That, as I learned, is one of the greatest dangers of the submarine. Of
course, we have all been told it many times, but when the thing is once
experienced it is truly appreciated, and not until then. The approach
of the submarine is more insidious than the taste for absinthe.
There is merely that little white wave only occasionally to be
seen--the white water curling around the periscope--and with the
sea running at all high there would be no white wave that could be
distinguished from the white tops of the other waves. Then, if the
submarine chooses to remain near the surface one can after a long time
of very close study make out the periscope as a very small stick, like
a piece of lath, poking up out of the water. But it only sticks up a
little more than a foot when it is the most willing to be seen, while
if, as in our case, it is not willing to be seen, the submarine, having
located its prey, dives deeper and all trace of it is lost, the next
thing being a torpedo coming from an entirely different point on the
horizon.
Our officers were experts at watching for submarines, and though the
little white wave made by the periscope disappeared, they caught the
white wake of the torpedo coming toward the port quarter and sheered
off to escape it. The torpedo passed harmlessly by our stern, but the
adventure was not ended, for hardly a minute later we heard a shot from
off the starboard quarter and, turning in that direction, saw that the
submarine had come to the surface and was busily firing at us to bring
us to.
We stopped without any foolish waste of time in argument. I asked if a
boat would be sent to us, or if we would have to get our boat.
"They carry a small folding boat," said the officer to whom I had been
talking, "but we will have to send our boat."
While we were getting our boat over the side, the submarine moved
closer in, keeping her gun bearing on us all the time, most
uncomfortably. The gun stood uncovered on the deck, just abaft the
turret. It was thickly coated with grease to protect it when the vessel
submerged. It is only the very latest type of submarines that have
disappearing guns which go under cover when the vessel submerges and
are fired from within the ship, which makes all the more surprising the
speed with which a submarine can come to the surface, the men get out
on deck, fire the gun, get in again and the vessel once more submerge.