Guessing that something was amiss, he hailed the bowman. The latter, scrambling aft, steadied the vessel on her helm, at the same time ordering the motors to be eased down. He was convinced that Stickleton had been jerked overboard and was swimming for dear life a couple of miles astern.
By this time the _Calder_ bore almost due west, at a distance of six sea miles, for the patrol-boat had described a complete semicircle. For some time the boat searched in vain for her missing skipper, until the c.o.xswain suggested returning to Yarmouth to report the casualty.
"Better get back to the destroyer, George," counselled another of the crew. "Maybe they"ve got our skipper. Anyway, there"ll be no harm done."
Somewhat diffidently, George up-helmed and ordered full speed ahead.
He, like the rest of the crew, was, before the war, a paid hand in a racing yacht; keen, alert, and a thorough seaman, but unused to a powerfully-engined boat. Ask him to bring a sailing-boat alongside in half a gale of wind, he would have complied with the utmost skill, luffing at the exact moment and allowing the craft to lose way with her canvas slatting in the breeze without the loss of a square inch of paint. Bringing a "match-box crammed chock-a-block with machinery"
alongside was a totally different matter; but, as it had to be done, George clenched his teeth and gripped the spokes of the wheel, determined to die like a true Briton.
The patrol-boat had covered but half of the distance back to the _Calder_ when she almost leapt clear of the water. The two deck-hands for"ard were thrown flat, and, sliding over the slippery planks, brought up against the low stanchion rails. A slight shock, barely perceptible above the pulsations of the motors, and the little packet dipped her nose under to the water, shook herself clear, and resumed her mad pelt.
"What"s up, George?" sang out the mate.
"Dunno," replied the c.o.xswain. "Guess we"ve b.u.mped agen" summat."
Then, the dread possibility that he had run dawn his own skipper entering his mind, he decided to return and investigate.
Having had but little experience in the use of the reversing-gear, George slammed the lever hard-to. With a sickening jerk, as if the little craft were parting amidships, the patrol-boat stopped and gathered sternway. A minute later she backed over a large and ever-increasing pool of iridescent oil, through which air-bubbles were forcing their way.
"By Jupiter!" exclaimed one of the crew; "blest if we haven"t rammed a strafed U boat."
The man had spoken truly. A German submarine, acting independently of the raiding-squadron, had sighted the _Calder_, hove-to, at a distance of three miles. Unaware of the presence of the patrol-boat--and the sight of a patrol-boat or a trawler usually gives the German unterseebooten a bad attack of the blues--her kapitan had taken a preliminary bearing prior to submerging in order to get within effective torpedo range. Having judged himself to have gained the required position, the Hun ordered the boat to be again brought to the surface.
At the critical moment he heard the thud of the propellers of the swiftly-moving patrol-boat. He attempted to dive, but too late. The sharp steel stem of the little craft, moving through the water at the rate of a railway train, nicked the top of the U boat"s conning-tower sufficiently to penetrate the plating. Before steps could be taken to stop the inrush of water the U boat was doomed. Sinking slowly to the bottom, she filled, the heavy oil from her motors finding its way to the surface in an aureole of iridescent colours to mark her last resting-place.
George, seaman first, and fighting-man next, gave little thought to his involuntary act. The safety of his temporary command came foremost.
"Nip down below and see if she"s started a seam," he ordered.
The men, who had been ejected from their quarters by the concussion, hurried to the fore-peak. As they opened the cuddy-hatch the half-dozen terrified German prisoners made a wild scramble to gain the deck.
"Who told you blighters to come out?" shouted George, and, abandoning the wheel, he rushed forward, seized the foremost Hun by the scruff of the neck and hurled him violently against the next man. The floor of the fore-peak was covered with a squirming heap of now thoroughly cowed Huns, to whom the apparition of the stalwart, angry Englishman was more to be dreaded than being shaken like peas in a pod in the dark recesses of their temporary prison quarter.
"Is she making anything?" enquired George anxiously, as he returned to take charge of the helm.
"Hardly a trickle," was the rea.s.suring reply. "Whack her up, mate."
The c.o.xwain proceeded to order full speed ahead, and the little craft tore back to the _Calder_ in order that the news of her skipper"s disappearance might be reported.
To the surprise of the patrol-boat"s crew they discovered their sub, arrayed in borrowed garments, standing aft and motioning to the boat to come alongside.
It was easier said than done. The c.o.xwain"s faith in his capabilities was weak, notwithstanding his resolution. At the first shot he carried too much way, reversing engines when the little craft was fifty yards ahead of the destroyer. The second attempt found him a like distance short, with no way on the boat. At the third he dexterously caught a coil of rope hurled from the _Calder_, and succeeded in hauling alongside.
"We"ve just rammed a submarine, sir," reported the c.o.xwain, saluting, delivering the information in a matter-of-fact manner, as if destroying enemy craft in this fashion were an everyday occurrence.
Sub-lieutenant Stickleton having regained his command, the motor-boat piloted the _Calder_ to the scene of her exploit. A diver descended in nine fathoms, and quickly telephoned the confirmatory information that a U boat was lying with a list to starboard on the sand, with a rent in her conning-tower--the indirect result of the involuntary bathe of Sub-lieutenant Stickleton, R.N.R.
CHAPTER V--Sefton to the Rescue
"A tug and a couple of lighters bearing down, sir," reported the _Calder"s_ look-out before the diver had reappeared from his errand of investigation.
Approaching at the modest rate of 7 knots was a paddle-wheel steamer towing two unwieldy craft resembling overgrown ca.n.a.l barges.
The tide was now well on the flood. It wanted about a couple of hours to high water, and, since the falling gla.s.s and clear visibility of distant objects betokened the approach of bad weather, urgent steps would have to be taken speedily to extricate the captured submarine from the embraces of the sand-bank.
The examination of the prize by her captors was now practically complete. The U boat was one of a new type, and had left Wilhelmshaven on her maiden trip forty-eight hours previously. She had either lost her bearings or had purposely approached shoal water. Anyhow she had been neatly strafed before she had had time to do much mischief.
Already the _Calder"s_ crew had taken steps to a.s.sist the salvage people in the task of floating the prize. The hatchways, with the exception of that of the conning-tower, had been hermetically closed, and the watertight doors in the for"ard bulkhead shut and sh.o.r.ed up to withstand the pressure of water in the holed fore-peak.
By the time the lighters were made fast, one on either side of the submarine, the level of the water was up to within fifteen inches of the conning-tower hatchway. Quickly hoses, connected to Downton pumps, were led from the lighters to the water-ballast tanks of the submarine, since it had been found impossible to "start" the ballast by means of hand pumps.
It was a race against time and tide. The mechanical appliances won, and soon the _Calder"s_ officers and crew had the satisfaction of seeing the submarine"s deck appear close to the surface.
She still had a p.r.o.nounced "dip", the flooded for"ard compartment tending to depress her bow; but, supported by the two lighters, she was prevented from sinking. Then, taken in tow by the tug, the prize, with her c.u.mbersome attendants, waddled slowly for Harwich.
Her part in this supplementary business ended, the _Calder_ slipped off at full speed to the position where the _Dimpled La.s.sie_ and the _Ca.r.s.e o" Gowrie_ still held a resolute grip on the recovered cable.
As Skipper M"Kie had surmised, neither of the trawlers had been molested by the German battle-cruisers or destroyers. Carried away by their frantic desire to make a display of frightfulness upon an unprotected English watering-place they had totally ignored the seemingly innocuous cable-grappling craft.
"It will blow like billy-oh before morning," remarked Lieutenant Crosthwaite to his subordinate. "I"m going to tell them to buoy and slip the cable. We"ve done very well, I think. You might make an observation; I"ll take another, and we"ll check our calculations. I"ll guarantee we won"t have much trouble in fishing up the cable next time."
Crosthwaite"s orders to the skippers of the trawlers were smartly carried out, and the cable, left with its position marked by a green wreck-buoy, a sufficient guarantee against detrimental examination by curious fishermen. Before sunset the _Calder_ and her two charges were snug in Lowestoft harbour, the crews being cautioned against the risk of letting fall any hint concerning their recent work--an injunction that they loyally carried out.
It was three days before the gale blew itself out. During that period events had been moving rapidly. And here one of the few advantages of being on particular service became apparent. Had not the _Calder_ been detailed for escort duties to the cable-grappling trawlers the chances were that she would be plugging against heavy green seas, while those of her crew not on duty on deck would be existing under battened hatches.
Instead, the destroyer was lying snugly berthed in a harbour, and her crew were able to enjoy brief spells of liberty ash.o.r.e.
The next step was to locate the sh.o.r.e end of the cable. This work required particular skill and discretion, since the German operator would certainly be on the alert for the first suspicious movement.
Scotland Yard detectives, disguised as fishermen and longsh.o.r.emen, eventually succeeded in tracing the source of the leakage of information. The temporary cable had been brought ash.o.r.e nearly four miles from the original landing-place of the severed line, and led to a wooden hut on the edge of the sandy cliffs.
For the present, all that was required to be done in that direction was performed. The Admiralty had decided to let the cable turn the tables upon the Huns, and, until the time was ripe, the spy could telegraph without interruption, but unwittingly he was digging a pit for himself from which no escape was possible.
It was well into the third week in May when the _Calder_ received orders to proceed to Rosyth, replenish stores and oil-fuel, and rejoin her flotilla. The news was hailed with delight, since it was possible that many of the officers and crew would be able to proceed on leave.
Another week pa.s.sed. Information had reached the Commander-in-Chief of a certain amount of German activity in the North Sea. Something had to be done to attract the attention of the German populace from the series of rebuffs experienced by the Huns before Verdun. Exaggerated reports concerning the prowess of the German High Seas Fleet, coupled with news of spasmodic raids upon the British coast, helped to foster the ill-founded belief of the Huns in the invincibility of their navy, while, to keep up the deceit, Admiral von Scheer took his ships out for various discreet cruises off the Danish coast, where there was ever a possibility of making a quick run back under the guns and behind the minefields of Heligoland.
On the 29th May orders were issued for the First and Second Battle Squadrons and the Second Battle-Cruiser Squadron to proceed to a certain rendezvous in order to carry out target practice. The instructions were issued through the usual channels, with the almost certain knowledge that the information would leak out. The Commander-in-Chief"s antic.i.p.ation proved to be correct, for within three hours of the issuing of the order the news was transmitted to Germany by means of the tapped cable.
It was not the Admiral"s intention to carry out target practice.
Instead, the whole of the Grand Fleet put to sea from its various bases, ostensibly for the neighbourhood of the Orkneys, but in reality for a far more important objective.
At 1 a.m. on the 31st the authorities raided the isolated hut on the Norfolk coast, captured the German telegraph operator in the act of communicating with Bork.u.m, and hurried him away under close arrest. He had played his part as far as the British interests were concerned, since he had informed the German Admiralty of the supposed rendezvous of Jellicoe"s fleet.
"Do you think there"s something in the wind, sir?" asked Sefton, as the _Calder_, in station with the rest of her flotilla, was slipping along at 18 knots.