A STERN CHASE
Shortly after 1 p.m. we noticed a small steamer beyond Kerry Head on the
north side of the Shannon. The foam at her bows told us that she was
travelling at high speed. As she was holding a westerly course I had at
first no suspicions. She was still so far off that even with our
prismatic glasses I could make out nothing. I therefore got the big
glass, which had already stood me in good stead so many times, and
perceived to my astonishment that the steamer had a long gun completely
uncovered mounted on her forecastle deck. Her tall top masts showed that
she had a wireless installation.
Another patrol-boat, then,--but this time a much bigger and more modern
one than our friend the _Shatter_. I handed my glass to the mate, so
that he could see for himself. He had scarcely focused on the boat when
he hastily exclaimed, 'She is altering course--she's coming straight for
us.' I could see now with the naked eye that this was a fact. The place
was getting unhealthy for us, and we needed no time for deliberation
over our next move.
'All hands on deck, stand by to weigh anchor!' 'Have steam up for full
speed.' All hands were at their stations in a moment. The capstan
creaked and groaned in every joint. Bump, bump. All at once it stopped.
The anchor had evidently got wedged between the rocks. I felt as if I
were standing on hot coals. I had actually put the telegraph forward in
order to simply part the cable or to slip it, when the capstan started
to turn again. As soon as ever the anchor was free we started. Course,
due west! And high time it was, for the stranger was visibly drawing
nearer. We judged the distance to be at most nine miles. So long as she
did not catch us up we were all right, for we were still a neutral
steamer, so far as she was concerned. I had worked out in my head what
had happened. Loop Head had presumably warned the naval base at Limerick
about us, and the admiral in command there, probably not trusting too
much to his _Shatter II._, had sent out a bigger boat to Tralee to have
a closer look at the suspicious Norwegian. (A high English officer
assured me later that my guess was practically correct.) A flotilla flag
at her mast-head, and the fact that she altered course to south-west as
soon as we started, confirmed my conjecture. Her unmistakable intention,
therefore, was to cut us off. It was now more than ever a question of
legging it. (We could no more risk a second examination than we could
risk an exchange of shells in which we, with our old Russian rifles and
home-made guns would certainly have come off second best.)
In order to get full steam quickly, I ordered all hands to the
stokehold. I myself went to the wheel and kept the _Aud_ quite close to
the coast, for the rocky shore is here so steep that one can approach
with safety within forty yards. The dense clouds of smoke from our
funnel swept along the rocky wall and whirled into the deep fissures, as
if drawn into an airshaft.
The English boat was coming dangerously near. The question now was which
of us had the longest legs. We reckoned she was doing twelve knots or
more; we, on former occasions, had never done more than eleven. It was
therefore to be expected that she would slowly but surely catch us. That
was to be avoided at any cost.
In order to further encourage the men in the stokehold I called down to
them from time to time through the voice-pipe the distance between us.
They worked like horses, and after some time I was able to state that we
were keeping our lead. Why the English boat did not at least send a shot
across our bows is still a mystery to me, especially when she found that
we took no notice whatever of her constant signals.
In the meantime we had approached our old friend the _Shatter_, which
was leisurely wallowing up and down just under the battery at about 500
yards from the shore. She seemed to have noticed us at last, for she
turned slowly and steamed towards us. I therefore called the second mate
up on the bridge, telling him to keep his eye on the _Shatter_, and gave
the wheel to A.B. Strehlau.
We had gradually come so near that without the glasses we could now
perceive the guns of the battery trained on us. A lively exchange of
signals was taking place between the battery and our pursuer. And then
a signal was hoisted on the _Shatter_ also. Unfortunately, it was
impossible to read it for there was not a breath of wind. The devil! Had
the rascal been deceiving us, and was the drunkenness all playacting, in
order to be able to attack us in front in conjunction with the battery,
while the other boat attacked us behind?
For one moment I was inclined to fear some such stratagem, for it
appeared impossible that the _Shatter's_ signal could mean anything but
'Stop at once.' As a precautionary measure I therefore ordered all
preparations for blowing up the ship. At the same time I gave the order
to starboard the helm, in order to ram the _Shatter_, for I was
determined that if we went down we should take her with us. The next few
seconds must decide our fate. We were going straight for the _Shatter_
at full speed, but she made no effort to escape being rammed. What could
be the explanation? I gazed steadily through the glasses. Suddenly the
_Shatter_ turned to port, and as she heeled over for an instant on
account of the sudden turn, we read the signal. We could not believe our
eyes. From the signal halliards of the Shatter fluttered the signal I
knew so well in the old days, 'T.D.L.'--'_Bon voyage._'
I rushed to the helm, tore the wheel round to port, and anxiously
counted the seconds till the _Aud_ began to answer the helm.
Fortunately, the high speed at which we were going made the rudder
effective--but only just in time. All our lives hung on the fraction of
a second. In the very next second we shot past the English boat not a
ship's length off.
All this, of course, happened in much less time than it takes to tell
it. But the greatest surprise of all was still reserved for us. The
brave captain was standing on his little bridge holding on like grim
death to the rail. His crew stood, or rather lurched, about on the deck.
At the moment when we ran past him at full speed he tore his hat off,
waved it round his head, yelling like a Red Indian, and called for
'Three Cheers for the _Aud_,' to which his crew bawled an enthusiastic
response.
If at this moment I had had a couple of bottles of whisky by me on the
bridge I would have willingly thrown them to the crew of the _Shatter_
out of gratitude for this ovation; for there can be no doubt that the
conduct of the _Shatter_ crew at the very least made the battery officer
uncertain of his ground. (I heard later that the battery, in response to
a signal from our pursuer, was just about to fire at us while we were
standing away from it, but did not do so because the cheers of the
_Shatter_ crew seemed to indicate that we had been the victims of some
mistake.) Of course, we answered the greeting of the _Shatter_ with
cap-waving and a friendly 'Good-bye!' Düsselmann, in fact, ran up the
signal, 'X.O.R.'--Thank you. To cap it all, I dipped my flag, as we left
the most friendly Englishman I have ever met on the seas. None of us, I
am certain, will ever forget this moment.
It was not till afterwards that I heard from the crew that our lives
hung once more in the balance. One of the crew had mistaken my order to
dip the flag and was under the impression that I had said 'Tyske,'
which was our pre-arranged signal for blowing up the ship. He was just
about to break out the German naval ensign at the stern, and the chief
engineer stood ready with the fuse, when the mistake was realised. So
this little _entr'acte_ went off all right--at any rate so far as we
were concerned. Not for the captain of the _Shatter_, however; for I
heard some months later that the English Admiralty considered his
conduct too 'gentlemanlike' and deprived him of his commission after a
court-martial had sentenced him to imprisonment.
The battery now lay a good mile astern, but we were still within range
of its guns and our pursuer was close on our heels. We therefore had to
make every effort to increase the distance, which was, of course,
largely a question of correct steering. So the first mate took over the
wheel, while the second mate worked the engine-room telegraph. Down
below my brave stokers, half naked and with sweat literally pouring
down, toiled at the glowing furnaces, while the others untiringly
fetched baskets of coal from the bunkers. The engineers stood at their
stations in the engine-room, ready each moment to carry out the orders
as they came from the bridge. We were steaming with every ounce of
pressure we could get.
Meanwhile, the English boat had drawn nearer. The second mate at once
shouted down the tube, 'Get up more steam, the Englishman will be
alongside in no time.' And with a sinister smile he added, 'If you
fellows can't make more steam, say the word. The fuse is ready. But in
that case please label your bones.' The noise of shovels, the banging
of furnace-doors, and a loud cheer were the answer that came up from the
engine-room. The chief-engineer came puffing up the ladder and shouted
to me, 'Captain, if we go on like this the boilers will burst. The steam
is long past the red mark.'
'I thought it was long ago. But it's no good worrying about that, my
dear fellow. We must break through at all costs. As it is, we have still
got a chance; but if this fellow astern of us succeeds in catching us we
can make our wills.' He shook his head seriously. Then he plunged down
again into his own domain below, and encouraged his men to work as if
the devil were at our heels.
By now the wireless boat had come up with the _Shatter_, which was still
making leisurely for Tralee. To our joy we noticed the other vessel
carefully manoeuvring in order to come alongside the _Shatter_. This
gave us a good start, and we could see several people jump from the
wireless boat, which was letting off a white cloud of hissing steam, on
board the _Shatter_. What happened then was not hard to guess. But the
captain of the _Shatter_ will certainly not reveal it as long as he
lives. Unfortunately, we were unable to watch the proceedings from close
range.
After an interval of about five minutes the _Shatter_ went about and
then both boats took up the chase. But our pursuers had lost so much
time in laying their ship alongside the _Shatter_ that they had little
chance of overtaking us, for our brave little _Aud_ was now, according
to the patent log, doing more than thirteen knots.
The coastline now bent round towards SW., and as we were still keeping
the same distance from it, we were soon out of sight of the battery.
Keeping the same speed, we ran for another hour and a half, and noted
with joy that our pursuers were visibly dropping behind. The English
also soon saw the impossibility of overtaking us, for they suddenly
turned off to port and steamed slowly towards the coast, where they soon
disappeared in one of the many bays.
It was getting on for half-past three, so we must already have put some
miles behind us. When the engine-room staff heard that our pursuers had
given up the chase they greeted the news with three rousing cheers. We
all gave a sigh of relief, especially the chief-engineer, who lost no
time now in letting the steam down below the red danger mark on the
pressure gauge.
We were now getting near the mouth of the bay. The sea was studded all
over with little islands and rocks, some of which projected only a
couple of feet out of the water. One of the larger islands aroused our
interest. At the foot of the massive, rocky wall there was a
semicircular opening of natural formation so big that a sailing-boat
could comfortably go through to the far side. Unfortunately, the chart
showed so many shallows between these islands that I felt bound, under
the circumstances, to take the longer course round the outlying islands,
a proceeding which, at any rate, gave me more freedom of movement. And
that was at the moment more important than ever, for it was
inconceivable that the captain of the wireless boat, after giving up the
hopeless chase, would sit down and do nothing. So we were not
particularly pleased when we noticed a lighthouse with signalling
station and wireless installation facing the sea on Dunmore Island, the
last island on the south side of the bay.
Without doubt these people already knew all about our flight.
Fortunately for us, however, they were unarmed, so that we had to reckon
only with the fact that they would watch us and report every alteration
of our course to the nearest coastguard stations and ships.
The Atlantic now lay before us, and I had the choice of steering north,
west, or south. South appeared to me to be the best, for even if we had
aroused suspicion the English had so far had no positive proof against
us. The Norwegian flag still flew at our stern, and as I had told the
captain of the _Shatter_ that we were bound for Cardiff and then for
Italy, I thought it was best to keep up appearances while it was still
daylight, and to steer a southerly course. If a warship should then come
along we should be able to justify our course by means of our manifest.
Then, when it got dark, I intended to turn westwards in order to get
away from the patrolled coastal area.