A Double Bag
A double, converging streak of foam marked the path of an approaching
torpedo. For a few seconds the men on deck watched and waited with
bated breath, knowing that 50 yards ahead of the tell-tale track was
a powerful weapon capable of shattering R19's massively-built hull
and sending her to the bottom like a stone.
It was the gun-layer of No. 2 quick-firer who saved the situation.
Thrusting a projectile into the breech of the weapon he slammed the
complicated breech-block, bent over the sights, and pulled the
trigger of the firing-pistol.
Heavily depressed, the gun barked, sending the shell obliquely
towards the surface of the water. Fifty feet in the air flew a column
of spray, while the torpedo, deflected by the impact of the missile,
tore harmlessly past R19's hull.
The U-boat, having shot her bolt, was preparing to dive once more,
although her conning-tower had not appeared above the surface.
With a dull crash and a scarcely-perceptible shudder R19's snub-nosed
stem grated against the rounded side of her foe. So great was her
momentum that her bows were lifted clear of the waves.
"Got her, by smoke!" ejaculated the Hon. Derek, who, having emerged
from the conning-tower, was standing by the side of Fordyce on the
navigation-platform.
Both officers turned and faced aft. They were just in time to see the
bows of the U-boat fling themselves clear of the agitated
waves--sufficiently to enable them to note the number, U129--then,
with a sobbing, gurgling sound, the doomed craft slithered beneath
the surface, to the accompaniment of a volume of iridescent oil and a
crowd of huge air-bubbles.
"Have a look down below, Mr. Fordyce," continued the
Lieutenant-Commander. "Let's hope we haven't started a plate or two.
It would be rough luck at this stage to have to put back for
repairs."
The Sub hastened to carry out his instructions. Eager faces mutely
questioned him as he entered the electrically-lighted compartment
where the "hands" not told off for duty on deck were still in
ignorance of what had occurred, although the unexpected shock had
been sufficient to capsize several of the crew.
"It's all right, men!" exclaimed the Sub cheerily. "We've strafed
another U-boat. The Zepp., I'm sorry to say, has sheered off."
In answer to his enquiries, Fordyce learnt that immediately after the
impact steps had been taken to ascertain if any damage had been done
to the hull. Not a leak was to be found. The for'ard diving-planes or
horizontal rudders were intact and in perfect working order; while,
on testing the twin bow torpedo-tubes, both were found to be
undamaged. Evidently R19 had not struck her opponent an end-on blow,
otherwise the covers of the tubes would have been buckled or burst
from their hinges. At the moment of impact U129 had submerged
sufficiently to allow her opponent to strike a glancing blow with her
forefoot--enough to crack the deck-plates of the ill-starred
unterseeboot.
Eager to convey this gratifying report to his skipper, Fordyce went
on deck. As he emerged through the circular man-hole a burst of
cheering greeted his ears. He was just in time to see a long trailing
cloud of fire-tipped smoke plunging towards the water at a distance
of less than a couple of miles to leeward.
It was the Zeppelin. Whether by the submarine's gun-fire or by an
accident it would never be known--but in any case the result was the
same--the air-ship had caught fire in mid-air. For some seconds she
blazed furiously--the whole of the after part of the envelope being
hidden in fire and smoke--without showing any appreciable signs of
falling. Then, with appalling suddenness, she buckled in two, and
commenced her headlong flight to destruction.
Too far off to hear the loud hiss of the burning fabric as it came in
contact with the water, R19 nevertheless turned and proceeded to the
spot where the wreckage had disappeared. It was a fruitless quest.
Beyond a few charred fragments of wood, there were no traces of what
was, a few minutes previously, one of the vaunted mammoths of the
Kaiser's air fleet.
Joyfully the Hon. Derek repaired to his cabin to draft his report for
dispatch by wireless. Brevity and modesty were some of his
characteristics. He was not one to take credit for the acts of
others:
"I have the honour to report that the hostile air-ship L67,
previously crippled by H.M. Submarine E Something, has been
destroyed. During the operations U129 was rammed by R19, and also
destroyed. Derek U. E. Stockdale, Lieutenant-Commander R19."
This dispatch sent off in code, the Hon. Derek "turned in", acting on
the principle that it is well to sleep when one can. The most
strenuous part of the outward voyage was yet to come, the passage
through the mine-infested Sound at the entrance to the Baltic.
From a strictly personal point of view, R19's mission was not an
enviable one. For two months--longer if the exigencies of the service
so required--she was to be tacitly lent to the Russian Government.
During that period the crew would be lucky if they had as much as one
mail-bag from home. Ravages by hostile underwater craft, operating
off the North Cape, and the uncertain state of internal communication
between Archangel and Petrograd, made it a difficult matter for
letters and parcels to be sent to the crews of British submarines
operating in Russian waters. They would soon be short of food, too;
when their own stores were exhausted they would have to rely upon
what provisions the Russian authorities could spare out of their
already depleted stocks. Both going and returning from her station,
R19 would have to thread the narrow, dangerous waters of the Sound,
and run the gauntlet of the numerous motor patrol boats which the
Huns maintained almost without let or hindrance in the landlocked
waters of the southern and western Baltic.
Yet with the same cheerfulness that the British bluejacket will
voluntarily choose a two years' exile in the desolate Arctic, or risk
the perils of the miasmic, mosquito-infested swamps of tropical
Africa, did R19's officers and men set forth on their hazardous
adventure. In the common cause of the Allies it mattered little
whither they went, so long as they could strike a blow for king and
country.