ADRIFT
The great naval battle of Jutland was over.
The British fleet now had given up pursuit of the fleeing Germans and
Vice-Admiral Beatty paused to take stock of his losses; and they were
enormous.
Three great battle cruisers had gone to the bottom--the _Queen Mary_,
of 27,000 tons; the _Indefatigable_, of 18,750 tons, and the
_Invincible_, of 17,250 tons. Cruisers lost included the _Defense_, of
14,600 tons; the _Black Prince_; of 13,550 tons, and the _Warrior_, of
13,550 tons. The giant battle cruiser _Marlborough,_ of 27,500 tons,
had been badly damaged, as had the _Lion_ and other vessels. The
destroyers _Tipperary, Turbulent, Nestore, Alcaster, Fortune, Sparrow
Hawk, Ardent_ and _Shark_ had been sunk. Total losses ran high into the
millions and in the number of men above 7,000.
The German losses had been less, but nevertheless, taking into
consideration damage done to the effectiveness of the two fleets as a
whole, the enemy had sustained the harder blow. The British fleet still
maintained control of the North Sea, while the Germans, because of
their losses, had been deprived of a large part of the fighting
strength of their fleet. The British, in spite of their heavier losses,
would recover more quickly than could the enemy.
The dreadnaught _Westphalen_ was the largest ship lost by the Germans.
It was of 18,600 tons. The three German battleships lost, the
_Pommern_, the _Freiderich_ and the _Frauenlob_, were each of 13,350
tons. Four battle cruisers had been sent to the bottom. They were the
_Elbing_, the _Essen_, the _Lutzow_ and the _Hindenburg_, each of
14,400 tons. The German losses in torpedo destroyers had been
particularly heavy, an even dozen having been sent to the bottom.
Besides this, the enemy had lost three submarines and two Zeppelin
airships, besides a number of smaller aircraft. In men the Germans had
lost slightly less than the British.
And so both British and Germans counted the battle a victory; the
Germans because in total tonnage sunk they had the best of it; the
British, because they held the scene of battle when the fighting was
over and because the enemy had retired.
But, no matter with which side rested the victory, there was no
gainsaying the fact that the battle of Jutland was the greatest naval
struggle of all time.
After giving up pursuit of the enemy, the British withdrew. Damage to
the various vessels was repaired as well as could be done at sea and
the ships in need of a more thorough overhauling steamed for England,
where they would go into dry-dock. The bulk of the British fleet,
however, still in perfect fighting trim, again took up the task of
patrolling the North Sea, that no German vessels might make their
escape from the fortress of Heligoland, for which point the enemy
headed immediately after the battle.
In spite of the severe losses of the Germans, the return of the high
sea fleet to Heligoland was marked by a grand ovation by the civil
population. Various reports were circulated on the island, and all
through Germany for that matter. One report had it that the entire
British fleet had been sent to the bottom; and Berlin, and all Germany,
rejoiced.
But as time passed and the German fleet still remained secure behind
its fortifications, the German people began to realize that the victory
had not been so great as they had been led to believe. They knew they
had been fooled; and they vented their anger in many ways.
Street riots occurred in Berlin and in others of the large cities. The
people demanded to be told the facts. Later they were told, in a
measure, but even then they were denied the whole truth. So conditions
in the central empires grew from bad to worse.
Jack and Frank, struggling in the water where they had been hurled by
the collision of the _Queen Mary_ and the _Indefatigable_, were glad of
the company of Harris, who had bobbed up so suddenly alongside of them
in the darkness.
Harris greeted Jack's exclamation of surprise with a grin.
"Yes; it's me," he replied, discarding his grammar absolutely; "and I'm
glad to see you fellows again. Question is, what are we going to do
now?"
"Well, you know as much about it as I do," declared Jack. "I haven't
any idea how far we are from shore, but I am afraid it is farther than
we can swim."
All three cast their eyes over the water. There was not a spar nor
other piece of wreckage in sight. But Jack made out a few moments
later, some distance to the east, what appeared to be a ship of some
sort. He called the attention of the others to it.
"Suppose we might as well head in that direction, then," declared
Harris.
"Right," agreed Frank.
He struck out vigorously and the others did the same.
It was a long ways to that little speck on the water and the lads knew
that if the vessel were moving away from them they probably would be
lost. But at that distance the vessel seemed to be stationary, so they
did not give up hope.
Half an hour later Frank exclaimed: "We're making headway. Ship must be
standing still."
"Well, I wish it would come this way," declared Harris. "We're still a
long way from safety."
"It's probably a German, anyhow," said Jack, "so if we are rescued it
will be only to be made prisoners."
"That's better than being made shark bait," said Harris; "and, by the
way, speaking of sharks, I have heard that there were many of them in
these waters."
Frank shuddered; for he had a wholesome disgust for the man eaters.
"Hope they don't smell us," he said.
"And so do I," agreed Jack. "We couldn't hope to fight them off, for we
have no arms."
"I've got a knife," said Harris, "but I am afraid I wouldn't know what
to do with it should a shark get after me."
The three became silent, saving all their strength for swimming.
An hour later they had drawn close to the vessel.
"It's a German all right," said Jack, regretfully.
"Any port in a storm," said Harris. "That talk of shark a while back
made me feel sort of squeamish. I want to get out of this water."
They continued to swim toward the ship.
"Wonder what's the matter on board?" exclaimed Frank, suddenly.
They had approached close enough now to see men rushing hurriedly about
the deck. Hoarse commands carried across the water, though the words
were unintelligible to the three swimmers at that distance.
"Something wrong," said Jack, quietly.
"That's what I call hard luck," declared Frank. "Here we think we have
reached a place of safety and something goes wrong."
"Don't cry till you're hurt, youngster," said Harris, quietly. "The
ship is there and we're pretty close to it. Those fellows aboard,
German or English, are bound to lend us a hand."
"I'm not so sure about that," declared Frank.
"Well, I am," said Harris. "The German sailor is all right. It's the
German officer who makes all the trouble. They'll help us if they can."
The three swimmers were a short distance from the ship now.
Jack raised his voice in a shout.
"Help!" he cried in German.
There was no move aboard the German vessel to indicate that the lad's
cry had been heard.
"Told you so," said Frank.
"Don't cry too soon, youngster," said Harris. "We'll try it again, and
all yell together."
They did and this time their cries were heard.
Several men aboard the German vessel stopped their rushing about and
gazed across the sea in the direction of the swimmers. One man produced
a glass and levelled it in their direction. Then he turned to the
others and they could be seen to gesticulate excitedly.
"One wants to save us and the others don't," declared Frank.
For some moments the men continued to argue. One shook his finger in
the faces of the others and pointed in the direction of the swimmers.
"You're all right," declared Frank, speaking of the one man. "Wish I
were there to lend you a hand. But I'm afraid the others are too much
for you."
At this juncture the man who opposed the others produced a revolver and
made an angry gesture. He was ordering the others to the aid of the
three friends in the water.
"By Jove!" said Harris. "He's all right. I'd like to be able to do him
a good turn."
And the chance was to come sooner than he expected.
Apparently the men aboard the German vessel had decided to obey the
order of the man who would save the three swimmers. A boat was lowered
over the side.
Three men stood ready to leap into it. The hopes of the three friends
in the water rose high; but they were shattered a moment later in a
sudden and unexpected manner.
A dull rumbling roar came suddenly across the water. Instantly all
became confusion aboard the German vessel. Officers shouted hoarse
commands and struck out with the flat of their swords as members of the
crew rushed for the rails.
"An explosion!" cried Frank. "Swim back quickly."
The others understood the significance of that strange rumbling aboard
the German vessel as quickly as Frank, and turning rapidly, they struck
out as fast as they could.
An explosion such as that dull roar indicated could have but one result
and the lads knew it. Evidently there had been a fire on board--that
accounted for the strange activities of the men on the ship--and the
flames had reached the vessel's magazine.
A second and a louder roar came now. Men jumped into the sea by the
scores and struck out vigorously that they might not be pulled under by
the suction when the ship sank.
Then there came an explosion even louder than the rest. The great ship
parted in the middle as though cut by a knife. A huge tongue of flame
shot high in the air. Hoarse cries from aboard, screams and frightful
yells. Split in twain, the vessel settled fore and aft.
A second huge tongue of flame leaped into the sky; and then the vessel
disappeared beneath the sea.
Giant waves leaped in the direction taken by Jack, Frank and Harris.
The sea churned angrily about them and the three had all they could do
to keep their heads above water. Then the water calmed down. Frank
looked around and there, not fifty feet away, rolling gently on the
waves, was the small boat so recently lowered over the side of the
German vessel.
With a cry to the others to follow him, Frank turned about and headed
for the boat with powerful strokes.