THE "NAVY SPECIAL"
Railway travel appeals to the sailor-man. It provides him with ample
leisure for conversation, sleep, or convivial song. When the
possibilities of these absorbing pursuits are exhausted, remains a
heightened interest in the next meal.
The pale February sunlight was streaming across snow-covered moorland
that stretched away on either side of the line, when the Highland
Express drew up at the first stopping place the following morning.
From every carriage poured a throng of hungry bluejackets in search of
breakfast. Many wore long coats of duffle or sheepskin provided by a
maternal Admiralty in view of the severe weather conditions in the far
North. The British bluejacket is accustomed to wear what he is told to
wear, and further, to continue wearing it until he is told to put on
something else. Hence a draft of men sent North to the Fleet from one
of the Naval depots in the South of England would cheerfully don the
duffle coats issued to them on departure and keep them on until they
arrived at their destination, with an equal disregard for such outward
circumstances as temperature or environment.
A night's journey in a crowded and overheated railway carriage, muffled
in such garb, would not commend itself to the average individual as an
ideal prelude to a hearty breakfast. Yet the cheerful, sleepy-eyed
crowd of apparently par-boiled Arctic explorers that invaded the
restaurant buffet vociferously demanding breakfast, appeared on the
best of terms with themselves, one another and the world at large.
A score or more of officers besieged a flustered girl standing beside a
pile of breakfast baskets, and the thin, keen morning air resounded
with banter and voices. The King's Messenger, freshly shaven and pink
of countenance (a woman once likened his face to that of a cherub
looked at through a magnifying glass), stood at the door of his
carriage and exchanged morning greetings with travellers of his
acquaintance. Then the guard's whistle sounded; the noise and laughter
redoubled along the platform and a general scramble ensued. Doors
slammed down the length of the train, and the damsel in charge of the
breakfast baskets raised her voice in lamentation.
"Ane o' the gentlemen hasna paid for his basket!" she cried. Heads
appeared at windows, and the owner of one extended a half-crown. "It's
my friend in here," he explained. "His name is Mouldy Jakes, and he
can't speak for himself because his mouth is too full of bacon; but he
wishes me to say that he's awfully sorry he forgot. He was struck all
of a heap at meeting a lady so early in the morning...." The speaker
vanished abruptly, apparently jerked backwards by some mysterious
agency. The train started.
The maiden turned away with a simper. "It was no his friend at all,"
she observed to the young lady from the buffet, who had emerged to wave
farewell to a bold, bad Engine Room Artificer after a desperate
flirtation of some forty seconds' duration. "It was himself."
"They're a' sae sonsie!" said the young lady from the buffet with a
rapturous sigh.
At the junction where the train stopped at noon, Naval occupation of
the North proclaimed itself. A Master-at-Arms, austere of visage and
stentorian voiced, fell upon the weary voyagers like a collie rallying
a flock of sheep. A Lieutenant-Commander of the Reserve, in a tattered
monkey-jacket, was superintending the unstowing of bags and hammocks by
a party of ancient mariners in white working rig and brown gaiters. A
retired Boatswain, who apparently bore the responsibilities of local
Traffic Superintendent upon his broad shoulders, held sage council with
the engine driver.
The travellers were still many weary hours from their destination, but
the solicitude of the great Mother Fleet for her sons' welfare was
plain on every side. There were evidences of a carefully planned,
wisely executed organisation in the speed with which the great crowd of
blue-jackets and marines of all ranks and ratings, and bound for fifty
different ships, were mustered, given their dinners and marshalled into
the "Navy Special" that would take them on their journey.
Mouldy Jakes deposited his bags and rug strap on the platform and
surveyed the scene with mournful pride. "Good old Navy!" he observed
to the India-rubber Man, while Thorogood went in search of food. "Good
old firm! Father and mother and ticket collector and supplier of
ham-sandwiches to us all. Who wouldn't sell his little farm and go to
sea?"
Standish picked up his suit-case and together they made for the
adjoining platform, where the train that was to take them on their
journey was waiting.
They selected a carriage and were presently joined by Thorogood,
burdened with eatables and soda water. The bluejackets were already in
their carriages, and the remaining officers, to the number of about a
score, were settling down in their compartments. They represented all
ranks of the British Navy; a Captain and two Commanders were joined by
the Naval Attaché of a great neutral Power on his way to visit the
Fleet. An Engineer Commander and a Naval Instructor shared a luncheon
basket with a Sub-Lieutenant and a volunteer Surgeon. Two Clerks, a
Midshipman and a Torpedo Gunner found themselves thrown together, and
at the last moment a Chaplain added himself to their company.
The last door closed and the King's Messenger, carrying his despatch
case, came limping along the platform in company with the grey-bearded
Commander in charge of the base. The King's Messenger climbed into his
carriage and the journey was resumed. Along the shores of jade-tinted
lochs, through far-stretching deer forest and grouse moor, past
brawling rivers of "snow-brew," and along the flanks of shale-strewn
hills, the "Navy Special" bore its freight of sailor-men.
No corridor connected the carriages to afford opportunities for an
interchange of visits for gossip and change of companionship. The
occupants of each compartment settled down grimly to endure the
monotony of the last stage of their journey according to the dictates
of their several temperaments.
The King's Messenger, in the seclusion of his reserved compartment,
read a novel at intervals and looked out of the window for familiar
landmarks that recalled spells of leave in pre-war days, when he
tramped on two feet through the heather behind the dogs, or, thigh deep
in some river, sent a silken line out across the peat-brown water.
In an adjoining compartment a Lieutenant of the Naval Reserve sat at
one end facing a Lieutenant of the Volunteer Reserve, while a small
Midshipman, effaced behind a magazine, occupied the other corner.
Conversation, stifled by ham sandwiches, restarted fitfully, and
flagged from train weariness. Darkness pursued the whirling landscape
and blotted it out. Sleep overtook the majority of the travellers
until the advent of tea baskets at the next stopping place revived them
to a more lively interest in life and one another.
The Reserve Lieutenant fussed over his like a woman. "I wouldn't
trouble if I never smelt whisky again," he confided to his vis-à-vis,
"but I couldn't get on without tea." He helped himself to three lumps
of sugar.
The ice thinned rapidly.
"With fresh milk," said the Volunteer Reserve man appreciatively,
pouring himself out a cup. "Eh, Jennings?"
The Midshipman, thus addressed, grinned and applied himself in silence
to a scone and jam.
"Ah," said the Reserve man with a kind of tolerance in his tone, such
as a professional might extend to the enthusiasm of an amateur in his
own trade. "Cows scarce in your job?"
"A bit," was the unruffled reply. "We've just brought a Norwegian
wind-jammer in from the South of Iceland...." He indicated with a nod
the young gentleman in the corner, who was removing traces of jam from
his left cheek. "I'm bringing the armed guard back to our base."
The Reserve man drank his tea after the manner of deep-sea sailor-men.
That is to say, you could shut your eyes and still know: he was
drinking hot tea.
"Armed Merchant-cruiser squadron?" he queried. Imperceptibly his tone
had changed. The Armed Merchant-cruisers maintain the Allied blockade
across the trade routes of the Far North: "fancy" sailor-men do not
apply for jobs in one of these amazons of the North Sea, and it takes
more than a Naval uniform to bring a suspect sailing ship many miles
into port for examination under an armed guard of four men.
The Volunteer nodded. "We had a picnic, I can tell you. It blew like
hell from the N.E., and the foretopmast--she was a barque--went like a
carrot the second day. We hove to, trying to rig a jury mast, when up
popped a Fritz."[1] The speaker laughed, a pleasant, deep laugh of
complete enjoyment. "I thought we were in for a swim that would knock
the cross-Channel record silly! However, I borrowed a suit from the
skipper--and he wasn't what you'd call fastidious in his dress
either----"
The Volunteer made a little grimace at the recollection, because he was
a man of refined tastes and raced his own yacht across the Atlantic in
peace time.
"It was too rough to board, but the submarine closed to within hailing
distance, and a little pipsqueak of a Lieutenant, nervous as a cat,
talked to us through a megaphone. Fortunately I can speak
Norwegian...."
"What about the skipper of the wind-jammer?" interrupted the other.
"He kept his mouth shut. Wasn't much in sympathy with the company that
owned the submarine, having lost a brother the month before in a
steamship shelled and sunk without warning. You can't please
everybody, it seems, when you start out to act mad in a submarine.
Well, this lad examined our papers through a glass and I chucked him a
cigar.... He hadn't had a smoke for a week. Then he sheered off,
because he saw something on the horizon that scared him. He was very
young, and, as I've said, nerves like fiddle strings."
The Reserve man lit a cigarette and inhaled a great draught of smoke.
There was something in his alert, intent expression reminiscent of a
bull terrier when he hears rats scuffling behind a wainscot.
The war has evolved specialists without number in branches of Naval
warfare hitherto unknown and unsuspected. Among these is the Submarine
Hunter. The Reserve man belonged to this type, which is simply a
reversion to the most primitive and savage of the fighting instincts.
At the first mention of the German submarine he leaned forward eagerly.
"Threw him a cigar, did you?" he said grimly. "Sorry I wasn't
there. I'd have thrown him something. That's my line of
business--Fritz-hunting."
The ribbon of the Distinguished Service Cross on the lapel of his
monkey-jacket showed that he apparently pursued this branch of sport
with some effect. "Been at it from the kick-off," he continued.
"Started with herring nets, you know!" He laughed a deep bark of
amusement. "Lord! We had a lot to learn. We began from an East Coast
fishing port, working with crazy drifters manned by East Coast
fishermen. There was a retired Admiral in charge, as tough an old
terror as ever pulled on a sea boot--and half a dozen of us all
together, some Active Service and some Reserve like me. Navy? Bless
you, _we_ were the Navy, that old Admiral and us six." The speaker
raised his voice to make plain his words above the rattle of the train.
"There was a lot of talk in the papers about Jellicoe and Beatty and
the Grand Fleet and the Battle Cruisers, but they didn't come our way
and we didn't trouble them. We had a couple of score of trawlers and
drifters and four hundred simple fishermen to cram the fear of the Lord
into. That was our job!"
He spoke with the peculiar word-sparing vividness of the man to whom
the Almighty had vouchsafed the mysterious gift of handling other men.
"Long-shore and deep-sea fishermen, good material, damned good, but
they took a lot of coaxing." He paused and contemplated his hands
resting on his knees. Scarred by frost-bite they were, with huge bones
protruding like knuckle-dusters. "Coaxing, mind you," he repeated.
"I've been chief of an Argentine cattle-boat for four years and Second
on a windjammer round the Horn for three years before that. I know
when to drive and when to coax. Never touched a man, sir." He paused,
rubbing off the moisture condensed on the window, to peer info the
night.
Here, then, was an Apostle of Naval Discipline among a community of
fishermen whose acknowledged tradition it was to get drunk when and
where it suited their inclinations, to put to sea in the top-hats of
their ancestors and return to harbour as weather or the fish dictated,
whose instinctive attitude towards strangers was about as encouraging
as that of the Solomon Islanders.
"We took 'em and trained 'em--gradually, you understand. Taught 'em to
salute the King's uniform, an' just why orders had to be obeyed:
explained it all gently"--the stupendous hand made a gesture in the air
as if stroking something. "Then after a while we moved 'em on to
something else--the Game itself, in fact--and my merry men tumbled to
it in no time. It was in their blood, I guess. They'd hunted
something all their lives, and they weren't scared because they had to
take on something a bit bigger. I tell you, after a few weeks I just
prayed for a submarine to come along and show what we could do."
The Volunteer grinned understandingly. "Well?" he said.
"We got one a week later. Just for all the world like a bloomin'
salmon. First we knew that there was one about was the _Merrie
Maggie_, one of our trawlers, blowing up. Well, I'd been over the same
spot in the morning, and there were no mines there then, so I knew our
friend wasn't far off...." The Submarine Hunter mused for a moment,
staring at his clasped hands, with the faint blue tattoo-marks showing
under the tan. "We got him at dawn--off a headland.... Oh, best bit
of sport that ever I had!" The speaker's hard grey eye softened at the
recollection. "We've got lots since, but never one as neat as that.
He just came to the surface and showed his tail-fin and----" the huge
hands made a significant downward gesture.
If you have ever heard a Regimental Bombing Officer describe the
clearing of an enemy traverse, you will understand the complete
expressiveness of that gesture.
"I'm going North now to join a new base up there. There are one or two
dodges that I can put them up to, I reckon."
The Volunteer filled and lit a pipe.
"Pretty work it sounds. Ours is duller, on the whole, but we get our
share of excitement. You never sight a steamer flying neutral colours
without the possibility of her hoisting the German ensign and slipping
a torpedo into you. That's why we introduced the Red Pendant business.
It meant inconvenience for all parties, but neutrals have only got the
Hun to thank for it."
"Never heard of it," said the other. "Fritz-hunting is my game."
"Well, you see, ever since they've tried to slip raiders through the
blockade we can't afford to close a stranger flying neutral colours
within gun or torpedo range. So we had to explain to neutrals that a
red flag hoisted by one of our merchant cruisers is the signal to heave
to instantly, and that brings her up well out of range. Then we drop a
boat and steam off and signal her to close the boat, and the boarding
officer goes on board and examines her papers. If she's got a cargo
without guarantees she's sent into one of the examination ports under
an armed guard to have it overhauled properly."
"For contraband?"
"Yes, and to see that the commodity she carries isn't in excess of the
ration allowed to the country of destination--if she's eastward bound,
that is. Also the passengers are scrutinised for suspects, and so on;
it's a big job, one way and another. That's all done by the
Examination Service at the port, though, and I don't envy them the job.
We only catch 'em and bring 'em in."
For a while longer he talked between puffs at his pipe of the "twilight
service" rendered by the Armed Merchant-cruisers. He spoke of grim
stern-chases under the Northern Lights, of perils from ice and
submarines and winter gales, while the Allied strangle-hold tightened
month by month, remorselessly, relentlessly.
"It's a peaceful sort of job, though, on the whole," he concluded.
"Nobody worries us. The public, most of 'em, don't know we exist.
Journalists don't want to come and visit us much," he chuckled. "We
don't find our way into the illustrated papers...."
"That's right," said the Submarine Hunter. "That's the way to work in
war-time. If I had my way----"
A jarring shudder ran through the train as the brakes were applied and
the speed slackened. The Reserve Man lowered the window and peered out
into the darkness. A flurry of snow drifted into the dimly lighted
carriage.
"Hallo!" he ejaculated. "We're here. Bless me, how the time goes when
one gets yarning."
The Volunteer rose and held out his hand.
"My name is Armitage," he said, and named two exclusive clubs, one in
London and the other in New York. "Look me up after the war if you
pass that way."
The Submarine Hunter took the proffered hand in his formidable grip.
"Pleased to have met you. Mine's Gedge. I don't own a club, but the
Liverpool Shipping Federation generally knows my address. And the
girls from Simonstown to Vladivostock will tell you if I've passed that
way!"
He threw back his head, displaying the muscular great throat above his
collar, and laughed like a mischievous boy.
"Good luck!" he said.
"Good hunting!" replied the Volunteer.
He turned to the Midshipman. "Come along, sonny, shake the sleep out
of your eyes and go and collect our little party."
Outside in the snowy darkness the great concourse of men was being
mustered: lanterns gleamed on wet oilskins and men's faces. Hoarse
voices and the tramp of heavy boots through the slush heralded the
passage along the platform of each draft as they were marched to the
barrier. A cold wind cut through the cheerless night like a knife.
Armitage paused for a moment to accustom his eyes to the darkness.
"Here we are, Mouldy," said a clear-cut, well-bred voice out of the
darkness surrounding a pile of luggage. "Here's our stuff. Get a
truck, old thing!"
Armitage turned in the direction of the voice: as he did so a passing
lantern flashed on the face of a Lieutenant stooping over some
portmanteaux.
"I thought as much," he said. "Thought I recognised the voice." He
stepped towards the speaker and rested his hand on his shoulder.
"James Thorogood, isn't it?" he said.
The other straightened up and peered through the darkness at the face
of the Volunteer Lieutenant. "Yes," he replied, "but it's devilish
dark--I can't----"
"I'm Armitage," said the other. Thorogood laughed. "Great Scott!" he
exclaimed. "Were you in the train? I didn't see you before----"
"Neither did I," was the reply, "but I heard your voice and recognised
it. How is Sir William?"
"Uncle Bill? Oh, he's all right. Hard at work on some comic invention
of his, as usual."
The other nodded. "Well, give him my love when you write, and tell him
I've struck the type of man he wants for that experiment of his. I'll
write to him, though. Now I must go and find my little party of
braves--bringing an armed guard back to our base. Good-bye and good
luck to you."
They shook hands, and the Volunteer half turned away. An afterthought
appeared to strike him, however, and he stopped.
"By the way," he added, "how's Miss Cecily? Well, I hope?"
"She's all right, thanks," was the reply. "I'll tell her I've seen
you."
"Will you? Yes, thank you. And will you say I--I am looking forward
to seeing her again next time I come South?"
The speaker moved away into the darkness.
At that moment appeared Mouldy Jakes, panting behind a barrow. "Who's
that old bird?" he queried.
"Another of 'em," replied Thorogood.
"'Nother of what?"
"Cecily's hopeless attachments. He's a pal of Uncle Bill's, and as
rich as Croesus. Amateur deep sea yachtsman before the war. He's
awfully gone on Cecily."
"'Counts for him hanging round your neck, I s'pose," commented the
student of human nature. "Sort of 'dweller-near-the-rose' business.
Heave that suit-case over--unless you can find any more of your
cousin's admirers sculling about the country. P'raps they'll load this
truck for us and shove it to the boat. Ah, here's Podgie!"
A moment later the King's Messenger joined the group.
"Will you all come and have supper with me at the hotel?" he said.
"It's the last meal you'll get on terra firma for some time to come.
I've got a car waiting outside."
Mouldy Jakes heaved the last of the bags on to the hand-cart and
enlisted the services of a superannuated porter drifting past in the
darkness. The King's Messenger had slipped his arm inside Thorogood's,
and the two moved on towards the barrier.
"Has your wife got a young brother?" asked Mouldy Jakes abruptly as he
and the India-rubber Man followed in the wake of the porter and the
barrow.
"Yes," replied Standish. "A lad called Joe--cadet at Dartmouth."
"Did you ever ask him to dinner--before you were engaged, I mean?"
pursued the inquisitor.
The India-rubber Man laughed.
"Well, not dinner exactly. But I went down to Osborne College once and
stood him a blow-out at the tuck-shop."
His companion nodded darkly in the direction of the King's Messenger.
"Shouldn't wonder if Thorogood was feeling like that lad Joe. Useful
fellow to travel with, Thorogood."
[1] Submarine.