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Transcriber’s note:
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See transcriber’s note at the end of the book.
Q-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY
* * * * * *
BOOKS ON THE SEA BY
E. KEBLE CHATTERTON
_HISTORICAL_
SAILING SHIPS AND THEIR STORY
SHIPS AND WAYS OF OTHER DAYS
FORE AND AFT: THE STORY OF THE FORE AND AFT RIG
STEAMSHIPS AND THEIR STORY
THE ROMANCE OF THE SHIP
THE STORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY
KING’s CUTTERS AND SMUGGLERS
THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY
THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN
_CRUISES_
DOWN CHANNEL IN THE “VIVETTE”
THROUGH HOLLAND IN THE “VIVETTE”
* * * * * *
[Illustration: Q-SAILING SHIP “MITCHELL”
This was one of the most famous of all the Q-ships and rendered
splendid service. The dummy deck-house on the poop concealed the after
gun (see p. 67).
_Frontispiece._]
Q-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY
by
E. KEBLE CHATTERTON
Author of “Sailing Ships and Their Story,”
Late Lieutenant-Commander R.N.V.R.
London
Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd.
3, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
1922
TO
ADMIRAL SIR LEWIS BAYLY,
C.V.O., K.C.B., K.C.M.G.,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE IRISH COAST DURING THE STRENUOUS YEARS OF
THE SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN, WHO BY HIS ENCOURAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF
THE Q-SHIP SERVICE DID SO MUCH TO THWART THE OPERATIONS OF THE ENEMY
AND TO PROTECT OUR MERCANTILE MARINE
PREFACE
The wonderful and brave story of ships and men here presented needs
but the briefest introduction. The deeds will forever remain one of
the most glorious chapters in the chronicles of the sea. No excuse is
offered for adding another volume to the literature of the war, for
the subject is deserving of greater attention than has hitherto been
possible. Lord Jellicoe once remarked that he did not think English
people realized the wonderful work which these mystery ships had done
in the war, and that in these vessels there had been displayed a spirit
of endurance, discipline, and courage the like of which the world had
never before seen.
To few naval historians, I believe, has it ever been permitted to
enjoy such complete opportunities for acquiring authentic information
as is here presented. Unquestionably the greatest sphere of Q-ship
operations was off the south-west coast of Ireland, owing to the fact
that the enemy submarines from the summer of 1915 to 1918 concentrated
their attacks, with certain intervals, on the shipping in the western
approaches to the British Isles. It was my good fortune during most of
this period to be at sea patrolling off that part of Ireland. These
Q-ships were therefore familiar in their various disguises at sea or
in harbour at Berehaven and Queenstown during their well-earned rest.
Throughout this time I kept a diary, and noted down much that would
otherwise have been forgotten. Many of the Q-ship officers were my
personal friends, and I have enjoyed the hospitality of their ships.
Valuable data, too, were obtained from officers of merchant ships who
witnessed Q-ships engaging submarines.
A considerable number of authentic manuscripts has been examined. By
the courtesy of commanding officers I have been lent documents of
priceless historical value, such as copies of official reports and
private diaries, plans, sketches, photographs, and so on. All this
information has been further augmented by personal conversation,
correspondence, and valuable criticism. I submit, therefore, that with
all these sources of information available, and with knowledge of much
that has been published from the German side, it is possible to offer a
monograph that is at once accurate in detail and correct in perspective.
‘With respect to single-ship actions,’ wrote James in his monumental
Naval History a hundred years ago, ‘the official documents of them
are also very imperfect. The letters are generally written an hour or
so after the termination of the contest, and, of course, before the
captain has well recovered from the fatigue and flurry it occasioned.
Many captains are far more expert at the sword than at the pen, and
would sooner fight an action than write the particulars of one.’
That statement is true to-day of the Q-ships, and it would have been
negligent not to have availed oneself now of the calm and considered
version of the chief actors in the great mystery-ship drama while they
are still alive. Although the time for secrecy has long since passed,
nothing has here been included of a confidential nature that can be of
assistance to enemies past or potential. In one instance, for political
reasons and in the interests of the service, I have made a certain
omission. Those concerned will recognize this and understand: the rest
will not notice it.
Among those who have rendered me the greatest assistance in regard to
information, advice, criticism, the loan of manuscripts, illustrations,
and in other ways, I desire especially to return thanks to Admiral Sir
Lewis Bayly, C.V.O., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., and Miss Voysey, C.B.E.; to
Captain F. H. Grenfell, D.S.O., R.N., Captain Gordon Campbell, V.C.,
D.S.O., R.N., Captain W. C. O’G. Cochrane, R.N., Commander Godfrey
Herbert, D.S.O., R.N., Commander Stopford C. Douglas, R.N., and to
Lieutenant G. H. P. Muhlhauser, R.N.R.
E. KEBLE CHATTERTON.
_March, 1922._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE HOUR AND THE NEED 1
II. THE BEGINNING OF SUCCESS 13
III. Q-SHIP ENTERPRISE 26
IV. THE STORY OF THE ‘FARNBOROUGH’ 39
V. THE ‘MYSTERY’ SAILING SHIPS 52
VI. THE ‘MARY B. MITCHELL’ 67
VII. MORE SAILING SHIPS 77
VIII. SUBMARINES AND Q-SHIP TACTICS 92
IX. THE SPLENDID ‘PENSHURST’ 109
X. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 132
XI. THE GOOD SHIP ‘PRIZE’ 143
XII. SHIPS AND ADVENTURES 158
XIII. MORE SAILING-SHIP FIGHTS 177
XIV. THE SUMMIT OF Q-SHIP SERVICE 192
XV. LIFE ON BOARD A Q-SHIP 213
XVI. Q-SHIPS EVERYWHERE 228
XVII. SHIPS OF ALL SIZES 242
XVIII. THE LAST PHASE 255
INDEX 273
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Q-Sailing-Ship _Mitchell_ _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
An Early Q-Ship (_Antwerp_) 6
Q-Ship _Antwerp_ 6
Commander S. C. Douglas, R.N. 8
Commander G. Herbert, D.S.O., R.N. 8
Q-Ship _Antwerp_ 12
Gun’s Crew of Q-Ship _Antwerp_ 12
Q-Ship _Redbreast_ 22
Q-Ship _Baralong_ 22
Q-Ship _Baralong_ (Two Illustrations) 28
Officers of Q-Ship _Farnborough_ 42
Captain Gordon Campbell and Lieutenant C. G. Bonner 42
Q-Sailing-Ship _Mitchell_ 68
Q-Ship _Penshurst_ 114
Q-Ship _Penshurst_ (Two Illustrations) 116
Q-Ship _Penshurst_ (Two Illustrations) 120
Captain and Officers of Q-Ship _Penshurst_ 124
Men of Q-Ship _Penshurst_ 124
Q-Ship _Tulip_ 138
Q-Ship _Tamarisk_ 138
Q-Ship _Candytuft_ 174
Q-Ship _Candytuft_ 176
Q-Sailing-Ship _Fresh Hope_ 188
Q-Ship _Record Reign_ 188
Q-Sailing-Ship _Rentoul_ 190
Q-Sailing-Ship _Rentoul_ (Gun Crew) 190
The Master of the Collier _Farnborough_ 192
Q-Ship _Farnborough_ 192
Q-Ship _Farnborough_ 194
Q-Ship _Farnborough_ 196
S.S. _Lodorer_ 196
Q-Ship _Pargust_ 198
Q-Ship _Sarah Jones_ 198
Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 200
Bridge of Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 202
After the Battle 204
_Dunraven_ Doomed 206
Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 208
Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 212
Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 214
Officers and Crew of the Q-Ship _Dunraven_ 216
Q-Ship _Barranca_ (Two Illustrations) 220
Q-Ship _Barranca_ (Two Illustrations) 222
Q-Ship Transformation 234
Q-Ship _Barranca_ at Sea 234
DIAGRAMS, ETC., IN THE TEXT.
FIG. PAGE
1. Action of _Baralong_ on August 19, 1915 21
2. Action of _Baralong_ on September 24, 1915 27
3. Action of _Margit_ on January 17, 1916 34
4. Action of _Werribee_ on February 9, 1916 37
5. Action of _Farnborough_ on April 15, 1916 45
6. Action of _Helgoland_ on October 24, 1916 63
7. Action of _Salvia_ on October 20, 1916 99
8. Action of _Saros_ on November 3, 1916 103
9. Action of _Penshurst_ on November 29, 1916 110
10. Action of _Penshurst_ on November 30, 1916 113
11. Action of _Penshurst_ on January 14, 1917 118
12. The Humorous Side of Q-Ship Warfare 127
13. _Farnborough’s_ Farewell 196
14. Action of _Pargust_ on June 7, 1917 201
15. The Great Decision 208
16. Letter from the First Lord of the Admiralty
to Captain Gordon Campbell 210
‘The necessitie of a Historie is, as of a Sworne Witnesse, to say the
truth (in just discretion) and nothing but the truth.’
SAMUEL PURCHAS in ‘_Purchas His Pilgrimes_,’ 1625.
Q-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY
CHAPTER I
THE HOUR AND THE NEED
All warfare is merely a contest. In any struggle you see the clashing
of will and will, of force against force, of brain against brain. For
the impersonal reader it is this contest which has a never-ending
interest. A neutral is just as keenly entertained as the playgoer who
sits watching the swaying fortunes of the hero in the struggle of the
drama. No human being endowed with sympathetic interest, who himself
has had to contend with difficulties, fails to be moved by the success
or disaster of the contestants in a struggle of which the spectator
has no part or lot. If this were not so, neutral newspapers would
cease to chronicle the wars of other nations, novels would cease to be
published, and plays to be produced.
Human nature, then, being what it is, man loves to watch his fellow-man
fighting, struggling against men or fate or circumstances. The harder
the fight and the nearer he is to losing, so much the more is the
spectator thrilled. This instinct is developed most clearly in youth:
hence juvenile fiction is one mass of struggles, adventures, and narrow
escapes. But the instinct never dies, and how few of us can resist
the temptation to read the exciting experiences of some entirely
fictional character who rushes from one perilous situation to another?
Is there a human being who, going along the street, would not stop to
watch a burglar being chased over roofs and chimney-pots by police? If
you have once become interested in a certain trial at the law courts,
are you not eager to know whether the prisoner has been acquitted or
convicted? You despise him for his character, yet you are fascinated
by his adventures, his struggles, his share in the particular drama,
his fight against heavy odds; and, contrary to your own inherent sense
of justice, you almost hope he will be acquitted. In a word, then, we
delight in having before us the adventures of our fellow humanity,
partly for the exciting pleasure which these arouse in us, but partly
also because they make us wonder what we should have done in a similar
set of circumstances. In such vital, critical moments should we have
played the hero, or should we have fallen somehow a little short?
The following pages are an attempt to place before the reader a series
of sea struggles which are unique, in that they had no precedent in
naval history. If you consider all the major and minor sea fights
from the earliest times to the present day; if you think of fleet
actions, and single-ship contests, you cannot surpass the golden story
of the Q-ships. As long as people take any interest in the untamed
sea, so will these exploits live, not rivalling but surpassing the
greatest deeds of even the Elizabethan seamen. During the late war
their exploits were, for very necessary reasons, withheld from the
knowledge of the public. The need for secrecy has long since passed,
and it is high time that a complete account of these so-called ‘mystery
ships’ should be published, not merely for the perpetuation of their
wonderful achievements, but for the inspiration of the new race of
seamen whose duty it will be to hand on the great tradition of the sea.
For, be it remembered, the Q-ship service was representative of every
species of seamen. There were officers and men of the Royal Navy both
active and retired, of the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunteer
Reserve, and men from the Royal Fleet Reserve. From warship, barracks,
office, colony, pleasure yacht, fishing vessel, liner, sailing ship,
tramp steamer, and elsewhere these seafarers went forth in unarmoured,
slow-moving, lightly-armed vessels to perform the desperate adventure
of acting as live-bait for a merciless enemy. It was an exploit
calling for supreme bravery, combined with great fighting skill, sound
seamanship, and a highly developed imagination. The successes which
were attained were brought about by just this combination, so that
the officers, especially the commanding officers, and the men had
to be hand-picked. The slow-reasoning, hesitating type of being was
useless in a Q-ship; equally out of place would have been the wild,
hare-brained, dashing individual whose excess of gallantry would
simply mean the loss of ship and lives. In the ideal Q-ship captain
was found something of the virtues of the cleverest angler, the most
patient stalker, the most enterprising big-game hunter, together with
the attributes of a cool, unperturbed seaman, the imagination of a
sensational novelist, and the plain horse-sense of a hard business man.
In two words, the necessary endowment was brains and bravery. It was
easy enough to find at least one of these in hundreds of officers, but
it was difficult to find among the many volunteers a plucky fighter
with a brilliant intellect. It is, of course, one of the happy results
of sea training that officer or man learns to think and act quickly
without doing foolish things. The handling of a ship in bad weather,
or in crowded channels, or a strong tideway, or in going alongside
a quay or other ship—all this practice makes a sailor of the man,
makes him do the one and only right thing at the right second. But it
needed ‘something plus’ in the Q-ship service. For six months, for a
year, she might have wandered up and down the Atlantic, all over the
submarine zone, with never a sight of the enemy, and then, all of a
sudden, a torpedo is seen rushing straight for the ship. The look-out
man has reported it, and the officer of the watch has caused the man at
the wheel to port his helm just in time to allow the torpedo to pass
harmlessly under the ship’s counter. It was the never-ceasing vigilance
and the cool appreciation of the situation which had saved the ship.
But the incident is only beginning. The next stage is to lure the
enemy on, to entice him, using your own ship as the bait. It may be
one hour or one day later, perhaps at dusk, or when the moon gets up,
or at dawn, but it is very probable that the submarine will invisibly
follow you and attack at the most awkward time. The hours of suspense
are trying; watch has succeeded watch, yet nothing happens. The weather
changes from good to bad; it comes on thick, it clears up again, and
the clouds cease to obliterate the sun. Then, apparently from nowhere,
shells come whizzing by, and begin to hit. At last in the distance
you see the low-lying enemy engaging you with both his guns, firing
rapidly, and keeping discreetly out of your own guns’ range. Already
some of your men have been knocked out; the ship has a couple of bad
holes below the water-line, and the sea is pouring through. To add
to the anxiety a fire is reported in the forecastle, and the next
shell has made rather a mess of the funnel. What are you going to do?
Are you going to keep on the bluff of pretending you are an innocent
merchantman, or are you going to run up the White Ensign, let down the
bulwarks, and fire your guns the moment the enemy comes within range
and bearing? How much longer is it possible to play with him in the
hope that he will be fooled into doing just what you would like him
to do? If your ship is sinking, will she keep afloat just long enough
to enable you to give the knock-out blow as the inquiring enemy comes
alongside? These are the crucial questions which have to be answered by
that one man in command of the ship, who all the time finds his bridge
being steadily smashed to pieces by the enemy’s fire.
‘If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting ...’
then, one may definitely assert, you have in you much that goes to the
making of an ideal Q-ship captain and a brave warrior. As such you
might make a first-class commanding officer of a destroyer, a light
cruiser, or even a battleship; but something more is required. The
enemy is artful; you must be super-artful. You must be able to look
across the tumbling sea into his mind behind the conning tower. What
are his intentions? What will be his next move? Take in by a quick
mental calculation the conditions of wind, wave, and sun. Pretend to
run away from him, so that you get these just right. Put your ship
head on to sea, so that the enemy with his sparse freeboard is being
badly washed down and his guns’ crews are thinking more of their
wet feet and legs than of accurate shooting. Then, when you see him
submerging, alter course quickly, reckon his probable position by the
time you have steadied your ship on her course, and drop a series of
depth-charges over his track. ‘If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds’ worth of distance, run’; if you have acted with
true seamanship and sound imagination, you will presently see bits of
broken wreckage, the boil of water, quantities of oil, perhaps a couple
of corpses; and yours is the U-boat below, my son, and a D.S.O.; and a
thousand pounds in cash to be divided amongst the crew; and you’re a
man, my son!
That, in a few phrases, is the kind of work, and shows the
circumstances of the Q-ship in her busiest period. As we set forth
her wonderful story, so gallant, so sad, so victorious, and yet so
nerve-trying, we shall see all manner of types engaged in this great
adventure; but we cannot appreciate either the successes or losses
until we have seen the birth and growth of the Q-ship idea. As this
volume is the first effort to present the subject historically, we
shall begin at the beginning by showing the causes which created
the Q-ship. We shall see the consecutive stages of development and
improvement, the evolution of new methods, and, indeed we may at once
say it, of a new type of super-seamen. How did it all begin?
[Illustration: AN EARLY Q-SHIP
Q-ship “Antwerp” entering Harwich harbour.]
[Illustration: Q-SHIP “ANTWERP”
Commander Herbert is on the port side of the bridge, the Mercantile
Chief Officer and Quartermaster being in the foreground.
To face p. 6]
Turn your attention back to the autumn of 1914. It was the sinking of
the three _Cressys_ on September 22 by U 9 that taught Germany what a
wonderful weapon of offence she had in the submarine. Five days later
the first German submarine penetrated the Dover Straits. This was
U 18, who actually attacked the light cruiser _Attentive_. But it
was not until October 20 that the first merchant ship, the British
S.S. _Glitra_ in the North Sea, was sunk by a submarine. Six days
later the French S.S. _Amiral Ganteaume_, with Belgian refugees, was
attacked by a German submarine. A month passed, and on November 23
the S.S. _Malachite_ was attacked by U 21, and after being on fire
sank. Three days later the S.S. _Primo_ was sunk also by U 21. It was
thus perfectly clear that we had before us a most difficult submarine
campaign to contend with, and that merchant ships would not be immune.
On the last day of October H.M.S. _Hermes_ was torpedoed off Calais,
and on November 11 H.M.S. _Niger_ had a similar fate near Deal.
[Illustration: COMMANDER S. C. DOUGLAS, R. N.
When serving in the Q-ship “Antwerp,” wearing a false moustache and
disguised as an English commercial traveller.]
[Illustration: COMMANDER G. HERBERT, D.S.O., R.N.
Taken on the bridge of the Q-ship “Antwerp,” disguised as a Dutch pilot
with a wig.
To face p. 8]
What was to be done? The creation of what eventually became known as
the Auxiliary Patrol, with its ever increasing force of armed yachts,
trawlers, drifters, and motor craft; the use of destroyers and our own
submarines formed part of the scheme. But even at this early stage
the Q-ship idea came into being, though not actually under that name.
Officially she was a special-service ship, whose goings and comings
were so mysterious that even among service men such craft were spoken
of in great secrecy as mystery ships. This first mystery ship was the
S.S. _Vittoria_, who was commissioned on November 29, 1914. She had
all the appearance of an ordinary merchant ship, but she was armed,
and went on patrol in the area where submarines had been reported. It
was an entirely novel idea, and very few people knew anything about
her. She never had any luck, and was paid off early in January, 1915,
without ever having so much as sighted a submarine. The idea of decoy
ships suggested itself to various naval officers during December,
1914, and their suggestions reached the Admiralty. The basic plan
was for the Admiralty to take up a number of merchantmen and fishing
craft, arm them with a few light quick-firing guns, and then send them
forth to cruise in likely submarine areas, flying neutral colours.
This was perfectly legitimate under International Law, provided that
before opening fire on the enemy the neutral colours were lowered and
the White Ensign was hoisted. Seeing that the enemy was determined
to sink merchantmen, the obvious reply was to send against them
armed merchantmen, properly commissioned and armed, but outwardly
resembling anything but a warship. Thus it came about that on January
27, 1915, the second decoy ship was commissioned. This was the Great
Eastern Railway S.S. _Antwerp_ (originally called _Vienna_), which
operated in the English Channel. She was placed under the command of
Lieut.-Commander Godfrey Herbert, R.N., one of the most experienced and
able officers of our submarine service. The choice was a happy one, for
a submarine officer would naturally in his stalking be able to realize
at once the limitations and possibilities of his opponent. It was a
most difficult task, for the U-boats at this time were still very shy,
and only took on certainties. Neither in boats nor in personnel had
Germany yet any to spare, and there were periods when the submarine
campaign fluctuated. Thus, day after day, week after week, went by,
and _Antwerp_ never had any chance. The enemy was now beginning to
operate further afield, and at the end of January, 1915, for the first
time, a U-boat made its way up the Irish Sea as far as off Liverpool,
and then, on February 18, was inaugurated the German Submarine
Blockade. Shipping began to be sunk in various places, but the western
end of the English Channel was now a favourite zone, especially in the
neighbourhood of the Scillies; and it was with the hope of being taken
for a merchant ship that _Antwerp_ had come out from Falmouth and made
her way westward. Thus, on March 12, we see her, about three o’clock
in the afternoon, twelve miles north of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse.
A submarine[1] was sighted steering in a northerly direction for a
steamer on the horizon. Here, at length, was a chance. Twenty minutes
later, _Antwerp_ came up to a sailing ship, and found she had on
board the officers and crew of the Ellerman liner _Andalusian_, which
had been captured and scuttled 25 miles W.N.W. of the Bishop Rock.
_Antwerp_ continued her chase, and got within four miles of the
_Andalusian_, still afloat, but then the submarine dived and was never
sighted again. So _Antwerp_ was never able to sink a submarine, and she
was paid off on April 5, 1915.
During the summer of 1915 there was a small steamer called the _Lyons_,
which one used to see in various naval ports, and under various
disguises. Her primary object was to carry naval stores from one port
to another, but it was always her hope to fall in with a submarine.
I remember seeing her one day alongside Pembroke Naval Dockyard,
painted a certain colour and with one funnel. A little later I saw
her elsewhere with a different coat of paint and a dummy funnel added
to her, so that she resembled an ocean-going tug. _Lyons_ also was
unable to entrap the enemy, and terminated her decoy-ship period at the
beginning of November of the same year.
Thus the war had gone on for several months, and an apparently sound
idea had failed to produce a single good result. All kinds of shipping
were being sunk, and yet the German submarines somehow could not be
persuaded to attack these disguised ships. How was it? Was there
something in the disguise which gave the steamers away? Was it purely
hard luck? We cannot say definitely, but the fact remained, and it
was rather disappointing. Of course the idea of disguise had been
employed almost from the very first days of the war; for, in August,
1914, Admiral Jellicoe had requested that the armed trawlers, though
commissioned, should not be painted grey like other warships, but
retain their fishing numbers and funnel markings just as in peace time.
In the early summer of 1915, a number of disguised armed trawlers
were also sent out to the Dogger Bank in the hope of catching an
unsuspecting submarine, who might think they were fishing. The idea had
been further developed by a clever scheme involving the co-operation of
a disguised armed trawler towing a submerged British submarine. This
began in May; on June 23 it was the means of sinking U 40, and on July
20 it brought about the loss of U 23; but a few months later this idea
was thought to be played out, and came to an end in October, 1915,
though it was eventually revived in the following summer.
Another variation of the decoy-ship principle at this time was that
employed by Admiral Startin, who was in charge of the naval base at
Granton. In view of enemy submarines having recently held up neutral
merchant steamers in the North Sea, he disguised two big trawlers so
as to resemble small neutral merchant ships. This was in July, 1915.
So successfully was this done that one of them actually deceived
British destroyers, who took her for a Danish cargo steamer. The
next development was further to disguise them by adding a false deck
cargo of timber, boats, and other details, so as to resemble closely
a Norwegian cargo ship, with Norwegian colours hoisted at the mizzen,
two derricks placed on the trawler’s foremast, and Norwegian colours
painted on prepared slips of canvas placed on each side of the hull
amidships. Those who were at sea in those days will recollect that
it was customary for neutral ships to have their national colours
painted on each side of the hull in the hope that the enemy would
not mistake the ships for Allies’. Thus cleverly disguised, the two
Granton trawlers _Quickly_ and _Gunner_ went into the North Sea, armed
with nothing more powerful than a 12-pounder, Admiral Startin being
himself aboard one of the ships. A large submarine was actually sighted
on July 20, and at 1,000 yards the enemy began the action. _Quickly_
thereupon lowered her Norwegian flag, ran up the White Ensign, removed
the painted canvas, replied with her 12-pounder, and then with her
6-pounder. A fine, lucky shot was seen to strike the submarine, and
much smoke was seen to issue. Although the enemy made off and was not
sunk, yet it showed that it was possible to fool German submarines by
this disguise. The decoy-ship idea was not merely sound in principle,
but it was practicable and was capable of being used as a valuable
offensive weapon. Most of a year had passed since the beginning of
war, and there were no decoy ship results to show except those which
had been obtained by British submarines working in conjunction with
disguised trawlers. However, just as the seaman often finds the dawn
preceded by a calm and followed by a breeze, so it was to be with
the decoy ships. The dawn of a new period was about to take place,
and this was followed by such a wind of events that if anyone had
dared to doubt the value of this specialized naval warfare it was not
long before such hesitation vanished. Disguised trawlers had in the
meantime been further successful, but there were obviously greater
possibilities for the disguised merchant ship, the collier and tramp
types especially. But this all depended on three things: First, the
right type of ship had to be selected very carefully and with regard to
the trade route on which she would normally in the present conditions
be likely to be found. For instance, it would have been utterly foolish
to have sent a P. and O. liner to cruise up and down the waters of the
Irish Channel or an Atlantic liner up and down the North Sea. Secondly,
having once selected the right ship, much depended on the dock-yard
authorities responsible for seeing that she was fitted out adequately
as to her fighting capabilities, yet externally never losing any of
her essential mercantile appearance. This meant much clever designing,
much engineering and constructive skill, and absolute secrecy. Thirdly,
the right type of keen, subtle, patient, tough officer had to be
found, full of initiative, full of resource, with a live, eager crew.
Slackers, ‘grousers,’ and ‘King’s-hard-bargains’ were useless.
[Illustration: Q-SHIP “ANTWERP”
Showing the collapsible dummy life-raft which concealed the two
12-pounders.]
[Illustration: GUN’S CREW OF Q-SHIP “ANTWERP”
Gun’s crew of “Antwerp” ready to fire on a submarine. The sides of the
dummy life-raft have been collapsed to allow gun to come into action.
To face p. 12]
[Footnote 1: This was U 29, which on March 18 was sunk in the North
Sea by H.M.S. _Dreadnought_.]