This story is a realistic description of a submarine cruise in the
recent war. The _Kate_ was a Russian underwater boat operating
against the German fleet in the Baltic Sea. Her experiences in this
terrible mode of fighting were the same as those of hundreds of
submarines belonging to the various warring powers. It may be
observed from the description how marvelous has been the advance of
science in the last generation. What Jules Verne imagined in his
book, _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea_, the _Kate_
accomplished. This story of actual war is not less wonderful than
the vision of the romancer.
Men were placed at the water-pumps, the oxygen containers, air-purifiers
and [v]distilling machinery, and the [v]hatchways were thoroughly
examined; the gunners took their posts at the torpedo tubes. The order
had been given to move about as little as possible, to keep in the
berths when not on duty, and not to talk and laugh. Then the watchman
left the [v]conning tower, and the main hatchway was [v]hermetically
closed.
Captain Andrey gave the order to submerge and went over to the
navigating compartment. Water rushed into the [v]ballast tanks, the boat
grew heavy, and its rolling and pitching ceased: the _Kate_ sank and ran
ahead under water, steering by means of the [v]periscope. Andrey pushed
a button and a cone of pale blue rays poured from the tube. The
[v]screen of the periscope grew alive with tiny waves, passing clouds,
and a tail of smoke on the skyline. With his chin resting on his arm,
Andrey scanned the image of the sea which lay before him. Presently the
smoke vanished, and on the right hand appeared the hazy outline of land.
At nightfall, the boat, taking advantage of the darkness, rose to the
surface of the sea and sailed without lights. Andrey stood on the bridge
throughout the night. The water was placid, the stars were screened by a
light mist, and far away to the south the pale blue gleam of an enemy
searchlight moved through the clouds.
The boat was now approaching a mine field. At dawn, when the
greenish-orange light began slowly to pervade the fleecy clouds, the
_Kate_ sank to a great depth at a definitely fixed point in the sea.
Steering solely by compass and map, she commenced to pick her way under
the mines. Yakovlev was in charge of the steering apparatus, while
Prince Bylopolsky calculated the [v]side drift and reported to the chief
engineer in charge of the motors. Andrey, leaning over the map, gave
orders to the man at the wheel.
There was no sensation of movement, and it seemed as if the _Kate_ stood
still amidst the eery darkness. The men for the most part were stretched
on their backs, seeking to consume as little oxygen as possible. In
spite of this precaution, however, the air was thick, and the sailors
felt a tingling sensation in the ears.
Suddenly the boat's keel struck against something hard, and a grating
sound broke the stillness.
"Stop! Stop!" called out Andrey, dashing forth from the navigating
cabin.
The pinions cracked and the motors ceased to pulsate. Immediately the
air became hot, as in a Turkish bath. Andrey entered the water-tight
conning tower, which was flooded with diluted, greenish light from the
ports provided for the purpose of giving a view of the surrounding
waters. He peered through the glass pane. Vague, blurred forms and
shadows gradually became visible in the twilight of the deep. One of the
shadows wavered and glided along the window, and the round, tragic eyes
of a fish glanced at Andrey. The fish disappeared in the depths below
the boat. Evidently the _Kate_ had not run aground, nor were there any
submerged reefs in that quarter. Andrey gave an order to raise the boat
several feet. Then numerous shadows leaped aside and scattered, and the
captain plainly saw a jumbled heap of ropes and ladders. It was obvious
that the _Kate_ had blundered into the remains of a sunken ship.
The halt was unfortunate--indeed, might prove fatal. The uniform motion
of the boat had been disturbed, the [v]orientation lost; the inevitable
small error made at the point of submerging must have increased in the
course beneath the waves. The _Kate_ had lost her way, and something
must be done. Andrey drummed nervously on the window-pane as he
thought. It was impossible to stay under water any longer, and yet to
rise to the surface meant to be seen and attacked by enemy warships.
Only in this way, however, was it possible to determine the boat's
position.
Andrey, giving an order for the boat to rise slowly, returned to his
observation point. The water gradually grew clearer. Suddenly a dark
ball moved down to meet the craft. "A mine!" flashed across Andrey's
mind, and, overcoming the torpor which had begun to oppress his brain,
he ordered the submarine to be swerved from her course. The ball moved
away, but another appeared on the right. There was another change of
direction. And now everywhere in the midst of the greenish twilight
cast-iron shells lay in wait. The _Kate_ was in the toils of a mine net!
Sea water, when viewed from a great height, is so transparent that large
fishes can even be seen in it. Owing to this fact, the _Kate_ was
discovered by two enemy [v]hydroplanes as she rose among the mines
toward the surface of the bay. The aircraft were seen, however, and the
boat dived again to a great depth.
The _Kate_ now blindly groped her way forward. The motors worked at
their top speed, and the body of the boat trembled. Hundreds of demons
called horsepowers fiercely turned the various wheels, pinions, and
shafts. The air was hot and stuffy; the men at the engine, stripped to
the waist, worked feverishly. Speed was necessary, for only oxygen
enough to sustain the crew for one hour remained in the lead cylinders.
Yakovlev still sat at the compass, his elbows on his knees and his hands
pressing his head. The men lounged in the cabins and corridors, their
faces livid with suffocation. Prince Bylopolsky remained leaning over
his [v]logarithmic tables, which had now become useless. From time to
time he wiped his face, as if removing a net of invisible cobwebs.
Finally he rose to his feet, took a few steps, and fainted dead away.
Giving the order to proceed at full speed, Andrey hoped to pass the mine
zone, even though some of his men succumbed for lack of air. Pale and
excited, his hair in disorder, and his coat unbuttoned, he was
everywhere at once, and his voice sustained the failing strength of the
half-suffocated crew. Seeing the prince stretched unconscious on a
berth, Andrey poured a few drops of brandy in his mouth and kissed his
wet, childlike forehead. In making too rapid a movement, lurid flames
danced before his eyes, and he bent back, striking his head against a
sharp angle of an engine. He felt no pain from the blow.
"Bad!" thought Andrey, and crawled over to the emergency oxygen
container. He opened the faucet and inhaled the fragrant stream of gas.
His head began to swim and a sweet fire ran through his veins. With an
effort he rose to his feet. The outlines of the objects around him were
strangely distinct, and the faces of the men imploringly turned to
him--some of them bearded and high-cheekboned, others tender and
childlike--seemed to him touchingly human....
In the corridor Andrey came upon a man standing against the wall and
gulping the air like a fish. Seeing the commander, he made an effort to
cheer up and mumbled, "Beg pardon, sir; I'm a bit unwell." The captain
leaned over and looked into his eyes, which a film of death was already
beginning to veil. Andrey, turning to the telephone tube, gave a command
to rise. The _Kate_ shook all over and dived upward. The ascent lasted
four minutes and a half, at the end of which time the boat stood still
and light fell on the screen of the periscope. The sailors crawled up to
the main hatchway and unscrewed it. Cold salt air rushed into the boat,
swelling the chests of the sufferers and turning their heads; the
sensation of free breathing was delicious after the suffocation they had
so long endured.
Andrey, leaping on the bridge, found the evening sun suspended above
vast masses of warm clouds and the sea quiet and peaceful. He began to
take observations with the [v]sextant, which shook in his trembling
hand. Presently a loud buzzing was heard in the sky, followed by the
measured crackling of a machine gun; from the hull of the boat came a
sharp rat-a-tat, as if some one was throwing dry peas on it. A
hydroplane was circling above the _Kate_.
Andrey bit his lip and kept on working; a squad of his men loaded their
rifles. The hydroplane swooped down almost to the surface of the sea,
then soared with a shrill "F-r-r-r" and flew right over the boat. A
clean-shaven pilot sat motionless, his hands on the wheel; below him an
observer gazed downward, waiting. Suddenly the latter lifted a bomb and
threw it into a tube. The missile flashed in the air and plunged into
the sea at the very side of the boat. One of the crew fired his rifle,
and the observer threw up his leather-covered arms with outspread
fingers. Slowly circling under the fire of the submarine crew, the
aircraft rose toward the clouds and sailed off.
Over the sky-ridge another aeroplane appeared, looking like a long thin
line. Meantime the _Kate_ picked her way with graceful ease across the
orange-colored waters as if cutting through molten glass. Andrey,
buttoning his coat, said with a grimace, "Well, Yakovlev, the mines are
behind us, but what are we going to do now?"
"This region is full of reefs and sandbanks," replied Yakovlev.
"That's just the trouble. I wouldn't risk sailing under the water. Wait
a moment." He raised his hand.
A violent whizzing sound came from the west; Andrey ordered greater
speed. A [v]grenade hissed on the right, and a jet of water spurted up
from the quiet surface. The _Kate_ tacked sharply toward the purpling
horizon in the west, and behind, in her shadowy wake, another bomb burst
and blossomed out into a small cloud. The boat then turned east again,
but now in front of her, on both sides, everywhere, shells burst and
sputtered fire. The scouting hydroplane dashed over the submarine like a
bat; two pale faces looked down and disappeared. Then right above the
stern of the _Kate_ a grenade exploded and one of the sailors dropped
his rifle, clutched his face, toppled over the railing, and disappeared
beneath the water.
"All hands below!" cried Andrey; and, watching where the shells fell
thickest, he began to give his orders. The _Kate_ circled like a
run-down hare, while all along the darkening skyline the smoking stacks
of mine-layers and destroyers were visible as the enemy's ruthless ring
rapidly tightened about the submarine.
Having had her wireless mast shot off by a shell, the _Kate_ now dashed
toward the rocky shore, running awash. Six sparks shot up in the dark
and six steel-clad demons hissed above the boat. The long shadow of a
ship glided along the shore. The _Kate_ shook, and a sharp-nosed torpedo
detached itself from her hull and glided away under the water to meet
the [v]silhouette of the vessel. A moment passed, and a fluffy,
mountainous mass of fire and water rose from the spot where the stacks
of a mine-layer had projected shortly before. The mountain sank and the
silhouette disappeared. The _Kate_ entered a baylet among the rocks,
submerged, and lay on the sandy sea-bed.
Two weeks the submarine remained in the inlet, completely cut off from
the rest of the world. By day she hid in the deep, and only under the
cover of night did she rise to the surface to get a supply of air. The
greatest precautions were necessary, for there was little likelihood
that the enemy believed the submarine to be destroyed.
At the end of that time some action was inevitable, as the boat's
supplies had given out; for three days the crew had fed on fish which
one of the men had caught at great risk. Audrey decided to leave the bay
and make a supreme effort to run the enemy's cordon.
About daybreak, as the _Kate_ was nearing the surface of the sea, the
crew became aware of a tremendous muffled cannonade; and when the boat
emerged into a white fog, the whole coast shook and echoed with the roar
and crash of a sea battle. Broadsides and terrific explosions alternated
with the crackling of guns. It was as though a multitude of sea-devils
coughed and blew and roared at each other.
"Quick, sir," shouted Yakovlev, holding on to the railing; "we can break
through now!" His teeth rattled.
The preparations for the dash had been completed. A strong gale swept
away the fog and drove its torn masses over the sea, laying bare the
rocky shore. The _Kate_ dashed out of the bay into the open. The firing
was now heard behind and on the right; the road to the port was open at
last. The submarine rushed along, ripping in twain the frothing waves.
In this moment of exaltation, to return safely to base, simply to do
one's duty, seemed too little to these fearless men. The feeling that
possessed them was not enthusiasm but a greediness, a yearning for
destruction.
"We cannot go away like this," Yakovlev shouted in Audrey's ear; "turn
back or I will shoot myself!" The man was completely beside himself; his
pale face twisted convulsively.
Just then the sun arose, turning the rolling sea into a dull orange.
Near at hand invisible ships thundered against each other. Suddenly a
gray mountain-like shape emerged from the fog, enveloped in flame and
smoke. Above its turrets, stacks, and masts fluttered a flag bearing a
black eagle.
Mad with the thought that the opportunity had come at last, Andrey
rushed down the hatchway, knocking over Yakovlev on the way, and loaded
the torpedo tube. The _Kate_ submerged a little, and sailing awash,
headed straight for the enemy vessel.
The shadow of the hostile ship glided along the periscope screen, every
now and then wrapping itself into a cloud pierced with fiery needles of
shots. The _Kate_ fired a torpedo but missed her aim. Leaning over the
screen and biting his lips to bleeding, Andrey examined the tiny image
of the vessel, one of the mightiest of battleships. The distance between
the _Kate_ and the enemy vessel continued to decrease; the image of the
ship already occupied half of the periscope screen.
"Another torpedo!" shouted Andrey.
At that very instant a blow was struck the boat and the periscope screen
grew dark. Andrey ran out from the navigating compartment and shouted:
"The periscope is shot away! Full speed forward!"