A Discovery
SUB-LIEUTENANT Jack Hamerton was fairly well-informed as far as
British naval officers go, and his information regarding the island
fortress of Heligoland was fairly extensive, but he still had a lot
to learn.
He knew the history of the island from its capture by the British
from the Danes in the first decade of the nineteenth century. For
nearly ninety years Heligoland existed as a British possession, its
safety entrusted to a handful of coastguards, its ordering to a
British governor, and its spiritual welfare to a Lutheran pastor. Up
till 1850 the then pastor used regularly to offer up a prayer in the
presence of his flock that a storm might arise to cast a valuable
wreck upon the cliff-bound coast, for the Frisian inhabitants of
Heligoland were to a great extent dependent upon the unlawful harvest
of the sea.
As for the governor, his office was little more than a sinecure, once
the regulations forbidding gaming were enforced. It was said that one
of these officials was responsible for the introduction of rabbits
upon Sandy Island, in order that his guests might while away the
otherwise tedious hours by indulging in a little shooting. To-day,
where the twelve-bores of the sportsmen used to bowl over harmless
rabbits, enormous Krupp guns, on disappearing mountings, are
cunningly concealed in strongly protected pits, for Sandy Island--now
known as Sandinsel--has been artificially increased until it is
nearly twice as large in extent as Heligoland itself.
Even Heligoland has undergone a complete metamorphosis. The little
red sandstone rock, barely three-quarters of a mile in length and a
quarter of a mile in breadth, had long been threatened with
destruction by the action of the sea. Neglected under British rule,
the island seemed fated to be wiped off the map, for after every
heavy storm huge masses of sandstone would slide into the raging
waters.
But directly Heligoland became a German possession prompt steps were
taken to prevent further inroads of the ocean. The worthless rock was
destined to be one of the most powerful fortresses in the North Sea,
and a perpetual thorn in Britannia's side. Accordingly a massive sea
wall of granite was built to encircle the island and baulk the
billows of the German Ocean. This done, the work of fortifying the
island with modern weapons was begun, and had been rapidly yet
secretly carried out.
The British Government was cognizant of the fact that Krupp guns had
been mounted, presumably equivalent to the nine-inch weapons. But it
did not know that the ordnance consisted chiefly of fifteen-inch
guns, conveyed under the most elaborate conditions of secrecy to the
island.
His Majesty's Intelligence Department knew of an ammunition tunnel
piercing the island from north to west; it knew nothing of the
presence of vast artificial caves filled with oil fuel, with
discharging pipes capable of supplying a fleet of the largest
battleships with crude petroleum in the minimum of time.
The British Admiralty official charts and sailing directions gave the
depth of the anchorage in North Haven at less than four and a quarter
fathoms anywhere south of a line drawn due east of Nathurn, the
northernmost extremity of Heligoland. By the same authority the
maximum depth in South Haven, and within a mile of the Unterland, was
given as three and three-quarter fathoms. In reality, thanks to
strenuous dredging operations between the two islands, a fleet of the
deepest-draughted battleships could lie at anchor, protected from all
winds by the enormous harbour works that had sprung into existence
during the last fifteen or twenty years.
The natural features of Sandinsel Island were favourable for this
work, for stretching in a north-westerly direction for almost three
miles were a number of rocky ledges, many of their points drying at
low tide. Already the Olde Hoven Brunnen and the Krid Brunnen were
converted into firm ground faced with granite or ferro-concrete
walls, while the work of reclaiming the Witt Klif Brunnen was
actively progressing. Although Sandinsel had already outgrown its
companion isle in point of size, reclamation works were in a state of
activity at Heligoland itself. Wharves extending nearly a mile from
Sathurn--the southernmost limit of the original rock--formed an
efficient breakwater to South Haven; and the area thus enclosed had
been adapted for the purpose of berthing twenty submarines and eighty
first-class torpedo boats and destroyers attached to the Heligoland
command.
The submarines were the latest creations of the renowned Krupp
Germania yard--large, speedy, and capable of operating within a
thousand miles of their base without having to be dependent upon
fresh supplies of gasoline. Submerged, they could travel a distance
that would bring them within striking range of any port on the east
coast of Great Britain. They were armed, in addition to the four
torpedo tubes, with two fourteen-pounders on disappearing mountings,
and, as Hamerton had discovered, with high-angle pneumatic guns, so
as to be able, even when submerged, to attack aircraft with a great
possibility of success.
Undoubtedly the new Heligoland was a strong fortress for defence. It
was more: it was a base for offence, for why were ocean-going
destroyers and submarines stationed there if their sole duty was to
defend the comparatively short stretch of coast line that forms the
German Empire's bulwark on the North Sea?
Heligoland, like the newly created fortresses of Borkum and
Westerland Sylt, was a menace, directed principally against Great
Britain and the British Empire.
And by a strange freak of navigation the _Diomeda_ had dropped anchor
in South Haven. Possibly had the lighthouse been showing its powerful
light Hamerton might have picked up his position even in the thick,
drizzling rain; but, in accordance with notices supplied to mariners
by the German Admiralty, the light was extinguished whenever night
operations were in progress in the vicinity of Heligoland. The
leading lights on Sandinsel and the lamps at the extremities of the
Moles had likewise been temporarily discontinued; yet in spite of
these disadvantages, the German authorities had the mortification of
knowing that a small craft, unpiloted and unseen, had crept up to the
anchorage in the dead of night.
On the face of it there could be no other explanation than that the
crew of the yacht were spies. The failure on their part to show a
light under the bowsprit by night, or hoist their national ensign to
the masthead by day, was in itself suspicious; and, left to their own
resources in their temporary prison, Hamerton and Detroit agreed that
the action of the German authorities was to a certain extent
justifiable.
"Directly we explain matters to the commandant we'll be released,"
said Hamerton; "but I don't see the fun of having to give
explanations to that arrogant sweep of a major."
"Nor I," added Detroit. "And I guess I'd just like to have half a
dozen rounds with that yellow-haired lieutenant. I'll bet the other
fellow is having a high old time rummaging our belongings."
The Sub did not reply. Again the thought of what might happen if the
compromising Schwartz-Kopff torpedo book were discovered flashed
across his mind. He almost wished that he had tossed the thing
overboard, for he had not had an opportunity of reading it and
committing the salient facts to memory, and its recovery by the
German authorities would mean not only that the information was lost
to the British Admiralty, but that the crew of the _Diomeda_ would be
placed in a very awkward predicament.
"It's real rotten being hung up here," continued the American. "See,
the sun is shining again." He pointed towards the single-barred
window four feet above their heads, through which the sunshine was
streaming brilliantly. Even as he spoke the shaft of light was
suddenly obscured, and a dull whirring sound came from without.
"Here, give me a leg up!" exclaimed the Sub. "Bend down, and I'll get
upon your back."
Detroit immediately complied, and with considerable agility Hamerton
clambered on to his friend's shoulders.
With hardly an effort the muscular American stood upright, in spite
of the Sub's bulky proportions, and Hamerton was able to grasp the
bars of the window and look out.
He was not disappointed in what he saw. An enormous military Zeppelin
had just descended, and was being guided by several hundred soldiers
along the sandy stretch between the Unterland and the sea. The
afterpart, with the twin propellers and rearmost nacelle, was alone
visible from the Sub's outlook. The car contained a Krupp
seven-point-five-centimetres automatic gun, firing twelve-pounder
shrapnel shells specially intended for use against hostile
aeroplanes. At a range of four thousand yards the flying portions of
the shell covered a radius of twenty yards, while the disturbance of
the air caused by the explosion of the projectile was calculated to
imperil the equilibrium of any heavier-than-air craft within a
hundred yards of the point of detonation.
On the upper side of the rounded aluminium envelope was a small
platform on which stood another automatic gun on a vertical mounting,
so as to be able to fire at any aeroplane that might venture to
assail the Zeppelin from above.
To each of these platforms were attached two small cigar-shaped
ballonettes, fitted with life-lines. These were obviously intended to
act as aerial life-buoys should disaster overtake this mammoth of the
air; but what struck Hamerton most forcibly was the sight of a couple
of officers standing in the rearmost nacelle and actually smoking
cigarettes.
"These fellows have a supreme faith in the nonporosity of their
gasbag," he thought. "With that immense volume of hydrogen, and the
fate of previous Zeppelins in their minds, I am surprised that they
dare risk such a thing. I wonder if they've discovered another gas of
the same or greater lifting-power than hydrogen? Or perhaps some of
the German savants have found a means of rendering hydrogen
non-inflammable. I'd like to find out, by Jove!"
The Zeppelin came to a standstill with her nose almost touching the
Waalhorn monument, and her tail within a few feet of the disused
lifeboat slip. With the utmost celerity several lengths of hose were
coupled up, and the work of replenishing the petrol tanks was begun.
The two officers who were smoking descended from the nacelle and
walked away in the direction of the Oberland, a mechanic gave the
signal, the hoses began to swell, and the liquid, under the force of
gravity, poured into the storage tanks.
The sound of approaching footsteps caused Hamerton somewhat
reluctantly to descend. Detroit, red in the face, had already begun
to realize that, muscular though he was, the Sub's weight could not
be borne with equanimity.
The door was unlocked and thrown open. A file of marines with
side-arms entered, headed by a sergeant. Without a word the men
surrounded the two prisoners; the non-commissioned officer pointed
meaningly towards the open door.
Through the cleanly kept streets of the Unterland the two comrades
were hurried, then up the zigzag path communicating with the plateau
known as the Oberland, where the larger portion of the residential
buildings was situated. Hamerton recognized the old and the new
lighthouses and the Bull Beacon from sketches on the Admiralty chart;
but he was somewhat surprised to find that even in the short journey
between the Unterland and the Government House there were no less
than ten large guns in armoured casemates, searchlights galore, and a
network of ammunition lines, on which ran trucks actuated by electric
power.
In front of the Government House stood a lofty flagpole, from which
fluttered the German national ensign. One thing he remarked was that
every passer-by saluted the emblem of the Mailed Fist.
"Guess I'll bet you a dollar we're free in less than twenty minutes,"
said Detroit to his comrade, as they were marched up the stone path
towards the commandant's dwelling.
Before Hamerton could make any remark, one of the hitherto silent and
stolid marines turned his brass-helmeted head and added: "I don't
tink!"