 me in the course of conversation that American sailors 
 were no more contented than the British with their lot. 
 I always regretted that American destroyers got no 
 fighting against above-water craft, for I could well have 
 pictured them going into action, firm of purpose, smil- 
 ing, undaunted and unafraid, and I remember well how 
 some of them begged me to use my influence to get them 
 employed on the Belgian coast to give them this fighting 
 chance. By virtue of the Allied destroyer distribution, 
 my friends were always kept to the duller work of polic- 
 ing the ocean far away from the North Sea, so that 
 Allied and neutral merchant ships might ply their way in 
 comparative freedom from attack. In doing this, al- 
 though only occasional submarine hunts enlivened their 
 patrol, when the American destroyers finally sailed for 
 their home ports at the termination of hostilities, their 
 captains, officers and men could proudly hold up their 
 heads, content with the knowledge that they had done 
 real work in protecting the sea-borne supplies which 
 gave strength and final victory to the nations who were 
 staking their all for right and democracy. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 BlKKY AND THE BlG GUNS 
 
 "THE TROUBLESOME TARGET" 
 
 Now this is the troublesome target. 
 
 And this is the Hun who lived in the troublesome target. 
 
 And this is the gun that straffed the Hun who lived in the trouble- 
 some target. 
 
 This is the tractor with plenty of power that goes about four miles 
 an hour that mounted the gun that straffed the Hun that lived 
 in the troublesome target. 
 
 This is the shot the sailor got and put on the tractor with plenty 
 of power that goes about four miles an hour that mounted the 
 gun that straffed the Hun that lived in the troublesome target. 
 
 This is the " Pod " that struck in the sod to spot the shot the sailors 
 got and put on the tractor with plenty of power that goes about 
 four miles an hour that mounted the gun that straffed the Hun 
 that lived in the troublesome target. 
 
 Now this is old Bick, who's as fat as a tick, who sits on the pod that 
 stuck in the sod to spot the shot the sailor got and put on the 
 tractor with plenty of power that goes about four miles an hour 
 that mounted the gun that straffed the Hun that lived in the 
 troublesome target. 
 
 This is the fall of the first cannon ball as seen by old Bick who's as 
 fat as a tick who sits on the pod that stuck in the sod to spot 
 the shot the sailor got and put on the tractor with plenty of power 
 that goes about four miles an hour that mounted the gun that 
 straffed the Hun that lived in the troublesome target. 
 
 '' Nubian Nonsense " 
 
 The Germans, as we know, were great believers in 
 mounting very heavy guns at odd spots along the Belgian 
 coast and elsewhere, for the purpose of their straffing 
 and general terrorisation schemes. These heavy gun 
 batteries were sufficiently new and powerful to keep the 
 
 11 161 
 
i62 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 attacking monitors from seriously interfering with the 
 Germans, and by day the British naval forces on the 
 Belgian coasts were unable to approach, if the weather 
 was clear, to within ten miles, after the operations con- 
 ducted by Admirals Hood and Bacon in 19 14-15. 
 
 In October, 19 15, Commander Bickford and Lieu- 
 tenant-Commander Lewin were selected by Admiral 
 Bacon to take charge of the mounting and transport of 
 heavy naval guns for counter-battery work against the 
 Germans near the coast. 
 
 In the autumn of 191 5 it was extremely difficult to 
 obtain heavy guns, for our output of guns and munitions 
 was not then great enough to supply at once all the 
 pieces that were needed by those commanding in the vari- 
 ous theatres of war. Admiral Bacon realised this more 
 than most people and, without troubling the Admiralty 
 to give him the weapons he required for shore use, he 
 dismounted at Dover three Mark VI. 9.2-inch 22-ton 
 guns from the three small " M " class monitors which 
 were armed with these old-fashioned cannon. The mon- 
 itors of this class were of very little use on the coast, ex- 
 cept for the protection of the auxiliary patrols against a 
 rush attack by above-water craft; they were of very frail 
 construction, unsuitable for bombarding from a moving 
 platform a fixed target in a well protected position. At 
 the best of times they could only have been used for 
 plastering large areas on account of the difficulty of 
 accurate ranging when mounted on the little vessels. 
 
 Accordingly, two of these guns were lifted out and 
 placed ashore at Dunkirk, while one was taken ashore at 
 Dover, and there Commander Bickford practised mount- 
 ing it under conditions as nearly as possible similar to 
 those which obtained in the dunes " over the way." 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 163 
 
 This was a piece of forethought on the part of Admiral 
 Bacon to avoid dumping the guns, gear and mounting, 
 over in Belgium without any preliminary training and 
 knowledge on the part of those who were to establish 
 them. " Old Bick " was a sailor, and of no man that I 
 have met can it be more truly said that " every hair of 
 his head and beard was a rope yarn." He was a splendid 
 seaman and, though he knew nothing whatever about 
 mounting guns or shore artillery work when he joined 
 Admiral Bacon's command, by exercising his seamanlike 
 qualities and common-sense, he learnt all that there was 
 to be learnt in this connection. He and Lewin together 
 played with those 9.2's as though they were but the 
 little 9-pounder muzzle-loaders, which twenty years ago, 
 used to be displayed with exhibition naval guns' crews 
 in the Royal Military Tournament at Islington. 
 
 For artillerymen, the crews of the " Baby Monitors " 
 were used; the transport gear was literally begged, bor- 
 rowed and stolen from the little dockyard at Dover and 
 from the stores of the 15-inch howitzer batteries in 
 France. Two Foster-Daimler naval tractors and eight 
 trucks were obtained from the R.M.A. Depot at Eastney 
 and, by improvising the stolen (or shall we say "found") 
 timber, the guns were jacked, parbuckled, rolled, skidded 
 and levered up on to the spare 15-inch howitzer trucks. 
 
 The officers and men who were to work these guns 
 were practised under Admiral Bacon's supervision until 
 they were drill perfect in mounting and dismounting 
 them, but there was far more to be done in respect of 
 these guns than many a man who saw them at Dover 
 thought of. 
 
 Four 9.2's were eventually mounted in the dunes be- 
 tween Nieuport Bains and Oost Dunkirk Bains. At 
 
1 64 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 first they were unprotected but, as may be expected, 
 the Huns soon found them out, and the consequent 
 staffing to which the guns and their crews were subjected, 
 made it imperative that shell-proof emplacements should 
 be constructed. 
 
 The crews lived in camps in the neighbourhood of 
 their guns, which rejoiced in the names of " Lewin 
 Camp," " Barbara Camp," " Halahan's Camp," and so 
 forth, according to the fancy of the deity then in being in 
 this sandy, wind and shell-swept little new naval world. 
 
 Parts of the crews of the little monitors continued 
 with the guns until they were replaced by Royal Marine 
 units later in the war. The naval counter-battering per- 
 formed by the 9.2's was of great assistance to the French 
 artillery, and the portion of the army holding that sec- 
 tor of the line. 
 
 Early in 19 15, Admiral Bacon, produced a scheme for 
 knocking out the " Tirpitz " battery of four 11-inch 
 guns, which had caused great annoyance to the monitors 
 and upset the Admiral's programme for bombarding 
 from the sea. His plan was, originally, to mount a 12- 
 inch gun on the dunes near Oost Dunkirk, where it would 
 have a range of 38,000 yards, and be able to answer our 
 enemy with the same precision which the Germans them- 
 selves had attained. Unfortunately the position selected 
 was well within the range of the heavy German how- 
 itzers, placed behind their trenches, and during the 
 course of construction, in spite of very good camouflage, 
 the position was located, heavily shelled and practically 
 destroyed. Old Bick took it as a matter of course; he 
 was entirely unperturbed and, once the Admiral had 
 decided on a new position, he drilled his minions into 
 their usual high state of efficiency in gun-mounting with 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 165 
 
 a new piece, a 1 2-inch Mark X Dreadnought type of 
 gun. It weighed 58 tons, while the mounting and slide 
 together weighed another 53 tons. All of this "Old 
 Bick" conveyed along the road of France and Belgium in 
 a way that excited the admiration of the inhabitants. The 
 great weight of gun and mounting was only moved by 
 night, but on the occasion when the final move up of the 
 gun to its new position took place, Commander Bick- 
 f ord transported the 1 2-inch weapon sixteen miles dur- 
 ing a single night. 
 
 It was a wonderful sight for those who peered from 
 their windows, in their night-caps, in the little village of 
 Ghiveldt. " Old Bick " in drab-coloured fear-nought 
 coat, smothered with gun grease and what not, a rum 
 bottle sticking out of one pocket, (let us hope it was 
 filled with tea) ; from the other pocket a half loaf of 
 bread, with slabs of meat and chunks of cheese, which 
 comprised his field service larder; dozens of little 
 squashed " Three Castles " cigarettes filling all the odd 
 pocket corners ! " Old Bick," who was a great favourite 
 among the Dover destroyer crowd, knew no difference 
 between night and day, he never seemed to sleep. He 
 was quite unable to carry a stock of clothes around, 
 never being in the same place for more than a matter 
 of hours at a time. He had a happy knack of always 
 being exactly on the spot. His men loved him; his 
 chauffeur was a slave to him. And this wicked old 
 Bluebird is actually credited with having killed three 
 chauffeurs in the war. The Foster-Daimler drivers 
 would work their hearts out for their boss, and once a 
 rating had been enrolled in the " Bickford Joy-ride 
 Army," he was lost to civilisation, and whatever unit 
 he belonged to lost touch with him for ever. 
 
1 66 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Two of the tractors were called " Keep Smiling " 
 and " Here I am," the third one christened itself 
 " Bicky's Baby," although their official designations 
 were really O.H.M.S. " 33," " 43," and " 29." 
 
 Incidentally, Bicky is still lost somewhere in France 
 or Belgium in 19 19. Long after the war is finished and 
 men have gone back to the soil; long after the French 
 children who greeted him with shouts and cadged his 
 cigarettes have grown up, married and perhaps become 
 mothers, Old Bick is still on the other side. Admiralty 
 clerks in vain scratch their heads and work through piles 
 of papers to trace his whereabouts; Lords of the Ad- 
 miralty angrily order his withdrawal, but none of their 
 efforts ever trouble Bicky; he has been so lost and sub- 
 merged in the labyrinth of sand dunes, battered trenches, 
 wrecked lighthouses, broken piers, wayside cafes and 
 decrepit picture palaces, that he has for ever established 
 his position as uncrowned King of Flanders. Expedi- 
 tions have been sent out in vain to overcome and capture 
 him in his pirate stronghold, officers of proved gal- 
 lantry and ability have attempted to track him down. 
 Many of them came in contact with him and thought 
 they had got their bird, but no, when safely in their 
 custody, as they foolishly imagined, they found, not 
 Bicky, but only his empty rum bottle. 
 
 At the time of writing I have been a month in Ostend 
 and, trading on my friendship, I have made an attempt 
 to secure him. I have collected a few satellites of proved 
 and tried vicious habits to help me capture Bicky, but, 
 like other men who have attempted this vain conquest 
 I have fallen as it were a shapeless, battered mass, for 
 Bicky has grown fatter than ever, and when I rushed 
 him and attempted to capture, for trial, promotion or 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 167 
 
 honour, he merely fell out of his motor-car and rolled on 
 me. When I recovered, Bicky had left Belgium and 
 re-established himself in one of his pirate haunts on the 
 outskirts of Dunkirk. 
 
 It is no good, and as long as life remains in him, this 
 monster will haunt the coast roads of France and Flan- 
 ders; fortunately, he is a good ghost, and beyond kill- 
 ing chauffeurs, pigs and chickens with his motor-car, 
 he has never been known to say an unkind word, to 
 refuse a drink or to refuse hospitality to any stranded 
 officer or man wearing an Allied uniform. But I must 
 get back to the guns. 
 
 During the transport of the heavies, screwing up and 
 wedging frequently had to be resorted to, when the 
 roads gave way, which they often did, and the wheels 
 of the gun trucks sank deeply into the mud they had to 
 be jacked and timbered underneath. The party also 
 had to reinforce bridges to carry the weight. 
 
 A little story was told me by Bickford, which I am 
 bound to include here, although it sounds better in the 
 telling than actually in the reading. 
 
 Old Bick was celebrating the Armistice at the newly- 
 inaugurated officers' club in Dunkirk. The officer who 
 was running the club, Major Magher, was an old Indian 
 man, and having the Anglo-Indian taste for curry, this 
 dish frequently appeared on the club menu. Old Bick 
 saw the curry and knowing that all the attendant delica- 
 cies were available, thanks to Magher, he told the 
 demure little French waitress to bring him some Bombay 
 duck. " Oui, monsieur" the little girl replied, and 
 daintily tripped away, to re-appear presently with a bot- 
 tle of good wine. Bicky preferred the wine of Scotland 
 to the red wine of the country, but he had not called for 
 
1 68 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 wine; " I didn't ask for this," he exclaimed. "Mais, 
 oui, monsieur. Regardez," ventured the little girl, and 
 pointing to the inscription on the label, added, " Mais, 
 vraiment. C est le ' bon Medoc' " 
 
 But now of the Dominion Battery, as it was eventu- 
 ally christened, owing to the assistance given by members 
 of the Overseas Canadian Railway Construction Corps. 
 The gun was mounted near Adinkerke, in the middle of 
 some fields of the type so familiar to those who knew 
 the peaceful Belgium of pre-war time. Long before the 
 gun was mounted, a dummy barn was constructed over 
 the platform and disguised in futurist colours which 
 made it extremely difficult to distinguish by aerial ob- 
 servation from the homesteads around. It really looked 
 like a portion of the farm Saint Joseph. 
 
 It was my privilege to be taken out to this battery 
 when it was nearing its final stages of completion. I had 
 brought the Admiral over in the Crusader to inspect the 
 handiwork of the barnacled Bickford and his web-footed 
 companions, who had temporarily forsaken the sea in 
 their eagerness to inflict material damage on the Boches. 
 The sailor loves to get away on detached service where, 
 like Old Bick, he can discard the little niceties of uni- 
 form, wear daisies in his hat, smoke to his heart's con- 
 tent whilst working, and generally drift into that state 
 in which Old Bick himself delighted to revel. He 
 certainly never called his men to account for being im- 
 properly dressed; how could he? 
 
 It was a great picnic for everybody concerned in spite 
 of the hard work entailed and the long hours. It was 
 impossible for German observers to see the gigantic 
 1 2-inch gun, for the breech and mounting were covered 
 in by the woodwork of the dummy barn, while the muz- 
 
J 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 169 
 
 zle itself was hidden by imitation tiles painted on can- 
 vas which could be withdrawn by spilling lines when 
 getting ready for action. 
 
 A few Belgian peasants were working in the fields 
 around when I visited the gun in the summer of 19 16 
 and renewed my acquaintance with that original char- 
 acter who figures as the hero of this chapter. I remem- 
 ber how glad I was to see him, and I do not think he had 
 forgotten me after I had picked him off his tripod near 
 Ostend, the year before. Perhaps he had grown a little 
 younger, his smile was broader and his body no more 
 slender; but he was the same tough block of a man who 
 feared nothing and nobody on earth, with the exception 
 of Admiral Bacon. Perhaps Admiral Bacon will be sent 
 out to gather him back to his proper side of the Channel 
 when all other men's attempts have failed. 
 
 Everything seemed to go so well and smoothly under 
 Bickford's charge; he had a number of clever and ener- 
 getic helpers, including two whom I met that day, Major 
 Harvey, of the Canadian Royal Engineers, and Lieut. 
 Flint, belonging to the same Corps. It was the first 
 holiday in the country I had had in the war, and I shall 
 never forget how thoroughly I enjoyed strolling around 
 the grass, flax, beet, and bean fields, that were quite 
 unlike anything to do with hating or war. The gun 
 itself seemed horribly out of place with its poultry 
 yard adjacent. Long-eared Belgian dogs and mangy 
 looking chickens strutted about amongst the large gird- 
 ers which formed the gun platform. Everybody had 
 a broad grin on his face, and the warm rays of the 
 sun streamed down upon us all and gave us a feel- 
 ing of peace. We were brought back to earth rather 
 suddenly, however, for the day I paid my respects to 
 
170 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 the Dominion Battery was after it had done a con- 
 siderable amount of firing and the Hun had fairly well 
 located its position. Suddenly two huge ii-inch shells 
 flopped down among the beans and beetroot, the mangy 
 chickens fluttered in startled fashion to the shelter of 
 the farm pig-sties, the long-eared dogs looked anxiously 
 at the sailors. The one great being whom we all feared 
 ceased cooking his omelette on the cordite cases, and 
 the mild summer feeling of peace gave place to one of 
 apprehension. Phosphorous smoke was quickly gen- 
 erated, and a dense fog soon blotted out the battery 
 from observation; we, the joy-riders, returned to our 
 cars and sped away, leaving Old Bick to deal as best he 
 could with the very expert German artilleryman who 
 had found him out once more. 
 
 The first rounds fired from this gun were loosed off 
 on Dominion Day, September 3rd, 19 16. They were 
 two shrapnel shells, which were fired with full charges 
 for the purpose of testing the gun and platform. Un- 
 fortunately, the second round, by some mistake, was not 
 one of those which had been gauged for firing; it left the 
 gun, but the head of the shell flew off and the body was 
 hurled through the air, making a noise like an express 
 train as it somersaulted, before eventually breaking up 
 and scattering its fragments over the fair fields of Bel- 
 gium. A Belgian General brought back the head of the 
 projectile the following day; it had landed in a field 
 three miles away without, I am glad to say, doing any 
 damage. The Belgian General, having satisfied himself 
 that it belonged to the Dominion gun, insisted on retain- 
 ing it as a souvenir. He wished those at the battery 
 better luck in future and then withdrew. 
 
 The subsequent efforts of the Dominion battery left 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 171 
 
 nothing to be desired. The " Tirpitz " battery was 
 straffed unmercifully, and we have every reason to be- 
 lieve that one of the big naval guns was knocked out 
 and another seriously damaged. We know from prison- 
 ers' information that one of these guns burst, but 
 whether it was hitting back at the Dominion battery or 
 firing at the monitor we do not really know. Our infor- 
 mation, from Belgian local sources, shows pretty con- 
 clusively that the first shell fired by the Dominion gun 
 at the Tirpitz battery caused the destruction of five-and- 
 twenty German soldiers working on the emplacement. 
 
 Admiral Bacon frequently visited the naval guns in 
 Belgium, and on the occasion of the first bombardment 
 of the Tirpitz battery, he employed a ruse which may 
 or may not have been successful, but which lacked noth- 
 ing in originality. 
 
 Everything being in readiness with the 12-inch guns 
 at Dominion Camp, an old monitor appeared off the 
 coast, disguised with an extra funnel and in other ways. 
 This ship opened fire with blank rounds, when she was 
 outside the long range of the shore batteries. The exact 
 times for firing the individual rounds had been pre- 
 arranged, and each time that a blank charge was fired 
 from the ship, the 12-inch shore gun fired a real shell. 
 As stated, our 12-inch naval gun ashore was thus able 
 to throw a certain number of shells right into the Tir- 
 pitz battery. Our spotting was done from the shore 
 observation stations and confirmed by aeroplane spot- 
 ting; from the aerial photographs and the Belgian in- 
 formation we learned that this bombardment was suc- 
 cessful in destroying the mounting of one gun at least. 
 
 Two more 12-inch guns of a slightly, improved pat- 
 tern, capable of being elevated to 45 degress, were sub- 
 
172 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sequently handed over to the tender mercies of Com- 
 mander Bickford and his men for transport and mount- 
 ing. They were put on board the monitor General 
 Crauford at Chatham and carried to Dunkirk, where 
 there were cranes capable of lifting these huge weights; 
 a wooden skid was built from the upper deck of the 
 monitor down to the quayside, the guns themselves were 
 packed round, so that they were cylindrical in shape for 
 the greater part of their length, and then eased down 
 the skids on the quay. Another skid was here fixed up, 
 leading from the quay to the road trucks, and the big 
 guns were taken, one at a time, to their selected posi- 
 tions in Belgium. One of these later guns was used 
 almost entirely for counter battery work against the 
 15-inch guns at Langenbaum. 
 
 In addition to the naval guns already mentioned, 
 three 9.2-inch, mark X, weighing 29 tons, were moved 
 to positions on the sand dunes, and 7.5-inch naval guns 
 were mounted in the vicinity of Nieuport, and finally 
 two mark VIII 9.2-inch 24-ton guns, originally com- 
 prising the heavy armament of H.M.S. Terrible, were 
 mounted at Oost Dunkirk; these were removed when it 
 was expected that the country would be flooded by the 
 Allies in order to prevent the Germans from advancing 
 further, which they then looked like doing. 
 
 The 9.2-inch guns spoken about at the beginning of 
 this chapter, got the highest number of marks for getting 
 nearer the enemy than any other naval gun, for the 
 Germans advanced to within 900 yards of their actual 
 position, and they had a lonely time on one occasion, 
 when their only artillery support was one machine-gun 
 mounted on a sand dune to the rear of them. Old Bick 
 was in no way perturbed; once the decision had been 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 173 
 
 given to dismount the gun, he rolled up to their emplace- 
 ment in a Lancia Boxcar tender, with his rum bottle, 
 sandwiches and impedimenta, and established himself 
 with a view to getting busy. The enemy no sooner 
 observed Old Bick's car than they commenced a mur- 
 derous straffing with 4.1-inch shells, but the car, like 
 Old Bick, had a charmed life, and although 43 shells 
 were squirted at the lonely vehicle, not one succeeded in 
 doing it any injury worth commenting on. Old Bick 
 waited till dusk and then commenced to dig it out of the 
 sand heaps which had been knocked up about it by the 
 exploding shells. During the hours of darkness the 
 marines, who were then manning these guns, constructed 
 a road of sleepers and, four days after they arrived, 
 the two guns were safely withdrawn. The second gun 
 was only got away at daybreak, and those working about 
 I it were lucky to escape being shelled, for the enemy, 
 with their military thoroughness, always had an obser- 
 vation balloon out with the first rays of light to report 
 1 on anything that could be seen moving behind our lines. 
 This day the Hun balloon observer was slightly behind 
 time; the shelling came all right, plastering the roadway 
 just as Old Bick toddled after the retreating muzzle 
 (and the whole train of comics disappeared round a 
 friendly corner in the Aeolian Road, which leads to 
 Nieuport and Oost Dunkirk. 
 
 These remarks, which are not meant to be historical, 
 would not be complete without a reference to the late 
 Commander H. C. Halahan, D.S.O., who was navally in 
 charge of the bombarding guns and their crews. This 
 officer, who it will be remembered, lost his life at Zee- 
 brugge Mole when he was about to land in charge of the 
 demolition party, inspired his men with confidence, and 
 
i 7 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ran the naval batteries, which were under the Dover 
 Admiral's command, in a manner which the Admiral 
 officially reported as " deserving of the highest praise." 
 
 The scope of this book does not permit me to dwell 
 much on the individual effort of all those who served 
 ashore on the Belgian coast. I have expanded on the 
 subject of Old Bick because his whole character and 
 procedure invited description, for the benefit of those 
 who do not go down to the sea in ships, and only have 
 seen brass-bound sailors in beautiful rigging, adorning 
 such places as the Carlton and Savoy. 
 
 Bicky was truly the naval equivalent for Bairns- 
 father's " Old Bill." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 The R.N.A.S., More Coast Watching, Mine 
 Laying and Skirmishing 
 
 Who is he who lives in Dover, 
 
 He who always goes by car, 
 Even though he only travels 
 
 A hundred yards to find a bar? 
 
 Beside a shed he's seen on Sundays, 
 Weirdly clothed and shouting loud. 
 
 All his faithful minions round him, 
 Waiting for a decent crowd. 
 
 When the road is black with people, 
 
 They open doors which groan and grunt, 
 
 Carry forth their wondrous plaything, 
 Wind it up upon the front. 
 
 When the crowd begins to dwindle, 
 
 Then thej' lift it shoulder high, 
 All the people start to whisper, 
 
 "Do you think he's going to fly?" 
 
 But they're doomed to disappointment, 
 
 The bird is put back in its cage, 
 Doors are shut and barred and bolted, 
 
 All have earned their daily wage- 
 Later on you'll hear his story, 
 
 How he had an awful fight, 
 " Met a Prussian at six thousand," 
 
 Then you'll realise he's (deleted by censor). 
 
 Tells you anti-aircraft Archies, 
 
 Smote him with an awful tonk, 
 Fuller details he will give you 
 
 If you say, "Is yours a Bronk?" 
 
 175 
 
176 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 His imitation naval rig, 
 
 Does credit to his tailor. 
 But still he always must admit, 
 
 He's Really Not a Sailor. 
 
 Note. — All lib«l actions in connection with this, or any other poetical 
 efforts, can be settled out of court at eleven a.m. on any day 
 during the next stand off. 
 
 '' Nubian Nonsense " 
 
 The above is a page from " Nubian Nonsense." Lieut. 
 John I. Hallett, who perpetrated this dreadful libel on 
 our gallant Air Service, was one of our best young 
 destroyer officers, zealous, full of dash, and gifted with 
 perhaps the liveliest imagination of all in the Dover 
 family. He never feared to say what he wanted to say 
 in his poetry and he sent copies of his poems to all those 
 he slandered. I am afraid during his periods of boiler- 
 cleaning, he had to cool the wrath of those his pen 
 attacked with many an iced " Bronx " cocktail. 
 
 Whenever a hostile aeroplane dropped bombs near 
 the Nubian during the time she was commanded by Hal- 
 lett, the bird on the wing was sure to get a rude signal 
 slowly blinked out from the ship's searchlight. Some of 
 these signals I am quite unable to publish, but of others, 
 " Killed any women and babies lately, Fritz " ? " How 
 many hospitals have you bombed " ? and " Who bombed 
 the kindergarten "? are more or less typical. Some of 
 these signals the Germans read, for now and again he 
 got what the Hun considered appropriate replies, such 
 as " Cowards, for firing on German trawlers," " What 
 a mess you made at Heligoland." 
 
 We were unfortunate enough to lose Hallett from the 
 Dover Patrol about halfway through the war; he was 
 appointed away to command a large destroyer, which 
 was to attend on our submarines operating near the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 177 
 
 German coasts. He certainly profited by his new ap- 
 pointment, and soon won his D.S.O. 
 
 In spite of Hallett's poem, we in the Dover Patrol 
 were quick to recognise the magnificent development of 
 the R.N.A.S. Nothing ever happened on the Dunkirk 
 side in the way of German offensive from the air, with- 
 out the fiercest of counter attacks Our fellows were 
 always up, and by 19 17 day air attacks by the Germans 
 were nearly a thing of the past. The enemy aeroplanes 
 were literally chased from the skies. There were, of 
 course, the occasional day raids made on London by 
 large squadrons of aeroplanes, when Dover and Rams- 
 gate both got the bombs that were remaining, but after 
 all, what did this amount to? The results, when spread 
 out, did not show much for the year. Our force was not 
 as efficient as that of the Germans in the first three years 
 of the war, but in the last two years our machines were 
 so much better in construction and armament, that with 
 their magnificent personnel, the Hun airmen more than 
 found their match. 
 
 In the summer of 1917 we re-established the Belgian 
 barrage patrol, and in this year we were almost un- 
 molested. It is true the enemy used their machines to 
 spot and generally observe us on our coast patrol, but 
 they flew to the safety of their aerodromes the moment 
 our own machines were sighted. Occasionally they were 
 cut off, and I remember seeing a very pretty little fight 
 on Sunday, 12th August. An enemy seaplane had 
 shadowed the patrol and wirelessed his observations to 
 the enemy, and at 5.45 p.m. our aeroplane fleet patrol, 
 directed by the ship's gunfire, attacked him and brought 
 
 him down into the sea. The air fleet patrol was most 
 12 
 
178 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 efficient and, although we had not enough machines 
 available to keep a constant overhead patrol through- 
 out the long summer days, our aeroplanes had the happy 
 knack of appearing on the scene when their presence 
 was most desired. 
 
 Enemy aircraft were fairly frequently brought down. 
 I remember on one occasion watching an air fight when 
 the German was flopped into the sea. I stood up with 
 my division to what I thought was the scene of the 
 combat, but could find no trace of the enemy machine, 
 pilot or observer. Suddenly, however, a small fast 
 single-seater of our own swept down and pirouetted in 
 front of my bow, quite close to the sea. The pilot con- 
 tinually waved his hands towards the east, so off our 
 destroyers sped. Presently we found a wing of the 
 enemy machine just sticking out of the water. I de- 
 tailed the Nugent to pick up the aircraft if possible, 
 which she accordingly did. The pilot was saved, and 
 when he appeared on the deck of the Nugent, he looked 
 round and said, " The fellow who brought me down is 
 in the water over there. Will you save him if you 
 can? " We had not observed the downfall of the Eng- 
 lish machine, owing to a smoke screen which had been 
 put up for a bombardment by the Terror. The 
 Nugent's boats soon saved the R.N.A.S. pilot, and in a 
 very short time the German and the Englishman were 
 sitting at breakfast in the Nugent's wardroom, filling 
 themselves out with poached eggs and exchanging lies in 
 the most approved fashion. 
 
 This German was responsible for saving our own 
 man's life, and I hope he has been treated kindly as a 
 prisoner, for from all accounts he was one of those 
 rarae aves, a German gentleman. 
 
 The barrage patrol of 191 7 presented features which 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 179 
 
 differed only slightly from those of the year before. 
 Our two " centre pieces " were the monitors Erebus 
 and Terror. They did excellent work, and it might be 
 interesting to note their characteristics. They were of 
 8,000 tons displacement, 13 knots speed, and burned 
 oil fuel, which was a great blessing to their crews. The 
 main armament was two 15-inch guns and the secondary 
 armament consisted of 4-inch guns, with two 3-inch 
 anti-aircraft, besides some lighter pieces. They carried 
 305 officers and men each. 
 
 The bombarding work done this summer was more or 
 less divided up so that the 1 5-inch monitors, of which we 
 now had three, carried out the " set shoots," that is, 
 they fired at certain specified targets, such as batteries, 
 harbour works and lock gates, while the 12-inch vessels 
 were employed as supports for the light forces to rally 
 on and for short notice bombardments asked for by the 
 Army. We used smoke screens, which were from time 
 to time improved. The enemy also established smoke 
 screens soon after we got going, and great attention was 
 paid to original ranging in order to get round the enemy 
 smoke screens; that is, the monitors endeavoured to 
 get spotted on the targets before the smoke screen was 
 put up. If they succeeded in doing this, they planted 
 the requisite number of 15-inch shells on their objective 
 and the smoke screen itself was useless. A great deal 
 of trouble was taken to practise the aeroplane observers, 
 and they themselves had to face a good deal in order 
 to spot accurately while under the heavy fire of the 
 German anti-aircraft batteries, with which one might 
 almost say the Belgian coast was infested. Success in 
 the bombardments depended on the ships anchoring in 
 their bombarding position without being seen, and open- 
 
180 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ing fire as quickly as possible before the enemy smoke 
 screens had time to spread. It was also advisable for 
 the aeroplane to use wireless as little as possible before 
 the spotting commenced, and Admiral Bacon impressed 
 on aeroplane spotters that they must be always up to 
 time in order to signal, " Ready to observe," at the pre- 
 arranged time for " Hating." 
 
 I am glad to say that Admiral Bacon used the Broke 
 a good deal this summer, and he was always most com- 
 municative on the subject of preparedness. He fre- 
 quently impressed on those of us with whom he took 
 passage that we must while away the monotonous patrol- 
 ling hours by thinking out different situations and con- 
 tingencies with a view to meeting them quickly and to 
 the best advantage. He was always giving destroyer 
 captains little bits of advice that made for their efficiency 
 and readiness for action. 
 
 The enemy never knew when our bombardments were 
 going to take place, and Admiral Bacon had a whole lot 
 of dud signals, which he used to make every morning 
 at the same hour that aeroplanes would leave the aero- 
 drome, to deceive the foe and make them think a bom- 
 bardment was about to be perpetrated upon them. I 
 cannot exactly remember now whether an aeroplane was 
 actually sent up to hover over Ostend or some other 
 likely objective. The energy of the pilots combined 
 with the ability to climb of the newer machines would 
 have made a visit of this sort a mere nothing to the 
 R.N.A.S. people, and whereas in 1914 one could always 
 see our aeroplanes, from 19 17 onwards they actually 
 spotted over Ostend in a reliable manner at a height 
 of 17,000 feet. 
 
 I was glad not to be a gunnery lieutenant in a bombard- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 181 
 
 ing monitor, for the allowances and corrections that had 
 to be made would have defeated me entirely; wind 
 allowances, angular drift and rotation of earth and the 
 variety of other corrections discussed by the gunnery 
 lieutenants when they came aboard to see the Admiral 
 used almost to give me a headache, while the Admiral 
 and the knuts would never turn a hair. I used to get 
 my own back when I dashed alongside a pier at about 
 25 knots and lit a cigarette before going full speed astern 
 while the technical experts almost stopped breathing, 
 anticipating a dreadful collision. 
 
 The short notice bombardments, which were carried 
 out at the Army's request, usually by a pair of 12-inch 
 monitors, needed less technique. The targets repre- 
 sented coastal areas with certain pre-arranged points as 
 centres. The 12-inch monitors by this time had a nomi- 
 nal maximum range of 21,300 yards, but to ensure 
 spraying the target areas with their 12-inch shells, a 
 greater range than 20,000 yards was rarely put on their 
 sights, for this particular purpose. 
 
 The " short notice shoots " were usually carried out 
 from West Deep, unless the weather was misty and ships 
 could creep closer in. The " set shoots " were necessary 
 when any wild shooting might have resulted in killing 
 civilians, such as the inhabitants of Ostend. Short 
 notice bombardments were for straffing German soldiers 
 when reported in the areas indicated by our observers. 
 
 After I left the patrol, some of the monitors were 
 fitted to carry 18-inch guns, but before this, by the em- 
 ployment of long-headed shells, a material increase in 
 their gun range was obtained; by fitting a 15-inch shell 
 with an 8 calibre-radius head, an increase of range of 
 about 3,000 yards could be obtained. I believe we got 
 
1 82 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 this idea from the Germans, who were wonderful ar- 
 tillerymen. 
 
 This is not a technical book, it is not intended to be, 
 and therefore I do not propose to dwell any more on 
 the subject of the monitors' bombardments. I hope and 
 believe that our bombardments were successful in doing 
 material damage and harassing the Hun, but I should 
 very much have liked to see the conditions reversed, and 
 Admiral Bacon placed on the Belgian coast to defend it, 
 and to have the use of the ports of Ostend and Zee- 
 brugge as naval bases. 
 
 The monitors were a good deal under fire from the 
 shore batteries,- as were the other vessels of the patrol, 
 but the enemy thought more of shooting at the slow- 
 moving, heavier ships than of attempting to plunk the 
 more quickly moving destroyers. It was no unusual 
 thing for us to be straddled at a range of 25,000 yards, 
 and the enemy can truly say that this year by day he 
 kept us at arm's length By night our coastal motor- 
 boats made reconnaissances, and three of them, I re- 
 member, lay for three hours within a mile from Zee- 
 brugge Harbour on the 5th August, to note if any- 
 thing passed in or out during the hours of darkness. 
 
 These little C.M.B.'s, as the coastal motor-boats were 
 called, were manned by very dashing young officers, and 
 they sank a beautiful destroyer, G.88, by torpedo on 
 the night of 7-8th April, 1917. It was a cleverly 
 planned little stunt of Admiral Bacon's. He ordered 
 Zeebrugge to be heavily bombed, expecting the destroy- 
 ers to shove off from the Mole and stand out to sea to 
 escape the bombs. Quite in accordance with his wishes, 
 they did this, and very foolishly anchored their boats 
 when once they were well clear. The C.M.B.'s were 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 183 
 
 watching for them, and just as the Hun sailors had 
 settled down comfortably for the night, the little motor- 
 boats scuttled past them, each loosing off a torpedo. I 
 believe two of the torpedoes fired reached their targets, 
 one hitting the before-mentioned destroyer amidships 
 and sinking her, while another scored a hit without 
 achieving quite such a success. 
 
 The C.M.B.'s were often sent up the barrage by 
 night with the idea of torpedoing any above-water 
 craft or submarines mine-laying in the path of the 
 Belgian coast patrol, but nothing ever developed out 
 of these particular reconnaissances. 
 
 As in former years, we had our friends the drifters 
 along with us, working on the mine nets and keeping 
 them intact and dangerous. German destroyers frequent- 
 ly attempted to bombard the drifters, but since they sel- 
 dom came within 14,000 yards of the mine barrage, no 
 damage was inflicted, that I ever heard of, in 19 17. 
 
 German auxiliary craft, probably mine-sweeping 
 trawlers, were frequently sighted, and it generally fell 
 to the lot of destroyers to fire a few rounds at them 
 before they got out of range. It is probable that these 
 craft did the damage to the mine nets, which we found 
 tampered with soon after they were laid. On one oc- 
 casion the Faulknor (Commander Harry Oliphant), 
 struck these mine nets near dawn, and a section exploded, 
 blowing a big hole in his destroyer. The cynics of the 
 Dover Patrol declared he would not get into trouble 
 when the matter reached the ears of the authorities be- 
 cause they would be so glad to hear that the mine nets 
 were really dangerous. There is a good deal in this, 
 much more than meets the eye, for as I have said else- 
 where, we never feared English mines, and it was really 
 
1 84 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 not until 19 17 that our mines became dangerous to 
 friend and foe. 
 
 The Belgian barrage in 1917 was reinforced with a 
 type of mine unpleasant to come up against; but the 
 description of mine-laying by larger mine-layers is un- 
 necessary; it has already been given for 19 16, and after 
 all, the operation of mine laying merely consists in tip- 
 ping them over the stern. 
 
 We had a very bright sample of officer attached to 
 our patrol in the person of Lieut.-Commander Henry 
 Forrester, D.S.C., who commanded the mine-laying 
 destroyer Meteor. He was absolutely without fear, 
 and I personally had more to do with Forrester than 
 with many of the other junior officers commanding ships 
 of the Dover Patrol. In 19 17 particularly, I used to 
 escort him to a position near the Thornton Ridge, where 
 we had established a zero mark buoy, from which he 
 worked to lay his lines of forty mines or so. A descrip- 
 tion of one night will do for all. 
 
 The barrage patrol would withdraw at dusk; the ves- 
 sels would anchor in Dunkirk Roads, or to the northward 
 of the bank which protects the roads, according to the 
 state of tide for the night. A couple of hours before 
 high water, the Meteor would take station abeam of the 
 commanding flotilla leader and a little procession would 
 form up to accompany her to the zero point from which 
 she worked to get into position for laying. The flotilla 
 leader, with her following of modern destroyers, would 
 screen the Meteor up to the Thornton Ridge, or to what- 
 ever zero point had been decided on, and then, if no 
 enemy vessels were met with, " g " would be flashed 
 from Forrester's ship, and he would proceed indepen- 
 dently over to the prescribed position where his mines 
 
o 
 
 K 
 u 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 185 
 
 would be deposited. Personally, I loved these night 
 mine-laying stunts; I had grown tired of seeing the 
 enemy on the horizon and never being able to close him, 
 on account of our mine barrage, but night time brought 
 such boundless possibilities. A new division of destroy- 
 ers might come from Wilhelmshaven to join the Flan- 
 ders flotilla; a destroyer might be met with, intent on 
 bombarding Lowestoft, Aldborough, or some other fish- 
 ermen's home; small "A" class T.B.D.'s might be met 
 with, or even enemy trawlers : a chance of a scrap we al- 
 ways looked forward to, and our personnel was splendid. 
 I frankly admit that German gunnery was pretty ad- 
 vanced but they never profited sufficiently by it, and they 
 were not out to fight. Our fellows certainly were intent 
 on fighting, and if I have any criticism to make in this 
 little volume on our own sailors, it is that they treated the 
 war as a football match, rather than a contest of brains. 
 Whenever I accompanied Forrester and his Meteor I 
 felt a thrill of pride run through me, for this little red- 
 faced man must have crossed and re-crossed the German 
 minefields on almost every occasion when he took his 
 Meteor up the coast. His work was splendid, and I 
 shall never forget the feeling of apprehension which 
 crept over me when I saw the little Meteor disappear- 
 ing into the darkness. The impression left on my mind 
 was a cloud of black smoke, a phosphorescent wake and 
 a tin kettle full of men who were keen as mustard; then 
 the period of suspense — an hour, possibly two. We 
 knew her speed; we knew the position in which the mines 
 were to be laid and we therefore anticipated to within 
 five minutes the instant of her re-appearance. It all 
 comes back to me so vividly. The bow wave reported 
 by the look-out, the quickly-flashed challenge and ac- 
 
1 86 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 knowledgment, the feeling of relief and the signal, 
 " Speed 20 knots," flashed by the lamp which only 
 showed in the direction decided on; the dark shape of 
 the Meteor as she took station abeam of the Broke, and 
 we swirled away homeward to our anchorage off Dun- 
 kirk. We always hoped to meet the enemy, but that 
 privilege was denied us, and I feel that privilege will 
 for ever be denied us now that Peace terms specify 
 such a reduction of German armaments. We can hardly 
 hope ever to meet them again. 
 
 Little Forrester was awarded the Distinguished Serv- 
 ice Cross for his services; I think he also got the Croix 
 de Guerre, and I hope he will receive some other recog- 
 nition; he certainly deserves the best that can be given. 
 
 Apropos of night mine-laying, the C.M.B.'s, under 
 Lieut. Harrison, did some splendid work. These dimi- 
 nutive high-speed craft, which only drew a few inches of 
 water, used to place mines in all kinds of unexpected po- 
 sitions, and their efforts certainly met with success. It 
 was actually not until the end of 19 17 that their mine- 
 laying stunts commenced, but they were all worked in 
 conjunction with the mine-laying from destroyers. We 
 on the coast did a lot of cheerful " hating," whenever 
 we had time to spare, and that was fortunately seldom. 
 The Dover destroyer birds were a hard-working, sea- 
 keeping lot and, without any wish to criticise, moan or 
 complain, I think perhaps we did not appreciate suffici- 
 ently the services of the colonels, captains, dames D.N.T. 
 O.'s, majors and people of all sorts, kinds and descrip- 
 tions, who hauled in C.B.'s, C.M.G.'s, and C.B.E.'s 
 like mackerels on a trailing line for practically civil serv- 
 ices, while we carried out the multifarious duties as- 
 signed from time to time to the dirty little vessels 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 187 
 
 attached to the Dover Patrol. The " Hates " were 
 merely occasional, and they usually were consequent 
 upon one night too many at sea. Now that one can look 
 back on the war in a light which shows things in a more 
 or less correct perspective, one realises that there must 
 be a good deal of give and take. I for one, have always, 
 felt that those in Admiralty offices, for the most part, 
 did their utmost to work for those at sea; it is true that 
 they inflicted all kinds of inventions upon us, but there 
 was much in their devilish devices when properly em- 
 ployed. I do not know who invented the C.M.B., but 
 this little vessel was a masterpiece of ingenuity, so much 
 so that I almost wept with envy when I saw the first of 
 them go over from Dover to Dunkirk; I longed to be a 
 lieutenant or a sub, again, for however I may be laughed 
 at, I have once been guilty of suggesting to Admiral 
 Bacon that I should go with Commander Victor Camp- 
 bell to Zeebrugge and attempt to blow up a Hun de- 
 stroyer with a Canadian canoe, loaded with the destruc- 
 tive charge we had in use in 1916. We probably would 
 have pulled it off, but " Fred Karno " took no chances. 
 
 I have no doubt that many people in this war think 
 they have not been properly awarded; my bravest action 
 during four and a half years of " hating," consisted of 
 telling Admiral Bacon and his Chief-of-Staff that they 
 were called " Fred Karno " and " Hindenburg " respec- 
 tively. The inventor of these pseudonyms was one 
 Acting Commander R. H. B. Hammond Chambers, 
 another local wit, who rivalled Lieut. Hallett for the 
 position of jester-in-chief to the gutter-snipe navy. 
 
 September, 1917, found me the senior destroyer of- 
 ficer, for my friend Peck left the Swift to command the 
 cruiser Diana just about this time, and some new blood 
 
1 88 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 was injected into the patrol. We were fortunate in ob- 
 taining the services of Commander Graham Edwards 
 and one or two others of his stamp, who were certainly 
 an acquisition to our little fighting force. The Botha 
 rejoiced under the leadership of this officer who, apart 
 from being a very brave man, possessed a sense of 
 humour and a facility for acting funny that would have 
 put lines of envy on George Robey and Harry Tate. I 
 remember once meeting Edwards in Dunkirk, after I 
 had been promoted to the exalted rank of post captain in 
 His Majesty's naval service. We had both been up to 
 see the Commodore, and having received our orders 
 for execution on the morrow, we repaired on board the 
 Broke to partake of a little gin. The destroyer Mentor 
 was lying alongside; she had tied up to the Broke in my 
 absence. Edwards and I were full of beans, and our 
 kindly instincts turned to those in the little ship, for we 
 now possessed spacious cabins with glorious Chilian 
 messtraps, splendid head-room, while from the ceilings 
 of the Broke' s and Botha's captains' cabins depended 
 silver plated chandeliers that would have put the tawdry 
 decorations of the Berlin " Palais de Dance " to shame. 
 Viva Chile ! 
 
 We had one gin each and then we collected the 
 " Mentors." It will be remembered that this ship, in 
 the preceding April, had towed the Broke away from a 
 burning enemy destroyer which was in imminent danger 
 of blowing up; the opportunity was not to be missed; 
 nothing was too good for the " Mentors." 
 
 Edwards, who had a louder voice than even I myself 
 possessed, descended into the destroyer's wardroom with 
 a terrific and war-like whoop, and invited all and sundry 
 to board my flotilla leader. Those in the Mentor's 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 189 
 
 ward-room, seeing Commander Edwards and knowing 
 the Botha to be in the harbour, naturally imagined that 
 it was his ship they were alongside, the two vessels be- 
 ing exactly similar. I, myself, was arrayed in a bur- 
 berry waterproof, buttoned round my neck, and not be- 
 ing recognised as the destroyer king-at-arms of the 
 day, the Artificer Engineer pressed me to have a gin. 
 I did so, and freely accepted his hospitality, while Ed- 
 wards, divesting himself of some of his clothes, gave 
 an excellent music-hall performance which he described 
 as " Les Arabes." It consisted of wild whoops, can- 
 can dances, acrobatic feats and comic songs in jargon 
 French imitation; this very creditable, or disgraceful, 
 exhibition pleased the "Mentors" no end; they ap- 
 plauded him to the skies, loaded him with honours 
 in the shape of Gold Flake cigarettes, photographs 
 and souvenirs, and finally repaired to my cabin in the 
 Broke to partake of a sardine supper. By this time 
 Edwards had forgotten whether the Broke was his ship 
 or the Botha; he was an inimitable host, and his host- 
 like instincts caused him to take charge. He ordered 
 drinks and provided food; he bullied my cook and cox- 
 swain into a speed and efficiency in waiting they had 
 never attained under me and, in short, he thoroughly 
 rose to the occasion and gave the " Mentors " the time 
 of their lives. 
 
 Commander Edwards, of the Botha, was known in the 
 Dover Patrol as " Farver," and he is credited with hav- 
 ing led two destroyer divisions into action with the sig- 
 nal, " Follow father at 25 knots," flying from his mast- 
 head. "Farver" is one of the characters of the British 
 Navy. If he is on leave in England and he sees anything 
 wearing the uniform of a sailor or a marine, he cannot 
 
i 9 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 resist the temptation of going up and speaking to him. 
 He is often kept at arm's length for a second or two, but 
 his personality is so fascinating, his manner so comic, and 
 his figure so ridiculous, that the thickest ice is quickly 
 broken and " Farver " enlists another recruit in the 
 army of his admirers. " Farver " is irresistible. 
 
 It is rather curious that, although his war services 
 have been first class, his adventures many, his blunders 
 none, " Farver " only possesses two decorations — the 
 Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. Of all the 
 Allied countries, only France has recognised him, but 
 " La Belle France" has handed out to Edwards every- 
 thing she can give. Let us hope some other nation will 
 follow in her footsteps. 
 
 I am glad to say that this year I was brought into 
 very close contact with the French vessels and their 
 captains. We usually had three Frenchmen patrolling 
 with us, and very good they were. In 1917 I generally 
 took out three or four of the following: — Francis 
 Gamier, Obusier, Bouclier, Enseigne Roux, Magon, and 
 Capitaine Mehl. 
 
 The French destroyer captains were full of pluck, 
 keen, skilful and daring. They manoeuvred splendidly, 
 and supported the British destroyers in a way that ex- 
 cited our greatest admiration. I hope I shall be par- 
 doned if I tell of a little meeting in the wardroom of 
 the Broke. 
 
 We were about to carry out a " Meteor " mine- 
 laying operation, rather more complicated than usual. 
 I had explained my plans, which had been discussed by 
 all the captains present. One Frenchman, with a long, 
 fair moustache, looked very serious throughout, and a 
 certain English commander, whose name I dare not 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 191 
 
 mention, sat with a face like a scrubbed hammock right 
 through the discussion. When it was over and every- 
 thing settled, " Scrub-'ammick " turned to the serious 
 Frenchman and said, "Aimez-voits les femmes?" The 
 reply came out pat, " Je les adore," and the meeting 
 broke up in disorder. 
 
 I had the honour of carrying the French Vice-Admiral 
 Ronarch, together with Admiral Bacon, when the British 
 and French naval forces made their debut on the Belgian 
 coast in 19 17, on the occasion of the re-establishment of 
 the mine barrage, which was laid, as previously de- 
 scribed, to harass the enemy submarines using the Bel- 
 gian coast ports. The two Admirals slept the night on 
 board after having a little dinner-party in the captain's 
 cabin on the Broke, which I attended. The senior naval 
 officer at Dunkirk, Captain Bowring, Chief of our Staff, 
 and the Admiral's flag lieutenant, were present at the 
 dinnner, and about 1 a.m. we moved away to the ap- 
 pointed rendezvous for the mine layers and their escorts. 
 
 At dawn we sighted two enemy destroyers and the 
 Broke being nearest to them, dashed in to the attack. 
 They at once retired, when we loosed off our four guns, 
 firing ahead at them, and the Broke went towards the 
 drifters re-laying mine nets. The Hun destroyers com- 
 menced playing at " Tom Tiddler's ground," and their 
 numbers presently increased, but they were not out to 
 fight that day, only to observe, unless we gave them a 
 chance to strafe the little fishing-boats, which we had no 
 intention of doing. 
 
 I may say that on this occasion the Broke carried a 
 cinema operator, and also among our passengers was 
 Captain Distin Maddick, O.B.E., who was making a 
 series of films for propaganda work. I regret that he 
 
192 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 missed the little destroyer brush, as it was quite a pretty 
 sight with their shells falling fairly close. Later on in 
 the year we had evidence that destroyers were more 
 numerous in the German coast ports. 
 
 On the 27th October an attack was made on the 
 Botha and her destroyer division, first by one enemy 
 seaplane and then by about seventeen enemy aircraft, 
 flying from about 4,000 feet. This air attack, was the 
 only properly organised one the destroyers had to con- 
 tend with. Our anti-aircraft fire had the effect of break- 
 ing up the enemy formation, but bombs were dropped 
 very close to the ship. Two men in the Botha and 
 four in the French destroyer Magon were slightly 
 wounded, and a very small hole was made in the 
 Magon' s side on the water line, by a splinter. 
 
 The enemy destroyers evidently were working in con- 
 junction with the aeroplanes, hoping to demoralise our 
 fire during the bomb-dropping interval. A couple of 
 hits were obtained on the enemy by the Botha, after 
 which he withdrew. The Germans repeated this on the 
 following day, when nine aircraft attacked the Kem- 
 penfeldt's divisions subsequent to an enemy destroyer 
 attack, but they grew tired of this and used their aero- 
 planes for bombing towns at night — a more profitable 
 amusement and less dangerous to themselves. 
 
 On the 10th October, the Broke sighted a submarine 
 and fired at her, but she dived before we could come 
 close. 
 
 At the end of October, the enemy submarines laid 
 mines across the track of the coast patrol, and in this 
 month we had evidence that enemy submarines crossed 
 the Belgian Coast barrage. From this time they appear 
 to have made certain passages through, and I regret to 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 193 
 
 say our mine barrage no longer deterred them from 
 entering the Channel. 
 
 The Belgian Coast barrage had certainly been of use, 
 for it is commonly known that German submarines, for 
 a year or so, generally forsook the Channel route and 
 travelled north-about. 
 
 I might mention here a little fight we had in the 
 Broke on October 1st. We had just come over from 
 Dover and, joining up with the patrol, which was then 
 returning to its anchorage, the Terror ordered us to 
 place a light buoy in a certain position to the south of 
 the Thornton Ridge. As we were likely to be stopped 
 while laying and lighting the buoy, I asked the flotilla 
 leader on patrol to send me a couple of destroyers as 
 escort, but on our way up we passed several floating 
 mines and I signalled to the two T.B.D.'s, Mentor and 
 Moorsom, to stop and sink the mines. We went along 
 to the appointed position and found waiting for us four 
 large and two small enemy destroyers in the direction of 
 Zeebrugge. My broadside was only three guns against 
 the enemy's sixteen, but I had too much pride to run 
 away with the Broke after her channel scrap. I quickly 
 decided to turn away and lead them close up to the mine 
 barrage. As there were six of them, I hoped they would 
 follow a single flotilla leader, when I should have turned 
 round and gone straight for them, firing my four guns 
 ahead. But they remained where they were, stopped 
 and steaming slow, so I turned round and went for 
 them bald-headed, firing as rapidly as possible and not- 
 ing the fall of shell. We were joined by the Mentor 
 and Moorsom, but our smoke prevented them from 
 opening fire until we got right up to the mine barrage, 
 which, of course, I could not cross. Two hits were 
 
 13 
 
194 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 reported by the range-taker, but it is always very dif- 
 ficult to spot hits in a destroyer scrap, for everybody 
 is firing, and in our navy we are no different from other 
 navies — all our geese are swans. 
 
 The enemy did not wait for all three of us to engage 
 them, and when we got up to the barrage they retired 
 behind a smoke screen, not to re-appear that day. I 
 sent the two destroyers to continue sinking mines, and 
 fixed up the light buoy we were sent out to lay, then, in 
 order that there should be no undue lying or exaggera- 
 tion on the part of the Germans, I lowered a whaler in 
 charge of Sub.-Lieut. Peppe. He lit the buoy and pulled 
 about while we, hoping that this bait would attract the 
 Hun, waited for developments. Everybody laughed at 
 the sub-lieutenant abandoned in this manner, but the de- 
 stroyers might have held a regatta for the interference 
 from the enemy would certainly have been nil. I should 
 like to have seen the Germans lower boats in full view 
 of Harwich or Dover. The Vossische Ze'itung, Berliner 
 Tageblatt, or Lokal Anzeiger would have had half a col- 
 umn on the cowardice of our sailors, had they been able 
 to do so. We were quite certain that the enemy had not 
 interfered with our buoy, for we steamed back during the 
 night and laid some mines, and although we hung about 
 for a couple of hours, not an enemy ship was seen. 
 
 During this summer we were attacked by a new form 
 of torpedo, for it practically amounted to this. On the 
 3rd October, at 9.20 a. m., an electrically controlled mo- 
 tor-boat was seen approaching the patrol. The destroy- 
 ers and light craft fired on her and recorded a hit, which 
 considerably reduced her speed. Eventually she was hit 
 by the pom-pom shells fired from the destroyer North 
 Star, and shortly afterwards she sank. Apparently the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 195 
 
 working of this device was controlled by a spotting 
 seaplane, who wirelessed directions to the shore control- 
 ling station. 
 
 On the 22nd October, just after nine o'clock in the 
 morning, the Erebus sighted an electrically-controlled 
 motor-boat nine miles north of Ostend, heading straight 
 for the patrol, but the monitors, turning away, lost sight 
 of her and no real attack took place. On one occasion 
 the electrically-controlled motor-boat actually hit the 
 monitor Erebus. There was a terrific explosion, but as 
 it struck the monitor's bulge, no very great damage was 
 done. The captain was wounded in the face, and the 
 Erebus had several casualties. The principal damage to 
 the ship was to the electrical circuits, with which the 
 explosion played "old Harry." 
 
 The mine-sweepers during this summer did very 
 excellent work, and the patrol did not suffer on account 
 of enemy mine-laying. 
 
 The air raids on Dunkirk this year were worse than 
 ever. When the destroyers were anchored off the port 
 we had a good view of the enemy bombing raids. It 
 really did not seem that they could continue without the 
 annihilation of every living person in this French sea- 
 port. On moonlight nights, almost continuously from 
 darkness until dawn, one would hear the dismal hooting 
 of the old Sandettie Light vessel, which, moored in the 
 docks, used her fog signal as an air raid warning. We 
 christened it "Mournful Mary," and Mary certainly 
 mourned to some tune. There is no doubt Dunkirk suf- 
 fered, but the sang-froid of the inhabitants left nothing 
 to be desired; after a most dreadful series of air raids, 
 to an outsider the inhabitants appeared to be perfectly 
 unruffled. Dug-outs were constructed and preparations 
 
196 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 made for the protection of the military and civil popula- 
 tion, but nevertheless there were many casualties, for 
 19 1 7 was the year of 500-pound bombs, which could not 
 fail to kill. Later on I became flag captain to Admiral 
 Bacon and, sitting in his office at Dover, I frequently 
 had cause to telephone Dunkirk. I admired Commodore 
 Lynes and his secretary, Paymaster Lieut. J. Mc. L. 
 More who were so frequently bombed that I got quite ac- 
 customed to hearing, "Would you mind speaking a little 
 louder as there is an air raid on. There is rather a noise 
 this end." 
 
 The Commodore and his staff had to put up with a 
 good deal, and they must have been men of wonderful 
 physique to continue working as they did under almost 
 impossible conditions. 
 
 This year we had one or two misfortunes. One of our 
 torpedo boats, No. 24, was wrecked off Dover break- 
 water on the 28th January. The Ghurka was sunk by a 
 mine to the westward of Dover Strait, and we lost a good 
 little fellow in her skipper, Lieut.-Commander Wool- 
 combe-Boyce. A good many men were lost on this occa- 
 sion; Lieut.-Commander Lewin, the gunnery officer of 
 the Sixth Flotilla, happened to be on board when the 
 Ghurka struck a mine, and it was thanks to his gallantry 
 that several of the crew were saved. Lewin, after the 
 accident, seized a Kisbie life-buoy, and by his efforts 
 kept afloat several men, who all held on to the life-buoy 
 until they were picked up by a trawler. Lewin set a 
 splendid example by insisting that the seamen should 
 be taken on board first, although he had been a long time 
 swimming in the cold, rough sea. 
 
 We also lost the Myrmidon from the same cause. 
 The Zulu hit a mine near Calais on one occasion, but she 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 197 
 
 was skilfully kept afloat, thanks to the seamanlike qual- 
 ities displayed by her commanding officer, Lieut. John 
 Brooke, and the engineer officer of the Nubian. Event- 
 ually the Zulu was brought to England, minus her stern. 
 Some happy wag conceived the idea of joining the stern 
 part of the Nubian on to the bow half of the Zulu, for 
 the sake of economy in construction. It will be remem- 
 bered that the Nubian was struck in the enemy destroyer 
 raid in October, 19 16. The idea materialised, and the 
 joined together portions subsequently appeared in the 
 Dover Patrol under the somewhat un-naval name of 
 Zubian. 
 
 The Sixth Flotilla, during 19 17, were as follows: — 
 Light Cruisers. — Adventure, Active. 
 
 Flotilla Leaders. — Faulkner, Szvift, Broke, 
 Botha, Marksman. 
 
 Tribals. — Afridi, Amazon, Ghurka, Crusader, Vik- 
 ing, Nubian, Zulu, Cossack, Tartar, Mohawk, Saracen, 
 Kempenfelt. 
 
 Thirty-knotters. — Greyhound, Mermaid, Leven, 
 Fawn, Kangaroo, Syren, Gipsy, Racehorse, Crane, 
 Falcon. 
 
 Torpedo Boats for Downs Patrol. — r.5.24, 
 
 T.B.i S . 
 
 Small Monitors. — M.23, M.21, M.24, M.25, M. 
 26, M .27. 
 
 "L" Class. — Laertes, Lance, Laverock, Lark, Loch- 
 invar, Lucifer, Lydriard, Lawford, Linnet, Landrail, 
 Llewellyn, Laforey, Laurel, Liberty. 
 
 All "L" class had left the patrol by July, except 
 Laforey, sunk 23d May, 19 17, when we had the follow- 
 ing U M" class in their stead : — 
 
 "M" Class. — Mentor, Meteor, Melpomene, Mor- 
 
198 KEEPING THS SEAS 
 
 ris, Mastiff, Myngs, Miranda, Matchless, Nugent, 
 Milne, Manley, Mansfield, Minos, North Star, Mur- 
 ray, Phoebe, Moorsom. 
 
 Large destroyers originally built for Turkey. 
 — Termagent, Trident. 
 
 Patrol Boats. — P. 1 1 , P. 1 7, P. 2 1 , P.24, P.49, P50. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 Knuts and Gold 
 
 On our "days off" in the destroyer service it often fell 
 to our lot to carry monarchs, potentates and politicians, 
 as their services were required and dispensed with, from 
 time to time, by the various Allied nations. 
 
 I sometimes carried the whole Cabinet about in the 
 Viking, and the Chief of the General Staff usually 
 accompanied the ministers and all important missions. 
 Occasionally these were accompanied by lady secretaries, 
 who were full of news and whose presence in itself 
 offered a change to the monotony of the tedious patrol. 
 There is nothing like the sight of a pretty girl to cheer 
 up the war-weary sailor. 
 
 The proudest day for the Crusader was on the occa- 
 sion of a visit by King Albert and Queen Elizabeth to the 
 Belgian Coast flotilla. Their Majesties, with the Prin- 
 cess Jose, Prince Leopold and Prince Charles, came on 
 board the Crusader and were taken out into Dunkirk 
 Roads, where they boarded the monitor Terror, to see 
 over the latest addition to our bombarding squadron. 
 The Terror was a really efficient monitor of 14 knots 
 speed with two modern 15-in. guns. Captain C. W. Bru- 
 ton took the Royal Party over his ship and Queen 
 Elizabeth took many photographs. Bruton gave us an ex- 
 cellent lunch and King Albert inspected the ship's com- 
 
 199 
 
200 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 pany. The Crusader then took the Royal Party back to 
 Dunkirk, where other vessels were visited. 
 
 It was in an English destroyer, the Amazon, that the 
 King and Queen crossed over to England on their first 
 visit after the occupation of Belgium by the enemy. 
 
 The Crusader had the honour four times of taking 
 charge of the escort which guarded His Majesty King 
 George on his visits to France. The Prince of Wales 
 crossed on the same ship on his return from Italy, and 
 Mr. Lloyd George made almost a habit of crossing with 
 me. I shall probably be hanged for telling the following 
 story about the Prime Minister: — 
 
 Whilst commanding the Broke in 1917, I was sent to 
 Calais to embark £5,000,000 worth of bullion, and my 
 instructions were not to leave until an escort force ar- 
 rived and reported off the harbour. It was blowing a 
 northeasterly gale, accompanied by rain. The gold was 
 all on board, much of it stowed in my cabin, and I had 
 gone down below to get my lunch whilst waiting to 
 shove off. 
 
 Suddenly the Quarter-Master appeared in the door- 
 way, his oilskins dripping with wet. "There is somebody 
 wants to see you, sir, out on the wharf." I replied, 
 "What does he look like? Is he an officer?" "No 
 sir." "Is he a gentleman?" "I don't know about 
 that sir, but he seems to know you, because he asked 
 for Captain Evans." Whoever it was, I thought I had 
 better go up. Sticking up my coat collar, I went out 
 into the wet, and the dripping Quarter-Master pointed 
 to a sentry box. I climbed down the ship's side and made 
 my way to it, and there I found, huddled together, 
 Lloyd George, General Robertson, and Sir Maurice 
 Hankey. They asked me if I could give them some 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 201 
 
 shelter, which of course I did; it turned out that the 
 cross-channel steamer which had been sent for the Prem- 
 ier had been delayed, owing to the bad weather, and as it 
 had not yet arrived, I suggested to the Premier that I 
 should take him over with me, and to this he consented. 
 I apologised for having to wait a little until my escort, 
 which had now been signalled, approached and, leading 
 the way into my cabin, I offered the party refreshment. 
 
 They gazed in some surprise at the hundreds of little 
 green bags packed close together on the cabin floor, and 
 asked whatever they were. I explained the nature of 
 their contents, and the Prime Minister, with a twinkle 
 in his eye, asked if I trusted him in my cabin. I 
 laughingly replied that I had better say that I did any- 
 how. We sat down to a meal and then I went on the 
 bridge and took my ship out of the harbour. We 
 passed into a terrific sea and were soon washing down. 
 
 On arrival at Dover, I saw my three distinguished 
 passengers on to the special train and then proceeded to 
 change into dry clothes. The gold was passed up and 
 loaded into the railway trucks that awaited it. The 
 Bank of England representative took charge of it, but 
 found that there was one bag short. He explained this 
 to me, and I laughingly received the intelligence, where- 
 at he mildly insinuated that I was rather casual. I re- 
 plied, "Not at all, I have no financial responsibility in 
 this matter." Without losing our tempers we argued for 
 some little time, and I pointed out that the Admiralty 
 had decided no longer to pay commanding officers the 
 percentage to which they were entitled for carrying 
 bullion, and their Lordships stated that we would not 
 be financially responsible for its loss. 
 
 But the representative obviously did not believe me; 
 
202 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 he was a very nice man, and he evidently thought that 
 I had a "fox behind my ear," as the Norwegians say. 
 Then he asked me if anyone had visited the place where 
 the gold was kept. I said, "There were three men in 
 my cabin, but they have gone away now. They carried 
 siut-cases with them." Did I know who they were, 
 asked the B.O.E.R. "Well, I know one was called 
 George, but I don't think this concerns me now." The 
 B.O.E.R. looked at me as if to say, "Well you're a 
 quaint fellow to have charge of £5,000,000 and a beauti- 
 ful ship of war." Then I offered him some tea and sug- 
 gested he should count the money again. I was abso- 
 lutely confident that my organisation for guarding and 
 tallying this money was perfect, and I really did not feel 
 that any had been lost. 
 
 The tally was carefully compared again, and I am 
 glad to say the money was correct. I do not think I 
 should have been promoted if I had lost Lloyd George 
 and £5,000,000 in that crossing, and I very much doubt, 
 if I had lost one bag, whether my services would have 
 been retained in His Majesty's Navy. 
 
 I am glad to say I did not make many "bricks" as far 
 as the conduct of my ship was concerned, but of all 
 faux pas that man ever made, perhaps the following 
 was the worst. In December, 191 5, Mr. Asquith, Mr. 
 Lolyd George, Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Balfour, and I 
 believe, Mr. Churchill came on board the Viking to cross 
 from Dover to Calais. The night was very dark, and 
 before I shoved off I settled them all in comfortable 
 corners, where they could not get wet, for this passage I 
 proposed to make at 30 knots. 
 
 Several secretaries and others accompanied the 
 ministers; I got these stowed away as well, with the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 203 
 
 exception of one whom I found on the gangway whilst 
 making my way on to the bridge. I could not see his 
 face, but I didn't want him to get wet, and so I said, 
 "Will you come up on the bridge, you will get wet if 
 you stand there." The tall stranger replied that he 
 would like very much to come on the bridge, and I led 
 him up, gave him a watch-keeping coat, and glancing 
 aft to see that all was clear, gave the order to slip. 
 
 In a few seconds my destroyer was speeding out of 
 harbour, writhing and plunging as she made her way 
 across the Dover Strait. When she was clear of the 
 traffic line and steadied on her course for Calais, I 
 opened a conversation with the tall stranger standing on 
 my bridge, high above everything else, where there were 
 no lights to dazzle my eyes as I conned by little vessel. 
 
 "You have a pretty rough time on destroyers here, I 
 imagine," said the stranger. 
 
 "Yes, I suppose we do," I replied, "but nothing to 
 write home about," and I added, "We have a much 
 better time in these big Tribals than in the thirty-knot- 
 ters, which are nearly dropping to pieces. However, 
 I suppose the Admiralty have nothing better to give us 
 to patrol the Dover Strait." 
 
 The tall stranger, who seemed quite a decent sort of 
 bloke, replied, "No, one can't get a destroyer for love 
 or money now; they are so badly needed for the Grand 
 Fleet flotillas." 
 
 Conversation drifted from destroyers to bigger ships, 
 and thence to the subject of the Admiralty. I was very 
 outspoken and frank in all I said, and began to analyse 
 the Board of Admiralty. I remember well saying "I 
 am glad Admiral Oliver is there. He is a very level- 
 headed man and perfectly straight." 
 
2o 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The tall stranger said, "Oh ! yes, I like Oliver, do 
 you?" and I replied, "Yes, I believe in him implicitly." 
 "So do I," said the tall stranger. I peered at him in 
 the darkness and asked, "Do you know Admiral Oliver ?" 
 and the tall stranger replied, "Yes, he is one of my men." 
 I laughed and said, "What do you mean? One of your 
 men ! Are you at the Admiralty ?" "Yes," he said. 
 
 My curiosity was aroused. "Who are you?" I asked. 
 "I am the First Sea Lord," said the tall stranger, and I 
 realised that I was talking to Admiral Sir Henry Jackson. 
 He laughed and said, "You have taught me quite a lot." 
 
 Mr. Churchill, as First Lord, occasionally crossed by 
 destroyer. I personally, always welcomed him because 
 he was interesting to talk to and because he was so 
 absolutely pro-Navy. Never in my life have I met such 
 an enthusiast for the naval service as Mr Churchill was, 
 and I hope I will be pardoned if I mention a little inci- 
 dent connected with one of these crossings. 
 
 I had been doing a good deal of hard patrol work in 
 the Viking and during the time my ship was supposed to 
 be in harbour, I had been frequently called on to carry 
 officials across the channel. The "Vikings" were a good 
 tempered lot, and we felt that it was probably necessary 
 for us to work like this, although we could not understand 
 why cabinet ministers did not use the ordinary cross- 
 channel steamers more. 
 
 My sub. and I were waiting with the other officers to 
 receive the First Lord on board, but where we were going 
 we did not know. Presently he appeared out of the 
 special train, close to where we lay alongside the Ad- 
 miralty Pier and, quickly walking on board, Mr. Church- 
 ill looked at me and said, "Boulogne, please." The sub. 
 had a red flag in his hand for use as a signal in case the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 205 
 
 propellers got fowled. Very promptly he stuck the flag 
 up into the air, brought it down quickly and made a 
 noise like a bell. He looked straight at Winston 
 Churchill and said, "Taxi, 8d." Everybody roared with 
 laughter, including Mr. Churchill himself, and then my 
 sub. went down and gave the First Lord some tea. 
 
 I think Mr. Churchill got his own back in our ward- 
 room. He took a cup of tea, real destroyer tea such as 
 no self-respecting person would drink; he lifted the cup 
 to his lips, took one sip and put it down on the table; 
 looking at the sub. he exclaimed, "Delicious tea !" 
 The sub. had by this time taken a mouthful himself, and 
 realising that it had been standing a very long time, he 
 blushed with shame and brought our guest a whiskey 
 and soda. 
 
 It twice came my way to carry Admiral Jellicoe on 
 board my ship to visit the Dover Patrol. He always had 
 a warm spot in his heart for the Dover destroyers, and I 
 was quite glad when he told Admiral Bacon to send in 
 a destroyer despatch every six months. The first time 
 that Lord Jellicoe took passage was in early spring; he 
 visited all parts of the patrol and saw our destroyers and 
 monitors on their various stations, keenly vigilant, and 
 always ready to fight to the uttermost with what must 
 be admitted to be merely "bows and arrows" compared 
 to the weapons of the ships of the Grand Fleet he had 
 recently commanded. 
 
 I always wished for one chance such as we afforded 
 to enemy attack, with our spread out patrols, which 
 extended for one hundred miles off the Belgian coast to 
 Beachy, and I told this to the Admiral. It was good to 
 have Lord Jellicoe on board, all to oneself as it were, and 
 not belonging to any of the cliques that were pro-this 
 
206 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 man and anti-that, and I derived great pleasure from the 
 association that his cruises in my destroyers afforded 
 me. 
 
 The Admiral appreciated from his first visit how men 
 worked in Dover. The seamen with their years of 
 anxious patrols were more at sea than any other part 
 of the Navy, if taken from start to finish of the war. 
 The stokers, working it is true under more sheltered 
 conditions, never stopped their toiling, for when we were 
 boiler-cleaning they were forced to continue, and had 
 it not been for the fact that the thirty-knotters were 
 so old that they were almost dropping to pieces and often 
 were broken down, their stokers could never have con- 
 tinued at the high pressure running exacted by the 
 general scheme of patrol. Admiral Jellicoe appreciated 
 all these things, and at last the patrol services got to be 
 recognised. For the last two years of the war, every 
 six months a patrol service despatch was published, and 
 a proportion of one per cent deceived recognition. In 
 the Dover Patrol this meant, however, that no destroyer 
 man, if recommended for promotion, would be put for- 
 ward for honour, but before that very little indeed 
 had come our way for a long time. Admiral Jellicoe's 
 visit certainly changed matters. For the first two years 
 of the war, Dover destroyers were given one D.S.O. and 
 one D.S.C. 
 
 During the war, many men and officers in the Dover 
 destroyers spent over 700 nights at sea, which might well 
 be taken as parallel service to that in the front line 
 trenches. Some of us did nearer 800 nights, and still 
 kept merry and bright; whilst others were not so strong 
 and gave way under the continual strain after a short 
 year's work. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 207 
 
 Leave, when it came our way, was greedily appreci- 
 ated. It was bad luck that the day after Crusader was 
 bombed and arrived at Portsmouth to refit, and her crew 
 thoroughly tired out had happily turned in with no cares 
 on earth in the safety of that protected harbour, that the 
 only Zeppelin raid on Portsmouth Harbour took place. 
 Thus was our first night spoilt, out of the scanty ten days 
 we got. 
 
 But I am drifting. These things may be interesting 
 enough in their way, although they take me away from 
 my subjects, which was about the "knuts" we carried. 
 Lord Kitchener, Sir Douglas Haig, and generals galore 
 took passage in our Dover craft, while ambassadors, 
 ministers, dukes, admirals and democrats, who had to 
 be pandered to and patted, constantly persuaded the 
 Admiralty to send them across the channel in a "special 
 destroyer." Some of them were men we took our hats 
 off to and some were not. One First Lord of the Ad- 
 miralty appeared not to know the difference between the 
 Admiral and the station-master who awaited him on 
 Dover Pier. Of all the people I personally took over, 
 some returned my humble hospitality; it was Mr. Mc- 
 Kenna who gave all the Viking's officers a gin and bitters 
 in the restaurant car of his special train. Mr. Lloyd 
 George and Sir Douglas Haig gave me a lunch at Calais, 
 and they were two who mattered. 
 
 In 19 1 7, I took Admirals Jellicoe, Oliver and Bacon, 
 of the Royal Navy, and Admiral Mayo, of the United 
 States Navy, to Dunkirk and thence along the Belgian 
 coast to witness a bombardment of Ostend. The Terror 
 had arranged to commence her firing at 3.30 p.m. She 
 actually fired her first 1 5-inch shell at 3.2 p. m. Admiral 
 Jellicoe asked me what would happen next and I replied, 
 
208 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 "In ten minutes' time the Huns will fire back," for we 
 knew that it took them ten minutes to get their heavy 
 gun batteries going. Sure enough, at 3.12 p.m. a shell 
 whistled and tore through the air, to fall two hundred 
 yards or so ahead of us. 
 
 The first lieutenant was standing on the forecastle 
 talking to two American officers attached to Admiral 
 Mayo's staff. One of the officers, seeing the huge splash 
 made by the falling shell, turned to the sub. and said, 
 "How far do you think that shell fell from this ship?" 
 "About 50 yards," replied the sub. The two American 
 officers looked at one another and then back to the sub. 
 who began to feel uncomfortable, in that he had much 
 underestimated the distance from the danger, but he 
 was soon put at his ease, for the younger American said, 
 "I guess that will have whittled down to five yards be- 
 fore I get home to Philadelphia." 
 
 The Admirals were all interested in the bombardment 
 which the Terror carried out; it was all very spectacular 
 with the white smoke made by the motor launches, the 
 slow movement of the great gun muzzle as the monitor 
 trained her turrets necessary for firing, the circling aero- 
 planes keeping off hostile aircraft from approaching 
 to spot for the enemy batteries; the long line of patrol- 
 ling destroyers ready to pounce on an electrically con- 
 trolled motorboat or lurking submarine, or even a pos- 
 sible rush attack through the smoke screen by a half- 
 flotilla of enemy torpedo craft. This was more a possi- 
 bility than a probability, for never in the history of the 
 Dover Patrol did German destroyers press home their 
 attacks by day. 
 
 The date chosen proved to be an exceedingly fortunate 
 one, for we had bright sunshine, a flat, calm sea and 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 209 
 
 sufficiently low visibility to make the ships invisible from 
 the shore. Our spotting was carried out most effectively 
 by aeroplanes. The return fire from the big gun positions 
 ashore was more than usually inaccurate on account of 
 the weather conditions and the careful aerial guard 
 which was kept today. The bombardments completed, 
 the Broke returned via Dunkirk Roads to Dover, and 
 the four Admirals landed after what can only have been 
 a very pleasant day. 
 
 I may say that we only heard of Admiral Mayo's 
 projected visit an hour before he came on board. We 
 did not possess a full Admiral's flag of the United States 
 Navy in our signal locker, but "our Mr. Smith," the 
 yeoman of the signals, who never was found failing, 
 quickly manufactured one. The flag is blue, with four 
 white stars on it. He had not time to do anything but 
 tack the white stars on when the Admiral stepped on 
 board and his flag had to be hoisted. The flag stood 
 very well until the Terror fired her first shot; we were 
 quite close to her, and the subsequent concussion caused 
 one of the tacked-on stars to drop out of the flag. For- 
 tunately Lieut. Despart was the only one to notice the 
 falling star, and whilst the four Admirals were below 
 having tea, the flag was hauled down and the star ad- 
 justed into place once more. 
 
 When the Admirals disembarked, we presented this 
 flag to Admiral Mayo, it being the first time that a full 
 Admiral's flag of the United States Navy had been under 
 fire on board a British man-of-war. 
 
 Many of the officials who crossed on the Dover 
 destroyers had never been on board a man-of-war be- 
 fore, and to those whose first experience it was of travel- 
 ling, under the white ensign, everything was interesting, 
 
 14 
 
210 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 except, of course, in bad weather. The great, silent 
 Navy appealed to them, with its conditions, customs 
 and altogether foreign figures of speech. It is perhaps a 
 good thing that the Admiralty allow us such freedom 
 of speech now-a-days, when hostilities have ceased, for 
 one realises that what to us is absolutely commonplace 
 and devoid of interest, often furnishes strangers with 
 quite a different impression of life, and for quaint sea 
 creatures, not accustomed to associating with cabinet 
 ministers and high officials, the presence on board of the 
 "great, wise and eminent," afforded a break to the gen- 
 eral routine. 
 
 Personally, I derived much amusement from compar- 
 ing the different types of men and their viewpoints on 
 the war, which usually formed the main topic of con- 
 versation as we sped across the channel. Mr. Balfour 
 was always polite. Mr. Lloyd George never appeared 
 distressed or dejected in any way, and his appearance 
 alongside the ship generally elicited a cheer from the 
 ship's company of whatever destroyer was taking him. 
 Mr. Churchill was full of quiet humour and excellent 
 company always. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was the best sailor of all; however 
 rough the weather, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. 
 
 One day I was talking to Mr. Churchill on board a 
 small vessel which was waiting to carry a really splendid 
 collection of "knuts" across, and as we watched them file 
 on board, each accompanied by his parasites and hangers- 
 -on, a little, dark-haired, spectacled man appeared at 
 the end of the bow. He quickly glanced about him 
 before walking on board. Mr. Churchill raised his hat 
 and said to me, "That is the real great man amongst 
 us." "Who is he? " I asked. "Venizelos," he replied. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 211 
 
 I ventured that I thought other great men were there, 
 but the late First Lord insisted that this little Greek was 
 the greatest. 
 
 Lord Milner always impressed the sailors very much, 
 and others, like Sir Eric Geddes, General Smuts, Sir 
 Edward Carson, Mr. Hughes, Sir Robert Borden, and 
 the American x^dmiral Benson, all brought with them 
 special distinctions or characteristics by which they were 
 remembered. 
 
 The people who talked least of all were the 
 ambassadors; I suppose it was their trade not to give 
 themselves away. The people who talked most were 
 always the Americans. They had more to say than 
 anybody, but then I had so much affection for them and 
 so many friends in the States myself, that I opened out 
 more to the United States soldiers and sailors than to 
 those who spoke languages with which I was un- 
 acquainted. 
 
 W were conversing about our distinguished passengers 
 after a rather heavy season of ferry trips made in our 
 time off patrol, and I was very much struck with a remark 
 made by a junior officer during the discussion. He said, 
 "How very ordinary these great men are." I could not 
 help laughing, and I replied, "Do you think they grow 
 ostrich feathers or have peacocks' tails? What do you 
 expect?" 
 
 "Oh ! no, sir,", the sub. replied, "but they seem so 
 'bally' ignorant." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Dover Mine-sweepers 
 
 Not the least picturesque character in the Dover Patrol 
 was Lieut-Commendar W. G. Rigg, R.N., who was the 
 first Dover officer to win the D.S.O. Rigg had left the 
 Navy and at the outbreak of hostilities was a district 
 inspector of the Royal National Lifeboat Association. 
 The retired navy rejoined in its entirety (it had to!) 
 and Rigg's original appointment was as mine-sweeping 
 officer, Dover. When this appointment was made it 
 was considered that the Dover area was impossible to 
 mine on account of the strong tides for which we know 
 it is famous, or, shall I say, infamous. Rigg was 
 practically the junior officer, who could be classed as 
 expert in this particular work; he bowed to the decision 
 of authorities and repaired to the port in question. 
 To begin with he was given four old trawlers, which 
 arrived at Dover straight from their fishing grounds, 
 having discharged their fish cargo at Milford Haven en 
 route. They arrived at Dover empty, with no appliances 
 whatever, except rusty old trawling wires ; and Rigg 
 with his self-contained staff of one, smilingly inspected 
 the four vessels, two of which rejoiced in the names of 
 Falmouth and Abelard, and two others, whose names I 
 cannot remember. Within four days they were actually 
 sweeping, and as the Dover surf deer made their way 
 
 212 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 213 
 
 into port from the flanking station at Leathercoat, these 
 four toilers of the sea were always in evidence, making 
 quite safe the entry to the harbour. 
 
 In 1 9 14 no mines were laid by the enemy in our area, 
 but in other parts of our coasts considerable activity 
 obtained, and it was only a question of when the horned 
 "eggs" would appear in the Straits. Gradually the 
 Admiralty acquired more auxiliary vessels to perfect the 
 mine-sweeping organisation, and as these units became 
 available Dover got her scanty supply. 
 
 By the end of 19 14 we had about eight trawlers work- 
 ing at the mine-sweeping under the command of Rigg. 
 Because no mines had yet been found, although the area 
 was swept with commendable industry in spite of the 
 dreadful weather obtaining towards the end of 19 14, the 
 mine-sweepers carried out a variety of duties, for which 
 I may say they volunteered, for these fishermen were so 
 zealous that they never gave anybody a chance of im- 
 posing duties upon them. 
 
 On one occasion the influx of Belgian refugees was so 
 great that 4,500 of them found themselves in small 
 steamers alongside The Prince of Wales' Pier. The mine- 
 sweepers, who had been toiling until 3 a.m. arrived at 
 the pier and quickly grasped that the poor Belgians were 
 without food and any sort of comfort. They were, in 
 fact, so crowded together that there was standing room 
 only, on board the vessels that carried them. I do not 
 know the exact reasons for their being retained on the 
 little steamers, perhaps it was on account of the capture 
 of thirty spies which were found secreted amongst the 
 refugees; anyhow, it is to be presumed that there was 
 cause enough for the delay in landing these poor people. 
 Rigg, with his minesweeper skippers, firemen, boys and 
 
2i 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 lined old mariners made it their business to do what 
 they could for the unfortunate Belgians, and they had 
 the whole forty-five hundred of them fed and tended 
 between 8 a.m. and noon. This was a wonderful feat 
 when we consider that the total complements of the 
 eight small mine-sweepers did not exceed a hundred men. 
 They gave all their provisions, all their money and 
 practically everything they possessed. A stream of 
 billies full of cocoa and tea made its way from the 
 trawlers to the refugee ships. Rigg went the round of 
 the hotels in search of milk for the babies and children. 
 He collected bucketfuls, which he brought to the pier 
 in his motor-car. When I say collected, I mean literally 
 commandeered it, for this officer and one or two men 
 who were with him simply carried the buckets into the 
 hotel dining-room and emptied the jugs of milk they 
 found on the tables ! 
 
 The cheerful and willing assistance rendered by the 
 mine-sweepers did no end of good amongst the refugees. 
 The stimulus to obtain the milk materialised through the 
 request made to Rigg by a Belgian lady supporting a 
 badly wounded soldier lying on the deck of one of the 
 steamers. The weeping children had almost passed 
 unnoticed, for the Belgian mothers had hushed their 
 sobbing infants so that their wailing would not help to 
 make matters worse. 
 
 Fortunately, the weather was perfect, otherwise these 
 poor people would have been in a moderate hell. Com- 
 mander Rigg removed one poor woman from the 
 steamer and took her to the Lord Warden Hotel, where 
 she gave birth to a child after her arrival. Men, women 
 and children had been standing on board for forty-eight 
 solid hours. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 215 
 
 Fortunately there are always bright incidents con- 
 nected with these sad scenes, and the mine-sweepers 
 smilingly will tell you of "Bourgomaster Max" and his 
 wife. This was a title they gave to a man of superhuman 
 energies, who had the gift of seeing before anyone else 
 what this or that poor creature was in need of. The 
 two people were splendid and if they come across these 
 lines, I hope they will realise that their friends, the 
 mine-sweepers, still talk about them in tones of admira- 
 tion. The Belgians in question will not forget this nick- 
 name which the rough sailors used freely in addressing 
 them. 
 
 The foregoing is merely an incident in the history of 
 the Dover mine-sweepers, and it occurred during their 
 more idle days. 
 
 The complements of the Dover mine-sweeping section 
 increased, as vessels became available, to 84 trawlers, 
 18 paddle mine-sweepers and twelve motor launches, 
 while 3,000 men and 350 officers joined this service. 
 Lieut. Arthur Buckland became second in command, and 
 this officer, whose courage was absolutely unshakeable, 
 has spent many years in sweeping up mines. Some of 
 the men who came down to join Rigg's mine-sweeping 
 force had been already blown up twice before they ar- 
 rived on the scene. Sailors don't care ! 
 
 In the spring of 19 15 Dover was beset by mines, and 
 on a certain occasion when Rigg and his mine-sweepers 
 were out, the cargo steamer Toward blew up. A second 
 steamer quickly followed her and sank in a matter of 
 seconds. The yacht Aries went in to try and save the 
 crews and was herself mined and sunk, and it was only 
 by the greatest luck that a thirty-knot destroyer, rushing 
 headlong into the mess, was headed off and kept from 
 
216 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 committing suicide. This was one of our darkest days 
 in the patrol, a whole gale was blowing from the south- 
 west accompanied by a terrific sea, which made sweeping 
 impossible. The mine-sweepers stood by the dangerous 
 area and unfortunately the trawler Othello was blown 
 up whilst waiting to sweep. The only survivor of this 
 little ship was a signal boy. 
 
 It was difficult to stop the traffic; however, Admiral 
 Bacon succeeded in doing this, and 151 ships were held 
 up in the Downs and 101 to the west of Folkestone Gate. 
 Long before the gale had abated the sweeping was re- 
 commenced, but it was not very effective, owing to the 
 difficulty in manoeuvring the ships while such a sea was 
 running. A channel was however swept outside the 
 dangerous area, passing to the southward of it, and 
 finally the traffic was released and led through by mine- 
 sweeping officers, who piloted the ships from the Cossack 
 and another Dover destroyer. 
 
 The people of Dover, thoroughly shaken up by the 
 succession of explosions which took place two days be- 
 fore, watched from the tops of their houses this extra- 
 ordinary procession of ships. It is no exaggeration to 
 say that they formed an unbroken line, for from the 
 shore they had the appearance of a long black snake 
 with bristles sticking out from its back. 
 
 A great friend and admirer of the Dover mine- 
 sweepers was Lieut. C. Gartside Tipping, who com- 
 manded the yacht Sanda, and it was a severe blow to Rigg 
 and his sweepers when that officer was killed by a shell off 
 Zeebrugge at the age of 68. I believe that I am right 
 in saying that he was the oldest naval officer afloat. 
 
 In a volume such as this one cannot expand at any 
 great length on such a vast subject as mine-sweeping, but 
 
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KEEPING THE SEAS 217 
 
 we destroyer folk made friends amongst the trawler 
 skippers as well as with the more senior mine-sweeping 
 officers. They had a fund of humour in the mine- 
 sweeping craft, and they were extraordinarily fond of 
 pets. One had a monkey, most of them had dogs; 
 and chickens, pigs, and kittens were all to be found on 
 their craft. On one of the trawlers, I came across a 
 huge kennel on which was painted "Lion." Inside was 
 the tiniest mongrel puppy I had ever set eyes on. On 
 this ship there were no less than eleven dog-kennels on 
 the deck, and when I made some joke as to lumbering 
 up the already crowded space, a dry old fellow merely 
 put me wise by informing me that if the mine-sweeper 
 was blown up, kennels were as good as boats, a thing 
 I had not thought of, but it is very true, for a heavy 
 thing like a boat is often smashed at the davits when a 
 mine explosion takes place. 
 
 My gunner in the Viking always held the opinion that 
 the mine-sweepers should have been manned by con- 
 scientious objectors, for the object of mine-sweeping was 
 certainly philanthropic enough in its way. 
 
 I am glad to say that groups of understanding people 
 supplied the mine-sweepers with warm clothing, com- 
 forts of all descriptions, and with literature, footballs 
 and games. The motto of the mine-sweepers was 
 "Who's afraid!" Certainly they were not. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A Little Bit of Shore Time, More Flag Changes 
 and a Ladle-full of Fiction 
 
 Towards the end of October, 19 17, Admiral Bacon sent 
 for me and told me that Captain Humphrey Bowring, 
 D.S.O., his Chief-of-Staff, was leaving Dover to get in 
 his sea time, and the Admiral asked if I would like to 
 relieve him. I naturally said yes, realising that one 
 would learn a great deal as Chief-of-Staff to such a clever 
 man, apart from the fact that I was now somewhat senior 
 to be sculling round in a destroyer, without being 
 Captain (D). 
 
 Accordingly, I first relieved Captain Percy Withers 
 for a week or so while he went on leave and I got into 
 the habit of controlling the Sixth Flotilla, arranging the 
 patrols and carrying out the requisite administrative 
 work. Then I moved into the Admiral's office and took 
 over from "Hindenburg," who explained the operations 
 planned for the future and tcld me my various duties. 
 In a few days Captain Bowring left Dover and I took 
 over his duties. 
 
 Amongst other things, I had to make out the orders 
 under Admiral Bacon's directions, for laying the huge 
 minefield which was placed between Folkestone and 
 Grisnez, for the purpose of stopping submarines entering 
 the English Channel. By this time we had learnt a 
 
 218 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 219 
 
 great deal concerning mine-laying, and we had the 
 satisfaction of knowing that our mines would now go 
 off. Without wishing to criticise unduly, I may say 
 that many mines broke adrift owing to the inadequacy 
 of the mooring arrangements, or else to the improper 
 fitting and mooring of the mines by those whose duty 
 it was to see to this. 
 
 The barrage was certainly the best that had yet been 
 put down in the Dover Patrol, for we were given as 
 many miles as we required, and it only became a question 
 of maintaining the barrage in an efficient state. A very 
 fine plan was evolved at the Admiralty, according to 
 which the whole of the Dover Strait in the vicinity of 
 the minefield was to be illuminated by flares burnt from 
 the auxiliary patrol craft, and this portion of the channel 
 was to rejoice in eternal day, so to speak. Provided the 
 flares were burnt in organised fashion it would be 
 impossible for a submarine to pass through the Strait 
 on the surface, which the Admiralty assumed they had 
 been doing. The idea was that with sufficient hunting 
 craft operating in the illuminated area, any submarine 
 sighted would be forced to dive, and the minefield was 
 so arranged that with her periscope awash, the submar- 
 ine would always be in danger of striking a mine; rows 
 and rows were being put down, and other means, which 
 I am not at liberty to describe, were projected to assist 
 in the U boat destruction. 
 
 Admiral Bacon was relieved of his command at the 
 end of the year by Admiral Keyes, with whom I had the 
 honour to serve for a few weeks, until his own staff joined 
 the Dover Patrol and relieved me of my duties as flag 
 captain and Chief-of-Staff. My next appointment was 
 to command the light cruiser Active, for the purpose of 
 
220 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 running large, slow convoys to Gibraltar and other 
 places. 
 
 Before finally saying farewell to the Dover Patrol I 
 must not forget an incident concerning the loss of a 
 confidential book. The Vice-Admiral commanding the 
 Dover Patrol was on one occasion travelling in the 
 destroyed Mohawk (not when she was commanded by 
 the author). The Admiral travelled from Dunkirk to 
 Dover, and once clear of the Dyck light vessel, he re- 
 paired to the chart house to rest, for he had been out on 
 the Belgian coast throughout the night before. 
 
 Glancing round the chart house, his gaze lit upon a 
 document marked "Most secret." It contained the 
 chart of the British minefields, and the Admiral realised 
 that if the ship had struck a mine, there was nothing to 
 prevent this unweighted document from floating away 
 and possibly falling into the hands of the enemy. He 
 accordingly put it into his despatch case and said no 
 more about it until he was safely in Dover, when he 
 signalled the guilty destroyer captain to repair to his 
 office with confidential chart, Y.14, or whatever it was 
 called. The Lieut-Commander searched his confidential 
 book cupboard, the chart house and every possible hole 
 or corner for the document in question, but in vain; 
 large beads of sweat collected on his brow, and after the 
 most searching questions, he established without doubt 
 that the chart had been consulted by the Sub-Lieut, a 
 few minutes before the Admiral entered the chart house; 
 from that time it had been missing. 
 
 My young friend, the destroyer captain was from the 
 North country and pretty hard-headed at that, after 
 putting two and two together he surmised that the 
 Admiral was gently pulling his leg. He accordingly 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 221 
 
 repaired to the Admiral's office to consult the Great 
 Mogul. I can so well picture his feelings; gazing into 
 those steel blue eyes which saw through every one of 
 us ; I can almost feel the shudder that vibrated through 
 the Lieut-Commander's frame when the Admiral put 
 it to him that he had lost his secret chart, in a few 
 icy but well chosen words, the Admiral reprimanded the 
 officer then, opening the drawer of his desk, he handed 
 the envelope containing the mine chart back. The 
 destroyer captain blurted out a confused apology and 
 withered away. Finding himself, one might say, a broken 
 man on board his little torpedo craft, he consoled himself 
 with that priceless tonic, a good old gin and bitters. 
 His companions sympathetically gathered around him 
 in the ward room, and once the spirit had warmed him 
 back to life he felt a little more courageous and, em- 
 bittered by the thought that his expected promotion was 
 at stake, he ordered another gin and bitters, stamped on 
 the floor, drank it down and said, "To hell with the man ! 
 Things have come to a pretty pass if you cannot trust 
 your own Vice-Admiral not to steal your confidential 
 books." 
 
 As a matter of fact, Admiral Bacon was one of the 
 kindest of men in many ways, and although I never 
 thought he did justice to us in the destroyer service, I 
 never lost sight of the fact that we represented only one 
 of the many strings to his fiddle, and in looking through 
 his recommendations, one was forced to admit that he 
 tried to do his best for each branch and unit of his com- 
 mand. Undoubtedly the destroyers, drifters, and mine- 
 sweepers and trawlers had the roughest time, with the 
 possible exception of those on the commodore's staff at 
 Dunkirk; but there were the monitor people, the flying 
 
222 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 men, the submarines and others who all had their exciting 
 time and who never let him down. We all get our re- 
 wards somehow and somewhen, and we appreciated one 
 another's efforts. Most of us were out to hunt for 
 scalps and for my own part, I have in my possession 
 four beautiful silver candlesticks from the twelve mon- 
 itor captains of 1915-16, and also a silver teapot from 
 the Dover destroyers, which I appreciate far more than 
 any M.V.O. or D.S.O., for they represent after all the 
 esteem and appreciation of one's own kind, who were 
 type specimens of the Britons who really counted in 
 this great war. 
 
 Admiral Bacon was in some ways secretive about his 
 plans, and even when I was flag captain to him, he 
 planned and did many things with which I was quite 
 unacquainted. But he did something which I got to 
 know about in spite of all his secrecy; for instance, one 
 of our most gallant fighters found himself in serious 
 financial straits and bordering on bankruptcy. Without 
 saying a word to the individual, the Admiral sent him 
 anonymously, through one of his friends, the sum of 
 £200. As only one other man besides "Fred Karno" 
 knows whom this money was sent to, there is no harm 
 in stating this, for the helping hand was sufficient, and 
 the officer in question is now facing life afresh and facing 
 it finely too. 
 
 We all have had our crosses to bear in this war, and 
 Admiral Bacon has not escaped without his sorrows. He 
 gave his first son, a soldier, for old England and, to my 
 lasting regret, his only other boy died suddenly of 
 pneumonia a couple of months after hostilities ceased; 
 Little Robin Bacon was well known to the Dover Patrol; 
 he often travelled across channel in my Viking as an 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 223 
 
 Osborne cadet. He was passionately fond of destroyers, 
 and he sometimes came on board to fish in Dover 
 Harbour. He was not always fortunate in his choice of 
 tides for fishing, but rather than disappoint him, the 
 kindly blue-jackets would give him a line, and while one 
 attracted his attention to something going on in the 
 harbour, another would pull up the line, hook on a dead 
 flat-fish, tip the wink to the wardroom steward who 
 would wait a second, then, quickly putting his hand 
 through the scuttle near which the line was trailing, 
 give two short jerks and my little friend would haul on 
 board a fish. I had every sympathy with this boy, who 
 was forced to leave the Navy owing to a weak heart, and 
 at that time having no children of my own, I spent quite 
 a lot of my spare time in writing and telling him stories. 
 I think my best effort was the following; it is purely 
 fictitious and was written on the bridge of my ship, which 
 I practically never left in war time. My readers can cut 
 it out if it doesn't interest them. 
 
 THE LOBSTER THAT KICKED 
 
 The little cruiser Porcupine was a new arrival at the port 
 of Kouro-Bambo, and her captain paused in his morning 
 walk on the deck and gazed along the unfamiliar shore 
 line. The glare of the yellow sands and the gleaming 
 white of the houses almost pained his eyes. His steward, 
 who had been ashore, interrupted his contemplation of 
 the little African town by coming up to display his pur- 
 chases — a lobster and a crayfish, and two fine specimens 
 they were — one looking very English with his rounded 
 indigo back and his powerful sinister claws, and the other 
 very foreign with rugged purple, spiky body. 
 
224 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 "If you want the best, sir, you must choose those that 
 kick," said the steward, who was of course, an expert on 
 such matters. 
 
 The captain was amused and interested. He lifted 
 them up, one after the other, and they kicked and clicked 
 their claws vigorously. If the steward's theory were 
 sound, he had assuredly chosen well. 
 
 The captain went into his cosily furnished cabin, and, 
 taking the receiver off its stand, telephoned to the signal 
 bridge some invitations to lunch. A Frenchman, an 
 Italian and an American responded to the resulting 
 semaphore message that bade them to the table of the 
 captain of the Porcupine. The answer in each case was 
 the signalled letters, "W.M.P." To have been correct, 
 French, the language of diplomacy, should have been 
 employed both for the message and the answers, but the 
 jargon of the sea served as well, and better. "With 
 much pleasure," they all understood, and considering 
 each signalman knew his mother tongue and no other, 
 the facility with which the communication passed was 
 extraordinary. 
 
 The forenoon sped away in sunshine and gentle breeze. 
 The clear blue water near the anchored ships sparkled 
 away into a golden glitter towards the steeper part of the 
 African coast. The dazzling brightness hurt the eyes if 
 one's gaze were continued over long, for there was July 
 heat in it and the latitude was low. The morning was 
 passed with the usual activity in the Porcupine, the 
 smoothly working routine reflecting credit on her execu- 
 tive officer. The men, after inspection and prayers, ran 
 barefooted in flannels and trousers round and round the 
 deck; then away aloft up the rigging on one side, down 
 again on the other; forward, aft, to starboard, back to 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 225 
 
 port, and finally to halt and "dress" once more on the 
 quarter deck. 
 
 The Porcupine was a real ship — a little one it is true, 
 but she was built as a man-of-war, had an active service 
 crew, save for a few pensioners and fleet reserve men, 
 and a very active-service first lieutenant. "No. 1" was 
 such a tower of strength and naval efficiency that, when 
 he got angry, even the captain was quiet and kept out of 
 the way, like a discreet mouse. For the captain knew 
 men. He knew young men best, and he knew just how 
 each one felt. He had done his share of first lieutenant's 
 time and was well aware that no ship is big enough to 
 have both captain and first lieutenant doing the latter's 
 work. That was why he made himself scarce when 
 No. 1 was in Bersark mood. No. 1 was Irish, and he 
 sometimes stretched things and cut men's tempers 
 pretty fine — but never once too fine — and it was just at 
 these times, when he threw his arms about, opened his 
 mouth and made a noise, that his captain emulated the 
 discreet mouse. He was not very big himself. 
 
 There were other times in the Porcupine's life when 
 the first lieutenant felt his patience exhausted and his 
 temper too dangerous, and then the captain was called 
 in to help matters out and to talk to the crew. So life 
 began afresh. Number One's ruffled feathers would be 
 smoothed down, and everybody knew that all was well, 
 but that better look-outs must be kept, that the boat's 
 crews must dress better, pull better, and not get caught 
 smoking when waiting at the landing stages — and so on 
 and so forth. The skipper knew how to talk, and he loved 
 these ugly men dearly, for he owed much to them. 
 
 The captain's orations usually took place on Sunday, 
 when most of the crew were accessible, and generally 
 
 15 
 
226 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 followed the short reading of prayers that is quaintly 
 recorded in a ship's log-book as "performed divine 
 service." The occasional address concluded, the captain 
 invariably nods to the steel and sinewy "No. i" who 
 salutes and, turning to the hands, gives the order — 
 "Turn for'ard, right and left turn, double march." The 
 last word snaps out and sets in motion a bobbing, 
 doubling, hobbling, barefooted, or heavy-booted crowd 
 of muscular, simple-minded men. 
 
 It was not often that the captain felt constrained to 
 make such an address, for there was never any serious 
 "slacking off" in the Porcupine, nor is there in any other 
 man-of-war when proper discipline obtains, when officers 
 look after the interests of their men, and, lastly, when 
 the men's own hearts are true. But, even in men-of- 
 war, men's hearts are sometimes weak and temptations 
 strong, and you ashore, who have lovely homes, and 
 pretty wives or handsome husbands, or babies to bath 
 and love — you know nothing of the temptations that 
 beset the hard-earned leisure hours of "the lobster that 
 kicks," to apply that sobriquet to the high-spirited young 
 wanderers who go down to the sea in ships. The most 
 excellent lobster that was ever destined for boiling never 
 kicked more lustily in protest at being held up for inspec- 
 tion than a good sailor kicks against inactivity and bore- 
 dom. 
 
 The captain's lunch party assembled at i p.m. The 
 Frenchman was a senior, bearded, man with the red and 
 green ribbons of the Legion D'Honneur and the Croix 
 de Guerre, and he called the more youthful captain, 
 "Mon cher fils." The Italian, a perfect peacock in the 
 matter of decorations, was a distinguished young noble- 
 man and recently attache at a European embassy — 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 227 
 
 polished, alert, and observant. The American, young 
 also, and fresh into the war, came on board with a great 
 salute, a sweeping bow, and then, in sheer high spirits, 
 went through the mock ceremony of kissing the captain's 
 hand — after the gallant fashion of his Italian confrere 
 with the ladies of Kouro-Bamba. The Frenchman and 
 Italian were amused, for although they had never met 
 the American before, they knew that he had recently 
 shared with the captain of the Porcupine the splendid 
 pleasure of sinking an enemy submarine, and therefore 
 understood the reason for his gaiety. 
 
 At lunch they were the cheeriest little party imagin- 
 able. All languages were mixed, like the fruit salad 
 which ended what the lobster started — a very creditable 
 war-time meal. The men each signed four menu cards, 
 which were pocketed as souvenirs. Then drank to the Al- 
 lies and separately to France, England, Italy and Amer- 
 ica. They smoked and discussed the war, their com- 
 mands, their achievements and ambitions. They were 
 just four big boys and nothing more, but they were by 
 no means narrow in their views. They were all great 
 travellers and, as the Arabs say, "He who travels far 
 sees much." Their yarns were full of colour and inter- 
 est, for they were sailors, and each of them had imbibed 
 the poetry of the sea. 
 
 At three o'clock the little party broke up abruptly, 
 for two of their four ships were to leave that afternoon 
 for a week's cruise along the sun-baked African coast. 
 The Englishman saw his guests over the side, and then, 
 while the lunch was being cleared away, he strolled upon 
 the decks. It was distressingly hot, and he wondered 
 how the white people could live through the fetid sum- 
 mer months at Kouro Bamba. He searched the shore 
 
228 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 with his telescope and then, swinging on his heel, his 
 thoughts turned to his beloved Porcupine again. 
 
 It was a "make and mend" afternoon — the afternoon 
 when the sailors are free to repair and wash their clothes, 
 write, read, or spend their time as best pleased them. 
 Some were reading, some writing, some sleeping, while 
 others tinkled mandolines or fashioned little models. 
 The carpenter's mate was making a tiny chair for Peter, 
 his baby boy. He was a little premature with his task 
 and also in naming his child, for it appeared that, as yet, 
 Peter was only "expected." The captain watched the 
 fingers of the nimble "Chippy Chap"* at work, and the 
 latter explained that Peter should arrive in about three 
 months' time. The captain laughed rather shyly, for 
 he himself was unmarried, and after chatting with the 
 man about his home for a little while he turned away to 
 find the first lieutenant, with the idea of inviting him 
 to land for a walk and tea. 
 
 II 
 
 The periods spent by the Porcupine in port became 
 more frequent, for the enemy no longer flew his flag in 
 those distant, sunlit seas. The crews of the various 
 allied ships became fretful and discontented. They had 
 come to fight, but the patrols yielded nothing — not the 
 merest flutter of the world-hated enemy ensign. 
 
 The "Porcupines" were no better than their fellows. 
 It was fighting they wanted, and they had energy to 
 expend. Ashore they met men of other ships that had 
 
 * Sea slang for all carpenter ratings. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 229 
 
 been in the neighborhood throughout the war. They 
 began to mix with them and drink with them, and in 
 three months many of the bright, clear-eyed boys from 
 the Porcupine were on the downward road. The same 
 story was oft repeated when they were brought before 
 the captain. 
 
 "Just one or two beers and a couple of "Vinos," sir, 
 and I don't remember nothing more." 
 
 The men's records were clean, and at first it was diffi- 
 cult to credit the patrol reports. One evening, however, 
 when the captain had been dining ashore with the French 
 skipper, he saw for himself that the reports were well 
 founded. On the way down to their boats, which 
 awaited them at the mole, a seaman rolled unsteadily 
 into the glare of an electric light which cast a big illu- 
 minated circle on the dusty road. The two captains 
 stepped aside to avoid the tipsy giant. 
 
 "Ma foi," exclaimed the Frenchman. 
 
 "Le rot des zig-zageurs," said the Englishman lightly, 
 but he did not feel light-hearted, for he had recognized 
 the man as one of the best of his crew. 
 
 "They're lobsters that kick," he muttered to himself 
 as he entered his cabin, " and I'm going to kick too." 
 He sat down at his writing-table and penned a pathetic 
 appeal to the one admiral he knew. 
 
 "The environment of Kouro-Bamba," he wrote, "is 
 unhealthy. The ship is becoming demoralised, officers 
 for want of exercise are losing all their freshness, and the 
 men, poisoned by the liquor which the natives sell, are 
 frittering their fine health away. Their moral fibre is 
 being broken down by the temptations of this torrid 
 African hell." 
 
 He turned in, switched on the electric fan, and tried to 
 
2 3 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 go to sleep. But the air was heavy with the heat and 
 for a long time he lay thinking of what he had written. 
 The Admiral was one of the sternest of Sea Lords, 
 and the letter, although written privately, was in the 
 nature of a complaint. There was, however, no British 
 Admiral at Kouro-Bamba and, rightly or wrongly, the 
 Porcupine's skipper had kicked. 
 
 Ill 
 
 It was the last night on the station. The Porcupine had 
 been ordered away on a special mission. The coaling 
 was finished, and the provisions, ammunition, and other 
 stores taken abroad. All shore-leave was stopped, for 
 the Porcupine was to sail at dawn. 
 
 Many friendships had been made on the station, with 
 allied ships and with allied folk at Kouro-Bamba. That 
 port of mushroom growth, which but two years before 
 was merely a little village nestling peacefully in the midst 
 of a wealth of glorious vegetation, had become a south- 
 ern Klondyke. Rough sheds and gimcrack buildings con- 
 trasted rudely with fantastic minarets and cream-white 
 native houses. Fortunes had been made there as a 
 result of the war, and money had been scattered prodi- 
 gally in hospitality to the officers and crews of the 
 allied ships. It would be hard to say which of the allied 
 nations controlled the port commercially, so varied and 
 extraordinary were the war-time interests concerned. 
 The military control, however, was pronounced and 
 efficient, and with the natural defences of the extraor- 
 dinary place, rendered Kouro-Bamba free from danger 
 of the enemy — that is to say from the enemy without, 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 231 
 
 for the enemy within was at work ruining the honest 
 man, fleecing the soldier and sailor, and extorting the 
 ugliest sums of money from the governments interested 
 in the place. 
 
 The captain's appeal to his admiral had procured the 
 desired result, for he had been selected with his ship 
 to take part in the hunting down and destroying of a 
 commerce raider which had appeared in adjacent seas. 
 The Porcupine had been relieved by a similar vessel, 
 so it was good-bye to this newly created African port, 
 with all its charms and tricks, attractions and sins. 
 There had been many happy hours to look back to, and 
 yet there were thoughts of certain days in the port that 
 brought regrets and unpleasant reflections to the minds 
 of the Porcupine's boys, both officers and men. 
 
 The Captain was pacing the quarter-deck before din- 
 ner — the dinner which the wardroom officers were giv- 
 ing to their most intimate friends at the base port, and to 
 which he had been invited. He had dressed early, and 
 was watching the sun set behind a low bank of stratus 
 cloud which slowly rolled in from the sea, promising the 
 usual morning mist — the mist which will at least bring 
 a welcome moisture to the sultry atmosphere of Kouro- 
 Bamba. There is little twilight in those latitudes, and 
 before many minutes the stars were peeping out and 
 welcoming the full moon as she rose gracefully and cast 
 her silver sheen over the gently heaving sea. From the 
 three funnels of the Porcupine little wisps of smoke 
 curled thinly towards the zenith in the calmness of the 
 African nightfall. 
 
 The captain gazed at the rising moon, and then around 
 
232 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 at the fairylike lights of the distant town. Up there on 
 the rocky slopes were more little pin-points of light. A 
 faint breath of air stirred the water and brought the 
 tiniest soupcon of dampness to his nostrils, and the 
 faintest scent of that strange, sad land of Africa. A 
 light footfall caused him to turn his head. It was his 
 Irish first lieutenant, in white mess jacket and dark cloth 
 trousers. 
 
 "Are you ready for dinner, sir, our guests have all 
 arrived?" 
 
 "Yes, No. i," the captain answered, and then, looking 
 across the moonlit sea, he added, "this is very beautiful, 
 but it isn't war for us." 
 
 His second-in-command concurred. 
 
 "Life has been too easy at Kouro-Bamba," he said, 
 thinking of the punishment return, "and too demoralis- 
 ing." 
 
 "Yes," said the captain, with a laugh, "but the lobster 
 has kicked — and kicked to some purpose, too ; and he told 
 No. i of the step he had taken to get the Porcupine 
 moved, and of the special service upon which she was to 
 be employed. 
 
 They turned and made their way to the ward-room 
 where the table had been extended to run the whole 
 length of the mess. The marines, in their white mess 
 tunics and white gloves, bustled around with the silver 
 plated dishes, and the two wine stewards betrayed their 
 presence by the repeated popping of champagne corks. 
 
 The minature banquet began. The guests were not 
 all British, but they were all good fellows — young men, 
 mostly soldiers or sailors. Nothing mattered that night, 
 for the Porcupine would be off in a few hours and was 
 
. 
 
 LIEUTENANT PULLEN, R.N.V.R. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 233 
 
 hardly likely to return. She had been popular, and would 
 be missed. The sailor guests were envious, for they felt 
 that the Porcupine would get her chance. 
 
 The evening passed merrily — hilariously, with laugh- 
 ter and song. The wardroom servants cleared the dinner 
 table and passed round smokes and silver trays of 
 whiskies. The big table was then unrigged, and amidst 
 a furore of applause the engineer-lieutenant took his 
 seat at the piano. Songs of all kinds he accompanied. 
 The words and music floated up through the wardroom 
 skylight, and out into the stillness of the African night. 
 The sing-song continued for an hour or two, and then the 
 men danced. The atmosphere of the wardroom was too 
 thick for words, and eyes began to smart from the clouds 
 of tobacco and cigar smoke. Officers and other guests 
 danced in their shirt-sleeves with pipes in their mouths, 
 without a care in the world. 
 
 At midnight the skipper said good-night, but not so 
 the other guests. Their farewell was made at 3 a.m., 
 when the sleepy crew of the motor-boat were awakened 
 by the quartermaster, and the guests, still singing, left 
 the ship amidst cheers, good-byes, and a chorus of "For 
 they are jolly good fellows." The little boat cuts through 
 the water and the "chug, chug" of her motor gradually 
 becomes inaudible in the distance. 
 
 IV 
 
 The mist had crept over the land and hidden the low- 
 lying parts of the coast from view. Unhealthy-looking 
 and yellow, the rising sun gleamed in sickly fashion 
 through the curtain of moisture. The Porcupine glided 
 
234 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 out of harbour past the allied squadron, and in an hour 
 she was lost to view. 
 
 The captain was glad to be quit of Kouro-Bamba, its 
 climate and baleful influence over his crew. As the days 
 passed, he noted with satisfaction the old sea-fresh look 
 coming back to the men. The work was better done, 
 the guns better kept, and gradually the old efficiency 
 returned, and that "seek out and destroy the enemy" 
 kind of keenness began to show itself. 
 
 The days were spent at exercises and drills, and in the 
 dog watches men were to be seen boxing, wrestling and 
 fencing, or performing gymnastic feats on the parallel 
 bars and vaulting horse. The captain yearned for an op- 
 portunity of testing the Porcupine against an equal foe. 
 
 It was one day when theR.N.R. lieutenant was on 
 watch that a strange ship came in sight. Something 
 about her appearance prompted him to send the messen- 
 ger down to the lower bridge for the captain. The latter 
 came up and brought his glasses to bear upon the dis- 
 tant hull. At first glance there seemed nothing amiss, 
 but the R.N.R. officer pointed out certain suspicious 
 details. There was much in what he said, and a few 
 seconds later the alarm bells and rattlers called the 
 "Porcupines" to quarters. 
 
 There was little wind, and the long ocean swell alter- 
 nately revealed and hid the hull of the suspicious vessel. 
 The Porcupine knew what vessels and convoys should 
 be met with, and the stranger was certainly not one of 
 them. 
 
 The two vessels approached on slightly converging 
 courses, and then the Porcupine drew ahead, and got the 
 mysterious steamer's masts in line. From a distance of 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 235 
 
 several miles she flashed the two-flag signal, which to 
 all the seamen of the world signifies "stop instantly." 
 The stranger steamed steadily on. The signal was 
 repeated by flags, by long and short notes on the syren, 
 and was flashed unmistakably on the searchlight. In ad- 
 dition a blank charged was fired. The stranger ignored 
 the Porcupine's signals, and continued on her course. 
 The Porcupine remained a couple of miles ahead, and, 
 after a reasonable period, another gun belched forth its 
 electric-yellow flash, and a white column of water spurted 
 up about two hundred yards clear of the oncoming 
 steamer. She turned immediately to port and brought 
 her starboard side towards that of the Porcupine. The 
 Ships were now not more than 3,000 yards apart. 
 Suddenly five whitish-yellow spurts of flame flashed 
 from the stranger's side, but before the missiles reached 
 the Porcupine an answering five crashes announced that 
 the British ship had likewise fired a salvo, for the Irish 
 first lieutenant had been controlling since the call to 
 action stations sent men scurrying to their guns. The 
 stranger's range was known to a yard or so at the instant 
 the word to shoot was passed. Almost simultaneously 
 five weird sounds told the captain that the stranger's 
 salvo had struck the sea. He knew well that "ker- 
 hook-ah" plunk of the misses. The salvo had fallen 
 splendidly together, but for the Porcupine splendidly 
 short ! 
 
 An indescribable thrill passed through the captain's 
 breast — it was the ecstasy of sea-fighting, which had been 
 denied him for so long. It almost took his breath 
 away, and he smiled with sparkling eye at the navigator. 
 
 "We shall get a good scrap now, pilot; this is a fight- 
 ing Hun," he said. 
 
236 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The nagivator had no time to answer, for a cheer 
 broke from somewhere abaft and below them, and the 
 yeoman — "our Mr. Smith," the most be-medalled man 
 in the ship — with a dry grin, reported : 
 
 "Two 'its, sir." 
 
 Another salvo crashed forth. 
 
 "Three 'its, two short shots," the yeoman reported, 
 and, as he spoke, the order "rapid independent, com- 
 mence," was passed to the starboard guns. 
 
 The range and rate had been carefully estimated and 
 passed, and the fire became rapid and fierce. The two 
 ships preserved their relative bearings, steaming on the 
 arc of a circle about two miles in diameter. It was 
 remarkable how they maintained their distance. 
 
 From the Porcupine's bridge dull red flames and 
 yellow-brown smoke could be seen rising from the 
 stranger, which told of the damage she had suffered. 
 The long-drawn, hissing whistle of the enemy's shell 
 spoke of harmless misses, but the slowing down of the 
 Porcupine's fire revealed the fact that she, too, had 
 been badly hit. 
 
 "Our Mr. Smith" stood slightly above the captain 
 and the navigator. Smith was a pensioner — and older 
 than any of the officers — and he was almost fathering 
 the fight. All the "Porcupines" were proud of him and 
 of his fighting record. His eyes saw everything that 
 happened to the enemy. What his eye saw as he looked 
 aft he did not report. He knew that the casualties were 
 dreadful, but he was quite confident as to the result, 
 and would not ruffle the coolness of the captain nor the 
 precision of the orders that come down from the fire 
 control. He swanked around on his little platform 
 with his telescope waving about, and in jerky phrases 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 237 
 
 told what he saw to those on the bridge just below 
 him. 
 
 The captain and navigator looked at one another with 
 grim smiles, for the smell of burning paintwork was com- 
 ing up to their nostrils, and it was plain to them that 
 hits were being registered although, in the smoke and 
 deafening noise, the two men could not tell where. 
 Messengers were sent to enquire, and they slithered down 
 the ladderways and stepped over dying men as they 
 went. The navigator confirmed the yeoman's state- 
 ment that the enemy's fire was slackening. He marked 
 the gun flashes, and noted that her after guns were 
 silent. 
 
 "Concentrate more on the forepart of her," ordered 
 the skipper to the fire control. 
 
 The necessary adjustments were made and suddenly 
 the yeoman, excited for the first time, shouted : 
 
 "A torpedo, sir." 
 
 He pointed with his telescope, his arm extended, and 
 although it would spoil the shooting, the captain altered 
 away. The torpedo broke surface, owing to the swell, 
 then tearing along with incredible swiftness, it made 
 direct for the Porcupine. But the alteration in helm 
 had been sufficient, and the deadly thing passed harm- 
 lessly away to starboard. 
 
 The enemy turned her stern to the Porcupine. She 
 was either seizing the opportunity of ramming, or wished 
 to bring her other side to bear at a greater distance. The 
 skipper of the British ship decided to give his other 
 battery a chance, and continued round under starboard 
 helm, a desultory, ding-dong fire continuing in the 
 meantime. But the range opened considerably in the 
 process, and the heavier guns of the enemy made the 
 
2 3 8 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 better shooting. Two great rents appeared on the port 
 quarter of the Porcupine before she straightened up, and 
 all the after part of her upper deck was a burning wreck. 
 The stokers' fire brigade rushed to the scene and fought 
 a battle of their own — a grim battle against the fire-fiend 
 made more perilous by the danger of exploding ammuni- 
 tion. Nobody saw them, and nobody would ever know 
 how heroically they fought. 
 
 The captain's manoeuvre had disappointed him, but 
 he was glad to give the other battery its opportunity. 
 The men there had been restless with that rather fearful 
 expectancy that is born of inactivity in action. Fighting 
 is nothing when men are hitting back, and when they 
 know their blows are telling. It is the period of waiting 
 to join in the fray that tells. 
 
 There was a little flutter of white on board the strange 
 ship. At first it was taken as a signal of surrender, but 
 it was nothing of the sort. The enemy was hoisting the 
 white ensign of the German Imperial navy, with its 
 sombre black cross. A further challenge to the Porcu- 
 pine, and an unmistakable indication of a worthy foe. 
 The German, for some reason, had not hoisted his col- 
 ours before, but he had now thrown aside the mask and 
 shown his adversary that he meant to fight it out. 
 
 A little more manoeuvring, and the Porcupine port 
 guns all spoke at once. The enemy was steaming away 
 with his stern towards the British ship. His fire ceased 
 momentarily, but he swung further round to port, and 
 all his guns from that side opened fire simultaneously. 
 The range closed, for the Porcupine was easily the faster 
 ship, and she approached so that her five guns on the 
 one side bore. Her shells went crashing into the enemy, 
 and the fire was returned with fury. The vessels 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 239 
 
 approached to within a mile, and it seemed impossible 
 to miss, but shells flew over, and shells flew short, for the 
 swell made the aim more difficult. The pungent odour 
 of burning paint filled the air, torpedoes were fired from 
 both vessels, as chances offered, but the heaving sea upset 
 their accuracy, and the fight was essentially one of 
 gunfire. The laughing gaiety of the Porcupine's men 
 had disappeared and given place to grim, determined 
 fighting. The speed of both ships had dropped, and 
 steam, smoke, and flame seemed to envelope everything. 
 Communications had all been shot away, and bloody, 
 grimy men ran hither and thither with their messages, 
 to find out, to report, and to take directions from the 
 bridge. The enemy was burning furiously amidships, 
 and his after guns had again been put out of action. 
 His bow guns kept pounding away, however, almost 
 always hitting, and one shell tore its way through the 
 Porcupine's chart house, exploded, and shattered the 
 lower bridge. The navigator ran with the captains' 
 coxswain to steer from the after position, but steer- 
 ing was well-nigh useless, for the ship had nearly 
 stopped. 
 
 A dirty, blood-bespattered wretch flopped, Lord 
 knows how, onto the upper bridge. It was the Irish first 
 lieutenant. He had slid from the control position aloft 
 by a fighting stay down to the captain. 
 
 "The ship's sinking I think, sir," he said. "The 
 stern's all under water and " 
 
 He broke off suddenly, for the attention of both of 
 them was attracted by a long, low flash, and a cloud like 
 a dust storm. The enemy ship had disappeared. 
 
 The sub, a mere boy, appeared on the bridge, after 
 being nearly crushed by No. 1, who was off down the 
 
2 4 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ladder at break-neck speed, with the intention of stop- 
 ping the gaping wounds, and shoring up bulkheads 
 afresh. The boy pulled himself together, and told the 
 captain what he had done. His voice sounded strange 
 and high-pitched in the stillness, for the crash of the guns 
 had ceased. It was he — the sub — who had given the 
 death blow to the raider by means of the last torpedo. 
 Assisted by a giant seaman, the "Rot des zig-zag eurs^ 
 already referred to, he had accurately laid the tube, and 
 fired at the blazing German. The explosion must have 
 caused her magazines to blow up, for the enemy ship 
 had just vanished. 
 
 The skipper's delight was short-lived, for it was clear 
 that the Porcupine herself was doomed. He made his 
 way aft, and his feet went from under him more than 
 once in the slippery mess of blood. The signal to 
 abandon ship was given, and out went the rafts for 
 none of the boats would float. It was only a matter of 
 minutes before the ship must go under. 
 
 The surgeon, in long white operating cloak, blood- 
 smudged but alert, was directing the evacuation of the 
 wounded. The patient, quiet maimed ones lay yellowy- 
 white and still. Few of them would live on the rafts, 
 but they could not be abandoned. 
 
 A stoker came up with a message, and saluted with a 
 coal-dirty hand. 
 
 "What do you say? Speak up man," for the captain 
 could not understand his faltering whispered sentence. 
 
 "The chief engineer wants to say good-bye." 
 
 "What's wrong with the man, he's blubbing?" 
 
 The captain and navigator questioned him, then they 
 dashed below to find the engineer lieutenant, cheer- 
 ful, but mortally wounded. His men had been sent 
 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 241 
 
 away, but two E.R.A.'s* remained, begging him to let 
 them carry him. 
 
 "It can't be done," he said, and he was right. Fear- 
 fully wounded, the poor fellow gripped at a metal rail. 
 Water was pouring down the sides of the engine room, 
 and at one end men's bodies were floating. The skipper 
 and his companion bent over the wounded man. It was 
 hopeless to save him. He smiled affectionately at his 
 captain. 
 
 "Have we sunk her?" he murmured. "I oughtn't 
 to ask, for otherwise you wouldn't be here." 
 
 A little groan — a great gulping sob — the dying man 
 turned his head away and back again. 
 
 "Don't forget the engine-room when you send in your 
 despatch, sir — get the chief E.R.A. promoted — and tell 
 
 " but the poor fellow was gone before he could 
 
 complete his message. 
 
 The two officers and the E.R.A.'s moved up the ladder- 
 way, and hardly had they reached the upper deck when 
 the Porcupine went down by the stern. Those who 
 had got clear on the rafts saw her ram bow thrust up 
 from the water, and the toss of her proud victorious 
 head as she went to her doom. The men noted that 
 brave toss of the head and they burst into cheers. 
 
 The captain, first lieutenant, navigator and E.R.A.'s 
 found themselves swimming in the sea, but there was 
 plenty of wreckage, and it was not long before eager 
 hands pulled them on to one of those little life-saving 
 rafts which are known as Carley floats. 
 
 Within sight were other rafts appearing and disap- 
 pearing in the swell. There was no food, and no water to 
 
 * Engine Room Artificer. 
 16 
 
242 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 drink. In a few hours the effects of exposure in the 
 tropical sun began to tell, and some men were sick from 
 the effects of excitement, heat, and the perpetual ocean- 
 heaving. Rafts have a very different motion from that 
 of a ship. Night fell and the officers passed the time 
 discussing the fight and their chances of being picked 
 up. The chances were fairly good because, on going 
 into action, a wireless message had been sent out to the 
 other searching ships. They decided that it was a ques- 
 tion of holding out, and that for the present there was no 
 reason to fear that they would not be observed. 
 
 The battle with the raider was fought and re-fought 
 again. Excitement was still buoying up the men's spirits 
 and they kept a sharp lookout for signs of any German 
 survivors, earnestly hoping that there were some, if only 
 for the sake of comparing notes! Their interest in life 
 was great, but they dreaded the rising of the fierce, 
 tropic sun. 
 
 The second day began, and their spirits fell. The 
 sun beat down upon them with an intensity that was 
 almost insupportable, and their thirst was terrible. 
 Some became delirious. The skin of their faces and 
 hands peeled and cracked. The sea, however, was 
 calmer, and the other rafts were still in view. How few 
 the survivors were. Certainly not more than a quarter 
 of the ship's company remained. 
 
 The second day passed and the sun crept slowly down 
 towards the purple sea. Suddenly the captain leapt up 
 and pointed towards the red gold orb. 
 
 "It's all right men," he cried, "there's smoke rising 
 out there across the sun." 
 
 Soon the smoke was visible to all of them, and before 
 daylight vanished the thin masts of an approaching 
 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 243 
 
 destroyer were seen. She came steadily towards them, 
 and presently her camouflaged upper works hove in 
 sight. Then the beat of her propellers was heard. A 
 shrill whistle from her syren was greeted by a feeble 
 cheer, for the survivors knew that they were seen. 
 Another few minutes elapsed and then the graceful hull 
 of a large United States destroyer showed broadside on 
 as she stopped and lowered her boats. 
 
 The Irish first lieutenant gave vent to a cracked 
 shriek, and seized the skipper's hand. The skipper 
 looked at him apprehensively fearing that he had gone 
 mad and that the rescuers had come too late for him at 
 any rate; but the Irishman was merely in a hysteria of 
 joy. He threw back his head and displayed a double 
 row of strong white teeth, which contrasted strangely 
 with the black, unshaven chin and the deep red bronze 
 of his sun-baked face. He squeezed the captain's hand 
 with what little strength remained to him, and, looking 
 knowingly into his eyes, said : 
 
 "I'm glad the lobster kicked." 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 H.M.S. "Active" 
 
 No one who has not been intimately connected with con- 
 voys can properly appreciate the work of the mercan- 
 tile marine. I remember how furious I was on receiving 
 my appointment to H.M.S. Active; I might perhaps 
 have commanded her before I ever reached the dignity 
 of four stripes, when I was attached to the Dover 
 Patrol, but I preferred at that time the more active 
 employment with destroyers, which, with their greater 
 speed and more continuous patrols, gave one a better 
 chance to fall in with enemy vessels. 
 
 However, people do not make their own appointments 
 in war time, or even in peace time for that matter. At 
 the beginning of April, 191 8, I joined the Active at 
 Queenstown and weighed in with the new and important 
 work of convoys. All the Allies owe those responsible 
 for inaugurating the convoy system a debt of gratitude 
 that it will be difficult to repay. 
 
 .1 spent some days studying the conduct of our sea 
 borne supplies in convoys of slow ships, and in a very 
 short time I realised that the Admiralty had selected the 
 Active for this work because she was in every way suited 
 for it. She was of over 25 knots speed and one could 
 handle her like a picket boat. The Active was a sister 
 ship to the Saucy Arethusa of Heligoland fame; she 
 carried ten 4-inch guns, was of 3,440 tons displacement, 
 
 244 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 245 
 
 and was capable of steaming 4,260 miles without re- 
 fuelling. Although she looked very much like a des- 
 troyer, she was over 400 feet long and many a time 
 our own submarine fellows told me that they had mis- 
 taken her for one of the "Yankee" destroyers. The 
 man I relieved in command of her was Captain Gordon 
 Campbell, V.C., D.S.O., and never in my life have I 
 walked on board a more efficient ship; so well were the 
 officers and ship's company acquainted with their work 
 that there never was any necessity for me to try and 
 shake them up. In consequence I found that I had 
 much time for myself and, previous to leaving with my 
 first convoy, I had plenty of leisure to study the experi- 
 ence of others which was handed out to us by a well- 
 organised Admiralty in what one may call "convoy 
 tablets." The confidential books on the subject were 
 made out in different languages and they contained such 
 useful information, that when I met the skippers of my 
 first lot of ships at a conference, I seemed to have every- 
 thing at my finger's ends, after reading the books once 
 through. 
 
 I took over command of the Active at Queenstown, 
 and as my first convoys did not sail for something like 
 three weeks from this date, I found myself with a certain 
 amount of leisure and, what is more, I found myself 
 again within the clutches of Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, 
 who still commanded on the coasts of Ireland. I need 
 hardly say that I profited tremendously by my second 
 short period of service under this great British sailor; 
 one never met him without learning something; one 
 never left him without admiring him more, and when the 
 Active finally sailed away to Berehaven and thence to 
 Liverpool, I had a bubbling hope in my heart that it 
 
246 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 would not be long before Admiral Bayly hooked me in 
 again as a submarine hunter under his immediate super- 
 vision. Alas ! this was not to be, for although, I believe, 
 he made frequent application for my services, the Active 
 was soon doing very good work escorting convoys of 
 twenty to thirty ships upon the ocean highways and en- 
 suring them of protection against gunfire attack by what 
 can only be described as submarine cruisers. 
 
 Before leaving Queenstown we docked our ship and 
 prefected her anti-submarine devices. There was a 
 strike on at the time; I did not bother my head much 
 on the subject; I only knew that a number of people 
 were not working and their places were taken by smiling 
 and willing sailors from His Majesty's ship Active, who 
 were as anxious as the Admiral himself to get on with 
 the war. 
 
 The Active was based on Gibraltar for the future, and 
 her principal duty was to act as ocean escort to the slow 
 convoys which I have already mentioned. We ran in 
 harness with H.M.S. Adventure and the two American 
 cruisers, Birmingham and Chester. I had a great number 
 of officers in the Active, and no captain in this world 
 was ever better served than I was in that ship. I had 
 made up my mind to hate the Active, but without any 
 exaggeration I may say that I loved her officers and men. 
 Theye were a real fine lot; zealous, efficient, and smiling 
 describes them very truly. 
 
 The convoy conduct was of vital importance to the 
 Allies. We in the ocean escorts knew it, the merchant 
 men knew it and the enemy knew it. For us in the 
 Active it had its own peculiar adventure, which savoured 
 of rat-hunting. No ship in the world could have been 
 more suitable for the work than that which I com- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 247 
 
 manded, she turned more easily than a destroyer and 
 slithered through and around the convoys like a collie 
 rounding up a flock of sheep. I became very enthusiastic 
 over the convoy work, particularly no doubt on account 
 of my admiration and affection for the senior service, the 
 merchant service — I take it the ark was not a man-of- 
 war. My association with the skippers, mates and 
 engineers, with whom I came in contact, brought me 
 back to my sub-lieutenant days when the monotony of 
 peace-time navy drove me to the Antarctic as second 
 mate of the relief ship Morning. 
 
 The first convoys I took consisted of larger ships than 
 usual; in fact some of them were liners; but my subse- 
 quent flotillas of merchant ships for the most part con- 
 sisted of 7-knot tramps, laden with coal or grain. In 
 each convoy was a Commodore, usually an R.N.R. 
 commander, and a vice-commodore, generally selected 
 because he had seen much convoy service. The convoys 
 were not confined to British and Allied ships, and so we 
 frequently had Norwegians, Danes and Swedes with us. 
 The conference of masters before we set out were just 
 little sailor "at homes." The captains smoked their 
 pipes and listened to the commodore and myself explain- 
 ing our plans for the conduct of the slow-moving mer- 
 chant fleet, which was about to embark on another 
 "gauntlet" voyage. We always had a perfect under- 
 standing at these conferences; and, although I was in 
 most cases the youngest skipper present, I was well- 
 known to many of the captains already, for I had mixed 
 with them in the uttermost corners of the earth. I had 
 met some in New Zealand, some in Australia, while 
 others I had travelled with to Cape Town, Ceylon and 
 New York. Then there were Worcester boys with whom 
 
248 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 I had been at school, and we all had a common object — 
 to oust the hated Hun. 
 
 With so many different types of vessels, varying in 
 speed, in shape and manoeuvring qualities, the station 
 keeping and alter-course movements were not always 
 easy; but the intention throughout was to do our best 
 and the result, as far as the merchant service was con- 
 cerned in convoy work, was excellent. 
 
 I invariably promised at these conferences that if a 
 ship were torpedoed her crew should be picked up. It 
 was clear that with my twenty-five knots I could make 
 things most unpleasant for the U boat, for I was full of 
 anti-submarine appliances. Explaining matters to them, 
 they soon realised the splendid manoeuvring qualities of 
 the Active. I accepted all the responsibility for collision, 
 pointing out that I could hardly do less with such high 
 power in a nut-shell; and it was definitely laid down at 
 these conferences that the Active gave way to every- 
 thing, which, considering her vastly superior speed, was 
 certainly as it should be. 
 
 Admiral Duff had arranged for the convoys to be 
 accompanied by one or two large patrol gunboats, of 
 which nearly forty were constructed in 19 17-18, and 
 whenever available, one of these followed astern of the 
 convoys to succour and save life if the occasion de- 
 manded it. 
 
 I thoroughly enjoyed my convoy time. It brought 
 me new friends, new experiences, and developed new 
 sympathies, for I widened my horizon of acquaintances 
 and learnt to know still fresh types of the men who were 
 winning the war. My knowledge of Danish and Nor- 
 wegian gave me as friends such men as commanded the 
 little steamers Helge, Ruytenfjeld and Storfjeld, all 
 
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 D M 
 
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KEEPING THE SEAS 249 
 
 Norsemen with the real sea instinct and true sailor con- 
 tempt for the German submarine and all its dirty ways. 
 Many of the skippers with whom I came in contact had 
 been torpedoed three times; and while at Milford, on 
 one occasion a merchant captain came to the Admiral's 
 office, fresh from a torpedoed ship with his clothes still 
 wet upon him, and asked for another command. There 
 is no need to emphasise one's enjoyment in working with 
 men like these. 
 
 Looking back on that time, I often imagine myself 
 breathing again the black coal smoke which filled my 
 nostrils from the funnels of the rusty tramp steamers. 
 The smoke was often wafted over my bridge as my 
 dainty cruiser worked her way through the columns 
 of crawling vessels as they gradually made their way 
 over the face of the great waters. After each meeting 
 with the masters one became more efficient and one's 
 convoys were better ordered and controlled; after each 
 voyage one learnt to appreciate better and better the 
 admirable qualities of the men to whom I refer. The 
 world owes them something! 
 
 There was little I could do for these people to make 
 their lot a brighter one. I tried to think out everything, 
 and I only hope I succeeded. If high spirits and enthu- 
 siasm count, we were not failures. We were full of buck 
 in the Active. Whenever we hauled down a signal, the 
 executive for carrying out the ordered movements was 
 a cock-a-doodle-do on both syrens, and this would be 
 repeated right through the convoy flotilla. We never 
 made signals in the afternoon unless they were absolutely 
 necessary, for there was much night work, and it was 
 better that people should be undisturbed and allowed 
 to get their heads down. 
 
2 5 o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The convoys were worked entirely without lights. 
 Speaking generally they were too slow to zig-zag, but fast 
 ships if available, would zig-zag on the flanks and across 
 the rear. The Active had no particular station; we kept 
 clear of everybody and usually worked between the 
 convoy and the sun, when its altitude was not great. 
 And we zig-zagged around in a way that earned for me 
 the name of the "zig-zag king." When there was any 
 moon, we of course reversed the process, and got on the 
 side of the convoy furthest from that celestial body. 
 
 Our signals were nearly always marked by their 
 politeness, except when vessels showed lights at night, 
 which I am glad to say was not often. When it did 
 happen, I used to charge right through the convoy at full 
 speed and getting quite close to the offending ship, make 
 a series of toots and groans on fog-horns, syren and 
 whistle. This may or may not have been the correct 
 procedure, but it always had the effect of bringing the 
 skipper to the end of the bridge in some kind of fright or 
 rage. A short megaphone conversation would follow, 
 the offending "glim" would be "doused," other men 
 would look round their ships to make certain no lights 
 were showing, the Active would slither away in the dark- 
 ness, tranquillity would be restored, officers of watches 
 would call for the requisite increase of speed to get back 
 into station before they were found out by their now 
 awakened skippers, and in a few minutes the panic would 
 be over, night watchers would return surreptitiously to 
 the solace of their pipes, and in the stillness of the night 
 the thud, thud, thud of big propellers would faintly 
 make itself heard, like the muffled ticking of a large 
 clock. 
 
 When approaching and leaving the English and Irish 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 251 
 
 Channels, the convoys were accompanied by what was 
 known as the danger zone escort. This meant that a 
 number of mosquito craft buzzed round our flanks and 
 across our path, and in this connection I may be par- 
 doned if I mention Captain Frederic A. Whitehead, 
 Captain Reginald Henderson and Paymaster Captain 
 H. W. E. Manisty, who all contributed to the perfect 
 convoy organisation with which it was such a pleasure to 
 be associated. The danger zone escort varied very much, 
 indeed my first convoy was escorted out into the Atlantic 
 by five beautiful American destroyers of the most 
 modern type. When approaching Gibraltar, I found to 
 my dismay, that the destroyer escort which was to help 
 us through the Straits was not worthy of the name. 
 It was, nevertheless, all that the Admiral could give us. 
 We were met there by three funny old steamers that 
 could hardly keep up with the convoy (it happened to 
 be a fast one). I signalled to them, "Where is destroyer 
 escort," and when they replied, "We are," I was tempted 
 to answer back, "Hitch on behind and we will tow you 
 into port." 
 
 What a joy it was to arrive in Gibraltar, after the 
 drearier patrols of more northern waters, with so much 
 rain, gale and fog. The climate was exquisite. When 
 I brought my little ship up to her buoy in the protected 
 harbour, I received for the first time in the war the signal 
 to let fires die out. The officer commanding at Gibraltar 
 was Rear-Admiral Heathcoat S. Grant, C.B., who had 
 lately been King's Harbourmaster and Rear-Admiral at 
 Dover. He had under his command British, American, 
 Brazilian, Italian, French, Japanese and Portuguese 
 units, and I think they appreciated him as much as I 
 did myself. He and his staff did all they possibly could 
 
252 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 to study the comforts of the sea-going units, and in the 
 whole time I was under his command, I was only once 
 called upon to do any work outside of my own special 
 convoy and patrol duty — it became necessary for me to 
 sit on a court-martial. At Gibraltar we kept fit with 
 plenty of tennis and swimming and, taking it all round, 
 we generally got a week in England and five or six days 
 at Gibraltar every month. It was a splendid rest cure. 
 
 Of my ship-mates in the Active I cannot speak too 
 highly. I grew young in their company, and to command 
 them was a pleasure. We had an invariable rule that no 
 intoxicating drinks were ever allowed at sea, and on this 
 account it never became necessary for me to lay down a 
 special wine limit for anyone. I am a great believer in 
 a glass of wine at times to gladden the heart of man, 
 but I hope that any occasional references to gin and 
 cock-tails will not lead my readers to suppose that the 
 naval officer indulges much in alcohol. 
 
 The reaction and change from the more exacting 
 duties of the Dover Patrol to the gentle and pleasurable 
 convoy work in the vicinity of Gibraltar were certainly 
 good for me as for the ship's company in general. 
 Glorious weather and sunlit seas were a relaxation, and 
 the increased leisure time here meant that we regained 
 our pre-war physical fitness, for it must always be re- 
 membered that no amount of fresh air and sea time will 
 compensate for the lack of good physical exercise to 
 which we are accustomed in the Navy generally. 
 
 We escorted 182 ships in the Active. They were 
 divided up into twelve convoys, and our record was 
 nothing to be ashamed of. For our crest we had a 
 tortoise, which was intended to be symbolical of our rate 
 of progress; our losses were nil, our collisions nil, and 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 253 
 
 no convoy escorted by the Active was ever late on the 
 pre-arranged rendezvous time. It seems a bit "blowy," 
 but I would rather be able to say that than tell of gallant 
 rescues of crews whose ships I had lost in my convoys 
 by torpedo or collision. We certainly were lucky. 
 
 Here again my sleeping bag came in, but it was used 
 under far more comfortable conditions than those which 
 obtained on the Active's upper bridge, and at night I 
 lay on my bridge in this, ready for any surprises. For 
 the most part we were blessed with fine weather and I 
 used to lie peacefully in my bag, with a glorious star-lit 
 ceiling forming a canopy over me. Those delicious 
 people, the Active's officers, studied me and my comforts 
 as if I had been a pet Pekinese instead of a somewhat 
 exacting captain. Orders seemed to be breathed rather 
 than shouted down the voice-tubes, for they certainly 
 never disturbed me, and I only knew of the change in 
 watches by the difference in the officer's features sil- 
 houetted against the sky. The first and middle watches 
 were kept by my two R.N.R. lieutenants, both of them 
 splendid seamen, while Lieut. Despard, the first lieu- 
 tenant, took on at 4 a.m. These three inspired me with 
 confidence, and as far as the Active was concerned, the 
 convoy business ran on cushion tyred wheels. At the 
 least sign of a shower of rain a little awning was rigged 
 over me by invisible signalmen, with deft fingers and 
 noiseless tread. In short it was a good time to live 
 through and one which left me only with affectionate 
 memories of the "Active's," lock, stock and barrel. 
 
 We were always glad to see ships make a second and 
 third appearance in our convoys, and the same may 
 generally be said of the convoy commodores too. When 
 I left Dover I wished for something more stirring than 
 
254 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 the Active, and it was not my fault that we got no 
 fighting in the little ship. At the same time I always 
 avoided submarines with the convoys, and they could 
 often be dodged by using the frequent submarine reports 
 that we were furnished with by wireless from shore 
 stations, men-of-war, and merchant ships. I am particu- 
 larly glad to have won through without accident or 
 hitch. When the Armistice was signed I wrote to Cap- 
 tain Whitehead about convoys and concerning my own 
 affairs, and in my letter I said: 
 
 "For the Active, Adventure, Birmingham and Chester 
 I can certainly speak, and I may say that we four skippers 
 felt that everything was done for us (thanks to the Con- 
 voy Section and the Admirals of Gibraltar and Milford) 
 to make our lot in this part of the war an exceedingly 
 pleasant one. We have scarcely ever been called on 
 to do anything outside our escort work. Our ships' 
 companies have been rested and given leave, and I can 
 think of no suggestion for improvement beyond adding 
 to the ocean escort the safeguard of one or two craft 
 such as the 'K' class gunboats. 
 
 "I hope if you distribute any rewards, you will not 
 neglect to remember the commanders of 'K' gunboats 
 according to their work, bearing in mind this fact, that 
 we in the cruisers have had good first lieutenants, good 
 navigators, and a working proportion of really efficient 
 watchkeepers. 
 
 "With all good wishes and a final word of apprecia- 
 tion of your own forethought and organisation, etc." 
 
 The spirit of this chapter is a truly happy one, but 
 one must not forget that my experience compels me to 
 speak of the better weather. The transition from winter 
 to summer itself made us all glad. The Armistice 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 255 
 
 came before we had had the dreadful winter buffetting 
 that our friends in the little tramp steamers had ex- 
 perienced all through the war. 
 
 I never was much of an inventor, but I devised for 
 graphic use in the ocean escorts and commodores' ships 
 what was known as the tortoise board. This consisted 
 of a large rectangular board on which were rows of small 
 hooks. We had a box full of flat tortoises made of brass, 
 with a hole through the head of each so that it could be 
 hooked onto the board. On the back of each small 
 tortoise was a white ground glass shape suitable for 
 writing on in pencil. Each tortoise represented one of 
 the ships in the convoy, and on receipt of the convoy 
 papers it was the signal yeoman's . duty to write the 
 name, speed, distinguishing signal and port of destination 
 of each ship on a tortoise's back. He then hooked them 
 on to the board in representative fashion so that we had 
 our convoy in miniature before us on the bridge. If a 
 ship dropped out of station the signalman of the watch 
 unhooked the tortoise and placed him on a peg indicating 
 his changed position. Those zig-zagging on the flanks 
 could be moved out of the general formation. The whole 
 idea was that the convoy should present as broad a front 
 as possible and very close station was kept. This 
 prevented submarines from popping up in the centre of 
 convoys and loosing off torpedoes in all directions. 
 The tortoise board amused the officers of the watches, 
 and it certainly gave them all the information they 
 wanted; for example, if the speed of the convoy was 
 seven knots and a 10-knot ship dropped out of the 
 station, she was quickly hustled back by station-keeping 
 signal, whereas if a 7 ^ -knot ship dropped astern we were 
 certainly more considerate and reduced the speed of the 
 
256 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 convoy if, after a small megaphone conversation with 
 her, we found she could not keep up. 
 
 Of the convoy commodores, the best known to me was 
 Commander William H. Kelly, D.S.O., late of the Royal 
 Mail Steam Ship Line. His convoys were always 
 magnificently managed. Kelly was not a young man, 
 but he was sea breeze and salt junk right through besides 
 being very quick brained. Whenever we learned that he 
 was to be our convoy commodore there was great joy 
 in the Active. The convoy commodores, like the cabinet 
 ministers, had their own peculiarities. Some of them 
 were "dead nuts" on stellar observation, and one could 
 see them at dawn stealing out to the bridge ends to 
 stalk the twinkling star with their brass telescope sex- 
 tants. The navigation was usually easy enough, but 
 we left nothing to chance, and the star chasing commo- 
 dores had no intention of bringing their convoys into 
 the narrow waters without making the most of the navi- 
 gational aid afforded them by the occasional appear- 
 ance of a peeping star when a blue patch occurred in the 
 skies. We did not have much clear weather as a rule 
 when approaching Ireland. Outward bound it was 
 different, and clear star-lit nights were frequent. 
 
 Kelly never took old, well-trained naval signalmen. 
 Some commodores had a chief yeoman and many 
 seasoned bunting-tossers ; but Kelly carried round with 
 him three or four signal boys, and when I expressed my 
 surprise at the signal staff supplied to him, knowing to 
 what he was entitled, he informed me that he preferred 
 the youngsters, because they did not do what they 
 thought, but what he told them. He said he was there 
 to talk to merchant seamen, and being a merchant sea- 
 man himself he was well able to do it in his own salt 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 257 
 
 water way. There is no doubt Kelly had his signal boys 
 trained to perfection. Whenever we made a message 
 to him, the answering pennants fluttered in response, 
 for those boys had eyes like hawks. I shall look out for 
 them in the future. 
 
 As may be gathered from this dissertation on convoys, 
 we in the ocean escorts were hardly over-worked. The 
 Active had a good long quarter deck and we had plenty 
 of opportunity for keeping fit at sea. We used to play 
 our own kind of medicine ball, which was after the fash- 
 ion of tennis. We had a high net rigged up, four played 
 at once and we tossed a ball weighing 30 pounds over this 
 net and back again until we were wet through with 
 perspiration. Sometimes we had shilling tournaments, 
 which all helped to disperse the monotony of being some 
 days at sea. Lieut. Bryant, R.N.R., who was a first- 
 class sailmaker, always made the medicine balls for us, 
 but they were not made in a minute. One one occasion 
 I remember he had worked all day to get one completed, 
 and when it made its appearance in the dog watches 
 on our "tennis courts," it was greeted with shouts of 
 admiration. But the shouts turned to groans when it 
 disappeared over the side owing to a somewhat lusty 
 heave in an unprotected direction. It was too much for 
 me; I rushed up on to the bridge, hauled out astern of 
 the convoy, called away the lifeboat's crew, stopped 
 the ship and picked it up. So much for the protection 
 afforded by the ocean escort ! In justice to myself, I 
 must add that I knew there had been no submarine 
 reports in our neighbourhood for some time. However, 
 like other people, I had laid myself open to criticism if 
 the facts of the case leaked out. I resorted to subter- 
 fuge. I hoisted the signal RJE VIF, which indicates 
 
 17 
 
258 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 "man saved," so that any nervous gentleman in the 
 crowd of ships about us might pardon us for stopping and 
 lowering a boat when in this dreadful danger of being 
 submarined. Up went all the little answering pennants 
 and such was the friendly feeling prevailing in the con- 
 voys that the little Danish steamer Helge hoisted DZA 
 (Allow me to congratulate you) . 
 
 19 1 8 was the year of rations and ration cards. I 
 remember bringing an enormous ship, the Argyllshire, 
 along in one of the small, fast convoys, and with her 
 were five other ships, each one of which carried enough 
 meat to give every individual in the United Kingdom 
 a pound. I believe the Argyllshire was also full of frozen 
 beef, and she could have more than done the same. 
 The ships and their cargoes all got through safely to old 
 England, and therefore that one little lot represented as 
 much as all the meat coupons of our country for a month. 
 The safe delivery of homeward convoys always left one 
 cheered, and when we anchored off Pembroke or in 
 Plymouth Sound, we had a glad feeling that we had 
 helped to replenish the empty larder of those we loved 
 and worked for. 
 
 Long before the armistice was signed, the gradual 
 but very marked decrease in the submarine sinking 
 showed us that the menace no longer existed seriously. 
 In May, 1 9 1 8, the Allies sunk or finally put out of action 
 no less than sixteen enemy submarines, and although 
 that number does not represent the monthly average for 
 the year, it indicates that the submarine danger had been 
 overcome, that the Allies were not to be starved out, 
 and that we were keeping the seas. 
 
 Having fairly mastered the subject of convoy work 
 thanks to the efficiency of the merchant men themselves, 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 259 
 
 and the clear simple regulations and advice given 
 in convoy memoranda, I found myself with very little 
 to do when the Active came into harbour at the end of 
 her escort trips. I therefore turned my attention to the 
 lighter pleasure of picnics, summer football matches and 
 any old thing that came along. We got to know a lot 
 of people at Gibraltar and quickly turned our ship into 
 a kind of Pickford's van. The families of those stationed 
 at the Rock Fortress were practically cut off from the 
 land, for parcel mails through Spain and France were 
 quite impossible, and the opportunity of sending and 
 receiving packages to and from England was of rare 
 occurrence, unless the services of friendly men-of-war 
 were utilised. Consequently, it was no usual thing for 
 me to bring out a cabin-full of ladies' hats, skirts and 
 underclothes, and I even purchased such things as patent 
 leather shoes for the ladies at Gibraltar. My wife, 
 fortunately, saw eye to eye with me in the matter, and 
 realising the plight of the English colony, she used to do 
 any amount of shopping for the ladies on the Rock. I 
 am glad to say our combined efforts never landed us 
 into incurring the displeasure of those we were trying to 
 assist. We took all sorts of things out in the ship and 
 we brought all kinds of things home. We got raisins, 
 oranges, figs, dates, grapes, and melons from Gibraltar, 
 beautiful cane chairs from Madeira, and even casks of 
 port from Portugal and Spain. These articles were only 
 carried in officers' cabins, which were never used at sea, 
 when on principle we kept ourselves above the upper 
 deck in order to be ready for action at all times. I 
 remember once taking out a toy engine for the wife of 
 a commander who had a three-year-old son. I brought 
 this up in a carroge with many other things and landed 
 
260 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 at the house she shared with the wife of the naval 
 secretary, looking like Father Christmas, so laden was I 
 with stores. I unloaded the engine from the little 
 carriage, and wheeling it before me, was met by a little 
 child. It was the daughter of the secretary, a little girl 
 of two. She immediately fell in love with the engine 
 and would not be separated from it until its lawful owner 
 appeared on the scene. This little boy seized the engine 
 and the baby girl was left screaming. It is difficult to 
 please everybody. I had all sorts of adventures 
 with this engine, travelling back to my departure port 
 by crowded midnight train. However, I was not out 
 to be defeated by these two children and that afternoon 
 I called my painter and joiner' together on board the 
 Active and explained to them the impasse that had arisen 
 in the Admiral's secretary's house. All sailors love chil- 
 dren, and these two appreciated the difficulty of the 
 situation. Within forty-eight hours these two kindly 
 sailor-men had constructed a toy engine, enamelled 
 green and red, brass-mounted and with glass window 
 ports. The engine was labelled "Active" in beautiful 
 letters of bronze, and when completed it put the pro- 
 fessional toy to shame. Some of the Active's officers 
 took it up to the secretary's house with the best and 
 most generous intentions in the world. But we failed, 
 miserably; for when the first kid compared his engine 
 with the beautiful amateur article fashioned on my ship, 
 he was overcome by a furious fit of jealousy, and in spite 
 of all our good intentions we left both children fighting 
 and crying fit to break their hearts. 
 
 Whenever the Active spent a Sunday in Gibraltar, the 
 captain and officers gave a children's party, and the 
 biggest children of all were the "Actives" themselves. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 261 
 
 We usually borrowed the Admiral's barge and towed the 
 ship's dinghy, laden with food and water, to the picnic 
 rendezvous. If the picnic was a large one, we took the 
 Blue Bird, as our steamboat had been christened, in 
 addition to the barge. Although we called these picnics 
 "children's parties" they were really Sunday outings for 
 the prettiest girls in Gibraltar. We used to love these 
 days. The dark blue and white enamelled barge was a 
 magnificent steamboat, with shinning brass bell-mouthed 
 funnel. The bright work on her was wonderful to look 
 at. The young girls used to crowd on to her deck at 
 the Ragged Staff steps at the appointed hour; and in 
 their pretty gauzy dresses and dainty summer headgear 
 they seemed to give the boat the appearance of a basket- 
 ful of carnations. 
 
 The "Actives" for these occasions discarded their 
 naval uniforms and appeared at the landing stage carry- 
 ing the objects requisite for the picnic. These always in- 
 cluded a gramaphdne and records, bathing gear, a water 
 polo ball, another ball for rounders, and a number of 
 golliwog dolls, teddy bears and penguins — the prizes for 
 the rag-time sports in which the party proposed to 
 indulge. 
 
 Everybody from the ship was there, except the officers 
 whose day on it was, and they would give us word of 
 greeting as we passed by the ship on our way to Algeciras 
 or Sandy Bay, according to the spot we had chosen on 
 the Spanish mainland. 
 
 The admiral's secretary's wife chaperoned the "chil- 
 dren." Skinner, the secretary, had lately been at Dover 
 and we often contrasted these joyful times with the 
 dark days of Dover." Although we were a good deal at 
 sea in the Active, we appreciated the difference between 
 
262 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sea-keeping on a cruiser and tripping merrily across the 
 five miles stretch of sun-lit sea that lies between Gibraltar 
 and Sandy Bay. Sailors are only men after all, and we 
 can be pardoned, perhaps, by those stern people, who 
 think that we all should have been gloomy throughout 
 the war, for spending our Sundays in harbour in such a 
 joyful fashion. 
 
 The "Actives" picnics were very well organised 
 affairs. Several sailors came along with us, glad to get 
 a day in the country and these men took charge of the 
 commissariat. While the picnic party were bathing in 
 the beautiful clear seas, they laid out the long white 
 table-cloth, which they spread with seamanlike fore- 
 thought on a big boat's awning, to keep the sand clear 
 of the mess-traps. When the picnickers had had their 
 lunch, the sailors feasted on what was left, and after a 
 reasonable smoking interval, themselves plunged into 
 the cool sea. 
 
 Those bright summer days were oases in our lives, far 
 away as we were from thoughts of war, from the sadness 
 of those now almost daily sights, from those pitiful- 
 looking survivors, wounded and maimed for life. One 
 forgot for a time the wide-eyed, terror-stricken children 
 some of us had seen in Belgium, we forgot that there were 
 such things as broken-hearted women wailing over their 
 dead; and when, as occasionally it did, a convoy of 
 camouflaged ships passed on the southern horizon, we 
 only pointed out to them and laughed gleefully as we 
 dodged the water polo ball and sank our sun-browned 
 bodies into the kindlier sea, the sea of a country at peace. 
 
 The admiral at Gibraltar never left for such pleasure 
 trips as these, though his three little girls often came 
 with us. We did our best to get him away from the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 263 
 
 Rock, but in this we were not successful. He encouraged 
 us and all his keepers of the seas to get what pleasure we 
 could during our days in port. The picnics were medicine 
 for those in the patrol craft particularly, and we often 
 were joined in these outings by men from the motor- 
 launches and small destroyers based on Gibraltar. 
 
 I had an old chief petty officer pal who sometimes 
 steered the steamboat, and I had many a yarn with him 
 concerning the war as carried on in the different parts of 
 the earth. The old coxswain had lost his only son in 
 the Dover Patrol; he himself was half blind, but out to 
 do his best to help the show along, and release a younger 
 man. He appreciated how much good it would do these 
 young men to have a day away from war, and as he 
 smoked his pipe or my cigars and boiled the water fol 
 the bovril or cocoa that the bathers were to drink in 
 our very well organised picnic, we talked of the losses by 
 gun, by mine, night attack and collision on ink black 
 nights in the distant Dover Patrol. Perhaps the cox- 
 swain thought of these as he watched the brilliant col- 
 oured bathing caps, white arms and pretty shoulders of 
 those who came out as our guests, and the old man was 
 glad to see this children's party so happy in its way. 
 
 This man was typical of what the navy produces. He 
 was one of nature's gentlemen and on such days as these 
 of which I speak, I felt more like a son to the old fellow 
 than one holding the dignified position of captain in His 
 Majesty's Navy. 
 
 The picnic parties continued right into the afternoon, 
 when quaint sports were organised. All manner of 
 games were played, more bathing, more games, tea and 
 still more games, even to dancing on the shore to the now 
 somewhat gritty tunes of the gramophone as the sand 
 
264 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 grains were kicked into its mechanism and onto the 
 records. And then home, by romantic moonlight, a 
 happy and tired little party would go back across the 
 calm summer sea. It was exquisite pleasure to us, and 
 to me personally the wrinkled smile of the old coxswain 
 at the polished brass wheel, peering through his little 
 slits of eyes, was the greatest pleasure of all, for it was 
 obvious that he loved it as much as we did ourselves. 
 
 Songs would be called for, but volunteers were not 
 usually forthcoming until Lieut. Bryant, R.N.R., our 
 local "Old Bill," came to the rescue in his welcome 
 way with all the sea "chanties" that he knew; so the 
 Blue Bird's propellers beat and churned the quiet salt 
 water to the glad chorus of such ditties as — 
 
 " Away — ay — aie — oh, 
 
 Away — ay — aie — oh, 
 
 Sing fare thee well 
 
 My bonny young gal 
 
 For I'm off to the Rio Grande." 
 
 The picnic party would break up at the Ragged Staff 
 steps and the men would say good-bye to the beautiful 
 flowers that had abolished war for the day. They would 
 watch them out of sight as they faded away, crowded 
 into the carroges and the admiral's motor-car, which took 
 them to their homes. And then the "Actives" would 
 have a wardroom supper in which their skipper joined, 
 and thoroughly tired out, would sleep one peaceful night 
 before putting out again to sea, lulled into dreamland by 
 the metallic clink of the cable as its links stretched out 
 and fell back against the buoy to which we rode. 
 
 Spain was a happy hunting ground for the German 
 and his propaganda, and although I can raise plenty of 
 enthusiasm about this beautiful old-world land, I do 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 265 
 
 not propose to ask my readers to believe that the 
 Spaniards helped England or the Allies much during the 
 great war. No doubt the Germans could tell us some 
 interesting stories concerning the use they made of the 
 Hispanian coast line and territorial waters. In the 
 vicinity of Gibraltar the Spaniards appeared to be pro- 
 Ally rather than pro-German, but it was no uncommon 
 thing for us to meet a lot of Huns in Algeciras. There 
 was no mistaking them with their round Teuton heads 
 and close-cropped hair. They always talked loudly in 
 German, but I never heard of any fracas between the 
 Allies and the Germans who came across one another in 
 Spain. This was just as well for none of us were anxious 
 to be interned, and we were there on sufferance. 
 
 I brought home quite a number of German officers and 
 men, prisoners of war from sunken submarines. They 
 varied tremendously. We had a very nasty piece of 
 work in the shape of Kapitanleutenant , a well- 
 known murderer with a very bad reputation. He was 
 of the true Prussian type, arrogant and insolent. One 
 of our surgeons went to his cabin to see that he was 
 propertly provided with bedding and good food on the 
 day we left Gibraltar, where he had been embarked. 
 This fellow was most insolent to the doctor and he had 
 the audacity to insist on being given beer or wine to 
 driuk with his dinner. I very soon set his mind at rest 
 on the subject. 
 
 We had another submarine captain on board at the 
 same time, a lieutenant called Lauerberg, of quite a 
 different type. He was a tall, clean-limbed sailor from 
 the Baltic shore and we knew how clean his record had 
 been, if one can call any German submarine captain's 
 record clean. It was very difficult to exercise the 
 
266 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 German prisoners while we were with our convoy. We 
 had no wish for them to see how convoys were conducted 
 and therefore it was necessary for them to take their 
 exercise during the dark hours. 
 
 On reaching the destroyer rendezvous we w r ere ordered 
 in the Active to leave the convoy and proceed to Milford 
 Sound at full speed, and once detached from the group 
 of tramps and small steamers that formed our convoy, 
 there was no need to keep the German prisoners under 
 decks any longer. Lauerberg was allowed up on 
 to the bridge as he had behaved extremely well during 
 the homeward voyage. It was really the only cinder- 
 free spot whilst we were advancing at 2^ knots. 1 
 rather liked the look of him, and although I purposely 
 refrained from putting any questions to him, he 
 ventured a few remarks in tolerably good English and 
 expressed thanks to me for the considerate treatment. 
 He also told me what ships he had sunk and how he had 
 destroyed them; and the less I asked him the more he 
 told me, until at last I had heard the whole of his family 
 history. He had been first lieutenant to the dis- 
 tinguished German submarine captain Arnaud de la 
 Perriere, who was celebrated in naval circles as a dashing 
 and splendid fighter. It was Lauerberg's captain who 
 put up a fine gunnery duel against one of the ocean 
 escorts between England and Gibraltar late in 19 18. 
 He was the German who disdained to torpedo merchant 
 ships without warning. He worked his submarine 
 practically as a cruiser and had with him one or two 
 expert gun-layers from the High Seas Fleet. In place of 
 torpedoes he carried an equivalent weight in 4.1-inch 
 shell and cartridges. De la Perriere was, I believe, an 
 Alsatian, he certainly was a sportsman, and although he 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 267 
 
 probably did more damage to Allied shipping than any 
 other German naval officer, his name was spoken of with 
 respect by those who kept the seas. It is a pleasure to 
 write of a gallant adversary. He put up some splendid 
 fights, and, if Lauerberg is to be believed, almost risked 
 his ship in his endeavours to save the lives of non-com- 
 batant seamen. A naval officer who speaks with some 
 authority told me that, having got into wireless com- 
 munication with De la Perriere, one of our own ships 
 signalled to him, "Come over on our side." 
 
 Lauerberg was telling me some of these things con- 
 cerning the sinking of merchant ships and the rewards 
 given by the Kaiser for such services, when suddenly 
 the conning tower of a submarine was sighted in the dis- 
 tance. I turned to Lauerberg and told him he must go 
 down below, and his escort was about to march him 
 away, when I saw he had something to say. So I 
 informed him that if we were torpedoed I should be 
 compelled to shoot him, lest any information should be 
 given by him to the enemy, in the event of his recapture. 
 Lauerberg shrugged his shoulders and I laughingly 
 added that I had no fear of submarines, and that if I was 
 successful in sinking the fellow we had sighted, I should 
 give him a cock-tail when we arrived in port. This 
 seemed to brighten him up a bit and he left the bridge 
 consoled. The U boat proved to be the U.S. submarine 
 A.L., 2, and old friend of mine with whom I exchanged 
 greetings. I sent for Lauerberg again when we had 
 passed and let him have a little fresh air. I also gave 
 him some tea, now that I knew he was a disciple of De la 
 Perriere. However, no sooner had he had this little 
 meal than another submarine appeared, which I thought 
 must surely be a German. I could not help laughing 
 
268 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 at Lauerberg, who appreciated the humour of the situ- 
 ation. Down he went again and we went full speed 
 to the attack; again we were disappointed in our prey, 
 for it turned out to be an upturned sea-plane, on which 
 were two young flying officers. Once more Lauerberg 
 was allowed to escape to witness their salvation. I 
 told him not unkindly, that one of the first laws at sea 
 was to save life, which of course he already knew. I 
 also informed him that I should pick these two people 
 up and if we were torpedoed he would probably lose his 
 life, whereas if we saved these men, my joy would be 
 so great that I would share my happiness with him and 
 give him the whisky and soda which on principle I could 
 not drink at sea. Lauerberg thought it a great joke. 
 We saved the men and he got his drink, and as he laugh- 
 ingly put it away he told my steward he hoped we would 
 see some more upturned sea-planes very quickly. 
 
 These two young Air Force officers had been three 
 days and three nights without food. They were quite 
 exhausted, but could still speak. They knew very little 
 about ships, for they mistook the Active for the Maure- 
 iama, and when asked why, one of them said he thought 
 she was the only ship in the world that had four funnels. 
 Imagine how our pride fell when, some days later we 
 saw the picture of these young officers in the Daily 
 Mirror, and that journal stated that they had been res- 
 cued in the Irish Channel by a destroyer. Evidently the 
 Active 'fell some' in the interval. 
 
 I heard rather a good story in the Active about a 
 hard-hearted cook and a little rat of a seaman who had 
 joined for hostilities. The cook insisted on the dinners, 
 when made up ready for cooking, being handed in at 
 the galley by 8 o'clock in the morning. The little rat 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 269 
 
 came late and proudly displayed a sea-pie on which he 
 had fashioned in wonderful sticks of paste "No. 16 
 mess." The cook scowled at him and when the youthful 
 seaman apologised, shouted at him, "I can't cook that, I 
 can't cook that. Look at the clock, it is too late. I can't 
 cook that." The youngster set the pie at the cook's 
 feet and retired out of range, then turning with great 
 impudence, "No cookie. I know you can't cook it. 
 But give it its time." 
 
 During the summer of 191 8 it became necessary for 
 the Admiral at Gibraltar to send one of his ships to 
 Madeira for a certain service, and we had the good for- 
 tune to be detached from one of the convoys going west- 
 ward across the Atlantic, to visit this garden island. 
 The Madeira of peace times is one of the most fertile 
 islands on the surface of the globe, and even in war time 
 our despicable foe could not change its fertility or spoil 
 it in any way. It is true that an enemy submarine had 
 one morning visited Funchal, where it torpedoed certain 
 ships lying at anchor in the bay and carried out a 
 bombardment of the small, weakly fortified town. It 
 was after all only a bit of show work to terrorise the 
 inhabitants and to give German newspapers and the 
 neutral press a half column on the subject of German 
 sea-power. The submarine bombardment had little or 
 no effect on the morale of the people of Madeira. They 
 continued at their peaceful occupations with the same 
 firmness of purpose that has always obtained in this 
 beautiful island. 
 
 When the Active arrived at Madeira it was nearly 
 dark, for although we had no fear of enemy submarines 
 I was not prepared to hazard a useful ship like mine when 
 it was unnecessary. We remained therefore off Funchal 
 only during the hours of darkness, and while the ship 
 
270 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 lay at anchor the Blue Bird, armed with depth charges 
 and bomb lances, patrolled in the offing. She was 
 assisted by a motor launch, and it was made clear to 
 me that the ship was invisible against the high back- 
 ground of the mountainous island. 
 
 A number of Madeira men surrounded the ship 
 immediately after her arrival, and they exchanged the 
 beautiful wicker chairs produced by the islanders for 
 suits of clothing and other articles which were then 
 unpurchaseable there. Clothing was almost impossible 
 to obtain during the latter part of the war, for nothing 
 but a small mail-boat ran between Madeira and Lisbon 
 at this time. 
 
 A great number of tunney are caught by the native 
 fishermen, and we were glad to purchase a quantity of 
 these, which are excellent dried or put up in tins. I 
 shall never forget our visit to Madeira. I was not likely 
 to, for I had tinned tunney for breakfast for fourteen 
 days on end, since eggs and other suitable breakfast 
 dishes were difficult to obtain from Gibraltar and the 
 other ports we visited during the latter half of 191 8. 
 
 On the 8th November, 19 18, the Active sailed as 
 ocean escort for her twelfth convoy, which consisted of 
 twelve moderate sized ships. It was touch and go for 
 us whether we should leave England at all, for the 
 Armistice was about to be signed. Knowing this, and 
 that the German submarines would have their last 
 chance to sink and murder and defile the laws of decent 
 human beings, we in the Active were more alert than 
 ever, for we thoroughly appreciated that the dav of the 
 Prussian was past and that the sun was setting for ever 
 for the U boat pirate and all his kind. It was to me 
 the most anxious three days of the war, and even after 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 271 
 
 the Armistice was signed and thousands of wireless 
 telegraphy instruments gladly sparked the news to those 
 of us who were at sea, following our profession, I felt 
 that it was necessary to continue with the same vigilance 
 as I had always exercised before hostilities ceased, for I 
 could not trust the enemy even after he had signed. 
 We knew him too well. Although he was beaten fairly 
 and finely by those who stood shoulder to shoulder and 
 fought to the end for fairness and justice, we had seen 
 too much of starving seamen, of corpses in open boats, 
 and of neutral seamen who had rightly followed their 
 calling at sea, stark staring mad with thirst and hardship 
 when we rescued them. We kept our people ready, our 
 look-outs watching and the men at their stations until 
 the Active finally made her way back to England to pay 
 off her crew and demobilise those very excellent fellows 
 who had only joined for the war. 
 
 I was indeed sorry I had never taken the little ship 
 into action with the splendid fellows who supported me 
 in her. The Active was the only ship that I commanded 
 that I never took into action, I do not count of course the 
 Seymour, which I only joined for passage, as it were. 
 
 Three days after the news of the Armistice was 
 received, I was ordered to disperse my convoy and pro- 
 ceed to our base port at Gibraltar. We intercepted 
 signals and we received information at this time that 
 made it clear that Germany was being counted out 
 and that the detested submarines were returning home 
 on the surface, shouting "kamarad," as it were. We 
 passed one in Gibraltar Strait with lights burning, two 
 hours before dawn, and if I was guilty of any softening 
 in my heart, perhaps it was then that I felt it. I remem- 
 
272 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 ber my thoughts as we steamed close by her — what was 
 she going home to? 
 
 An hour or so later we had passed through the Strait 
 and just before six in the morning, dropped anchor off 
 the port. Gibraltar was so full of ships that there was 
 no room for us inside. It didn't matter now, for the 
 war danger was over. I had a cup of cocoa in the ward- 
 room and smoked a cigarette with the night watchers 
 and the navigator, and then I made my way aft into 
 my cabin where, for the first time since July, 19 14, I 
 undressed properly and turned into my bed, although 
 in an open anchorage. 
 
 The captious critic can say and think precisely what 
 he likes, but as my head lay on the soft, clean pillow I 
 put up a few words of prayer and thanked God that I 
 had done my job honestly through the war. I noticed 
 something wet and salt was trickling into my mouth and 
 for the moment I felt ashamed. I switched on the light 
 and recognised that it was only one of Old Neptune's 
 little jokes — a few drops of spray had come through my 
 scuttle to remind me of the sea patrols. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 A Brazilian Coast Patrol 
 
 Those of you who have read the chapter on "Bicky 
 and the Big Guns" will recollect that I playfully talked 
 about satellites and assassins I collected during the 
 war; one of these I came across accidentally in a bar — 
 a very respectable bar, it is true, but that is where I 
 met him. His charming personality quickly commended 
 itself to me, and in the course of conversation I learnt 
 that we had common friends. I also learnt that the 
 young man in question, Lieut. C. H. Pullen, R.N.V.R., 
 was more than a master of the Portuguese language. 
 
 Some people make opportunities; some seize oppor- 
 tunities; while others cannot help themselves, they seem 
 to trip and fall down on opportunities. I think I must 
 be one of these, for here was the man I wanted. I had 
 that day been ordered to Lisbon for the purpose of show- 
 ing the flag; in other words, my dainty little cruiser was 
 to make her appearance at the capital of Portugal, our 
 oldest naval ally, to cement the Entente and to show 
 courtesy and good feeling to our friends the Portuguese, 
 as soon as possible after the signing of the Armistice. 
 
 The "Actives" were not blessed with the gift of 
 tongues, some of us had a kind of bowing acquaintance 
 with French, and I fancied myself as a perpetrator of 
 the Scandinavian languages, but here at hand ready to 
 be plucked was the very flower we wanted to be the 
 18 273 
 
274 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 lily of the bouquet I proposed to hand to the Portu- 
 guese. Pullen was splendid and nothing if not an 
 opportunist. In December, 191 8, he was attached to 
 the Brazilian naval squadron commanded by Rear- 
 Admiral Pedro de Frontin, in the capacity of liaison offi- 
 cer and interpreter. Whilst thoroughly happy and at 
 home with his Brazilian naval friends, Pullen had tucked 
 away in the bottom of his heart a great feeling of affec- 
 tion for Portugal and all that was Portuguese, and 
 perhaps a hankering after the greater joys of Lisbon, 
 compared with the more simple joys of Gibraltar. 
 
 It took us "one cock-tail minute" to frame our plans; 
 no sooner had the last drop of the appetising beverage 
 disappeared from our tiny glasses, than telephone bells 
 were tinkling, naval secretaries were being interested, 
 and in less time than it takes to tell, both the British 
 and the Brazilian Admirals had consented to the rape of 
 the liaison officer. Long before the good-hearted, gold- 
 bound gentlemen had regretted their sudden consent, 
 the Active was speeding westward through Gibraltar 
 Straits and the iron-bound fortress of Gibraltar was 
 being blotted out in the coal-black smoke cloud that 
 trailed astern. 
 
 I soon found that Pullen was one after my own heart, 
 he had the face of an angel and the heart of a wasp. He 
 was equal to anything, and although he appeared to be 
 but a boy of twenty, he was nearly double that age, and 
 had let no moss grow on him. 
 
 In September, 19 14, Pullen found himself at Rio de 
 Janeiro. He was in business on his own account, but, 
 like every true Britisher, he felt the call to arms. Being 
 a level-headed fellow, he quickly realised that his local 
 knowledge and perfect Portuguese were an asset to the 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 275 
 
 Allies, and instead of rushing away to be turned down on 
 account of possible physical disabilities by a somewhat 
 eclectic War Office, he got into touch with the late 
 Admiral Craddock, who then commanded our navai 
 forces in the South Atlantic. 
 
 Sir Christopher Craddock appreciated Pullen's offer 
 to become an additional member of the local intelligence 
 staff, and he received orders to travel on the north 
 coast of Brazil, along the unfrequented routes, and to 
 keep H.M. ships informed whenever possible of any 
 enemy activity which he might observe or hear about. 
 There were, of course, the possibilities of the Germans 
 establishing fuel depots for submarines and above-water 
 craft, besides which Pullen, with his extraordinary local 
 knowledge could notify the navy if he discovered that 
 the Kaiser's auxiliary cruisers and other vessels were 
 making use of the unfrequented creeks, river mouths and 
 harbours along the northern Brazilian coast. 
 
 Of course the best way of gathering this information 
 suggested itself to Pullen immediately, that is, by means 
 of making patrol cruises with fishermen in thier boats 
 living with them, talking with them, and dressing like 
 them. It needed a considerable amount of grit to see 
 this business through and Pullen, I am glad to say, had 
 more than the requisite amount. 
 
 To start with he cruised along the coast line of over 
 1,400 miles from Pernambuco to Para at the mouth of 
 the Amazon in open boats, accompanied by divers num- 
 bers of Brazilian fishermen, who were for the most part 
 negroes. It is doubtful whether his adventures would ever 
 have seen the light of publicity, for he is an extremely 
 modest man, but the atmosphere of the sea is poetical, 
 
276 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 and once I had dragged Pullen from the quiet shelter 
 of the overhanging rock fortress of Gibraltar, his sea 
 instincts quickened once again and he remained with 
 me on my little cruiser's bridge for hour after hour, 
 listening to my stories and telling me some of his. He 
 knew I had been an explorer and perhaps that is why 
 he unburdened himself of some of his adventures, which 
 to me were priceless gems of sea patrols and which I 
 will try hard to remember and to set down as he gave 
 me them. 
 
 This long stretch of 1,400 miles, although thoroughly 
 explored, was not visited by many strangers during the 
 war excepting perhaps the larger towns of Natal, Ceara 
 and Maranham. Straying from Rio de Janeiro, Pullen 
 made his way to Pernambuco, purposely allowing him- 
 self to get shabbier and shabbier, letting his beard grow 
 and permitting his hands to brown and crack in the sun. 
 Arrived at the latter port and having refreshed his mem- 
 ory as to the position of certain interned German 
 steamers, he got into touch with the owner of his first 
 canoe. Money, as far as bargaining was concerned, had 
 no value whatever, but after sundry drinks and a certain 
 amount of cajolery, Pullen persuaded "Joao" to take 
 him the 180 miles which made the first stage of his trip. 
 This brought him to Cabedello, a small whaling station, 
 where three German ships had taken refuge and were 
 now lying interned. These ships were sending wireless 
 messages out and causing local gossip which penetrated 
 into certain parts of Brazil, as to their intentions and 
 possible hostile action. Pullen nosed around and soon 
 had separated the facts from the fiction, and it may be 
 pretty correctly assumed that he was right when he re- 
 ported that there was nothing but bluff being put up, with 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 277 
 
 the possible idea of keeping our activities somewhere in 
 this direction and leading us away from the trail of big- 
 ger game. He appears to have been very thorough in 
 everything he did, but in order to achieve this thorough- 
 ness he fell in with some nasty experiences. Watching 
 the German steamers Persia, Minneberg and Salamanca, 
 Pullen found himself on some nights camping on the hill- 
 side without fire, with little food but green cocoa-nuts 
 and nothing to drink but their milk. He could not lie 
 on the burnt-up grassland of the hill-side for fear of the 
 poisonous snakes which abounded in this particular dis- 
 trict. He therefore spent the hours of darkness slung 
 in a native hammock between two mango trees, almost 
 eaten alive by myriads of mosquitoes. Our young friend, 
 who had never roughed it in his life before, put up with 
 unutterable miseries, but soft though his skin may have 
 been his heart was tough enough to treat the attendant 
 hardships with disdain. 
 
 Having obtained the requisite information concerning 
 the aforesaid steamers, Pullen shuffled off to his canoe 
 once more and covered big distances either by sea or by 
 trudging, limping or riding according to the nature of 
 the coast and country. He reached Macau just before 
 Christmas, 19 14, a good deal the worse for wear. At 
 Macau the hot weather was at its height, the fierce 
 Brazilian sun struck down on his back and shoulders as 
 he travelled until poor Pullen was a mass of sores and 
 blisters. Quite oblivious of the hardships which he had 
 to face, he made his way along the coast line to Caicara, 
 a distance which he laughingly described as "not far, 
 about six days' riding." He was unaccustomed to riding 
 and soon became saddle-sore; he was in such a sorry 
 plight when he arrived at Caicara that he was too hurt 
 
278 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 and burnt to lie down, so he spent four nights in this 
 unvisited place crouched in a canvas deck chair, which 
 he managed to obtain. 
 
 Caicara is a fishing village, of say 350 inhabitants, 
 and from what Pullen told me, it is safe to say that 
 every single one of them paid him the doubtful com- 
 pliment of calling on him to inspect. The natives 
 chattering round in Portuguese, disgusted him with 
 their garlic-charged breath, which permeated his nostrils 
 almost like poison gas; their staccato notes grated on 
 his ear-drums and their dirty fingers touched him all 
 over, caressing him and pinching him to satisfy their 
 curiosity for hours at a time. Pullen had no respite 
 after his weary six days' mule ride. Even when the 
 natives forsook him, he was not alone, for the mosquitoes 
 soon found him out in his chair and stabbed him into 
 what can only be described as a scarlet conglomeration 
 of swellings. 
 
 German colliers appeared and re-appeared off this 
 fishing village, evidently anticipating a meeting with 
 Von Spee. Pullen boarded one of these vessels in his 
 role of Dago fisherman and obtained the information 
 that the colliers had come to coal the Scharnhorst, 
 GneisenaUf and other German cruisers. The collier cap- 
 tain and officers interrogated all fishermen and although 
 they treated them with scorn, it was obvious that they 
 feared a meeting with English ships. 
 
 Having found out what he could from the collier 
 Patagonia, Pullen continued his trip northward, living 
 under the same conditions of beastliness, until he arrived 
 at Maranham, where he dispatched a cipher telegram 
 to the British Legation at Rio, giving the information 
 obtained by him up to date and advising that he was 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 279 
 
 about to commence the last part of his trip, which was 
 to the Sao Joao group of islands, lying about 80 miles 
 off the Brazilian coast. 
 
 Before Lieut. Pullen arrived at Maranham he had an 
 amusing experience which I cannot fail to put into 
 this chapter. At practically every village he visited, he 
 was stared at and surrounded by the inhabitants, who 
 treated him as an object of interest. At Formosa he 
 divided honours in this respect with a travelling priest, 
 who on the principle of "cash down and no tick" eased 
 his guilty conscience by baptising, marrying and con- 
 fessing at the different villages he visited. He was a 
 friendly creature and allowed Pullen to share a hut with 
 him. The two slung their hammocks together as day 
 drew to its close, and when Pullen had allowed the 
 priest an hour in which to say his prayers and undress, 
 he followed suit, but for some time was unable to sleep 
 on account of the ecclesiastical snores. Nevertheless he 
 fell asleep at last, leaving the kerosene flare burning, 
 but suddenly awoke to find his reverend companion 
 examining the contents of his dispatch case, which 
 Pullen had left by his hammock. Divested of his official 
 garb, the priest was not a pretty object, in fact he looked 
 very much like a common cut-throat. The Englishman 
 thought it best to keep quiet, and accordingly kept on 
 breathing steadily, watching the Brazee through half- 
 closed eyes. Having finished with the despatch case, 
 the priest turned his attention to Pullen's prism glasses, 
 but after examining them he put them down and returned 
 to his hammock. After resting there a couple of 
 minutes, the holy man got up again and, taking the 
 binoculars, passed with them behind the division which 
 sub-divided the hut, then went to bed again, and was 
 
2 8o KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 soon asleep and snoring. The opportunity was too 
 good for Pullen, who quickly slipped from his net ham- 
 mock, to retrive not only his prism glasses, but some 
 chocolate bars, a pot of oxo, and other articles which 
 had been extracted by the priest from his despatch case 
 and hidden in the pouches of the latter's saddle. After 
 that the Englishman slept with the replenished despatch 
 case in his hammock. 
 
 The next morning Pullen left early, but the Brazilian 
 priest was nothing if not friendly, and insisted on seeing 
 the Englishman away, offering him his blessing previous 
 to his departure. Pullen could not help taking the 
 binoculars out to gaze at some distant object. The 
 priest's face was a sight for sore eyes; he said nothing, 
 however, and the impression he left with Pullen was that 
 his reverence was undecided as to whether the English- 
 man possessed one or two pairs of glasses. The position 
 for Pullen was somewhat uncomfortable ; had he accused 
 the priest of stealing his goods, he would most likely 
 have been murdered, for the incident took place at a wild 
 coast village, where the influence of an unscrupulous 
 priest would easily have been used to arouse the fears of 
 the superstitious inhabitants against a suspicious 
 stranger in their midst. 
 
 From Maranham, Pullen commenced the last stage of 
 his journey, bound as previously stated for the Sao Joao 
 islands. It is safe to say that no Englishman had ever 
 landed on these islands, and when he did so, Pullen took 
 his life in his hands. Absolutely unarmed, he made his 
 way to a settlement on the mainland, from which he 
 obtained the services of a little sailing boat, manned by 
 two half-caste native fishermen. The boatmen spoke 
 and understood only Portuguese, and after much 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 281 
 
 argument and discussion they agreed to land the English- 
 man on the biggest island; but they declared that 
 nothing would induce them to land themselves; they 
 asserted that the inhabitants of the Sao Joao group 
 were "feroes," who would most certainly attack 
 them. 
 
 Quite undeterred, Pullen persisted, and after five days 
 and five nights in the little boat, living on dried prawns 
 and mangoes, of which they carried five hundred, he 
 and his half-caste friends appeared off the hostile 
 islands. Commands, entreaties, and promises were 
 futile; nothing would induce the two Joses to remain 
 an instant longer near the island than was necessary to 
 put poor Pullen ashore. The natives selected a little 
 point of land where it was clear of trees, and there was 
 no chance of being rushed by the "feroes," and after 
 cruising off and on for some time, and making quite sure 
 that there was no ambush, the steersman suddenly put 
 the helm up, ran the boat on to the beach; they then 
 threw out Pullen's two bags and pushed him out after 
 them. The sail was quickly lowered, and the two half- 
 castes with feverish haste, thrust the boat off from 
 the land, using long fishermen's poles. Once clear, they 
 hoisted their big blue sail and the boat heeled over and 
 was shortly a mere speck, silhouetted against the setting 
 sun. Poor old Pullen — he described his feelings to me 
 one night on the Active's bridge — loneliness was not in it. 
 He felt afraid. No wonder. For, as he said, it 
 wasn't a nice feeling — unarmed, night falling and little 
 flitting shadows moving from tree to tree. It was no 
 good being frightened though, for Pullen could only die 
 once. He moved up towards some smoke, which was 
 presumablythe site of the settlement which he had 
 
282 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 heard about from the half-castes. Occasionally he got 
 a glimpse of a running man, first to the right then to 
 the left — there must have been several of them. As 
 he advanced towards the smoke it soon became appar- 
 ent that his arrival had been heralded by his nervous 
 fellow-creatures, if such they can be called. 
 
 I cannot do better here than insert a description of 
 what followed, taken from one of Pullen's letters writ- 
 ten to his mother. I am glad to have his permission to 
 do so, for it will bring out better than any second-hand 
 description of mine what actually happened on the Sao 
 Joao islands. I am perfectly certain that my readers 
 will find this extract of absorbing interest, and it will 
 probably strike them as it has struck me, that if men 
 like Pullen can be found, trained to business, expert in 
 foreign languages, ready and willing as he was to serve 
 their country in her greatest need, we Britons and Al- 
 lies who have kept the seas, need never fear another 
 serious attempt at subjection and world domination by 
 our friends the enemy. Thank God we have such men 
 as these and the Navy is proud to enrol them. Here is 
 the quotation from the letter: — 
 
 " The settlement on Sao Joao Island which I reached, 
 consisted of a collection of about 400 grass huts, all built 
 exactly alike and picturesquely grouped around a dirty 
 open square. A larger hut covered with corrugated iron 
 sheets was obviously the local pub, and towards this I 
 made tracks, supremely self-conscious that I was being 
 watched by the entire elite of the island, who, however, 
 made no response to my somewhat forced attempt at 
 cheery greetings, as I endeavoured to look as pleased 
 as possible and carry as much "abandon" as circum- 
 stances would permit. Standing and squatting all 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 283 
 
 round the entrance to the huts were the quaintest col- 
 lection of human beings I think I have ever seen. The 
 majority of them wore only a pair of shorts fastened 
 below the knee with dried grass, but there were one or 
 two in every five decently clothed in shirt and trousers 
 made of sail cloth. They were all very powerfully built, 
 their bodies were of a curious dark red brick hue and 
 their faces a sickly yellowish colour, this jaundiced look 
 being caused by their exaggerated fish diet. Their necks 
 were protected by a mass of long, smooth, black hair, 
 which fell down to their shoulders. 
 
 I saw no women, and it is curious to relate that during 
 the whole time I remained on the island, I very rarely 
 saw one. Naked children and pigs swarmed all over the 
 place. I kept my head pretty high during the walk 
 across the square, and took off my large sun hat to fan 
 myself and to show I really felt at home, although as a 
 matter of fact my heart was somewhere near where my 
 boots should have been, but their apology,in the shape of a 
 very soiled pair of tennis shoes now hung round my neck. 
 
 Unaccustomed as they were to seeing a stranger of any 
 description, my presence in their very midst caused a 
 good deal of fluttering in the various dove-cotes, and I 
 must have appeared to them in the light of a scarecrow, if 
 any of them had ever seen me. I was dressed in a pair of 
 filthy white ducks turned up to the knee, a priceless Turn- 
 bull and Asser shirt, sun-bleached of all its original col- 
 our, a dirty red silk handkerchief round my neck, not so 
 much for effect as for protection against the heat, and a 
 huge grass hat to complete. I had by this time quite a 
 thick beard and my arms, for colour, would have com- 
 pared favourably with any of theirs. In one hand I car- 
 ried a small leather despatch case, and had I only pos- 
 
284 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 sessed an eye-glass and a swagger cane to complete the 
 effect, I could have brought the house down in any music 
 hall. 
 
 When they saw I was making for the pub, the men all 
 round got up, and one, a negro, who looked slightly su- 
 perior to the rest, came forward. I asked him if he were 
 Henrique, telling him who had favoured me with his 
 name on the mainland. We shook hands cordially, and 
 one by one the leading men came forward and followed 
 suit. They patted me on the back in a friendly way, al- 
 though an air of suppressed suspicion prevailed and much 
 whispering was going on all the time. My host, Henrique, 
 looked a thorough-faced rascal, but he had a merry laugh 
 which soon made me feel a trifle less uncomfortable and 
 when I told him where I had come from, and that my object 
 was to look for a likely site to put up a lighthouse, he had 
 sufficient intelligence to know I must be something super- 
 ior to an ordinary fisherman, and addressed me then and 
 there as "SenhorDoutor" (Mr. Doctor). This title stuck 
 to me while I was on the island, all Brazilian professional 
 men, engineers, lawyers or surgeons being styled doctors. 
 
 Henrique went down to the beach for my two suit cases, 
 the steamer labels on which soon caused such excitement 
 as threatened to eclipse my own popularity. I arranged 
 with him to have the use of one of the newer grass-covered 
 huts, and he was evidently relieved at the opportunity for 
 taking me away from his own hut and showing me my new 
 quarters — if he had had a chained lion inside his own hut 
 he could not have shown more concern at my attempts to 
 enter it. He accompanied me with half the male popula- 
 tion to a newly erected hut standing a bit off the beaten 
 track, and removed the grass-covered hurdle which con- 
 stituted the dor. My spirits sank even lower when we 
 stepped inside, for the stench was something too terrible 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 285 
 
 and the whole place was filthy beyond words. As it was an 
 unoccupied hut, Henrique had used it for storing dried 
 prawns, which were piled up in large quantities at the far 
 end. The few minutes I was inside almost made me faint, 
 but at my request he promised to remove the stinking 
 crustaceans, and set some dozen naked boys to do the job 
 immediately. My two bags, a hammock and a deck chair, 
 which I had brought with me, were put inside, and I no- 
 ticed with uneasiness that there were four other ham- 
 mocks slung to the centre pole from the four main roof 
 supports and hanging a foot off the ground. He cheered 
 me up by asking if I would like a bath, so taking a towel 
 and sponge bag, I accompanied him through his own 
 quarters to an outhouse built in the same style. To my 
 amazement I noticed in passing through the front part of 
 his hut, which was the grog shop, that he had shelves up 
 all round on which were arranged many bottles of beer, 
 brandy, Perrier, ginger-beer, and mixed sweets in bottles; 
 also straw hats, various tins of preserved fruits and a 
 quantity of red and green electric light bulbs. He hustled 
 me through quickly, but to this day I am prepared to 
 swear that what I saw was not fancy, as he tried to make 
 out afterwards, for although I was only absent half an 
 hour over my ablutions, when I returned to his shop 
 there was not a vestige of any of these things to be seen, 
 and in their place a quantity of fishing tackle, nets, empty 
 earthenware jars and various odds and ends had been 
 substituted. Whilst having my so-called bath, which con- 
 sisted of a small lard-sized tin of blackish looking water, 
 I had consoled myself with the prospect of unlimited 
 beer, so that you can picture my dismay when, on return- 
 ing to his shop and asking him for a bottle, he laughed 
 at me and said, "Mr. Doctor ! Beer? We have no beer 
 in these parts." I was quick enough to see at once what 
 
286 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 had happened, but it was galling to think he had all that 
 stuff and was not going to let me have any of it. I had 
 heard on the mainland that the island had been used by 
 the Germans on various occasions to re-victual the Karls- 
 ruhe from the stores of the British ships she captured, 
 and I found out later that besides the Karlsruhe , which 
 appears to have been there several times, the Vandyke, a 
 large i o,ooo-ton Lamport & Holt liner, had been in 
 there, followed later by the colliers, Rio Negro and Pa- 
 tagonia. The Fame, a British ship manned by a German 
 prize crew, had also visited the island. The stores 
 which I had seen in Henrique's hut probably came from 
 the Vandyke, as the appearance of such a large ship gave 
 them much to talk about, and I heard later that many 
 "presents" had come out of her. Henrique was un- 
 doubtedly suspicious that my visit was connected with 
 his stores, and did the obviously best thing to do under 
 the circumstances — hid everything away and swore that 
 he had nothing. I really could have wept with rage, as 
 I badly wanted something more substantial than the 
 mango and dried prawn diet on which I had existed for 
 over a fortnight. At the same time I could not help 
 admiring the calm way in which he lied, although his 
 acting was somewhat spoilt by a small boy occasionally 
 creeping past us as we sat at the entrance to his hut, and 
 returning to ask where the "doces" (sweets) were. A 
 healthy smack with the open hand was Henrique's way 
 of dealing with awkward questions, and our conversa- 
 tion would continue as though there had been no inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 All the time he was with me, Henrique had a funny 
 little naked black girl in his arms, who every now and 
 again would set up an ear-piercing shriek. If this was 
 continued for any length of time, he would deal with her 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 287 
 
 in the same fashion — turn the child over on her little black 
 tummy and administer a resounding smack, which nearly 
 always had the desired effect of making her shut up. 
 
 All this time a meal was being prepared, and presently 
 it made its appearance. I got up from the hard earth on 
 which I had been sitting, expecting to be introduced to the 
 rather portly black lady who was obviously Henrique's 
 better half, but he merely told her to take the meal away 
 again and bring a box to act as a table. She re-appeared 
 later with an old whisky box, over which she spread my 
 towel which I had already used for my bath. The crowd 
 by this time had retired, to feed I presumed, so Henrique 
 asked me to look after the brat whilst he went inside his 
 hut, and deposited her on the sand beside me. The pro- 
 longed absence of both parents caused her to redouble her 
 previous efforts and she made such a row that I thought I 
 would try my hand on the magic stop. I turned her over 
 with my feet and gave her one, into which I put a bit 
 intended for her father for his obstinacy in refusing to let 
 me have the beer. But this time it had no effect whatever, 
 and she yelled more lustily than ever. The mother at last 
 arrived with the tins of food in each hand, but she didn't 
 take the slightest notice of either of us, and the yelling did 
 not cease, until Henrique appeared with a half-eaten 
 mango, which the kid promptly started to suck, making 
 an awful mess of its face and chest. 
 
 Henrique stood on no ceremony, and after helping 
 himself with his fingers to a fair-sized fish in one of the 
 tins, he passed it over to me. I was a bit annoyed when he 
 started pouring "farinha" (ground mandioco maize) in- 
 to the gravy, before I had had my second whack at the 
 fish, and giving it to the child in balls, so I passed that 
 course and went for the chicken, which was quite tasty, 
 
288 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 although a bit overdone, and it took me two or three dips 
 before I could find a bone with anything on. 
 
 As soon as the meal was put on the table, eight enor- 
 mous pigs turned up and scrambled all around us for the 
 bits we dropped — altogether it was not an enjoyable re- 
 past, but I was so hungry I could have cheerfully gone 
 through it again. More trouble ensued when Henrique 
 removed the debris and left the child with me, as she put 
 down her mango stone for a minute while she investi- 
 gated a fish bone and a large pig walked off with it. 
 
 It was now dark, and kerosene flares had been lit inside 
 Henrique's hut. He appeared and asked me to come in, 
 and as the crowd had gain returned and started their 
 usual occupation of spitting, I was glad to avail myself 
 of his invitation. His hut was about five yards by four, 
 divided off at the far end by a sort of counter, over which 
 he dispensed the national strong "cacasha," giving a 
 small cup full in exchange for a handful of dried prawns, 
 which constituted the local currency. He had quite a tidy 
 pile by 9 p.m., when the after-dinner drinking appeared 
 to stop, and consequently the atmosphere became more 
 and more pronounced. Apparently every one cured his 
 own prawns, but it was left to Henrique to take them over 
 about once a month to the mainland for sale. He had 
 quite "cornered" the prawn market in Sao Joao by reason 
 of his business; as he merely exchanged strong drinks or 
 sail cloth for their equivalent in prawns, this required no 
 system of double entry ledger books, and left him free to 
 smoke and spit in front of his shop and cuddle his off- 
 spring, of which he had any number. He produced some 
 excellent green cocoanuts for me, the milk of which 
 makes a most refreshing drink, and I drank up any 
 amount of these during my stay of 14 days on the island. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 289 
 
 At last I began to get anxious about my sleeping 
 arrangements, so suggested to Henrique that if he 
 would give me a flare, I would paddle down to my hut. 
 My hut ! — imagine my disgust an arriving with Henrique 
 and finding the place, with three other men turned in, 
 and shrieking for aid with its terrible attendant stench of 
 dried prawns. I told him at once that I would not sleep 
 there with three other men. I wanted a hut all to myself 
 and a clean one; I would pay him and pay him well. He 
 explained that at great personal inconvenience these men 
 had come to sleep in my hut to show me their appreciation 
 of my selecting their island for my stay, and that even he 
 was going to do me the honour of sharing the other ham- 
 mock! 
 
 Protests were unavailing, and after helping me to sling 
 my hammock, which hung about a foot from his, he 
 turned in and watched with evident astonishment my 
 change into pyjamas. The others were now fully awake 
 and most personal remarks were passed about the white- 
 ness of my skin. 
 
 Before getting into my hammock, I pushed the cover- 
 ing away from the door, to try and get a little air into the 
 place, but there were loud protests at once, as I was in- 
 formed that evil spirits abounded in the island and unless 
 every place was hermetically closed down at night, they 
 would come in and cast a spell on one ! 
 
 Of the horrors of the night, it is difficult to write. No 
 sooner had I lain down — not to sleep, for I had no inten- 
 tion of attempting to do so with the four natives around 
 me — than they started a regular systematic course of 
 throat-clearing of the most disgusting character. Each 
 appeared to be trying to outdo his neighbour, and the 
 result baffles description. I found out afterwards that it 
 was not done for my special benefit, but was a regular 
 
 19 
 
290 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 nightly performance, and they appeared to be able to do 
 so even in their sleep, for the noise went on until 3 a.m., 
 when my friends got up and went off prawn fishing. 
 After this I slept until Henrique woke me, with a cup of 
 black coffee in his hands." 
 
 The above is fairly illustrative of Pullen's life for the 
 next 14 days. He entered fully into the life of the island- 
 ers, going on their fishing excursions and generally inter- 
 esting himself in the natives and their ways. So well did 
 he impress them that their suspicions were quickly al- 
 layed, and he learnt from these red men all that he wished 
 to know. They told him of the ships that had been 
 anchored off there, and of their visits to them, and he 
 found out that an English cruiser came here once and 
 narrowly missed recapturing the British steamer Fame, 
 then in charge of a German prize crew, who lay hidden in 
 one of the creeks close by. 
 
 It has already been stated that he lived for a fortnight 
 with the islanders, but although Henrique's mistrust 
 had been broken down, the hiding-place of the longed- 
 for beer was never revealed. Henrique was a slimy 
 brute to give him his full due. Pullen rendered him 
 certain services in fitting him and his family out with 
 clothing. He had brought along sundry articles suitable 
 for presents ; included among these was a Burberry water- 
 proof, which prize naturally fell to Henrique him- 
 self. Pullen described how, when it rained, in Sao Joao 
 settlement, the wily negro would stand arrayed in the 
 Burberry in the middle of the settlement square, to be 
 admired, envied and worshipped by his dusky customers. 
 Can you picture him? If Messrs. Burberry want to 
 establish a branch at Sao Joao, Pullen assures me that 
 the Sao Joao-ites are prepared to barter plenty of smelly 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 291 
 
 prawns, and doubtless there are many, whose ideas of 
 the equality of man will give the islanders a chance to 
 put up their prawns for sale in the Haymarket. 
 
 In order to get clear of the islands with the informa- 
 tion required, Pullen bartered with Henrique for the hire 
 of a boat. One was finally obtained from an adjacent 
 islet. The small fishing craft, 16 feet in length, was 
 anchored off the settlement and Pullen surveyed it. This 
 was a more attractive craft than the one he had come over 
 with. It was sheltered in part from the sun by means of 
 a small well-deck. Henrique assured Pullen that with his 
 assistance, the journey to Braganca could be made in a 
 couple of days, and once there he knew he would find a 
 railway and communications available. 
 
 On his way to the beach Pullen's heart leapt with joy at 
 the idea of leaving his unsavoury friends, the Henrique 
 family, but picture his disappointment when he arrived 
 alongside the boat to find the whole family on board; all 
 the pleasure promised by the shelter of the well-deck 
 quickly vanished when he climbed on board to find him- 
 self once more forced to live cheek by jowl with these un- 
 utterably dirty people. In the tiny cockle-shell were no 
 less than seven children, Mrs. Henrique, her companion 
 (another fat negress) , Henrique, an assistant negro, and 
 the lieutenant himself. In their bargain for the Burberry 
 coat no mention had been made of the Henrique family. 
 Henrique had merely agreed to provide a boat with two 
 men to work it, this including himself. Pullen was 
 furious, but the Henrique family were not to be done 
 out of their joy-ride, and after all, two days was not an 
 interminable epoch. The journey actually took seven 
 days, the unnecessary increase in time being occasioned 
 by the sea-sickness which overcame the Henrique family; 
 
292 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 and the fat Madame Henrique having more say than 
 anyone in the boat, she prevailed upon her lawful spouse 
 to make the journey to Braganca by means of the inland 
 waterways, once the mainland was reached. Pullen 
 angrily protested, but the angrier he got the more the 
 family crowded round him, and literally overpowered 
 him by their close-packed bodies; he eventually gave 
 way, although he much wanted the boat to skirt along 
 the coast line, in order that he might be given the 
 opportunity to get further information. However, 
 Henrique's boat was the only transport available, and 
 he took it, glad enough to get clear. 
 
 This journey was not without interest, for the fishing 
 craft, once they had reached the mainland, had to be 
 propelled through sluggish, winding streams, which in 
 places were roofed over with vegetation so thick that the 
 boat's mast often caught up in it and had to be cleared 
 with a hatchet. 
 
 The opportunity of a cruise like this occurs but once 
 in a lifetime, and although Pullen's pleasure was marred 
 by the company he kept, he had many chances of seeing 
 things which deep-sea sailors never will. Telling me his 
 story during the long, dark night watches on the Active's 
 bridge, he pictured his extraordinary journey; his des- 
 cription of the myriads of light heliotrope orchids with 
 their scarlet centres, made one long to be an explorer 
 once again, to go with him where he had been to to see 
 what he had seen. It all seemed so extraordinary, this 
 travelling and experience, and that we in this great war, 
 all working in our water-tight compartments, our horizon 
 limited, our ideas narrowed by the great and necessary 
 secrecy, were denied access to one another's widely 
 differing experiences unless a coincidence such as that 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 293 
 
 which threw Pullen and myself together, gave us the 
 opportunity to exchange reminiscences. 
 
 I am afraid I laughed without restraint when Pullen 
 told me about his life during those awful seven days. 
 To begin with, Madame Henrique had arrayed her chil- 
 dren in their best when she marched them to their ship, 
 a distance of no more than 50 yards, for the benefit of 
 those who had come to bid her farewell. The little 
 chocolate coloured children were in simple calico print 
 dresses of varying hues and shades. They hated it, 
 having run naked all their lives. Madame herself wore 
 high-heeled shoes on which she clumsily pivoted her 
 bulky mass as she started across the sands ; unfortun- 
 ately, however, the strain was too great for her, and 
 after the shoes were filled with the fine yellow shingle 
 stuff, she was forced to end by carrying the light brown 
 calf-skins in her hand. No sooner on board than they 
 put away their party suits, and before the last good-byes 
 were said, most of the party were naked. 
 
 Pullen's description of the incidents during the voyage 
 I cannot give in full, but many things would appeal to 
 those who have never made extended boat journeys, 
 and even to some who have. The cooking and feeding 
 were so disgusting that Pullen kept to a diet of mangoes, 
 of which, fortunately, there was ample supply. It 
 should be remembered that the cooking was done in 
 tins, which served a variety of purpose; they were never 
 properly cleaned, they smelt of bad fish, and when the 
 meals were served in them, each dirty little negro child 
 grabbed something from the pot. When Pullen's turn 
 came to grab his share he usually emptied what he got 
 quietly over the side. He could hardly offend these 
 people, for they really did mean well, and however great 
 
294 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 his distaste for the Henrique family, they lacked not 
 generosity. And, as Pullen himself confessed, Henrique's 
 smile made up for many of his shortcomings. They could 
 after all, do no more than offer him the best they had 
 to give, invariably dried prawns or black beans. 
 
 Their daily life consisted of paddling the boat through 
 the labyrinth of rivulets at a rate of some three miles 
 an hour; they worked the boat according to the tides, 
 both by night and day. As may be imagined, in their 
 congested floating home quarrels were of daily occur- 
 rence, one might almost say hourly. Henrique and his 
 wife being the closest relations, led easily in this. Madame 
 was a pessimist. Up till now her life had been a fairly 
 happy one, because she had not had the opportunity of 
 doing the grand tour; her domestic duties had kept her 
 employed, and before she honoured Pullen with her 
 presence on their yachting trip, she had never had leisure 
 enough to cause any serious trouble. But here, afloat, 
 with nothing to do, these quarrels were inevitable. Pullen 
 himself was exempt; the party certainly never lost their 
 respect for him, and even the children, when they yelled, 
 were silenced by a look from him. 
 
 At night comparative peace reigned, the mother, com- 
 panion and children retired to the shelter of the well- 
 deck, exhausted by the labours and quarrels of the day. 
 Pullen stretched out on the sail, right aft, Henrique lay 
 on the side, and the native fisherman, whose boat it 
 really was, crouched in the bows. 
 
 It was during the moonless period, and the nights were 
 dark and generally still. The stillness was occasionally 
 broken by the beautiful bird-calls, and towards the 
 approach of dawn the chattering of monkeys made itself 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 295 
 
 heard. But these animal sounds were all music that 
 merely rocked the human cargo to sleep. 
 
 On the eighth morning out, Pullen arrived at Brag- 
 anca where he bade farewell to the family of Henrique. 
 All the discomforts of this odious journey were quickly 
 forgotten, the little vices, nasty habits and attendant 
 beastliness of this hardly picturesque family have faded 
 by now from Pullen's memory, and if you meet him 
 lunching at the Carlton and mention the name Henrique, 
 he will say, "Here's luck to the old boy with his fat negro 
 wife. He had a white man's heart." 
 
 I do not propose to prolong the adventures of Lieut. 
 Pullen, although many things that he has told me, I 
 have not here set down ; but what has been told in this 
 chapter sufficiently illustrates an altogether unheard of 
 and unadvertised sea patrol. It cannot fail to interest 
 the reader of this simple sailor volume. We who go 
 down to the sea in different styles of craft are but simple 
 sailor folk, out to win, to do our best, and entirely devoid 
 of rhetoric, but we all have one thing in common, and 
 that is the national heritage of sea instinct that has made 
 our little island nation what it is. Pullen, of whom 
 I have written, had the heart of a sailor, the mind of a 
 king and the physique of a bank clerk. He gave the 
 combination of these three things to the service of the 
 Allies, and when that dirty little Brazilian sailing boat 
 ejected him at Braganca, as the whale ejected Jonah, 
 Pullen, with all his great patriotic heart, was physically 
 broken down. He made his way to the railway station 
 and after hours, mostly spent in sleep, he arrived at 
 Paga. Thence he made his way to the British Consulate 
 and told them what he knew. There are many things 
 that Pullen observed that have not been indicated in this 
 little volume. 
 
296 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 On arriving at the Consulate, the Brazilian porter 
 rejected him as one unfit to gain admittance, but after 
 some badinage in English and Portuguese Pullen ob- 
 tained an audience with the British Consul himself. By 
 this time Pullen was almost odious to look upon. His 
 matted locks fell greasily over his ears, his beard un- 
 trimmed gave him the appearance of the wild man from 
 Borneo, and his clothing reeked. The consul treated 
 Pullen with curiosity, mixed with a certain amount of 
 suspicion. He obviously mistook him for a distressed 
 seaman of a very low calibre. After a short conversation, 
 however, his suspicions were dispelled, and when Pullen, 
 who is nothing if not a humourist, had had a little sport 
 at the Consul's expense, he identified himself as one 
 C. H. Pullen, whose whereabouts was unknown. The 
 consul informed him that many and anxious enquiries 
 had come through from the British Legation at Rio; and 
 after Pullen had made known some of his experience 
 to Mr. Michel, the British Consul in question, that 
 gentleman apologised for not being able to invite him 
 to dinner, as he was expecting ladies that night. Mr. 
 Michell was obviously distressed at not being able to 
 extend his hospitality to Pullen on account of his dread- 
 ful appearance, but Pullen laughingly re-assured him, 
 and suggested that he should make his appearance later 
 on, when he had bathed, shaved and changed. A very 
 different young gentleman confronted the consul later, 
 and the consul recalls with some amusement that he did 
 not know his guest when Pullen arrived at 7 p.m. 
 
 Those of us who have done any service as explorers, 
 tramps, or guests of an Henrique family, can well appre- 
 ciate the extraordinary sensation of putting on a stiff 
 collar once again — the agony of constantly twisting 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 297 
 
 one's neck, putting one's finger down, smoothing, 
 straightening and squirming. All these things are good 
 to experience. 
 
 I regret to say that the extraordinary adventures of 
 Pullen left him in very bad health, and the return to 
 civilisation and civilised food, which came about so 
 suddenly, upset him so much that he collapsed. He was 
 ill for many days, but good simple food and rest soon 
 pulled him through and he arrived in England two 
 months later, none the worse for his experiences. 
 
 Reverting now to the beginning of this chapter — I 
 found him, I stole him and I took him to Lisbon. Since 
 it was Armistice time and our widely differing sea 
 patrols were ended, Pullen and I cruised round in the 
 beautiful Portuguese city, and having seen as much as 
 we could, we moved afield and out into the lovely 
 country highways. I learnt from him the details of his 
 naval service that he had from modesty omitted whilst 
 on board the Active, perhaps the bare-footed Joses, 
 ambling alongside their carroces on the hard white 
 Portuguese roads, awakened memories of the Brazilian 
 coasts patrols and made Pullen tell me his story. 
 
 I hesitated to include this chapter because, realising as 
 every Allied subject must what tremendous assistance has 
 been given to the Allied cause by the great Brazilian Re- 
 public, I fear that Englishmen may think Pullen's story 
 a reflection on Brazil. This of course is far from my 
 intention; Pullen, having received great hospitality at 
 Brazilian hands, has learnt to know Brazil and to appre- 
 ciate affectionately the friendship of this great country. 
 
 Pullen's adventures more properly lay with the negro 
 element who, although Brazilian subjects, in no way rep- 
 resent the true Brazilian type to whom we owe so much. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A Portuguese Sea Patrol 
 
 The foregoing chapter may well be supplemented by an 
 account of what a young Portuguese midshipman went 
 through towards the end of the war. I learnt about 
 this when the Active visited Lisbon, and the account was 
 given to me by Admiral Da Costa Ferreira, who was 
 at the time First Sea Lord in the Portuguese Admiralty. 
 On the 1 2th October, 191 8, the trawler mine-sweeper, 
 Augusto de Casticho, commanded by Lieut. Carvetho 
 Aranjo, left Funchal for Ponta Delgada as escort to the 
 passenger steamer, S. Miguel. At daybreak, two days 
 later, an enemy submarine was sighted, and its identity 
 was declared by its opening fire on the passenger ship. 
 On board the mine-sweeper, the crew immediately went 
 to action stations, while the submarine steaming 
 rapidly on the surface, took up its position between the 
 steamer and the mine-sweeper and commenced firing 
 simultaneously against these two small vessels. It was 
 very quickly recognized that the submarine was superior 
 both in guns and speed to the mine-sweeper. Neverthe- 
 less, Lieut. Carvetho Aranjo at once made for the sub- 
 marine at full speed, and the submarine retired out of 
 range, firing as she went and wasting a quantity of 
 ammunition, The S. Miguel turned and made away at 
 full speed, and the little Portuguese trawler kept between 
 
 298 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 299 
 
 her and the submarine, putting up a noble fight with her 
 two small guns. She was, however, hopelessly out- 
 matched. After half-an-hour's engagement, an enemy 
 shell struck the Augusto de Casticho, morfally wounding 
 a cadet named Eloy de Freitas and wounding Midship- 
 man Arenando Ferraz, the second in command, besides 
 a gunner and some seamen. However, the Augusto de 
 Casticho had got the submarine into the range of her own 
 guns and the shells commencing to fall round the U 
 boat, she steamed once more away. In the Portuguese 
 trawler, after forty minutes' of fighting, the ammunition 
 was practically all expended and the deck was crowded 
 with wounded and dying. However, the S. Miguel had 
 by this time made good her escape and this being so, the 
 Augusto de Casticho was turned away, since it was quite 
 impossible for her to gain any success against the 
 enemy. The stern gun of the mine-sweeper, under Mid- 
 shipman Ferraz, continued firing, but the submarine 
 easily kept out of range and continued shooting from a 
 distant of 3,000 metres. It was now reported to the 
 mine-sweeper's commander that the ammunition had 
 almost run out. He answered curtly, "We can die 
 fighting as Portuguese," then turning with his bow to 
 the enemy, the commander took personal charge of the 
 firing, at the same time manoeuvring his vessel back to 
 the attack. The submarine once again retired, but the 
 ammunition of the little Portuguese was now almost 
 expended, although the last few rounds were carefully 
 husbanded. After being in action two hours, Lieut. 
 Carvetho Aranjo exclaimed with supreme satisfaction 
 "The steamer is safe, we have done some good." This 
 was indeed the case, for the S. Miguel was over 20 miles 
 away. The mine-sweeper's bow gun was the lcrger of 
 
3 oo KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 her two pieces, and when no ammunition remained for it, 
 the ship was turned to bring her stern gun to bear. The 
 second officer, Midshipman Ferraz, who had received 
 fresh wounds in the back and arm, managed the gun 
 himself, firing about 20 shots, and then when every 
 round had been exhausted, the lifeboat was lowered, 
 for the Angusto de Casticho was sinking. To save 
 further loss of life, the commander hoisted a white flag 
 under the national colours. The second boat was then 
 lowered but, being full of holes, it sank. There was still 
 a small boat in the davits, which was not ready for 
 launching and there were not sufficient men to clear it. 
 The officers and a wounded seamen set to work to clear 
 it away. 
 
 The enemy continued firing in spite of the white flag, 
 which was plainly visible. Two 4.1-inch shells burst on 
 board, injuring the boat and wounding the two officers, 
 and another shell fell close to the lifeboat which, acting 
 under the orders of Lieut Aranjo, had pulled some dis- 
 tance away. A shell fragment mortally wounded 
 Aranjo in the chest and with one foot shattered the 
 gallant Portuguese officer fell with his head against the 
 winch. Midshipman Ferraz, although badly wounded, 
 went to the assistance of his commander, only to find 
 that he was dead. The midshipman, who was scarcely 
 twenty, collected the few wounded seamen together and 
 the little party threw themselves into the sea, there 
 being no other course open to them since the trawler was 
 on fire and settling down. Before plunging into the 
 sea Midshipman Ferraz went to the captain's cabin to 
 fetch the confidential books and destroy them, and then 
 went overboard, swimming with one arm and one leg, 
 to a life buoy, which had previously been thrown over. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 301 
 
 The Augusto de Casticho's life boat was too crowded to 
 embark the poor fellows swimming in the water, in fact 
 it was almost sinking, and Ferraz bravely held on to the 
 buoy for an hour and a half rather than jeopardise the 
 chances of safety for those in the boat. The submarine 
 now approaching, ordered the lifeboat alongside. When 
 the boat had approached the submarine, orders were 
 given to the Portuguese to proceed and they were 
 prevented from helping the men swimming in the 
 water. 
 
 The submarine then came close to the life buoy, to 
 which several men were now clinging and threw a rope 
 to them. The Portuguese were then hauled on to the 
 deck of the submarine, when the officers and crew 
 received them at the point of their revolvers and a 
 cinematograph operator took a film of the scene. One 
 of the submarine officers opened a conversation in 
 French with Midshipman Ferraz, asking him if the com- 
 mander of the Augusto de Casticho were dead. Receiv- 
 ing an affirmative reply, he expressed his regret somewhat 
 curtly and complimented the! survivors on the way in 
 which they had fought their ship. He said that his 
 commander never expected the Portuguese to defend 
 themselves with so much courage, realising what the 
 odds were. 
 
 Ferraz requested that his seamen should have their 
 wounds dressed, and the officer, after calling the surgeon, 
 turned to him and said, "Why did you join the 
 British?" 
 
 The mine-sweeper remained afloat for some time with 
 her decks awash, and after the Portuguese had been 
 attended to and an injection of morphia given to Ferraz, 
 he was allowed to send four seamen on board the 
 
3 o2 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Augnsto de Casticho in the submarine dinghy. They 
 managed to launch the mine-sweeper's remaining boat 
 and stopped up the holes in it with a coat. Fortunately, 
 they had a barrel with 14 litres of water and a box of 
 biscuits in this boat. A Portuguese seaman wished to 
 fetch a compass, but a German who had boarded the 
 mine-sweeper with the Portuguese sailors prevented him, 
 kicking him in the chest. The boat was what we should 
 call a dinghy, and had two oars and no sails, but Ferraz 
 managed to secure a couple of oars in addition, while 
 the attention of the German was for the moment dis- 
 tracted. 
 
 The midshipman asked the submarine commander to 
 tow him closer to the land. This request was coldly 
 refused with the stereotyped phrase, "C'est la Guerre"; 
 and the Germans cast the boat off. 
 
 There were twelve survivors in this small boat when 
 they set out on their journey to the nearest land. The 
 Germans blew up the mine-sweeper shortly after, and 
 three hours later the U boat again closed them, passing 
 within a hundred yards of the Portuguese and gloating 
 over them. 
 
 For six days and six nights the survivors of the 
 Aligns to de Casticho pulled towards the land, and their 
 sufferings were indescribable. Thanks to the courage 
 of the midshipman, who continually cheered them up, 
 the Portuguese bravely persisted in their efforts to save 
 themselves, but it was a desolate and dismal business, 
 with nothing but sky and sea for the men to look at. 
 They searched the horizon continually for smoke or 
 some sign of a passing ship, unfortunately without 
 success. 
 
 On the second day of this miserable voyage they 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 303 
 
 experienced a rough sea, which re-opened the breach 
 in the boat, and it was only with the greatest difficulty 
 that they managed to stop it afresh. They suffered 
 dreadfully from hunger and thirst, but it was impossible 
 to masticate the biscuit, which was soaked in sea water 
 soon after the submarine left them. 
 
 On the 19th October, at about 1 1 in the forenoon one 
 of the seamen, who was rowing, standing up after the 
 Portuguese fashion, suddenly cried out, "Land." It 
 appeared to be a great distance off, but it was land all 
 the same, and twenty-four hours later the little boat 
 reached it. 
 
 Men who have been adrift at sea will understand the 
 joy of survivors when they saw the shore; they 
 rowed frantically, but were too weak to get up much 
 speed. 
 
 However, about noon on the 20th, they arrived at 
 Ponta Os Arnel, where they were kindly received and 
 their wounds dressed. The midshipman was awarded 
 the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword for his 
 services and he was promoted to the rank of 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 While the Active was in Lisbon we wished to show 
 some appreciation of this gallant Portuguese officer and 
 his brave companions, who certainly had added a proud 
 page to Portuguese naval history. I was in rather a 
 unique position in this respect, for Portugal is in the front 
 rank as a country of geographical discovery, and being a 
 bit of an explorer myself, I was able to organize a lecture 
 on "Captain Scott's Last Expedition," which I gave in 
 the beautiful building of the Geographical Society at 
 Lisbon. The President of the Society, himself a sailor, 
 in his opening address asked those present at the lecture 
 
3 o 4 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 to subscribe to the fund which had been opened for the 
 Augusto de Casticho dependants. A very considerable 
 sum was forthcoming, and this was handed over to the 
 Portuguese Admiralty in the name of H.M.S. Active. 
 Viva Portugal! 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Belgium, 1919 
 
 Those who have fought on the side of the Allies on the 
 Western Front, cannot possibly fail to appreciate the 
 difference between the Belgium of late 19 14 and the Bel- 
 gium of today. 
 
 Before the war, visitors to this land were always struck 
 by the energy of the people. The prevailing feature was 
 cleanliness in the towns, industry throughout the entire 
 country, and a feeling of peaceful contentment in the 
 rural districts. 
 
 In the summer, especially, Belgium is beautiful, al- 
 though devoid, in the Flanders part, of the hills to which 
 we in Great Britain are accustomed. There is a green 
 loveliness and peacefulness which attracts one strongly 
 to Flanders. Now that the war is over and the people 
 have come back, many will have for some time a feeling 
 of unrest, for the great pleasure of re-visiting their homes 
 has been sadly marred by the trademark of the German 
 race. The huge sand dunes which build a rampart right 
 along the Belgian coast have been entirely disfigured 
 by innumerable German batteries. They are to be 
 found everywhere so closely placed that the guns are 
 only separated by a matter of a hundred yards or so. 
 The whole coast defence has been reinforced by batteries 
 of 15-inch and other heavy guns immediately in the 
 rear of the sand dunes themselves. 
 20 305 
 
3 o6 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 The Germans took advantage of the light electric 
 railway behind the dunes to feed their batteries and to 
 complete the very excellent inter-battery communica- 
 tion. The existence of this railway was indeed a very 
 fortunate cricumstance for the Boches entrenched in 
 Flanders. 1 do not know what the expert opinion on the 
 subject of coast bombardments is, but what the Germans 
 thought is very evident. One only has to walk a few 
 miles along the dunes at any part to appreciate how 
 much our enemy feared and respected the British Navy. 
 
 In 1914-15 and perhaps 1916 there was a good deal of 
 real patriotism obtaining in the German Marine Korps 
 certainly. As the war progressed there are signs that 
 the patriotism of the Marine Korps waned, for in odd 
 spots one finds caricatures of the Kaiser and little Willy 
 obviously made by the Germans themselves; for it is 
 hardly to be expected that Belgians would take the 
 trouble to march miles along the dunes with pots of 
 paint and German grammars and dictionaries in order 
 to camouflage and make propaganda that practically 
 nobody would ever come across. These things bear 
 singns of having been executed in the last two years 
 of the war. 
 
 However, one is gladdened now-a-days on passing by 
 these self-same dunes to notice how industriously Belgian 
 workmen are pulling down these memorials to the 
 Germany of the past. They are busily engaged in re- 
 moving all traces of these disfiguring things, though 
 probably a certain number will be left as objects of 
 attraction and interest. If visitors find them too 
 hideous for their holiday enjoyment, they can always 
 turn their backs on them and gaze over the green fields 
 of Belgium towards the beautiful spire of Bruges Cathe- 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 307 
 
 dral, which stands out as a land-mark for the whole coast 
 from Ostend to Knocke. 
 
 Flanders has been magnificently described by the 
 Belgian poet, Verhaeren. This man, whose pen is so 
 poetically descriptive, was unfortunately run over and 
 killed by a locomotive at Rouen during the war. In 
 order to pay him a last respect, the Belgians buried him 
 with military honours at Adinkerke, one of those typical 
 Flanders villages which he so splendidly portrays. The 
 exquisite green of the Flanders plains baffles description 
 by an ordinary sailor, but nevertheless, those who come 
 to Belgium will see it for themselves, and by reading 
 Verhaeren's poems, without even visiting Belgium, they 
 can conjure up in their imaginations the country's beauty 
 as something superb. 
 
 The Germans made themselves pretty comfortable on 
 the Belgian coast, and certainly their defensive engineer- 
 ing works are unparalleled. The lock gates at Zeebrugge 
 are well protected; when the caissons are opened they 
 run back under a concrete shelter with a covering of 
 reinforced concrete five feet thick to protect them from 
 air-raids and bombardments. 
 
 To minister to the comfort of the German Marine 
 Korps in Flanders, they constructed amongst the dunes 
 underground villas with tiled walls and floors, electric 
 lighting, central heating and every modern household 
 convenience. In one of them was a beautiful fountain, 
 which played coolly during the summer months. The 
 Huns rather spoiled the beauty of this aquatic ornament 
 by mounting washed-up British mines on pedestals 
 alongside of it. These they disfigured with the usual 
 "Got mitt Uns" type of inscription. The villas were 
 protected by the customary five feet of reinforced con- 
 
308 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 crete, and they were furnished luxuriously with stolen 
 furniture accumulated in the neighbourhood, special 
 attention naturally being given to the contents of the 
 better class houses, which were denuded of pictures, 
 curtains, carpets — and, in short, of everything that was 
 costly and beautiful. 
 
 These underground officers' quarters were wrecked by 
 the Germans themselves when they departed from the 
 coast, and the furniture which could not be carried off 
 was hacked and hewed to pieces. 
 
 The telephone installation of the coast defence re- 
 ceived a tremendous amount of attention. The Germans 
 were perfectly extraordinary in the use they made of the 
 telephone, one finds evidence of this in all the occupied 
 parts of Belgium. 
 
 Although nobody would wish to say a good thing for 
 the armies of occupation, one is bound to admit that same 
 parts of Belgium suffered but trifling inconveniences 
 compared to others which were literally razed to the 
 ground, as Termonde was. But from Nieuport to 
 Ypres, all along the banks of the Yser, and as far as the 
 French border one literally cannot see a house standing, 
 On the other hand take Ostend; this town, although 
 denuded of such things as iron balconies, brass door- 
 knobs and most other metal objects, has not suffered to 
 any large extent, except from looting. Material damage 
 in Ostend has been slight, but the looting and requisition- 
 ing have been so systematically carried out that few 
 people have any household gods in their possession. 
 As an example, from one hotel fifty silver-plated coffee 
 filters were taken off by German officers; and the late 
 owner, whom I know, saw them being used by the offi- 
 cers at their own mess in the German Kommandantur 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 309 
 
 and other places and in the German casinos. The Palace 
 Hotel, the largest in Ostend and originally a magnificent 
 building, contained the well-known winter garden which 
 many English people had visited prior to the war. This 
 was commandeered by the Huns; the winter garden was 
 used as a stable, and a huge stationary engine was 
 installed, boilers put in, and so forth, until the place 
 was quite beyond recognition. Needless to say it was 
 stripped of every article of furniture, including all the 
 baths, wash-hand basins, etc., which were carried off 
 to the coast defence dug-outs and gun battery positions, 
 the overflow going to Germany. The Ostendais state 
 that Prince Adalbert was in special charge of the "sal- 
 vage" corps, and presumably was responsible for this 
 wholesale spoliation. 
 
 At the north-east end of the Belgian coast very little 
 damage has been done, and a certain amount of con- 
 structive work has been carried out, for example, the old 
 Spanish fortifications near the Dutch border have been 
 built up with a view to arresting any attack which might 
 have been attempted through Dutch territory. 
 
 Bruges, which, as everyone knows is one of the most 
 beautiful old-world cities, has been very carefully 
 handled by the Boche, although he has left dirty marks 
 enough. Probably the reason that Bruges got off lightly 
 was on account of its being the headquarters of the 
 marine korps and naturally Von Schroeder and his 
 kamarades kept it as snug as possible for their own 
 benefit. Admiral von Schroeder was the Governor of 
 Flanders and the Naval Commander-in-Chief. His 
 daughter accompanied him to Bruges, and it is safe to 
 say that she was the most hated woman in the town. 
 Fraulein von Schroeder disguised herself as a lady under 
 
310 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 the red cross uniform, but in reality she was the prime 
 mover in the officers' casinos, in which she was frequently 
 to be seen with a big flaxen-haired German woman, 
 according to the statements of many of those who were 
 forced to remain in Bruges throughout the war. The 
 mere mention of Fraulein von Schroeder's name causes 
 people to spit and make hideous faces. 
 
 Von Schroeder had for his headquarters the Palais du 
 Gouvernement in the Grand Place. The Admiral himself 
 slept in the next room to his office, and the beautiful 
 rooms of the Palais were sectioned off into offices and 
 orderly rooms. 
 
 I found written by a Belgian girl on the photograph 
 of von Schroeder, the following lines: — 
 
 " In einem Bruggen Unterstand 
 
 Verteidigte 
 Herr Admiral Schroeder 
 
 Sein Kultiviertes Vaterland." 
 
 which being interpreted means: — 
 
 " In a shelter in Bruges, Admiral von Schroeder defended his 
 Kultured Fatherland-" 
 
 Much of the beautiful interior of the Palais du 
 Gouvernement has been spoilt by the Germans, but its 
 exterior hardly suffered; and I am glad to say that the 
 town hall and belfry, which date from 1619, are left in- 
 tact. The beautiful leather chair seats, with arms of 
 the ancient city, have been rudely cut away and stolen, 
 and the masonry of the interior has been most incon- 
 siderately knocked about to make way for telephone 
 cables and electric circuits, in an absolutely careless 
 fashion. 
 
 Bruges is known as the old Venice of the Continent, 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 311 
 
 being entirely surrounded by water, with many inter- 
 secting canals. To be best appreciated the town should 
 be seen on a hazy autumn day, when it has a mysterious 
 charm which has been fully described by Rodenbach in 
 his famous "Bruges, la Morte." 
 
 Bruges docks, which are connected with Zeebrugge by 
 a magnificent canal, lent themselves pre-eminently for 
 the docking of submarines and for resting the crews after 
 the very strenuous sea work which they were called upon 
 to perform while the Germans pursued their policy of 
 ruthless submarine warfare. And here the German naval 
 headquarters staff showed their cleverness, for the sleepy, 
 beautiful old city breathes repose and tranquillity. 
 Contrast this glorious resting-place with Dover Har- 
 bour! After seeing where the Germans had their stand- 
 offs, one thinks of some of the dreadful nights we spent 
 in Dover. It amounts to this, that while we had a most 
 anxious time, being exposed to the winter gales in our 
 Dover base, the Germans, when they came into harbour, 
 were as snug and safe as we should have been if we had 
 taken our ships bodily and placed them in Tunbridge 
 Wells. 
 
 Here at Bruges Docks we found the famous submarine 
 shelters, which are built like an ancient Roman temple 
 of columnar structure, covered in this case with an eight- 
 foot reinforced concrete roof, which should be absolutely 
 bomb-proof. The submarine shelter is divided into eight 
 deep bays, capable of taking several submarines in each. 
 This building is constructed on piles and the depth of 
 water in the shelter is not under 30 feet. It was still 
 being enlarged when it fell into the hands of the Belgians. 
 The building is fitted with living quarters for the crews 
 of the submarines. 
 
3 i2 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Before evacuating Bruges Docks, the enemy sunk six 
 floating docks, in one of which was a submarine and in 
 another a large modern destroyer. The enemy used so 
 much explosive in destroying the submarine that they 
 blew half of it out of and over the dock, when it bedded 
 itself in the bank. A score of ships have been sunk by 
 the Germans in the docks and the Zeebrugge-Bruges 
 canal. The port clearance and salvage which is going 
 on at the time of the Peace deliberations, will probably 
 take longer than the signing of the Peace Treaty it- 
 self. 
 
 I am purposely refraining from describing Zeebrugge 
 and the bottling up of this port and Ostend. I regret 
 that I took no part in these heroic operations, but they 
 have been well described elsewhere and a special book 
 on the subject has been written and published by Pro- 
 fessor Sandford Terry. 
 
 In spite of the unsettled feelings of those Belgians 
 who have come back to wrecked and ruined homes, the 
 country folk who were here during the German occupa- 
 tion, have not had their land despoiled, for happily 
 nature is more generous and much stronger than the 
 Hun. Everything this summer is green and fertile 
 once more, field after field of bowing wheat can be 
 seen from the Belgian highways, vegetation is luxurious, 
 and as an agricultural country, Belgium will quickly be 
 re-developed into its excellent pre-war state by the 
 individual energies of the farmers and peasants. 
 
 This same vegetation is quickly hiding all traces of the 
 awful enemy domination which quelled the captured 
 Belgians, although it never conquered their souls or 
 their love for their beautiful country, which is smiling 
 again this summer of 19 19. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 313 
 
 This spring I had the opportunity of visiting Balger- 
 hoeke, where the Germans made their last stand prior 
 to the signing of the Armistice. The poor little town 
 has been fearfully knocked about, the canal bridge has 
 been blown up and everything done by the enemy to 
 spoil progress and to show, what one can only describe 
 as, brutal spite. Balgerhoeke is a tiny little place about 
 10 miles north-west of Ghent. Damage due to the shell- 
 ing by the Allies has left its mark and the place requires 
 a good deal of rebuilding; but the inhabitants complain 
 that unnecessary and wilful damage was done by the 
 Germans, although they knew that they were about to 
 take the preliminary step towards peace. 
 
 Belgian workmen have done wonders towards the 
 reconstruction of the railway systems from Ostend to 
 Brussels and Antwerp, which had been frightfully 
 devastated by the retiring enemy. The line had to be 
 entirely relaid, practically every bridge has had to be 
 rebuilt, and at Ghent the railway station was so utterly 
 ruined by explosive charges that in a distance of some- 
 thing over a mile twenty-five bridges were destroyed. 
 The energy of the workpeople has been colossal and great 
 credit is due to the Belgian railway engineers for their 
 organisation and reconstructive planning. Just after 
 the Armistice was signed, it took one 48 hours to travel 
 by rail from Ostend to Brussels ; on "Vindictive" Day the 
 journey was done in just over three hours. By the 
 15th June it is fairly expected that the normal railway 
 and steamboat services will be in force. It is good 
 to see the Belgian labourers working. They realise that 
 the future of Belgium depends on their efforts, and they 
 go on from day to day, working full time, and achieving 
 wonders. 
 
3H KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Ghent is a place that has been interesting to visit 
 this spring. Normally the railway ran along an embank- 
 ment some thiry feet above the level of the town. Owing 
 to the destruction of the bridges, the railway has had to 
 be diverted to run through one of the principal streets 
 and the square. This of course interferes with the 
 Ghent tramway system, but that has had to give way to 
 the more important transport. 
 
 One of the saddest features in Belgium's present day 
 commercial state is the gutting of the factories, which 
 has been systematically carried out by the Germans in 
 order to paralyse the trade and production of the country 
 for years to come. At Charleroi over thirty factories 
 have been denuded of the machinery which could 
 be carried off, and those portions which were too 
 difficult to remove have been deliberately broken 
 
 U P' 
 
 Although the visitor to Belgium at the present time 
 
 when all nature is smiling and beautiful, would see very 
 
 little of these things, the cruel fact remains that Belgium 
 
 commercially is crippled and will be for some time. 
 
 Visitors, unfortunately, do not visit factories; they are 
 
 not interested in them, and there is a danger of some 
 
 people, full of enthusiasm, running through the principal 
 
 Belgian cities, being well-treated and well-fed, and then 
 
 going away feeling that conditions are not so bad after 
 
 all. I hope this view will not be taken by those who 
 
 are going to put their money on at the casinos and 
 
 generally to enjoy themselves in this heroic little land. 
 
 The natural bravery of the Belgians asserts itself and 
 
 makes him hide his sorrows and only show a bright face 
 
 to the visitor, whom he cheerfully greets as one of his 
 
 trusted allies of the recent dreadful war. 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 315 
 
 To read the neutral newspapers three months after 
 the Armistice was signed, one would imagine that the 
 Allies were grouped around the bars of an enormous 
 cage, gloating over the discomforts of the German, starv- 
 ing his women and children, freezing him to death and 
 doing everything possible to encourage Bolshevism and 
 anarchy. This conception has undoubtedly been pro- 
 duced by the same lying mob of propaganda agents who 
 were responsible for the circulation of such news as 
 appeared in the Continental Times, which was supposed 
 to be written by Americans in Germany, when it was 
 written entirely by Boche agents. 
 
 Not sufficient publicity has been given to the Belgian 
 viewpoint of what happened during the Armistice. 
 What have the Germans to say to the following? — 
 
 The terms of the Armistice distinctly stated that the 
 Allied Armies should remain in the positions occupied 
 by them on the 11th November, for one week. The 
 Germans in Belgium took advantage of those few days 
 of grace to blow up ammunition dumps, which killed 
 many Belgian non-combatants and caused terrific havoc 
 all over the country. In one particular spot, at Luttre, 
 west of Charleroi, they blew up about 20 trains full of 
 ammunition, which wrecked the district and violated the 
 whole intention of the Armistice terms. 
 
 This is my final chapter, and I fear I have expanded 
 somewhat, or shall I say paused by the wayside. The 
 purpose of my book is to give a few peeps behind the 
 scenes and to reveal the glad side of the sea services 
 which I am so proud to be associated with, and at the 
 same time to do what I can to illustrate the heroism of 
 the Belgians. I was deeply touched on "Vindictive" Day 
 when I witnessed with others of our naval service the 
 
3 i6 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 tender tribute paid to the memories of those who lost 
 their lives, when the Vindictive was so bravely 
 manoeuvred into the jaws of the dragon. It would have 
 done all Englishmen good to have taken part in the 
 "Vindictive" Day celebrations. The clean, neat school 
 children, who deposited beautiful floral wreaths on the 
 graves of Commander Godsal and his dead companions, 
 will never forget the ceremony, nor can they forget the 
 simple yet telling words of the Burgomaster. None of 
 us can forget the solemn service in the Cathedral of 
 Saint Peter and Saint Paul, when the priests, clad in 
 their Brussels lace surplices, surmounted with robes of 
 gold, paid homage to the fallen and blessed the memory 
 of their name. Although we Englishmen were for the 
 most part of a different religious faith, we were given 
 the places of honour in the cathedral, and as such guests 
 of honour we felt proud that we were British sailors, 
 standing in the reflected glory of our fallen comrades. 
 The beautiful music of the cathedral went straight 
 to our hearts, and our Belgian brothers in arms conveyed 
 through that medium their sympathetic thoughts and 
 sentiments. 
 
 This book about sailors and their friends here in 
 Belgium would not be complete without a respectful 
 reference to one other gallant sailor, whose life was 
 taken from him by the Germans when he was powerless 
 and a prisoner. I am glad that I took the opportunity 
 to visit Captain Fryatt's grave near Bruges. At the 
 time of my visit I was shown to the graveside by friendly 
 Belgians, and as I looked upon the simple black cross that 
 marked the resting-place of this English seaman, I could 
 not help feeling sorry that a movement was afoot to 
 transfer Captain Fryatt's remains from this peacefully 
 
KEEPING THE SEAS 317 
 
 slumbering garden cemetery in the midst of golden- 
 hearted Belgium. 
 
 I took a little party of officers and ratings to visit the 
 sailor's grave and afterwards we drove some distance 
 through the countryside. The summer weather was 
 exquisite, and what gladdened me most of all was to see 
 the re-appearance of cattle. As every Belgian knows, 
 the Germans drove away all the live stock from the 
 country when they retreated, but animals have now 
 been replaced, and they are growing fat on the land. 
 The tall ash trees, with their perfect foliage, contrasted 
 hapilly with the gas-killed trees of the old Western 
 Front. Waving clover, brilliant lucerne, and every shade 
 and hue of green bring peace to the eyes of the Belgian 
 peasant; the spring flowers tempt the laughing children; 
 and great loaded wagons, slowly moving along the 
 straight white, tree-fringed roadways, make one's heart 
 rejoice, for they bring with them the spirit of peace and 
 show one that the country is healing of its wounds. 
 
 The scent of some pine trees which industrious Belgian 
 workmen were cutting down and fashioning into pit 
 props, attracted my party off the highway and led me 
 into conversation with a very intelligent woodman, who 
 told me of his war services and something of the removal 
 of ploughs and agricultural "implements by the enemy. 
 But as he sweated at his hewing and chopping there was 
 a gleam of triumph in his eye. We talked a lot of the 
 Germans and I noticed a little Green and red ribbon 
 that he wore; it was the Belgian Croix de Guerre. He 
 saw me looking at it and when I shook hands and 
 bade him good-bye, the gleam of triumph reappeared. 
 "We beat them all right," he said. I simply loved that 
 WE. 
 
318 KEEPING THE SEAS 
 
 Making my way back to headquarters by beautiful 
 twilight and starlight, I thought of Belgium as of a very 
 beautiful girl, who had won through some serious illness 
 — one who should be nourished and nursed and was after 
 all entitled to some petting. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
 "A" boats, German, 105 
 
 Abelard, 212 
 
 Active, 117, 197, 219, 244; based at 
 Gibraltar, 246; friendship of 
 officers, 246; 254; restrictions 
 and punctuality, 252; Sunday in 
 Gibraltar, 260; entertainment on, 
 261; at Madeira, 269; return to 
 England 271; visit to Lisbon, 
 298; appreciation of gallant Por- 
 tuguese officer, 303 
 
 Adalbert, Prince, in charge of sal- 
 vage, 309 
 
 Adams, Lieut. J. B., 23 ; message, 
 24 
 
 Adinkerke, 168 
 
 Admiralty, in praise of 15 
 
 Adventure, 157, 197, 246, 254 
 
 Aventurier, 103 
 
 Aeroplane attacks crew, 78 ; bomb- 
 ing on Sundays, 94; pilot picked 
 up, 104 
 
 Afridi, 16, 84, 104, 117, 197 
 
 A.L.2, American submarine, 267 
 
 Albatross, 60 
 
 Allen Lieut., 32 
 
 Almirante Gowi,aItered to Broke,ll7 
 
 Altham, Commander E., 51 
 
 Amazon, 16, 21, 23, 37, 72, 100, 102 
 112, 117, 197; King, Queen and 
 Prince of Wales as passengers,200 
 
 Ambuscade 117 
 
 American, destroyers launched, 159 ; 
 officers, excellence of, 150; ad- 
 vice to, 151 
 
 Americans, meeting with, 144 
 
 American, training of crews, 146; 
 entertainment of, 159 
 
 Amp/iion, crew rescued, 19 
 
 Amundsen, 22 
 
 Anglia, hospital ship lost, 84 
 
 Antarctic 247 
 
 Antarctic explorer, 23 
 
 Antwerp, 19 
 
 Aranjo, Lieut. Carvetho, 298 
 
 Argyllshire, 258 
 
 Aries, sunk, 215 
 
 Armistice, 254; news received, 271; 
 German violation of 315 
 
 Arrogant, 39, 41 
 
 Arnaud de la Perriere, German 
 submarine capt., 266 
 
 Ashton (C.P.O.), J. C, 136 
 
 Asquith Mr., as passenger, 202 
 
 Attentive, 14, 30, 60, 64, 78; picks 
 up Airmen, 104; 117 
 
 Augusto de Casticho, 298 ; survi- 
 vors, 302 
 
 Auxiliary Patrol, 44 
 
 Auxiliary Patrol Skippers, 46 
 
 Aventurier, 105, 106 
 
 Babcock, Lieut.-Comdr. 144 
 
 "Baby Monitors" crews, 163 
 
 Bacon, Rear-Admiral R. H. S-, 49, 
 52, 54, 85; his despatch, 86, 
 work, 89, 95, 99; on the Broke, 
 117; 162; visits Belgium 171; 
 180, 216, 218, 219; loss of his 
 son, 222 
 
 Bagnall (A.B.), J. W., 141 
 
 Bailey (Sto.), F. R., 141 
 
 Balfour, A. J., as passenger, 202, 
 210 
 
 Balgerhoeke, Germans last stand 
 at 313 
 
 Bannister (Ldg. Sto.) T. B., 141 
 
 Barbara Camp, 164 
 
 Barrage, Folkestone, 50; Grisnez, 
 50; Goodwin Sands, 108 
 
 Barrage Patrol, description of, 184 
 
 Barrow, Commander B., 69 
 
 Barter (Act. Art. Engr.), C. R. 137 
 
 Bayly, Admiral Sir Lewis, 144; 
 appreciation of, 148; stories of 
 157 
 
 Beatty, Admiral, 49 
 
 Belgian Barrage Patrol, 96; re- 
 established, 117 
 
 319 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Belgian Coast, 21, 49, 91; verses, 
 58; barrage, 88; 192; heavy guns 
 for, 161; defence of, 177; flotilla 
 visited by King Albert, 199; 
 patrol 94 
 
 Belgian girl's inscription on photo- 
 graph, 310 
 
 Belgian Military Mission, 72 
 
 Belgian railway reconstruction, 313 
 
 Belgian Refugees, 213 ; at Dun- 
 kirk, 28 
 
 Belgium, re-development of, 312; 
 recovery of, 317; Belgium, 1919, 
 305 
 
 Bellamy (Sto.), E., 141 
 
 Benson Admiral, 211 
 
 Berehaven, visited, 150, 245 
 
 Bernard, Capt. V. H. C, 27 
 
 Bickford, Commander W. G H., 
 53, 61, 70; rescued, 71; popu- 
 larity, 72; 162; joy-ride army, 
 165 174 
 
 Bird, Capt. F. G, 62 
 
 Birmingham, 246, 254 
 
 Blue Bird, 270 
 
 Board of Inventions, 42 
 
 Bombardment, at short notice, 181 
 
 Bomb casualties, 95 
 
 Borden, Sir R., 211 
 
 Botha, 115 117, 188, 192, 197 
 
 Bouclier, 190 
 
 Bowring, Capt. H. W., 44, 191, 
 218 
 
 Boyland (Sto.), A., 137 
 
 Braganca, 291 
 
 Brazilian Coast Watching, 275 
 
 Brazilian Coast Patrol, 273 
 
 Brazilian Naval Squadron, 274 
 
 Breslau 32 
 
 Brian (Ldg. Sto.), D., 141 
 
 Bridges, Col., 72 
 
 Broke, m, 115; carries Marines, 
 116; 117; 120; cordite explosion 
 on, 124; 126; casualties, 130; 
 cheered, 132; goes to London, 
 134; honors for, 135; night 
 patrol 138; navigator, 138; 
 casualties, 141 ; cinema, 191 ; 
 197; carries bullion, 200; 209 
 
 Brooke, Lieut. J., 197 
 
 Brooks (Sto.), S. F-, 136 
 
 Brotherhood of the Seas, 131 
 
 Brown (P.O.), C. C, 137 
 
 Bruges Cathedral, 306; damage 
 to, 310 
 
 Bruges Docks used for submar- 
 ines, 311 
 
 Bruton, Capt. C. W., 199 
 
 Bryant, Lieut., 257, 264 
 
 Bryant (Sto. P. O.), J., 136 
 
 Buckland, Lieut. A., 215 
 
 Busman's Holiday, A, 143 
 
 Bustard 24 
 
 Buzzard, 23 
 
 C34, Submarine, 103 
 
 Cafe de l'Yser, 72 
 
 Calais, bombarded, 120 
 
 Calcium Light, used, 125 
 
 Camm (Ldg. Sto.), H., 142 
 
 Campbell, Capt. G, 245 
 
 Campbell Commander Victor, 20, 
 
 187 
 Canadian Royal Engineers, 169 
 Capitaine Me hi, 190 
 Carder (Sto.), F., 141 
 Carley Life Floats used, 152; 241 
 Carson, Sir Edward, 143; 211 
 Carter, Commander C., 51 
 Chambers, Acting Comdr., R. H. B. 
 
 187 
 "Chapeau Rouge," 26 
 Charleroi damage to factories, 314 
 Chart, loss of, 220 
 Chester, 245, 254 
 Chitty (Sto.), T. E., 142 
 Christmas, at war time, 36 
 Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston, 23, 
 
 202, 204, 210 
 Clark (A.B.), O.N., 136 
 Clark (A.B.), S., 142 
 Clarke (Sto), H., 142 
 Clasper, Stoker John, heroism 61, 
 
 130; bravery of his wife, 131; 
 
 136, 142 
 Cleeter (A.B.) W. G, 137 
 Cleopatra, 105 
 Clothes, importance of, 152 
 C.M-B.'s (coastal motor-boats), 186 
 Coastal motor-boats, 182 
 Coast Patrol, Brazilian, 273 
 Collard, Capt., 98 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Commander-in-Chief's letters of 
 
 thanks, 88 
 Conqueror, 79 
 Continental Times, 315 
 Convoy System adopted 145 ; 
 
 work of, 244; zig-zag course, 
 
 250; 254 
 Conyngham, 146 
 
 Coomber, Commander T. G., 137 
 Cork, Mayor of, story, 157 
 Cossack, 16, 75, 104, 117, 197, 216 
 Coughlan (Wt. Mech.), J., 137 
 Craddock, Admiral, 275 
 Crane, 17, 104, 117, 197 
 Crown Prince the, 119 
 Crusader, 16, 69, 81, 91, 93, 95, 99, 
 
 104, 115, 117, 168, 197 199, 207 
 Culverwell (Ch. E. R. A-), W., 136 
 Cur ran, 53 
 
 Dover Patrol, 21, 38; officer pris- 
 oners, 70, 81; 85, 86, 90; streng- 
 thened, 112; 119; letter writing, 
 154; snap-shot firing, 156, bar- 
 barge, 219 
 
 Dover Straits, night raid on, in 
 
 "Dover surf-deer," 97 
 
 Downs Patrol, 197 
 
 Dresden, 132 
 
 Drifters 183 
 
 Drifters' Crews, 45, 61 
 
 Du Boulay, Sub-Lieut, 25 
 
 Duff, Admiral, 248 
 
 Dunkirk, as Naval base, 27; lines 
 on, 35; destroyer division, 78; 
 bombed, 91; guns transferred 
 to, 162; 172; air raids, 195 
 
 Dutch border fortifications, 309 
 
 "D" Captain, 30, 32, 40, 60, 153 
 Da Costa Ferreira Admiral, 298 
 Daish (P.O.), C. H., 136 
 Daniels (Ldg. Sto.), E., 137 
 Dart (Ldg. Sto.), C. E., 141 
 Davies (Sto. P. O.), T., 137 
 Davis, 146 
 
 "Days of Grace" permit, 18 
 Deal, visit to hospital, 140 
 Depth Charges use of, 151 
 Despard, Lieut., M. C, 121, 123, 
 
 129, 135, 209, 251 
 Destroyers, "Thirty-knotters," 13 
 "Tribals," 13; " M " Class 
 93; French 106; fight, 131 
 American, 159; an attack on 
 192; fight with many, 193: 
 despatches, 205 ; duties at Dover, 
 206 
 Diana, 187 
 
 Diggle, Commander N., 51 
 Doe (Sto.). G. H. 137 
 Dominion Battery, 168 
 Dominion Day, 170 
 Dover destroyer birds, 186 
 Dover destroyer force, 33 
 Dover, German designs on, 14; 
 change in, 90; attack on, 120; 
 funeral, 133 
 Dover Harbor, condition, 34; as 
 destroyer base, 35 
 21 
 
 Edwards, Comdr. G, known as 
 "Farver," 188; his decorations, 
 190 
 
 English Mines, dangerous, 183 
 
 Enseigne Roux, 190 
 
 Erebus, 179; casualties, 195 
 
 Escort work, 74 
 
 Eupion 47 
 
 Evans, Capt. E. R. G. R., command 
 of Mo/iaivk, 14; Austrian steamer 
 caught, 18 ; transferred to Viking, 
 31; on Dover naval officers, 70; 
 exchanges command, 81; South 
 Polar training; 114; transfer to 
 Broke, 115; visit to Liverpool, 
 115; visit to Scapa Flow, 115; 
 visit to Lowestoft, 116; interro- 
 gates prisoners, 128 ; promoted 
 137; visit Queenstown, 144; 
 visit to Dominion Battery, 170 
 contact with French vessels, 190; 
 carries Admiral Bacon and Vice- 
 Admiral Ronarch, 191; becomes 
 Flag Captain, 196; patrol work 
 on Viking; appointed to com- 
 mand of Active, presentation, 222 ; 
 visit to Berehaven and Liver- 
 pool, 245 ; invents tortoise board, 
 255; brings home prisoners, 265; 
 visit to Portugal, 273 
 
 Excellent 23, 24 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Falcon, 17, 25, 117, 197 
 
 Falconer (Sto-), J- K., 137 
 
 Falmouth, 212 
 
 Fame, 286 
 
 "Farver," see Comdr. Edwards, 
 189 
 
 Falknor, 115, 117 183, 197 
 
 Fawn, 17, 117, 197 
 
 Featherstone (A.B.), G., 142 
 
 Field (Sto.), S., 141 
 
 Firework Display, success of, 65 
 
 Fishing for Tunney, 270 
 
 Flag Changes, 49 
 
 Flanders devastation, 25; base for 
 submarines, 119; Poet's descrip- 
 tion of, 307; Defence works, 307 
 
 "Flat Iron" gunboats, 23 
 
 Fletcher, Sons and Fearnall, 143 
 
 Flint, Lieut., 169 
 
 Flirt, 17, 111; bravery of crew, 
 114; 117, 125 
 
 Floating mines sunk by gunfire 83 
 
 Flotilla leaders, 197 
 
 Folkestone barrage, 50 
 
 Forrester, Lieut.-Comdr. H., splen- 
 did work of, 184 
 
 Foster-Daimler drivers, 165 
 
 Fowle (O.S.), H-, 136; 141 
 
 Foxhall (Sto.), W., 141 
 
 Francis Gamier, 106, 190 
 
 Fraser, Commander J. S. G, 92 
 
 Fred Karno's Navy, 88 
 
 Froud (P.O.), G. H., 136 
 
 Fryatt, Capt., his grave, 316 
 
 Funchal, 269 
 
 "G's," German destroyers, 107 
 
 G42, sunk, 124; crews take to 
 boats, 127 
 
 G85 121 
 
 G88', sunk bv C.M.B.'s, 182 
 
 Geddes, Sir Eric, 211 
 
 General Crauford, 51, 103, 104, 172 
 
 General Wolfe, 51, 104 
 
 George, Rt. Hon. Lloyd, as passen- 
 ger, 200, 210 
 
 German "A" boats, 105 
 
 German anti-Aircraft batteries on 
 Belgian coast, 179 
 
 German Bodies picked up, 105 
 
 German brutality, 118 
 
 German destroyer tactics, 106 
 German destroyers, 107 
 German Gentleman, a, 178 
 German, interned ships, 276 
 German, light electric railway, 306 
 German Marine Korps, 306 
 German officer prisoner, 267 
 German, pilfering of officers, 308 
 German, realise game up, 118 
 German submarines, 107 
 German telephone systems, 308 
 German underground villas, 307 
 German vessel seized by Zulu, 17 
 German victualling island, 286 
 Germans found swimming in sea, 
 
 125 
 Germans' last stand at Balger- 
 
 hoeke, 313 
 Germany, hostilities commenced 
 
 against, 13 
 Ghent railway station, 313 
 Ghiveldt, 165 
 Ghurka, 16, 40, 41, 117; sunk, 196, 
 
 197 
 Gibbs, Commander G. L. D., 37, 93 
 Gibraltar, arrival at, 251 ; exchange 
 
 cargo at, 259; sports at, 263 
 Gilfillan (Sto.), E., 136 
 Gipsy, 17, 117, 197 
 Gladstone, Capt., 116 
 Glasgow, 132 
 Glover (Sto-), A. E., 137 
 Gneisenau, 132, 278 
 Goble, Flight Sub-Lieut., 96 
 Godsal, Commander, 316 
 Goeben, 32 
 
 Gold cargo, responsibility for, 201 
 Good Hope, 132 
 Goole X., 79 
 
 Gradwell (S.B.), J. G, 137 
 Graham, Lieut., 79 
 Gransha, 53 
 
 Grant, Rear-Admiral H. S., 251 
 Greig, Staff Surgeon L., 81 
 Grey, Sir Edward, as passenger, 202 
 Greyhound, 17, 104, 117, 197 
 Grinney (Gnr.), F-, 124, 136 
 Grisnez barrage, 50 
 Gyles, Midshipman G. A., 123, 142 
 
 Haig, Sir Douglas, as passenger,207 
 
INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 Halahan Camp, 164 
 Halahan, Comdr. H. C, 173 
 Hallett, Lieut. J. I., verses by, 100; 
 
 his signals, 176; wins D.S.O-, 
 
 177; jester-in-chief, 187 
 Hankey, Sir Maurice, 200 
 Hanwell (Sto.), W., 142 
 Harrison, Lieut., 186 
 Harvey, Major, 169 
 Harvey (Sto.), C. H., 137 
 Harwich Force, 16 
 Heaseman (Sto. P. O.), W- E., 136 
 Helge, 248, 258 
 Heligoland, l 'L" boats off, 19 
 Helps (Sig.), S. C, 137 
 Helsham (Surg. Prob.), C. T., 130, 
 
 135 
 Henderson, Capt. R., 251 
 Henrique, negro host, 284 
 Henton (A.B.), J., 137 
 Hermes, Aircraft carrier sunk, 30 
 Hickman, Lieut. G. V., 122, 135 
 Hickman (Sto.), F. A., 137 
 Higgins (Ldg. Sig.), C C, 137 
 Hindenburg, 119 
 Hitchin (A.B.), H. A., 137 
 Hood, Admiral, 21, 22, 26, 46, 162 
 Hosier (O.S.), H., 141 
 Howard, Capt. W. V.. 44 
 Hughes-Onslow, Captain, 27 
 Hughes, Commander J-, 137 
 Hughes, Mr. (Aust. Premier), 211 
 Huke (Off. Std.), H., 142 
 Humber, 22 
 
 Ince, Flight Sub-Lieut., 79 
 Ingleson (A.B.), E. R., 136 
 Intrepide, 106 
 Invincible, 49 
 
 Ivens, G. G-, leading seaman, 124, 
 141 
 
 Jackson, Admiral Sir H., 204 
 James (Yeo. Sig.), A. E., 136 
 Jellicoe, Admiral, 143; visits Dover 
 
 Patrol, 205 
 Jess (O.S.), C. G., 142 
 r 'Joao," 276 
 Johnson, Capt. C D., 14, 31 
 
 "K" Class gunboats, 254 
 Kaiser, The, 118 
 
 Kangaroo, 17, 117, 197 
 
 Karlsruhe, 286 
 
 Kelly, Comdr. W. H., 256 
 
 Kelly's signal buoys, 257 
 
 Kempenfelt, 192, 197 
 
 King (Ldg. Sto.), F. W., 137 
 
 King-Harman, Lieut. R. D., 125 
 
 King of the Belgians visits coast 
 
 flotilla, 199 
 Kitchener, Lord, as passenger, 207 
 Kite Balloon, use of, 63 
 Knuts and Gold, 199 
 
 "L" Class, 16, 19, 103, 197 
 
 Lady Crundell, 76 
 
 Laertes, 197 
 
 Laforey, 197 
 
 Lambe, Brig-Gen., 91 
 
 Lance, 197 
 
 Landon, Lieut.-Commander, 127, 
 
 137 
 Landrail, 197 
 La Panne, 63 
 Lapwing, 117 
 Lark, 197 
 
 Last (P. O.), A., 136 
 Lauerberg,German submarine Capt., 
 
 265; gallant adversary, 267 
 Laurel, 197 
 Laverock, 197 
 Laivford, 197 
 
 Lawson (Sto. P.O.), M., 137 
 Leipzig, 132 
 Leonidas, 103 
 Leven, 17; coxswain's tale, 75; 104, 
 
 117, 197 
 Liberty, 197 
 Linnet, 197 
 Liverpool, 245 
 Lleivellyn, 197 
 Lewin Camp, 164 
 Lewin, Lieut.-Commander, 34, 53, 
 
 61, 162, 196 
 Lobster that kicked, tale of, 223 
 Lochinvar, 197 
 Lockett (Sto.), W- H., 141 
 "London Gazette," awards, 134 
 Longbow, Lieut, von, 60 
 Lord dive, 51, 56, 61, 98, 103, 105 
 Lucifer, 197 
 Ludendorf, 119 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lusitania crime, 125 
 Lusitania (merchant ship), 84 
 Lydiard, 197 
 Lynes, Commodore, 196 
 Lysander, 103 
 
 "M" class, 197 
 
 A/24, Monitor, 117 
 
 M2S, monitor, 104, 117 
 
 A/26, monitor, 117 
 
 M27, monitor, 104, 117 
 
 Mabey (A.B.), J. T., 142 
 
 McDougall, 146 
 
 McGuire, Lieut, 24 
 
 McKenna, Mr., as passenger, 207 
 
 Maddick, Capt. D., 191 
 
 Magher, Major, story of, 167 
 
 Magon, 190, 192 
 
 Maguire (Ldg. Sto-), T., 142 
 
 Main (A. B.), F., 142 
 
 Mair (A.B.), W. F., 136 
 
 Maloja, P. and O. Steamer, 84 
 
 Manisty, Paymaster Capt. H.W.E., 
 
 251 
 Manly, 198 
 Mansfield, 198 
 Maori, 16, 40, 41 ; sunk, 69 
 Marksman, 197 
 Marshal Ney, 62, 64 
 Marshal Soult, 95, 98 
 Mascots, 82 
 Mastiff, 103, 198 
 Matchless, 198 
 Maud (Mid.), M. T., 137 
 Max, Burgomaster, 215 
 Mavo, Admiral, 207; presented 
 
 with flag, 209 
 Melpomene, 197 
 Mentor, 127; picks up prisoners, 
 
 128; 189, 193, 197 
 Mercantile Marine, 244 
 Merchant seamen, 256 
 Merchant Service, officers, 17 
 Merchant Ships, 50 
 Merchant tonnage, 46 
 Mermaid, 17, 117, 197 
 Mersey, 22 
 
 Meteor, 103; mine-layer, 184; 197 
 Michell, Mr., British Consul at Rio, 
 
 296 
 Middelkerke, 25 
 
 Middelkerke Bank, 66 
 
 Milford Sound, 266 
 
 Miller, Commander S. R., 51 
 
 Miller (Sto.), C. E., 137 
 
 Milner, Lord, 211 
 
 Milne, 103, 198 
 
 Minefield, Folkestone to Griznez, 
 218 
 
 Mine barrage re-established, 191 
 
 Mine-laving, 81, 91, 185; verses on, 
 174 
 
 Mine-laying by submarines,183,192 
 
 Mines, 33 
 
 Mines, German, 107 
 
 Minneberg, 277 
 
 Minos, 103, 198 
 
 Mine-sweeper saves pilot, 79 
 
 Mine-sweeping, 85; excellent work 
 of, 195; at Dover, 212; gener- 
 osity of crews, 214; supplied with 
 warm clothes, 217 
 
 Miranda, 198 
 
 Mitchell (Ldg. Sto-), A. J., 142 
 
 Modified sweep, 38, 41 
 
 Mohawk, 14, 16, 26, 27, 29, 117, 
 197, 220 
 
 Monitors, 22, 51, 52; success of, 
 65; slow speed, 98, 103; M25, 
 104; disguised, 171 
 
 Monmouth, 132 
 
 Moorsom, 193, 198 
 
 More, Paymaster-Lieut., J. Mc. L., 
 196 
 
 Morning, Arctic Relief Ship, 247 
 
 Morris, 197 
 
 Muff, (Sto.3,) E., 137 
 
 Murray, 103, 198 
 
 Miirsell (P.O.), F. P., 136 
 
 Myngs, 103, 198 
 
 Myrmidon, 17, 117; loss of 196 
 
 Nelson (Ch. E. R. A.), R. V., 137 
 
 Newhaven, 33 
 
 Nicholson, Sub-Lieut., 137 
 
 Nieuport, 26, 72 
 
 Nieuport Bains, 163 
 
 Nieuport Pier, signals from, 23 
 
 Norford (Sto.), R., 141 
 
 North Star, 194, 198 
 
 Norton (A.B.), C. R., 136 
 
INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Nubian, 16, 104; salved, 112; 117, 
 
 197 
 "Nubian Nonsense," 35, 58, 85, 
 
 109, 161 
 Nugent, 178, 198 
 Numb erg, 132 
 
 Observation Posts, 72 
 
 Obusier, 190 
 
 Officers, miscellaneous, 90; com- 
 parison of, 113 
 
 Oilers, 47 
 
 "Oily Wads," 66 
 
 Oliphant, Commander Harry, 21 
 37, 100, 112, 183 
 
 Oliver, Admiral, 203 
 
 Oost Dunkirk Bains, 163 
 
 Orchard (Sto. P. O.), H. G., 141 
 
 Ostend, 19, 25, 59, 93, 102, 182; 
 bombardment of, 207; damage 
 to, 308 
 
 Othello, 216 
 
 "Our Mr. Smith," 129, 139; as 
 flagmasker, 209 
 
 Overseas Canadian Railway Con- 
 struction Corps, 168 
 
 Pll, patrol boat, 117, 198 
 
 P12, patrol boat, 117 
 
 P17, patrol boat, 117, 198 
 
 P19, patrol boat, 117 
 
 P21, patrol boat, 117, 198 
 
 P24, patrol boat, 117, 198 
 
 P34, patrol boat, 117 
 
 P49, patrol boat, 198 
 
 P50, patrol boat, 198 
 
 Page (Ldg. Sig.), W., 137 
 
 Paragon, 117; sunk, 119 
 
 Parsons, Eng. Commander, 34 
 
 Patagonia, 278, 286 
 
 Paton, Capt., 95, 99 
 
 Patrol Boats, list of, 117; rapid 
 building, 145 
 
 Patrol flotilla, 13 
 
 Patrol gunboats, 248 
 
 Patrolling, laws of, 85; new scheme, 
 88; verses on, 109 
 
 Peck, Commander A. M., 134, 137; 
 leaves the Swift, 187 
 
 Pedro de Frontin, Rear-Admiral, 
 274 
 
 Peppe, Sub-Lieut. L. H., 126, 137, 
 194 
 
 Percival, Lieut-Commander, 84 
 
 Persia, 277 
 
 Phoenix, 117 
 
 Phoebe, 198 
 
 Pichess (Sig.), S., 142 
 
 Pistols, use of, 129 
 
 Ponta Delgada, 298 
 
 Ponta Os Arnel, 303 
 
 Porcupine, 223 
 
 Porpoise, 117 
 
 Porter, 146 
 
 Portuguese, captured by submarine, 
 301 
 
 Portuguese Officer, appreciation of, 
 303 
 
 Portuguese Sea Patrol, 298 
 
 Pott (C.Q.S.), J., 142 
 
 Prince Charles, 199 
 
 Prince Eugene, 51, 93, 98, 105 
 
 Prince Leopold, 199 
 
 Prince Rupert, 51, 56, 98 
 
 Princess Jose, 199 
 
 Princess Mary's Christmas Fund, 37 
 
 Prize, captured by Zulu, 
 
 Pullen, Lieut. C. H., 273 ; apprecia- 
 tion of, 274; watching Brazilian 
 coast, 275; at Pernambuco, 276; 
 watching ships, 277 ; at Macau, 
 277, at Caicara, 277; valuable 
 result, 278 ; at Formosa with 
 traveling priest, 279 ; as a doc- 
 tor, 284; life on an island, 290; 
 at Braganca, 291; patriotism, 
 295; transformed, 296 
 
 ''Q" ships, 144 
 
 Queen Elizabeth (of Belgium) 
 
 visits coast floatilla, 199; 210 
 Queen, transport, 111 
 Queenstown, visited, 144; as naval 
 
 base, 157 
 
 Racehorse, 17, 32, 117, 197 
 Rafferty (Sto.), J. J., 141 
 Ramscapelle, 72 
 
 Range, method of increasing, 101 
 Rawles (A.B.), W. C, 142 
 Rawson, Lieut.-Commander H., 38 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Read (Sto.), A., 142 
 
 Redoubtable, 27, 60 
 
 Reinold, Commander H. O., 51 99 
 
 Revenge, 27 
 
 Rigg, Lieut.-Commander W. G-, 212 
 
 Riley (E.R.A.), H. A., 137 
 
 Rio, British Legation, 296 
 
 Rio Negro, 286 
 
 R.N.A.S., 27, 79; verses on, 175; 
 
 pilot saved, 178 
 R.N.V.R., Signalman story, 138 
 Robertson, Gen. Sir W., 95, 200 
 Robinson (A.B.), L., 142 
 Ronarch, Vice-Admiral, 191 
 Royal Marines take over guns, 164 
 Royal Naval Division, 19 
 Ruytenfjeld, 248 
 
 '' S's " German destroyers, 107 
 Sailors, generosity of, 29 
 Salamanca, 277 
 Salvage work, 74 
 Sampson, Commander, 27 
 Samways (A.B.), C. T., 141 
 Sandettie Light Vessel christened 
 
 ''Mournful Mary," 195 
 Sao Joao Islands, 279 
 Saracen, 16, 117, 197 
 Saurin, Commander, 24 
 Schroeder, Admiral von, 309 
 Schroeder, Fraulein von, most hated 
 
 woman in Flanders, 309 
 Sc/iarnhorst, 132, 278 
 Sea Patrol, Portuguese, 298 
 Sedgley (P.O. Tel-), H., 136, 142 
 Severn, 22 
 Seymour, 115 
 
 Shearn (Ch. Sto.), W., 136 
 Shoppey, Lieut. D. G. G., 72 
 Shouler, Lieut. E. J. B., 76 
 Signal boys, 257 
 Simmonds (P.O.), S. A., 136 
 Simmons (Ch. Sto.), H., 136 
 Simpson, Lieut. H. A., 135 
 Sims, Admiral, 144 
 Sir John Moore, 51, 55 
 Sixth Flotilla, 14, 17, 19, 25, 30; 
 
 composition of, 197 
 Sleight (Sto. P.O.), F., 142 
 Smith, Petty Officer, 116 
 Smith (Yeo. Sig.), W., 136 
 
 Smoke screen, 62, 101, 103, 104, 179 
 
 Smuts, General, 211 
 
 Southgarth, stranded, 78 ; salvaged, 
 80 
 
 Spies captured, 213 
 
 " Stand-off " svstem, 34 
 
 Station Hotel, 72 
 
 Stoles (O.S.), E.E., 142 
 
 Storfjeld, 248 
 
 Stowe, 82 
 
 Strevens (P.O.), W. E., 136 
 
 Submarine campaign begun, 30; 
 hunts, 33; devices, 38, 42; cap- 
 tured, 41 ; yearly meetings of, 
 43; shelters, 311 
 
 Sundav bomb dropping, 94 
 
 Sussex, 84 
 
 Sven Hedin, Dr., 21 
 
 Swift, 103, 117, 120, 125, 126; 
 damaged, 128; honours, 135; 
 187, 197 
 
 Syren, 17, 26, 80, 117, 197 
 
 Tartar, 16, 61, 104, 117, 197 
 
 " Taubes," 60 
 
 Taussig, Commander, 147 
 
 Taylor (Sto.), E., 142 
 
 Taylor (O.S.), S- J. T., 137 
 
 T.BA, 117 
 
 r.fi.15, 117, 197 
 
 T.B.24, 117, 197 
 
 T.B.D.'s, 36 
 
 Telephone Systems, German, 308 
 
 Templar's Tower, 72 
 
 Termagent, 193 
 
 Terra Nova, 20, 78 
 
 Terrible, 172 
 
 Terror, 179, 193, 199, 207 
 
 Third Battle Cruiser Squadron, 49 
 
 ''Thirty-Knotters," 13, 118, 197 
 
 Thompson (Sto-), G. W., 141 
 
 Thorpe (Sto.), W., 141 
 
 Tipping, Lieut. C. G., killed, 216 
 
 " Tirpitz " battery, 164; straffed, 
 
 171 
 Tobey, Lieut.-Commander, 144 
 Torpedo attack, 106 ; new form of, 
 
 194 
 Torpedo Boat No. 24 wrecked, 196 
 
 
 
 R D - 7 9. * 
 
INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Tortoise Board, invented by Author, 
 255, 
 
 Toward blown up, 215 
 
 Towers (O.S.), R.V., 141 
 
 Tractors, names of, 166 
 
 Transport captains, 74 
 
 Trawler Patrol, 44 
 
 Tribals, 13, list of, 16, 54, 101, 118, 
 197, 203 
 
 Trident, 198 
 
 Trinity House steamers, 92 
 
 Tripods, 55 
 
 Troublesome Target, the, 161 
 
 Tubantia, 18 
 
 Tubb (A.B.), G., 141 
 
 Turner (Gnr.), H., 136 
 
 Turner (Sto.), W. C, 142 
 
 Tyrwhitt, Commodore, 19, 92 
 
 t/8 captured, 41 
 
 tZ-boats, 15, 30; plans for destruc- 
 tion of, 219; 267 
 
 " Uncle Lewis," 147 
 
 Unity, 117 
 
 Ure, 41, 84, 117 
 
 VA, Submarine, 103 
 
 " V's," German destroyers, 107 
 
 Valparaiso fight, 132 
 
 Vandyke, 286 
 
 Venerable, 21 
 
 Venizelos, 210 
 
 Venn, Commander G. W. C, 62 
 
 Verhaeren, Poet describes Flan- 
 ders, 307 
 
 Victor, 117 
 
 Viking, 16, 31, 36, 39, 52, 61; 
 camouflaged, 64; assists Leven, 
 
 75; 79; saves Southgarth, 80, 
 117, 197, 199; distinguished pas- 
 sengers, 202; 217 
 Vindictive, tribute to crew of, 316 
 
 IVadsivorth, 145 
 
 Wainivright, 146 
 
 Walls (Ldg. Sto.), C. E-, 137 
 
 Wauton, Hubert, killed, 25 
 
 Webb (Sto.), A., 141 
 
 Wellman (E.R.A.), W. B., 137 
 
 West Deep, 63 
 
 Westende, 25 
 
 Westwater (Surg. Prob-), J. S., 136 
 
 Whistle Buovs, 67 
 
 Whitehead, Capt. F. A., 251, 254 
 
 Wigram, Capt. E., 51, 93 
 
 Williams, Commander, 26, 81 
 
 Williams (Sto.), C, 79, 136 
 
 Williamson (Chief Petty Officer), 
 
 78, 82 
 Withers, Capt. P., 218 
 Woolcombe-Boyce, Lieut.-Com- 
 
 mander, 196 
 Worcester Lovs, 247 
 Wright (Sto-), J- W., 142 
 
 Yapp (Ldg. Sto.), F. T., 137 
 Yates (A.B.), V., 142 
 Younghusband, Sub-Lieut. F., 40 
 Young, Mr. Bertie, gifts by, 37 
 
 Zeebrugge, 19, 53, 93, 102, 182 
 Zeebrugge-Bruges Canal, 312 
 Zubian, 197 
 Zulu, 16, 103, 117, 196, 197 
 
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