"Then jolly rotten stuff," commented the lieutenant-commander as he motioned for the prisoner to be removed below. "We"ll give them another quarter of an hour before we board her."
The stated time pa.s.sed without any signs of further internal explosions.
The _Calder_ made good use of the interval, Harwich being communicated with by wireless, announcing the capture of the prize, and requesting tugs and lighters to be dispatched to a.s.sist the disabled U boat into port.
"Now I think it"s all O.K.," remarked Crosthwaite. "Sure you"re keen on the job?"
Sefton flushed under his tanned skin. His skipper was quick to notice that he had blundered.
"Sorry!" he said apologetically. "Ought to have jolly well known you better. Off you go, and good luck. By the by, take a volunteer crew."
Of the seventy men of the _Calder_ every one would have unhesitatingly followed the sub. Asking for volunteers for a hazardous service was merely a matter of form. There was quite a mild contest to take part in the operations of boarding the submarine.
By this time the falling tide had left nearly the whole extent of the deck dry. There were four hatchways in addition to the conning-tower, each of which was securely fastened. Through the open aperture in the conning-tower Sefton made his way. Below all was in darkness, for with the explosion the electric lamps had been extinguished. A heavy reek of petrol fumes and sulphurous smoke scented the confined s.p.a.ce.
The sub switched on the electric torch which he had taken the precaution to bring with him. The rays barely penetrated the smoke beyond a few feet.
"Phew!" he muttered. "Too jolly thick. It is a case for a smoke-helmet."
Back went the boat, returning in a short s.p.a.ce of time with the required article. Donning the safety-helmet, one of the bluejackets descended, groped his way to the nearest hatchway and opened it.
An uninterrupted current of fresh air ensued, and in ten minutes the midship portion of the prize was practically free from noxious fumes.
"Blow me, n.o.bby," exclaimed one of the carpenter"s crew, "did you ever see such a lash up? Strikes me they slung this old hooker together in a bit of a hurry."
The shipwright"s contemptuous reference to the Teuton constructor"s art was justified. The submarine had every appearance of being roughly built in sections and bolted together. Everything pointed to hurried and makeshift work.
Under the engine beds Sefton discovered two unexploded detonators. The one that had gone off was "something of a dud", for the explosive force was very feeble--insufficient even to start any of the hull plating.
But it had performed a useful service to the British prize crew: the blast had detached the time-fuses from the remaining gun-cotton charges, and had thus preserved the submarine from total destruction.
Nevertheless Sefton heaved a sigh of relief as the two detonators were dropped overboard. Guncotton, especially German-made stuff, was apt to play peculiar tricks.
The fore and after compartments or sub-divisions of the hull were closed by means of watertight doors in the bulkheads. The foremost was found to have four feet of water--the same depth as that of the sea over the bank on which the vessel had stranded. It was here that the plates had been started when the U boat made her unlucky acquaintance with the Haisborough Shoal.
Flashing his torch upon the oily surface of the water, Sefton made a brief examination. On either side of the bulging framework were tiers of bunks. This compartment, then, was the sleeping-quarters of the submarine"s crew. Of torpedo-tubes there were no signs; nor were these to be found anywhere else on board. Aft was a "gantry" communicating with an ingeniously contrived air-lock. The submarine was not designed for torpedo work but for an even more sinister task: that of mine-laying. Not a single globe of latent destruction remained on board. Already the U boat had sown her crop of death; would there be time to destroy the harvest?
CHAPTER IV--Not Under Control
Quickly the news of the captured submarine"s former activities was flash-signalled to the _Calder_, and with the least possible delay the information was transmitted by wireless to Great Yarmouth and Harwich.
Until the minefield was located and destroyed it was unsafe for any shipping to proceed to or from Yarmouth Roads.
Questions put to the U boat"s crew elicited that the vessel was one of seven operating in conjunction with the raiding cruisers. While the German fleet was bombarding Yarmouth, the submarines--having on account of their slower speed set out on the previous day--proceeded to lay a chain of mines from the Would through Haisborough Gat, and thence to a point a few cables east of the Gorton lightship, thus completely enclosing Yarmouth Roads from the sea. The UC6--that being the designation of the prize--had just completed her task when she sighted the _Calder_ approaching. Miscalculating her position, she had run her nose hard upon the shoal, with the result that her low compartment quickly flooded, thus rendering her incapable of keeping afloat.
It was not long before four mine-sweepers came lumbering northwards from Yarmouth, while others proceeded in different directions to "clear up the mess", as their crews tersely described the dangerous operations of destroying the mines.
The _Calder_, still standing by, had missed the northern limit of the German minefield by a few yards. Had she held on her former course the probability was that she would have b.u.mped upon a couple of the infernal contrivances--for the mines were dropped in twos, each pair connected by a span of cable to make more certain of a vessel"s bows being caught in its bight--and been blown up with the loss of all her crew.
The destroyer had been sent on particular service. Other side issues had demanded her attention, and, with the pluck and resourcefulness of British seamen, her crew had risen to the occasion. To them it was all in the day"s work, with one ulterior motive--to push on with the war.
Deftly, the result of months of experience, the mine-sweepers set to work. With little delay the first of the mines was located, dragged to the surface, and sunk by means of rifle-fire. Others were destroyed in quick succession, two exploding as the bullets, made for the purpose of penetrating the buoyancy chambers, contrived to hit the projecting horns of the detonating mechanism.
In two hours, the trawlers having swept the whole extent of the Would, the minefield was reported to be destroyed.
"What damage ash.o.r.e?" enquired Crosthwaite, as the nearest trawler sidled under the destroyer"s stern.
"Precious little, sir, considering," replied the master of the mine-sweeper. "A few buildings knocked about and a score or so of people killed or injured. Might ha" been worse," and he shook his fist in the direction in which the raiders had fled.
Sedately, as if conscious of having modestly performed a gallant service, the mine-sweepers bore up for home, and once again the _Calder_ was left to stand by her prize.
She was not long left alone. A number of motor patrol-boats came buzzing round like flies round a honey-pot. The work of transferring the German prisoners was quickly taken in hand. They were put on board the patrol-boats in batches of half a dozen. It saved the destroyer the trouble of putting into port when she was supposed to hold no communication with the sh.o.r.e.
The last of the motor-boats had brought up alongside the _Calder_ when Sefton recognized the R.N.R. sub-lieutenant in charge as an old friend of pre-war days.
Algernon Stickleton was a man whose acquaintance with the sea was strictly limited to week-ends spent on board the Motor Yacht Club"s headquarters--the ex-Admiralty yacht _Enchantress_--in Southampton Water. Given a craft with engines, he could steer her with a certain amount of confidence. Of navigation and the art of a mariner he knew little or nothing. Tides were a mystery to him, the mariner"s compa.s.s an unknown quant.i.ty. In short, he was a marine motorist--the counterpart of the motor road-hog ash.o.r.e.
Upon the outbreak of war, commissions in the R.N.R. motor-boat service were flung broadcast by the Admiralty at the members of the Motor Yacht Club, and amongst those who donned the pilot-coat with the gold wavy band and curl was Algernon Stickleton. At first he was given a "soft job", doing a sort of postman"s work in Cowes Roads, until the experience, combined with his success in extricating himself, more by good luck than good management, from a few tight corners, justified the experiment of granting a commission to a comparatively callow marine motorist.
Then he was put through a rapid course of signalling and elementary navigation, and, having "stuck at it", the budding sub-lieutenant R.N.R.
was sent to the East Coast on a motor-yacht with the prospect of being given a fast patrol-boat when deemed proficient.
Gone were those halcyon August and September days in Cowes Roads. He had to take his craft out by day and night, blow high or low. Boarding suspicious vessels in the open roadstead hardened his nerves and gave an unwonted zest to his work. At last he was doing something definite--taking an active part in the navy"s work.
"My first trip in this hooker, old man," he announced to Sefton, indicating with a sweep of his hand the compact, grey-painted motor craft that lay alongside the destroyer"s black hull. "A clinker for speed. She"d knock your craft into a c.o.c.ked hat. It beats Brooklands hollow. Wants a bit of handlin", don"t you know, but I think I brought her alongside very nicely, what?"
The last of the German prisoners having been received on board and pa.s.sed below to the forepeak, Sub-lieutenant Stickleton prepared to cast off. Touching the tarnished peak of his cap, for months of exposure to all weathers had dimmed the pristine l.u.s.tre of the once resplendent headgear, he gave the word for the motors to be started.
Then, with one hand on the steering-wheel, he let in the clutch.
Like an arrow from a bow the powerful box of machinery leapt forward.
The result was disastrous as far as Stickleton was concerned.
Unprepared to counteract the sudden momentum, he was literally "left", for, subsiding upon the short after-deck, he rolled backwards over the transom and fell into the boiling wake of the rapidly-moving motor-boat.
Fortunately he could swim well, and was quickly hauled over the destroyer"s side, a dripping but still cheerful object.
Several of the _Calder"s_ crew laughed outright. Even Crosthwaite and Sefton had to smile. The sopping R.N.R. officer was quick to enter into the joke against himself.
"Hope I won"t get reprimanded for leaving my ship without permission,"
he remarked facetiously.
"You haven"t asked permission to board mine," Crosthwaite reminded him.
"It"s the custom of the service, you know."
Meanwhile attention was being transferred from the dripping officer to the craft of which he ought to be in command. Evidently her crew were unaware of what had occurred. The bowman was coiling down a rope, two of the deck hands were engaged in securing the fore-peak hatchway, while the rest were down below. The patrol-boat was tearing along at 38 knots, and, owing to the "torque" of the propellers, was describing a vast circle to port.
It was the cabin-boy who first made the discovery that the little craft was without a guiding hand at the wheel. He was down below tidying up the sub"s cabin, when he found an automatic cigarette-lighter that Stickleton had mislaid. Anxious to get into his superior officer"s good books, for the youngster was the bane of Stickleton"s existence on board, the boy ascended the short ladder leading to the c.o.c.kpit. To his surprise he found no helmsman.