Then the _Arcadian_ was dismantled and turned into a transport, and
Captain Custance took her back to England filled with Canadian troops.
But wanting a more war-like job he appealed to the Admiralty and
eventually was assigned to the perilous duty of mine-sweeping, to keep
the sea about the Orkneys free from the floating or sunk mines, to the
sowing and planting of which the Germans were devoting their devilish
activities. When it is borne in mind that Captain Custance was then
46 years old, with wife and several children, one may appreciate the
patriotic zeal that kept him in this dangerous employ for two years.
During that time he stuck at it with never a glimpse at his family
until he was called to London to have the King confer on him the D. S.
O.
Those broad-beamed boats known as trawlers in which the fishermen ply
their calling were the instruments employed in mine-sweeping, and
admirable they were for the business, but comfortless enough for other
purposes. Said the Captain in a letter: “It’s no joke monkeying about
in a tiny craft hunting ‘tin fishes.’ In daylight it’s bad enough, but
at night it’s extremely dangerous, as one can’t see the sea, and one
is liable to half swamp oneself in turning. And as far as any comfort
below goes, there isn’t any. Everything is damp and cold, and the
steward loses the greater part of your food in bringing it to you,
and what you finally receive is a cold, unpalatable mess. Yet, by God!
it’s something to be out here having a chance to bag a bally German
swine.”
[Illustration:
_Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._