it is an amazing thing that the english, who have the reputation of being a practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed. for many years they had been spending nearly a hundred millions a year upon their army and their fleet. squadrons of dreadnoughts costing two millions each had been launched. they had spent enormous sums upon cruisers, and both their torpedo and their submarine squadrons were exceptionally strong. they were also by no means weak in their aerial power, especially in the matter of seaplanes. besides all this, their army was very efficient, in spite of its limited numbers, and it was the most expensive in europe. yet when the day of trial came, all this imposing force was of no use whatever, and might as well have not existed. their ruin could p. 2not have been more complete or more rapid if they had not possessed an ironclad or a regiment. and all this was accomplished by me, captain john sirius, belonging to the navy of one of the smallest powers in europe, and having under my command a flotilla of eight vessels, the collective cost of which was eighteen hundred thousand pounds. no one has a better right to tell the story than i.
i will not trouble you about the dispute concerning the colonial frontier, embittered, as it was, by the subsequent death of the two missionaries. a naval officer has nothing to do with politics. i only came upon the scene after the ultimatum had been actually received. admiral horli had been summoned to the presence, and he asked that i should be allowed to accompany him, because he happened to know that i had some clear ideas as to the weak points of england, and also some schemes as to how to take advantage of them. there were only four of us present at this meeting—the king, the foreign secretary, admiral horli, and myself. the time allowed by the ultimatum expired in forty-eight hours.
i am not breaking any confidence when i say that both the king and the minister were in favour of a surrender. they saw no possibility of standing up against the colossal power of great britain. the minister had drawn up an p. 3acceptance of the british terms, and the king sat with it before him on the table. i saw the tears of anger and humiliation run down his cheeks as he looked at it.
“i fear that there is no possible alternative, sire,” said the minister. “our envoy in london has just sent this report, which shows that the public and the press are more united than he has ever known them. the feeling is intense, especially since the rash act of malort in desecrating the flag. we must give way.”
the king looked sadly at admiral horli.
“what is your effective fleet, admiral?” he asked.
“two battleships, four cruisers, twenty torpedo-boats, and eight submarines,” said the admiral.
the king shook his head.
“it would be madness to resist,” said he.
“and yet, sire,” said the admiral, “before you come to a decision i should wish you to hear captain sirius, who has a very definite plan of campaign against the english.”
“absurd!” said the king, impatiently. “what is the use? do you imagine that you could defeat their vast armada?”
“sire,” i answered, “i will stake my life that if you will follow my advice you will, within a month or six weeks at the utmost, bring proud england to her knees.”
p. 4there was an assurance in my voice which arrested the attention of the king.
“you seem self-confident, captain sirius.”
“i have no doubt at all, sire.”
“what then would you advise?”
“i would advise, sire, that the whole fleet be gathered under the forts of blankenberg and be protected from attack by booms and piles. there they can stay till the war is over. the eight submarines, however, you will leave in my charge to use as i think fit.”
“ah, you would attack the english battleships with submarines?”
“sire, i would never go near an english battleship.”
“and why not?”
“because they might injure me, sire.”
“what, a sailor and afraid?”
“my life belongs to the country, sire. it is nothing. but these eight ships—everything depends upon them. i could not risk them. nothing would induce me to fight.”
“then what will you do?”
“i will tell you, sire.” and i did so. for half an hour i spoke. i was clear and strong and definite, for many an hour on a lonely watch i had spent in thinking out every detail. i held them enthralled. the king never took his eyes from my face. the minister sat as if turned to stone.
p. 5“are you sure of all this?”
“perfectly, sire.”
the king rose from the table.
“send no answer to the ultimatum,” said he. “announce in both houses that we stand firm in the face of menace. admiral horli, you will in all respects carry out that which captain sirius may demand in furtherance of his plan. captain sirius, the field is clear. go forth and do as you have said. a grateful king will know how to reward you.”
i need not trouble you by telling you the measures which were taken at blankenberg, since, as you are aware, the fortress and the entire fleet were destroyed by the british within a week of the declaration of war. i will confine myself to my own plans, which had so glorious and final a result.
the fame of my eight submarines, alpha, beta, gamma, theta, delta, epsilon, iota, and kappa, have spread through the world to such an extent that people have begun to think that there was something peculiar in their form and capabilities. this is not so. four of them, the delta, epsilon, iota, and kappa, were, it is true, of the very latest model, but had their equals (though not their superiors) in the navies of all the great powers. as to alpha, beta, gamma, and theta, they were by no means modern vessels, and found their prototypes in the old f class of p. 6british boats, having a submerged displacement of eight hundred tons, with heavy oil engines of sixteen hundred horse-power, giving them a speed of eighteen knots on the surface and of twelve knots submerged. their length was one hundred and eighty-six and their breadth twenty-four feet. they had a radius of action of four thousand miles and a submerged endurance of nine hours. these were considered the latest word in 1915, but the four new boats exceeded them in all respects. without troubling you with precise figures, i may say that they represented roughly a twenty-five per cent. advance up on the older boats, and were fitted with several auxiliary engines which were wanting in the others. at my suggestion, instead of carrying eight of the very large bakdorf torpedoes, which are nineteen feet long, weigh half a ton, and are charged with two hundred pounds of wet gun-cotton, we had tubes designed for eighteen of less than half the size. it was my design to make myself independent of my base.
and yet it was clear that i must have a base, so i made arrangements at once with that object. blankenberg was the last place i would have chosen. why should i have a port of any kind? ports would be watched or occupied. any place would do for me. i finally chose a small villa standing alone nearly five miles from any village and thirty miles from any port. to this i ordered them to convey, secretly by night, oil, spare parts, extra torpedoes, storage batteries, reserve periscopes, and everything that i could need for refitting. the little whitewashed villa of a retired confectioner—that was the base from which i operated against england.
the boats lay at blankenberg, and thither i went. they were working frantically at the defences, and they had only to look seawards to be spurred to fresh exertions. the british fleet was assembling. the ultimatum had not yet expired, but it was evident that a blow would be struck the instant that it did. four of their aeroplanes, circling at an immense height, were surveying our defences. from the top of the lighthouse i counted thirty battleships and cruisers in the offing, with a number of the trawlers with which in the british service they break through the mine-fields. the approaches were actually sown with two hundred mines, half contact and half observation, but the result showed that they were insufficient to hold off the enemy, since three days later both town and fleet were speedily destroyed.
however, i am not here to tell you the incidents of the war, but to explain my own part in it, which had such a decisive effect upon the result. my first action was to send my four second-class boats away instantly to the point which i had chosen for my base. there they were to wait p. 8submerged, lying with negative buoyancy upon the sands in twenty foot of water, and rising only at night. my strict orders were that they were to attempt nothing upon the enemy, however tempting the opportunity. all they had to do was to remain intact and unseen, until they received further orders. having made this clear to commander panza, who had charge of this reserve flotilla, i shook him by the hand and bade him farewell, leaving with him a sheet of notepaper upon which i had explained the tactics to be used and given him certain general principles which he could apply as circumstances demanded.
my whole attention was now given to my own flotilla, which i divided into two divisions, keeping iota and kappa under my own command, while captain miriam had delta and epsilon. he was to operate separately in the british channel, while my station was the straits of dover. i made the whole plan of campaign clear to him. then i saw that each ship was provided with all it could carry. each had forty tons of heavy oil for surface propulsion and charging the dynamo which supplied the electric engines under water. each had also eighteen torpedoes as explained and five hundred rounds for the collapsible quick-firing twelve-pounder which we carried on deck, and which, of course, disappeared into a water-tight tank when we p. 9were submerged. we carried spare periscopes and a wireless mast, which could be elevated above the conning-tower when necessary. there were provisions for sixteen days for the ten men who manned each craft. such was the equipment of the four boats which were destined to bring to naught all the navies and armies of britain. at sundown that day—it was april 10th—we set forth upon our historic voyage.
miriam had got away in the afternoon, since he had so much farther to go to reach his station. stephan, of the kappa, started with me; but, of course, we realized that we must work independently, and that from that moment when we shut the sliding hatches of our conning-towers on the still waters of blankenberg harbour it was unlikely that we should ever see each other again, though consorts in the same waters. i waved to stephan from the side of my conning-tower, and he to me. then i called through the tube to my engineer (our water-tanks were already filled and all kingstons and vents closed) to put her full speed ahead.
just as we came abreast of the end of the pier and saw the white-capped waves rolling in upon us, i put the horizontal rudder hard down and she slid under water. through my glass portholes i saw its light green change to a dark blue, while the manometer in front of me indicated twenty feet. i let her go to forty, because p. 10i should then be under the warships of the english, though i took the chance of fouling the moorings of our own floating contact mines. then i brought her on an even keel, and it was music to my ear to hear the gentle, even ticking of my electric engines and to know that i was speeding at twelve miles an hour on my great task.
at that moment, as i stood controlling my levers in my tower, i could have seen, had my cupola been of glass, the vast shadows of the british blockaders hovering above me. i held my course due westward for ninety minutes, and then, by shutting off the electric engine without blowing out the water-tanks, i brought her to the surface. there was a rolling sea and the wind was freshening, so i did not think it safe to keep my hatch open long, for so small is the margin of buoyancy that one must run no risks. but from the crests of the rollers i had a look backwards at blankenberg, and saw the black funnels and upper works of the enemy’s fleet with the lighthouse and the castle behind them, all flushed with the pink glow of the setting sun. even as i looked there was the boom of a great gun, and then another. i glanced at my watch. it was six o’clock. the time of the ultimatum had expired. we were at war.
there was no craft near us, and our surface speed is nearly twice that of our submerged, so p. 11i blew out the tanks and our whale-back came over the surface. all night we were steering south-west, making an average of eighteen knots. at about five in the morning, as i stood alone upon my tiny bridge, i saw, low down in the west, the scattered lights of the norfolk coast. “ah, johnny, johnny bull,” i said, as i looked at them, “you are going to have your lesson, and i am to be your master. it is i who have been chosen to teach you that one cannot live under artificial conditions and yet act as if they were natural ones. more foresight, johnny, and less party politics—that is my lesson to you.” and then i had a wave of pity, too, when i thought of those vast droves of helpless people, yorkshire miners, lancashire spinners, birmingham metal-workers, the dockers and workers of london, over whose little homes i would bring the shadow of starvation. i seemed to see all those wasted eager hands held out for food, and i, john sirius, dashing it aside. ah, well! war is war, and if one is foolish one must pay the price.
just before daybreak i saw the lights of a considerable town, which must have been yarmouth, bearing about ten miles west-south-west on our starboard bow. i took her farther out, for it is a sandy, dangerous coast, with many shoals. at five-thirty we were abreast of the lowestoft lightship. a coastguard was sending up flash signals which faded into a pale twinkle as the white dawn crept over the water. there was a good deal of shipping about, mostly fishing-boats and small coasting craft, with one large steamer hull-down to the west, and a torpedo destroyer between us and the land. it could not harm us, and yet i thought it as well that there should be no word of our presence, so i filled my tanks again and went down to ten feet. i was pleased to find that we got under in one hundred and fifty seconds. the life of one’s boat may depend on this when a swift craft comes suddenly upon you.
we were now within a few hours of our cruising ground, so i determined to snatch a rest, leaving vornal in charge. when he woke me at ten o’clock we were running on the surface, and had reached the essex coast off the maplin sands. with that charming frankness which is one of their characteristics, our friends of england had informed us by their press that they had put a cordon of torpedo-boats across the straits of dover to prevent the passage of submarines, which is about as sensible as to lay a wooden plank across a stream to keep the eels from passing. i knew that stephan, whose station lay at the western end of the solent, would have no difficulty in reaching it. my own cruising ground was to be at the mouth of the thames, and here i was at the very spot with my tiny p. 13iota, my eighteen torpedoes, my quick-firing gun, and, above all, a brain that knew what should be done and how to do it.
when i resumed my place in the conning-tower i saw in the periscope (for we had dived) that a lightship was within a few hundred yards of us upon the port bow. two men were sitting on her bulwarks, but neither of them cast an eye upon the little rod that clove the water so close to them. it was an ideal day for submarine action, with enough ripple upon the surface to make us difficult to detect, and yet smooth enough to give me a clear view. each of my three periscopes had an angle of sixty degrees so that between them i commanded a complete semi-circle of the horizon. two british cruisers were steaming north from the thames within half a mile of me. i could easily have cut them off and attacked them had i allowed myself to be diverted from my great plan. farther south a destroyer was passing westwards to sheerness. a dozen small steamers were moving about. none of these were worthy of my notice. great countries are not provisioned by small steamers. i kept the engines running at the lowest pace which would hold our position under water, and, moving slowly across the estuary, i waited for what must assuredly come.
i had not long to wait. shortly after one o’clock i perceived in the periscope a cloud of p. 14smoke to the south. half an hour later a large steamer raised her hull, making for the mouth of the thames. i ordered vornal to stand by the starboard torpedo-tube, having the other also loaded in case of a miss. then i advanced slowly, for though the steamer was going very swiftly we could easily cut her off. presently i laid the iota in a position near which she must pass, and would very gladly have lain to, but could not for fear of rising to the surface. i therefore steered out in the direction from which she was coming. she was a very large ship, fifteen thousand tons at the least, painted black above and red below, with two cream-coloured funnels. she lay so low in the water that it was clear she had a full cargo. at her bows were a cluster of men, some of them looking, i dare say, for the first time at the mother country. how little could they have guessed the welcome that was awaiting them!
on she came with the great plumes of smoke floating from her funnels, and two white waves foaming from her cut-water. she was within a quarter of a mile. my moment had arrived. i signalled full speed ahead and steered straight for her course. my timing was exact. at a hundred yards i gave the signal, and heard the clank and swish of the discharge. at the same instant i put the helm hard down and flew off at an angle. there was a terrific lurch, which p. 15came from the distant explosion. for a moment we were almost upon our side. then, after staggering and trembling, the iota came on an even keel. i stopped the engines, brought her to the surface, and opened the conning-tower, while all my excited crew came crowding to the hatch to know what had happened.
the ship lay within two hundred yards of us, and it was easy to see that she had her death-blow. she was already settling down by the stern. there was a sound of shouting and people were running wildly about her decks. her name was visible, the adela, of london, bound, as we afterwards learned, from new zealand with frozen mutton. strange as it may seem to you, the notion of a submarine had never even now occurred to her people, and all were convinced that they had struck a floating mine. the starboard quarter had been blown in by the explosion, and the ship was sinking rapidly. their discipline was admirable. we saw boat after boat slip down crowded with people as swiftly and quietly as if it were part of their daily drill. and suddenly, as one of the boats lay off waiting for the others, they caught a glimpse for the first time of my conning-tower so close to them. i saw them shouting and pointing, while the men in the other boats got up to have a better look at us. for my part, i cared nothing, for i took it for granted that they already knew that a p. 16submarine had destroyed them. one of them clambered back into the sinking ship. i was sure that he was about to send a wireless message as to our presence. it mattered nothing, since, in any case, it must be known; otherwise i could easily have brought him down with a rifle. as it was, i waved my hand to them, and they waved back to me. war is too big a thing to leave room for personal ill-feeling, but it must be remorseless all the same.
i was still looking at the sinking adela when vornal, who was beside me, gave a sudden cry of warning and surprise, gripping me by the shoulder and turning my head. there behind us, coming up the fairway, was a huge black vessel with black funnels, flying the well-known house-flag of the p. and o. company. she was not a mile distant, and i calculated in an instant that even if she had seen us she would not have time to turn and get away before we could reach her. we went straight for her, therefore, keeping awash just as we were. they saw the sinking vessel in front of them and that little dark speck moving over the surface, and they suddenly understood their danger. i saw a number of men rush to the bows, and there was a rattle of rifle-fire. two bullets were flattened upon our four-inch armour. you might as well try to stop a charging bull with paper pellets as the iota with rifle-fire. i had learned my lesson p. 17from the adela, and this time i had the torpedo discharged at a safer distance—two hundred and fifty yards. we caught her amidships and the explosion was tremendous, but we were well outside its area. she sank almost instantaneously. i am sorry for her people, of whom i hear that more than two hundred, including seventy lascars and forty passengers, were drowned. yes, i am sorry for them. but when i think of the huge floating granary that went to the bottom, i rejoice as a man does who has carried out that which he plans.
it was a bad afternoon that for the p. and o. company. the second ship which we destroyed was, as we have since learned, the moldavia, of fifteen thousand tons, one of their finest vessels; but about half-past three we blew up the cusco, of eight thousand, of the same line, also from eastern ports, and laden with corn. why she came on in face of the wireless messages which must have warned her of danger, i cannot imagine. the other two steamers which we blew up that day, the maid of athens (robson line) and the cormorant, were neither of them provided with apparatus, and came blindly to their destruction. both were small boats of from five thousand to seven thousand tons. in the case of the second, i had to rise to the surface and fire six twelve-pound shells under her water-line before she would sink. in each case the crew took to the boats, and so far as i know no casualties occurred.
after that no more steamers came along, nor did i expect them. warnings must by this time have been flying in all directions. but we had no reason to be dissatisfied with our first day. between the maplin sands and the nore we had sunk five ships of a total tonnage of about fifty thousand tons. already the london markets would begin to feel the pinch. and lloyd’s—poor old lloyd’s—what a demented state it would be in! i could imagine the london evening papers and the howling in fleet street. we saw the result of our actions, for it was quite laughable to see the torpedo-boats buzzing like angry wasps out of sheerness in the evening. they were darting in every direction across the estuary, and the aeroplanes and hydroplanes were like flights of crows, black dots against the red western sky. they quartered the whole river mouth, until they discovered us at last. some sharp-sighted fellow with a telescope on board of a destroyer got a sight of our periscope, and came for us full speed. no doubt he would very gladly have rammed us, even if it had meant his own destruction, but that was not part of our programme at all. i sank her and ran her east-south-east with an occasional rise. finally we brought her to, not very far from the kentish coast, and the search-lights of our pursuers were p. 19far on the western skyline. there we lay quietly all night, for a submarine at night is nothing more than a very third-rate surface torpedo-boat. besides, we were all weary and needed rest. do not forget, you captains of men, when you grease and trim your pumps and compressors and rotators, that the human machine needs some tending also.
i had put up the wireless mast above the conning-tower, and had no difficulty in calling up captain stephan. he was lying, he said, off ventnor and had been unable to reach his station, on account of engine trouble, which he had now set right. next morning he proposed to block the southampton approach. he had destroyed one large indian boat on his way down channel. we exchanged good wishes. like myself, he needed rest. i was up at four in the morning, however, and called all hands to overhaul the boat. she was somewhat up by the head, owing to the forward torpedoes having been used, so we trimmed her by opening the forward compensating tank, admitting as much water as the torpedoes had weighed. we also overhauled the starboard air-compressor and one of the periscope motors which had been jarred by the shock of the first explosion. we had hardly got ourselves shipshape when the morning dawned.
i have no doubt that a good many ships which had taken refuge in the french ports at the first p. 20alarm had run across and got safely up the river in the night. of course i could have attacked them, but i do not care to take risks—and there are always risks for a submarine at night. but one had miscalculated his time, and there she was, just abreast of warden point, when the daylight disclosed her to us. in an instant we were after her. it was a near thing, for she was a flier, and could do two miles to our one; but we just reached her as she went swashing by. she saw us at the last moment, for i attacked her awash, since otherwise we could not have had the pace to reach her. she swung away and the first torpedo missed, but the second took her full under the counter. heavens, what a smash! the whole stern seemed to go aloft. i drew off and watched her sink. she went down in seven minutes, leaving her masts and funnels over the water and a cluster of her people holding on to them. she was the virginia, of the bibby line—twelve thousand tons—and laden, like the others, with foodstuffs from the east. the whole surface of the sea was covered with the floating grain. “john bull will have to take up a hole or two of his belt if this goes on,” said vornal, as we watched the scene.
and it was at that moment that the very worst danger occurred that could befall us. i tremble now when i think how our glorious voyage might have been nipped in the bud. i had freed p. 21the hatch of my tower, and was looking at the boats of the virginia with vornal near me, when there was a swish and a terrific splash in the water beside us, which covered us both with spray. we looked up, and you can imagine our feelings when we saw an aeroplane hovering a few hundred feet above us like a hawk. with its silencer, it was perfectly noiseless, and had its bomb not fallen into the sea we should never have known what had destroyed us. she was circling round in the hope of dropping a second one, but we shoved on all speed ahead, crammed down the rudders, and vanished into the side of a roller. i kept the deflection indicator falling until i had put fifty good feet of water between the aeroplane and ourselves, for i knew well how deeply they can see under the surface. however, we soon threw her off our track, and when we came to the surface near margate there was no sign of her, unless she was one of several which we saw hovering over herne bay.
there was not a ship in the offing save a few small coasters and little thousand-ton steamers, which were beneath my notice. for several hours i lay submerged with a blank periscope. then i had an inspiration. orders had been marconied to every foodship to lie in french waters and dash across after dark. i was as sure of it as if they had been recorded in our own receiver. well, if they were there, that was where i should be also. i blew out the tanks and rose, for there was no sign of any warship near. they had some good system of signalling from the shore, however, for i had not got to the north foreland before three destroyers came foaming after me, all converging from different directions. they had about as good a chance of catching me as three spaniels would have of overtaking a porpoise. out of pure bravado—i know it was very wrong—i waited until they were actually within gunshot. then i sank and we saw each other no more.
it is, as i have said, a shallow sandy coast, and submarine navigation is very difficult. the worst mishap that can befall a boat is to bury its nose in the side of a sand-drift and be held there. such an accident might have been the end of our boat, though with our fleuss cylinders and electric lamps we should have found no difficulty in getting out at the air-lock and in walking ashore across the bed of the ocean. as it was, however, i was able, thanks to our excellent charts, to keep the channel and so to gain the open straits. there we rose about midday, but, observing a hydroplane at no great distance, we sank again for half an hour. when we came up for the second time, all was peaceful around us, and the english coast was lining the whole western horizon. we kept outside the goodwins and straight down channel until we p. 23saw a line of black dots in front of us, which i knew to be the dover-calais torpedo-boat cordon. when two miles distant we dived and came up again seven miles to the south-west, without one of them dreaming that we had been within thirty feet of their keels.
when we rose, a large steamer flying the german flag was within half a mile of us. it was the north german lloyd altona, from new york to bremen. i raised our whole hull and dipped our flag to her. it was amusing to see the amazement of her people at what they must have regarded as our unparalleled impudence in those english-swept waters. they cheered us heartily, and the tricolour flag was dipped in greeting as they went roaring past us. then i stood in to the french coast.
it was exactly as i had expected. there were three great british steamers lying at anchor in boulogne outer harbour. they were the cæsar, the king of the east, and the pathfinder, none less than ten thousand tons. i suppose they thought they were safe in french waters, but what did i care about three-mile limits and international law! the view of my government was that england was blockaded, food contraband, and vessels carrying it to be destroyed. the lawyers could argue about it afterwards. my business was to starve the enemy any way i could. within an hour the three ships were under the waves and the iota was streaming down the picardy coast, looking for fresh victims. the channel was covered with english torpedo-boats buzzing and whirling like a cloud of midges. how they thought they could hurt me i cannot imagine, unless by accident i were to come up underneath one of them. more dangerous were the aeroplanes which circled here and there.
the water being calm, i had several times to descend as deep as a hundred feet before i was sure that i was out of their sight. after i had blown up the three ships at boulogne i saw two aeroplanes flying down channel, and i knew that they would head off any vessels which were coming up. there was one very large white steamer lying off havre, but she steamed west before i could reach her. i dare say stephan or one of the others would get her before long. but those infernal aeroplanes spoiled our sport for that day. not another steamer did i see, save the never-ending torpedo-boats. i consoled myself with the reflection, however, that no food was passing me on its way to london. that was what i was there for, after all. if i could do it without spending my torpedoes, all the better. up to date i had fired ten of them and sunk nine steamers, so i had not wasted my weapons. that night i came back to the kent coast and lay upon the bottom in shallow water near dungeness.
p. 25we were all trimmed and ready at the first break of day, for i expected to catch some ships which had tried to make the thames in the darkness and had miscalculated their time. sure enough, there was a great steamer coming up channel and flying the american flag. it was all the same to me what flag she flew so long as she was engaged in conveying contraband of war to the british isles. there were no torpedo-boats about at the moment, so i ran out on the surface and fired a shot across her bows. she seemed inclined to go on so i put a second one just above her water-line on her port bow. she stopped then and a very angry man began to gesticulate from the bridge. i ran the iota almost alongside.
“are you the captain?” i asked.
“what the—” i won’t attempt to reproduce his language.
“you have food-stuffs on board?” i said.
“it’s an american ship, you blind beetle!” he cried. “can’t you see the flag? it’s the vermondia, of boston.”
“sorry, captain,” i answered. “i have really no time for words. those shots of mine will bring the torpedo-boats, and i dare say at this very moment your wireless is making trouble for me. get your people into the boats.”
i had to show him i was not bluffing, so i drew off and began putting shells into him just on the water-line. when i had knocked six holes in it he was very busy on his boats. i fired twenty shots altogether, and no torpedo was needed, for she was lying over with a terrible list to port, and presently came right on to her side. there she lay for two or three minutes before she foundered. there were eight boats crammed with people lying round her when she went down. i believe everybody was saved, but i could not wait to inquire. from all quarters the poor old panting, useless war-vessels were hurrying. i filled my tanks, ran her bows under, and came up fifteen miles to the south. of course, i knew there would be a big row afterwards—as there was—but that did not help the starving crowds round the london bakers, who only saved their skins, poor devils, by explaining to the mob that they had nothing to bake.
by this time i was becoming rather anxious, as you can imagine, to know what was going on in the world and what england was thinking about it all. i ran alongside a fishing-boat, therefore, and ordered them to give up their papers. unfortunately they had none, except a rag of an evening paper, which was full of nothing but betting news. in a second attempt i came alongside a small yachting party from eastbourne, who were frightened to death at our sudden appearance out of the depths. from p. 27them we were lucky enough to get the london courier of that very morning.
it was interesting reading—so interesting that i had to announce it all to the crew. of course, you know the british style of headline, which gives you all the news at a glance. it seemed to me that the whole paper was headlines, it was in such a state of excitement. hardly a word about me and my flotilla. we were on the second page. the first one began something like this:—
capture of blankenberg!
* * * * *
destruction of enemy’s fleet
* * * * *
burning of town
* * * * *
trawlers destroy mine field
loss of two battleships
* * * * *
is it the end?
of course, what i had foreseen had occurred. the town was actually occupied by the british. and they thought it was the end! we would see about that.
on the round-the-corner page, at the back of the glorious resonant leaders, there was a little column which read like this:—
hostile submarines
several of the enemy’s submarines are at sea, and have inflicted some appreciable damage upon our merchant ships. the danger-spots upon monday and the greater part of tuesday appear to have been the mouth of the thames and the western entrance to the solent. on monday, between the nore and margate, there were sunk five large steamers, the adela, moldavia, cusco, cormorant, and maid of athens, particulars of which will be found below. near ventnor, on the same day, was sunk the verulam, from bombay. on tuesday the virginia, cæsar, king of the east, and pathfinder were destroyed between the foreland and boulogne. the latter three were actually lying in french waters, and the most energetic representations have been made by the government of the republic. on the same day the queen of sheba, orontes, diana, and atalanta were destroyed near the needles. wireless messages have stopped all ingoing cargo-ships from coming up channel, but unfortunately there is evidence that at least two of the enemy’s submarines are in the west. four cattle-ships from dublin to liverpool were sunk yesterday evening, while three bristol-bound steamers, the hilda, mercury, and maria toser, were blown up in the neighbourhood of lundy island. commerce has, so far as possible, been diverted into p. 29safer channels, but in the meantime, however vexatious these incidents may be, and however grievous the loss both to the owners and to lloyd’s, we may console ourselves by the reflection that since a submarine cannot keep the sea for more than ten days without refitting, and since the base has been captured, there must come a speedy term to these depredations.”
so much for the courier’s account of our proceedings. another small paragraph was, however, more eloquent:—
“the price of wheat, which stood at thirty-five shillings a week before the declaration of war, was quoted yesterday on the baltic at fifty-two. maize has gone from twenty-one to thirty-seven, barley from nineteen to thirty-five, sugar (foreign granulated) from eleven shillings and threepence to nineteen shillings and sixpence.”
“good, my lads!” said i, when i read it to the crew. “i can assure you that those few lines will prove to mean more than the whole page about the fall of blankenberg. now let us get down channel and send those prices up a little higher.”
all traffic had stopped for london—not so bad for the little iota—and we did not see a steamer that was worth a torpedo between dungeness and the isle of wight. there i called stephan up by wireless, and by seven o’clock we were actually lying side by side in a smooth rolling sea—hengistbury head bearing n.n.w. and about five miles distant. the two crews clustered on the whale-backs and shouted their joy at seeing friendly faces once more. stephan had done extraordinarily well. i had, of course, read in the london paper of his four ships on tuesday, but he had sunk no fewer than seven since, for many of those which should have come to the thames had tried to make southampton. of the seven, one was of twenty thousand tons, a grain-ship from america, a second was a grain-ship from the black sea, and two others were great liners from south africa. i congratulated stephan with all my heart upon his splendid achievement. then as we had been seen by a destroyer which was approaching at a great pace, we both dived, coming up again off the needles, where we spent the night in company. we could not visit each other, since we had no boat, but we lay so nearly alongside that we were able, stephan and i, to talk from hatch to hatch and so make our plans.
he had shot away more than half his torpedoes, and so had i, and yet we were very averse from returning to our base so long as our oil held out. i told him of my experience with the boston steamer, and we mutually agreed to sink the ships by gun-fire in future so far as possible. p. 31i remember old horli saying, “what use is a gun aboard a submarine?” we were about to show. i read the english paper to stephan by the light of my electric torch, and we both agreed that few ships would now come up the channel. that sentence about diverting commerce to safer routes could only mean that the ships would go round the north of ireland and unload at glasgow. oh, for two more ships to stop that entrance! heavens, what would england have done against a foe with thirty or forty submarines, since we only needed six instead of four to complete her destruction! after much talk we decided that the best plan would be that i should dispatch a cipher telegram next morning from a french port to tell them to send the four second-rate boats to cruise off the north of ireland and west of scotland. then when i had done this i should move down channel with stephan and operate at the mouth, while the other two boats could work in the irish sea. having made these plans, i set off across the channel in the early morning, reaching the small village of etretat, in brittany. there i got off my telegram and then laid my course for falmouth, passing under the keels of two british cruisers which were making eagerly for etretat, having heard by wireless that we were there.
half-way down channel we had trouble with a p. 32short circuit in our electric engines, and were compelled to run on the surface for several hours while we replaced one of the cam-shafts and renewed some washers. it was a ticklish time, for had a torpedo-boat come upon us we could not have dived. the perfect submarine of the future will surely have some alternative engines for such an emergency. however by the skill of engineer morro, we got things going once more. all the time we lay there i saw a hydroplane floating between us and the british coast. i can understand how a mouse feels when it is in a tuft of grass and sees a hawk high up in the heavens. however, all went well; the mouse became a water-rat, it wagged its tail in derision at the poor blind old hawk, and it dived down into a nice safe green, quiet world where there was nothing to injure it.
it was on the wednesday night that the iota crossed to etretat. it was friday afternoon before we had reached our new cruising ground. only one large steamer did i see upon our way. the terror we had caused had cleared the channel. this big boat had a clever captain on board. his tactics were excellent and took him in safety to the thames. he came zigzagging up channel at twenty-five knots, shooting off from his course at all sorts of unexpected angles. with our slow pace we could not catch him, nor could we calculate his line so as to cut him off. of course, he had never seen us, but he judged, and judged rightly, that wherever we were those were the tactics by which he had the best chance of getting past. he deserved his success.
but, of course, it is only in a wide channel that such things can be done. had i met him in the mouth of the thames there would have been a different story to tell. as i approached falmouth i destroyed a three-thousand-ton boat from cork, laden with butter and cheese. it was my only success for three days.
that night (friday, april 16th) i called up stephan, but received no reply. as i was within a few miles of our rendezvous, and as he would not be cruising after dark, i was puzzled to account for his silence. i could only imagine that his wireless was deranged. but, alas!
i was soon to find the true reason from a copy of the western morning news, which i obtained from a brixham trawler. the kappa, with her gallant commander and crew, were at the bottom of the english channel.
it appeared from this account that after i had parted from him he had met and sunk no fewer than five vessels. i gathered these to be his work, since all of them were by gun-fire, and all were on the south coast of dorset or devon. how he met his fate was stated in a short telegram which was headed “sinking of a hostile p. 34submarine.” it was marked “falmouth,” and ran thus:—
the p. and o. mail steamer macedonia came into this port last night with five shell holes between wind and water. she reports having been attacked by a hostile submarine ten miles to the south-east of the lizard. instead of using her torpedoes, the submarine for some reason approached from the surface and fired five shots from a semi-automatic twelve-pounder gun. she was evidently under the impression that the macedonia was unarmed. as a matter of fact, being warned of the presence of submarines in the channel, the macedonia had mounted her armament as an auxiliary cruiser. she opened fire with two quick-firers and blew away the conning-tower of the submarine. it is probable that the shells went right through her, as she sank at once with her hatches open. the macedonia was only kept afloat by her pumps.
such was the end of the kappa, and my gallant friend, commander stephan. his best epitaph was in a corner of the same paper, and was headed “mark lane.” it ran:—
“wheat (average) 66, maize 48, barley 50.”
well, if stephan was gone there was the more need for me to show energy. my plans were quickly taken, but they were comprehensive. all that day (saturday) i passed down the cornish coast and round land’s end, getting p. 35two steamers on the way. i had learned from stephan’s fate that it was better to torpedo the large craft, but i was aware that the auxiliary cruisers of the british government were all over ten thousand tons, so that for all ships under that size it was safe to use my gun. both these craft, the yelland and the playboy—the latter an american ship—were perfectly harmless, so i came up within a hundred yards of them and speedily sank them, after allowing their people to get into boats. some other steamers lay farther out, but i was so eager to make my new arrangements that i did not go out of my course to molest them. just before sunset, however, so magnificent a prey came within my radius of action that i could not possibly refuse her. no sailor could fail to recognize that glorious monarch of the sea, with her four cream funnels tipped with black, her huge black sides, her red bilges, and her high white top-hamper, roaring up channel at twenty-three knots, and carrying her forty-five thousand tons as lightly as if she were a five-ton motor-boat. it was the queenly olympic, of the white star—once the largest and still the comeliest of liners. what a picture she made, with the blue cornish sea creaming round her giant fore-foot, and the pink western sky with one evening star forming the background to her noble lines.
she was about five miles off when we dived p. 36to cut her off. my calculation was exact. as we came abreast we loosed our torpedo and struck her fair. we swirled round with the concussion of the water. i saw her in my periscope list over on her side, and i knew that she had her death-blow. she settled down slowly, and there was plenty of time to save her people. the sea was dotted with her boats. when i got about three miles off i rose to the surface, and the whole crew clustered up to see the wonderful sight. she dived bows foremost, and there was a terrific explosion, which sent one of the funnels into the air. i suppose we should have cheered—somehow, none of us felt like cheering. we were all keen sailors, and it went to our hearts to see such a ship go down like a broken eggshell. i gave a gruff order, and all were at their posts again while we headed north-west. once round the land’s end i called up my two consorts, and we met next day at hartland point, the south end of bideford bay. for the moment the channel was clear, but the english could not know it, and i reckoned that the loss of the olympic would stop all ships for a day or two at least.
having assembled the delta and epsilon, one on each side of me, i received the report from miriam and var, the respective commanders. each had expended twelve torpedoes, and between them they had sunk twenty-two steamers. one man had been killed by the machinery on board of the delta, and two had been burned by the ignition of some oil on the epsilon. i took these injured men on board, and i gave each of the boats one of my crew. i also divided my spare oil, my provisions, and my torpedoes among them, though we had the greatest possible difficulty in those crank vessels in transferring them from one to the other. however, by ten o’clock it was done, and the two vessels were in condition to keep the sea for another ten days. for my part, with only two torpedoes left, i headed north up the irish sea. one of my torpedoes i expended that evening upon a cattle-ship making for milford haven. late at night, being abreast of holyhead, i called upon my four northern boats, but without reply. their marconi range is very limited. about three in the afternoon of the next day i had a feeble answer. it was a great relief to me to find that my telegraphic instructions had reached them and that they were on their station. before evening we all assembled in the lee of sanda island, in the mull of kintyre. i felt an admiral indeed when i saw my five whale-backs all in a row. panza’s report was excellent. they had come round by the pentland firth and reached their cruising ground on the fourth day. already they had destroyed twenty vessels without any mishap. i ordered the beta to p. 38divide her oil and torpedoes among the other three, so that they were in good condition to continue their cruise. then the beta and i headed for home, reaching our base upon sunday, april 25th. off cape wrath i picked up a paper from a small schooner.
“wheat, 84; maize, 60; barley, 62.” what were battles and bombardments compared to that!
the whole coast of norland was closely blockaded by cordon within cordon, and every port, even the smallest, held by the british. but why should they suspect my modest confectioner’s villa more than any other of the ten thousand houses that face the sea? i was glad when i picked up its homely white front in my periscope. that night i landed and found my stores intact. before morning the beta reported itself, for we had the windows lit as a guide.
it is not for me to recount the messages which i found waiting for me at my humble headquarters. they shall ever remain as the patents of nobility of my family. among others was that never-to-be-forgotten salutation from my king. he desired me to present myself at hauptville, but for once i took it upon myself to disobey his commands. it took me two days—or rather two nights, for we sank ourselves during the daylight hours—to get all our stores on board, but my presence was needful every minute of p. 39the time. on the third morning, at four o’clock, the beta and my own little flagship were at sea once more, bound for our original station off the mouth of the thames.
i had no time to read our papers whilst i was refitting, but i gathered the news after we got under way. the british occupied all our ports, but otherwise we had not suffered at all, since we have excellent railway communications with europe. prices had altered little, and our industries continued as before. there was talk of a british invasion, but this i knew to be absolute nonsense, for the british must have learned by this time that it would be sheer murder to send transports full of soldiers to sea in the face of submarines. when they have a tunnel they can use their fine expeditionary force upon the continent, but until then it might just as well not exist so far as europe is concerned. my own country, therefore, was in good case and had nothing to fear. great britain, however, was already feeling my grip upon her throat. as in normal times four-fifths of her food is imported, prices were rising by leaps and bounds. the supplies in the country were beginning to show signs of depletion, while little was coming in to replace it. the insurances at lloyd’s had risen to a figure which made the price of the food prohibitive to the mass of the people by the time it had reached the market. the loaf, which, under ordinary circumstances stood at fivepence, was already at one and twopence. beef was three shillings and fourpence a pound, and mutton two shillings and ninepence. everything else was in proportion. the government had acted with energy and offered a big bounty for corn to be planted at once. it could only be reaped five months hence, however, and long before then, as the papers pointed out, half the island would be dead from starvation. strong appeals had been made to the patriotism of the people, and they were assured that the interference with trade was temporary, and that with a little patience all would be well. but already there was a marked rise in the death-rate, especially among children, who suffered from want of milk, the cattle being slaughtered for food. there was serious rioting in the lanarkshire coalfields and in the midlands, together with a socialistic upheaval in the east of london, which had assumed the proportions of a civil war. already there were responsible papers which declared that england was in an impossible position, and that an immediate peace was necessary to prevent one of the greatest tragedies in history. it was my task now to prove to them that they were right.
it was may 2nd when i found myself back at the maplin sands to the north of the estuary of the thames. the beta was sent on to the p. 41solent to block it and take the place of the lamented kappa. and now i was throttling britain indeed—london, southampton, the bristol channel, liverpool, the north channel, the glasgow approaches, each was guarded by my boats. great liners were, as we learned afterwards, pouring their supplies into galway and the west of ireland, where provisions were cheaper than has ever been known. tens of thousands were embarking from britain for ireland in order to save themselves from starvation. but you cannot transplant a whole dense population. the main body of the people, by the middle of may, were actually starving. at that date wheat was at a hundred, maize and barley at eighty. even the most obstinate had begun to see that the situation could not possibly continue.
in the great towns starving crowds clamoured for bread before the municipal offices, and public officials everywhere were attacked and often murdered by frantic mobs, composed largely of desperate women who had seen their infants perish before their eyes. in the country, roots, bark, and weeds of every sort were used as food. in london the private mansions of ministers were guarded by strong pickets of soldiers, while a battalion of guards was camped permanently round the houses of parliament. the lives of the prime minister and of the foreign secretary were continually threatened and occasionally attempted. yet the government had entered upon the war with the full assent of every party in the state. the true culprits were those, be they politicians or journalists, who had not the foresight to understand that unless britain grew her own supplies, or unless by means of a tunnel she had some way of conveying them into the island, all her mighty expenditure upon her army and her fleet was a mere waste of money so long as her antagonists had a few submarines and men who could use them. england has often been stupid, but has got off scot-free. this time she was stupid and had to pay the price. you can’t expect luck to be your saviour always.
it would be a mere repetition of what i have already described if i were to recount all our proceedings during that first ten days after i resumed my station. during my absence the ships had taken heart and had begun to come up again. in the first day i got four. after that i had to go farther afield, and again i picked up several in french waters. once i had a narrow escape through one of my kingston valves getting some grit into it and refusing to act when i was below the surface. our margin of buoyancy just carried us through. by the end of that week the channel was clear again, and both beta and my own boat were down west once more. there we had encouraging p. 43messages from our bristol consort, who in turn had heard from delta at liverpool. our task was completely done. we could not prevent all food from passing into the british islands, but at least we had raised what did get in to a price which put it far beyond the means of the penniless, workless multitudes. in vain government commandeered it all and doled it out as a general feeds the garrison of a fortress. the task was too great—the responsibility too horrible. even the proud and stubborn english could not face it any longer.
i remember well how the news came to me. i was lying at the time off selsey bill when i saw a small war-vessel coming down channel. it had never been my policy to attack any vessel coming down. my torpedoes and even my shells were too precious for that. i could not help being attracted, however, by the movements of this ship, which came slowly zigzagging in my direction.
“looking for me,” thought i. “what on earth does the foolish thing hope to do if she could find me?”
i was lying awash at the time and got ready to go below in case she should come for me. but at that moment—she was about half a mile away—she turned her quarter, and there to my amazement was the red flag with the blue circle, our own beloved flag, flying from her peak. for p. 44a moment i thought that this was some clever dodge of the enemy to tempt me within range. i snatched up my glasses and called on vornal. then we both recognized the vessel. it was the juno, the only one left intact of our own cruisers. what could she be doing flying the flag in the enemy’s waters? then i understood it, and turning to vornal, we threw ourselves into each other’s arms. it could only mean an armistice—or peace!
and it was peace. we learned the glad news when we had risen alongside the juno, and the ringing cheers which greeted us had at last died away. our orders were to report ourselves at once at blankenberg. then she passed on down channel to collect the others. we returned to port upon the surface, steaming through the whole british fleet as we passed up the north sea. the crews clustered thick along the sides of the vessels to watch us. i can see now their sullen, angry faces. many shook their fists and cursed us as we went by. it was not that we had damaged them—i will do them the justice to say that the english, as the old boer war has proved, bear no resentment against a brave enemy—but that they thought us cowardly to attack merchant ships and avoid the warships. it is like the arabs who think that a flank attack is a mean, unmanly device. war is not a big game, my english friends. it is a desperate p. 45business to gain the upper hand, and one must use one’s brain in order to find the weak spot of one’s enemy. it is not fair to blame me if i have found yours. it was my duty. perhaps those officers and sailors who scowled at the little iota that may morning have by this time done me justice when the first bitterness of undeserved defeat was passed.
let others describe my entrance into blankenberg; the mad enthusiasm of the crowds, and the magnificent public reception of each successive boat as it arrived. surely the men deserved the grant made them by the state which has enabled each of them to be independent for life. as a feat of endurance, that long residence in such a state of mental tension in cramped quarters, breathing an unnatural atmosphere, will long remain as a record. the country may well be proud of such sailors.
the terms of peace were not made onerous, for we were in no condition to make great britain our permanent enemy. we knew well that we had won the war by circumstances which would never be allowed to occur again, and that in a few years the island power would be as strong as ever—stronger, perhaps—for the lesson that she had learned. it would be madness to provoke such an antagonist. a mutual salute of flags was arranged, the colonial boundary was adjusted by arbitration, and we claimed no indemnity beyond an undertaking on the part of britain that she would pay any damages which an international court might award to france or to the united states for injury received through the operations of our submarines. so ended the war!
of course, england will not be caught napping in such a fashion again! her foolish blindness is partly explained by her delusion that her enemy would not torpedo merchant vessels. common sense should have told her that her enemy will play the game that suits them best—that they will not inquire what they may do, but they will do it first and talk about it afterwards. the opinion of the whole world now is that if a blockade were proclaimed one may do what one can with those who try to break it, and that it was as reasonable to prevent food from reaching england in war time as it is for a besieger to prevent the victualling of a beleaguered fortress.
i cannot end this account better than by quoting the first few paragraphs of a leader in the times, which appeared shortly after the declaration of peace. it may be taken to epitomize the saner public opinion of england upon the meaning and lessons of the episode.
“in all this miserable business,” said the writer, “which has cost us the loss of a considerable portion of our merchant fleet and more than p. 47fifty thousand civilian lives, there is just one consolation to be found. it lies in the fact that our temporary conqueror is a power which is not strong enough to reap the fruits of her victory. had we endured this humiliation at the hands of any of the first-class powers it would certainly have entailed the loss of all our crown colonies and tropical possessions, besides the payment of a huge indemnity. we were absolutely at the feet of our conqueror and had no possible alternative but to submit to her terms, however onerous. norland has had the good sense to understand that she must not abuse her temporary advantage, and has been generous in her dealings. in the grip of any other power we should have ceased to exist as an empire.
“even now we are not out of the wood. some one may maliciously pick a quarrel with us before we get our house in order, and use the easy weapon which has been demonstrated. it is to meet such a contingency that the government has rushed enormous stores of food at the public expense into the country. in a very few months the new harvest will have appeared. on the whole we can face the immediate future without undue depression, though there remain some causes for anxiety. these will no doubt be energetically handled by this new and efficient government, which has taken the place of those discredited politicians who led us into a war without having foreseen how helpless we were against an obvious form of attack.
“already the lines of our reconstruction are evident. the first and most important is that our party men realize that there is something more vital than their academic disputes about free trade or protection, and that all theory must give way to the fact that a country is in an artificial and dangerous condition if she does not produce within her own borders sufficient food to at least keep life in her population. whether this should be brought about by a tax upon foreign foodstuffs, or by a bounty upon home products, or by a combination of the two, is now under discussion. but all parties are combined upon the principle, and, though it will undoubtedly entail either a rise in prices or a deterioration in quality in the food of the working-classes, they will at least be insured against so terrible a visitation as that which is fresh in our memories. at any rate, we have got past the stage of argument. it must be so. the increased prosperity of the farming interest, and, as we will hope, the cessation of agricultural emigration, will be benefits to be counted against the obvious disadvantages.
“the second lesson is the immediate construction of not one but two double-lined railways under the channel. we stand in a white sheet over the matter, since the project has always been discouraged in these columns, but we are prepared to admit that had such railway communication been combined with adequate arrangements for forwarding supplies from marseilles, we should have avoided our recent p. 49surrender. we still insist that we cannot trust entirely to a tunnel, since our enemy might have allies in the mediterranean; but in a single contest with any power of the north of europe it would certainly be of inestimable benefit. there may be dangers attendant upon the existence of a tunnel, but it must now be admitted that they are trivial compared to those which come from its absence. as to the building of large fleets of merchant submarines for the carriage of food, that is a new departure which will be an additional insurance against the danger which has left so dark a page in the history of our country.”
