The End of the "Malfilio"
Burgoyne and Mostyn were radiant when they left the Admiral's
presence. By contrast the faces of Messrs. Swayne, Fontayne, and
O'Loghlin were glum. The promptness with which the Senior Naval
Officer acted had taken the wind out of their sails. They had
reckoned upon the preparations taking from five to seven days, during
which time the _Titania_ was to be unloaded of her valuable cargo.
"We can't all three go," declared Swayne. "One must stop behind to
superintend the unshipping of the stuff and to pay off the Kanakas.
Candidly, now the excitement of salving the silver is over, I'd
rather go to sea with the squadron any old time. But duty's duty all
the world over."
Neither Fontayne nor Paddy O'Loghlin showed any willingness to forgo
their share in the marine picnic to the secret base. The old chums
looked very much like "parting brass rags" until Peter Mostyn chipped
in with a suggestion.
"Why not toss for it?" he asked. "Sudden death. Odd man stays
behind."
Three coins spun in the air and were deftly caught by their
respective owners.
"Heads!" announced Swayne.
"Same here!" shouted Fontayne. "We're all right, Swayne. We're in the
same galley. Now then Paddy."
Lugubriously O'Loghlin began to uncover his coin. Then his features
expanded into a broad grin as he, too, disclosed the King's effigy.
The next trial resulted in Swayne having a head and Fontayne a tail.
That meant that one of the two was bound to be out.
"Get a move on, O'Loghlin," yelled Fontayne.
Paddy was in no hurry. He rather enjoyed prolonging the agony in view
of his chum's cheerful announcement in the first round. It was a
head.
"You're ship-keeper, old son," remarked Swayne to the now downcast
Fontayne.
"I say, let's go back and interview the secretary-bird," suggested
Burgoyne.
"What for?" asked Swayne.
"To tell him that Fontayne's not going," replied Alwyn. "I'll get him
to ask the Admiral to let Jasper Minalto go instead. He jolly well
deserves to go, and I've been kicking myself for not asking
permission for him before."
This suggestion was acted upon, with the result that the Admiral's
secretary promised to put the matter before the Admiral after dinner.
He also added that perhaps it would be as well if he provided an
additional letter of introduction to the Commodore of the squadron
detailed for the operations.
Punctually at noon the enumerated vessels left Port Jackson, the
destroyers leading, the seaplane carrier coming next, and the light
cruisers _Armadale_ and _Rockhampton_ bringing up the rear.
On the fore-bridge of the _Armadale_, the light cruiser flying the
Broad Pennant of the Commodore of the squadron, were Burgoyne,
Mostyn, Swayne, and O'Loghlin, whose presence gave rise to wild
surmises on the part of the ship's officers and crew.
Jasper Minalto, as lively as a sand-boy, was in one of the petty
officers' messes of the same ship, and although his tongue "went
nineteen to the dozen" not as much as a hint did he let fall of the
reason for the presence of the visitors on the fore-bridge.
At two bells in the afternoon watch the squadron was well clear of
The Heads, and was plunging into the steep head seas, for the gale
still held. At that hour the skipper of each ship opened his sealed
orders and communicated their contents to the officers under his
command. Within five minutes every man of the squadron knew that the
objective of the operations was the destruction of a pirate vessel.
Authentic details would reach them later, but until then the wildest
reports pervaded the lower deck.
The Commodore of the Australian flotilla was not taking undue risks.
His orders were to capture or destroy, and he meant to carry out his
instructions with all the means at his disposal.
Having asked Burgoyne a number of questions he decided upon his plan
of action. The ships were to approach to within ten miles of the
secret base, the _Armadale_ and two destroyers on the eastern, and
the _Rockhampton_ and one destroyer on the western side. By means of
aerial reconnaissance he would ascertain whether the pirate cruiser
had returned to the anchorage. If she had, then a long-range
bombardment of the harbour would either sink her or else compel her
to come out. The batteries would be attacked by bombing machines,
assisted by the guns of the cruisers.
"There are no anti-aircraft guns on the island, I presume?" asked the
Commodore.
"No, sir," replied Burgoyne. "At least, not to my knowledge. I've
seen almost every battery, and they are armed with 6-inch and
4.7-inch naval guns."
"The _Malfilio_ when under the Russian flag had four submerged
torpedo tubes," continued the Commodore. "Do you happen to know if
she has any torpedoes on board?"
"I cannot say, sir," replied Alwyn. "I was never on board; but, as
the result of conversation with survivors from the _Alvarado_ and
_Kittiwake_, I know that she never employed these against any of the
three vessels captured by her up to the time I left the island. She
carries a small seaplane for scouting purposes."
On the evening of the eighth day after leaving Sydney the squadron,
maintaining a speed of eighteen knots, arrived at the rendezvous
fifteen miles due south of the secret base.
For the whole of the night vessels cruised east and west, turning
sixteen points at the expiration of each hour. No steaming lights
were shown; the ships were cleared for action and the guns' crews
slept by their guns. No wireless was permitted. The destroyers were
ordered to stand in pursuit of any vessel that might be sighted,
acting upon the supposition that the pirate island was well out of
the regular steamer tracks, and signal to her to stop instantly and
disclose her identity. If the command were disobeyed the delinquent
was to be torpedoed.
But nothing occurred to necessitate this drastic step. The night wore
on without anything of a suspicious nature being reported.
At the first streak of dawn two scouting aircraft rose from the deck
of the seaplane carrier, and disappeared in the direction of Ramon
Porfirio's stronghold. In two hours they were back again, having made
an exhaustive survey of the island, without, apparently, being
spotted by any of the garrison.
They reported that there were two merchantmen and four schooners
lying in the harbour, but the _Malfilio_ was not visible.
A council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued.
Some of the officers were in favour of attacking the island at once;
others advocated the finding and destruction of the pirate cruiser as
the first phase of the operations, backing up their arguments with
the theory that if Porfirio discovered that his base were captured he
would steam away at once to an unfrequented part of the Siberian
coast. He might, then, have to run the _Malfilio_ ashore, but there
would remain the discouraging knowledge that the arch-pirate was
still at large.
The Commodore fell in with the second suggestion, and decided to keep
his flotilla out of sight of the secret base, and to keep a sharp
look-out for the pirate cruiser by means of destroyers and aircraft,
the light cruisers being stationed as previously arranged, one to the
east and one to the west of the island.
At one bell in the first Dog Watch (4.30 p.m.) the look-out in the
fore-top of the _Armadale_ reported a seaplane approaching from the
nor'east. At first the seaplane, which was flying at 5000 feet, was
taken to be one of the naval scouts returning; but, when she made no
attempt to descend and circled high above the cruisers, suspicions
were aroused as to her ownership.
Presently the _Armadale_ picked up wireless messages in code, and
since none of the squadron was permitted to use her radio instruments
for transmitting the inference was positive.
"She's warning the _Malfilio_," declared the Commodore. "We'll try
her with the antis."
The cruiser's anti-aircraft guns opened fire simultaneously. Judging
by the mushroom-shaped clouds of white smoke that marked the bursting
of the shrapnel shells, it seemed as if the seaplane could not escape
being hit. But to the disappointment of all on board the _Armadale_
the seaplane turned and flew away apparently unharmed.
All necessity for secrecy being now at an end the Commodore
wirelessed the seaplane carrier, ordering two fast battleplanes to
stand in pursuit, and giving instructions to the destroyer Dawson to
support the aircraft.
The battleplanes ascended promptly, but an hour later they returned
without having sighted the pirate seaplane. The pilot of the latter
was a bit of a strategist, for instead of flying back to the
_Malfilio_ he had made a wide circle with the intention of returning
to the secret base, having already warned Porfirio of his great
danger.
But the pirate scout's luck was out. When still a good twelve miles
from the island he was sighted by one of the seaplanes engaged in
searching for the _Malfilio_. The two Australian airmen did their
work neatly and effectively. Standing in pursuit they sat on the tail
of the pirate seaplane, and with one burst from a Lewis gun sent the
latter down in a spinning nose-dive, with the machine a mass of
flames.
Ramon Porfirio knew now that the game was up. One chance remained--to
seek safety in flight. He had provided for the contingency, for
practically the whole of the specie and bullion found on his prizes
had been transferred to the _Malfilio's_ strong room. Could he but
get away with the treasure without having to share it amongst his
crew he would be a rich man. He decided to take a northerly course,
lie low amongst the desolate Aleutian Islands until the coast was
clear, and then double back to a South American port.
Unfortunately for him he had underrated the capabilities and
universal use of wireless. Within an hour and a half from the time
the _Malfilio_ received the warning from her seaplane, the pirate
cruiser sighted a small American tramp steaming east. The Yankee also
sighted the _Malfilio_, and when the former picked up a non-code
general call from the _Armadale_ asking all vessels in that part of
the North Pacific to report if they sighted a warship answering to
the _Malfilio's_ description, Captain Hiram Stott pulled his goatee
beard and looked wise.
With a keen commercial instinct he inquired by wireless whether there
were any pecuniary reward for the desired information, and a reply
being received in the affirmative he then promptly gave the latitude
and longitude of the position where he had sighted the pirate, and
also the approximate course that the _Malfilio_ was taking.
Ramon Porfirio intercepted the message. Had time permitted he would
have turned in pursuit of the tramp and sent her to the bottom; but
urgent affairs compelled him to carry on under every ounce of forced
draught.
Meanwhile the _Armadale_, doing thirty-three knots to the
_Malfilio's_ twenty-two, was rapidly standing in pursuit of the
pirate cruiser. Night fell, without the sighting of the latter. The
Commodore, inwardly perturbed, showed no trace on his bronzed
features of the doubts that assailed his mind. It was quite easy, in
spite of the numerical superiority of the squadron, for the pirate
cruiser to be lost in the vast expanse of the moonless ocean.
About one bell of the Middle Watch the masthead light of a steamer
was reported, bearing 105°. A little later on her red light and then
the green were visible.
Thinking it advisable to dispense with wireless during the rest of
the night, the Commodore gave orders for the on-coming vessel to be
communicated with by means of a masthead flashing lamp.
In reply to the request for her name the stranger Morsed:
"KJVT--AUBX--APVE", which, by reference to the Mercantile Shipping
Register and the International Code, revealed her to be the S.S.
_Lanzorate_ of San Francisco, bound from Olympia, U.S.A., for
Batavia.
The _Armadale_ then repeated her general wireless message, and asked
if the _Lanzorate_ had seen anything of the pirate ship _Malfilio_,
to which the vessel replied that she had seen a two-funnelled craft
answering the description proceeding south by east just before
sunset. A hasty reference to the chart proved conclusively that
either Captain Stott or the skipper of the _Lanzorate_ had engaged in
the pleasurable pastime of talking through his hat. By no possibility
could the pirate cruiser travel from one position to the other in
even twice the time stated.
Meanwhile the _Lanzorate_ was passing about two miles astern of the
_Armadale_. The former was brilliantly illuminated. Every scuttle and
every window of her deck-houses was lit up; while the _Armadale_ was
now in total darkness.
"We'll have a look at that hooker," said the Commodore to the
Navigating Lieutenant. "Take us to within a couple of cables of
her--broad on her port beam."
A warning to the searchlight men to stand by was followed by
instructions to the 9.2-guns' crews to load with armour-piercing
shells with delayed action fuses. The quick-firers and machine-guns
were to be trained on the stranger's bridge.
Describing a wide turning circle the _Armadale_ closed on the
stranger's port beam, which was the last thing her skipper would have
expected. When the _Armadale's_ masthead signal lamp flashed, the
cruiser bore one point on to the former's starboard bow, so the
sudden apparition of a huge warship on her port beam was to say the
least most disconcerting.
Simultaneously four searchlights were unscreened from the _Armadale_,
and four powerful beams were focused upon the stranger. Instead of
showing up a small "intermediate" liner the rays revealed the pirate
cruiser _Malfilio_.
Ramon Porfirio, although unprepared for such a manoeuvre, had already
cleared for action. The moment he saw the game was up he gave the
order to open fire.
The _Malfilio's_ six-inchers crashed. Blinded by the glare of the
searchlights, the gun-layers, smart enough at their work when
shelling an unarmed merchantman, were frantic with the knowledge that
they were up against a heavily-armed vessel. Most of the shells flew
high, but one, exploding outside the shield of the _Armadale's_
for'ard 9.2, played havoc with the fore-bridge, wounding two officers
and a signalman, and carrying away part of the chart-room.
The _Armadale's_ reply was prompt and terrible. Every gun that could
be brought to bear upon the pirate cruiser opened fire almost before
the last echoes of the _Malfilio's_ salvo had died away.
With a blinding flash that outshone the glare of the searchlights the
main magazine of the _Malfilio_ exploded. A dense cloud of smoke,
like a silvery mist, hid the pirate cruiser from view; and when the
last of the far-flung fragments had fallen either into the sea or
upon the _Armadale's_ deck, the shattered hull of the _Malfilio_ had
vanished, and with her went Ramon Porfirio and four hundred of the
vilest sweepings of the South American and Eastern Asiatic ports.
The whole business was over almost before Burgoyne and his companions
realized that an action was in progress. Within a few minutes from
the time when the _Malfilio_ opened fire her disintegrated remains
were foundering to the bed of the Pacific.
For fifteen minutes the searchlights were kept playing upon the spot
where the pirate cruiser had disappeared on the faint chance that
there might be survivors. Civilization decrees that a pirate can be
hanged or shot, but he must not be allowed to die a lingering death
by drowning. But the search revealed no trace of any of the crew of
the _Malfilio_.
"On bow and steaming lights! Wireless the rest of the squadron to
take up pre-arranged positions off the secret base!"
Then at a modest fifteen knots, the _Armadale_, bearing evidences of
the scratches she had received, steamed westward. One part of her
mission was accomplished: the destruction of the hornet. There
remained more work for her to do: to assist in the wiping out of the
hornet's nest.