The British Navy suffered several heavy losses during the early stages
of the war. Off the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth the _Pathfinder_
was cruising about when an enemy submarine came along, a torpedo was
launched, and the cruiser was struck and sank with great loss of life.
The men who were afterwards picked up had then been in the water for
more than an hour. About a week later, however, the British submarine
E9 gave blow for blow by sinking a German cruiser about six miles from
Heligoland.
When the _Pathfinder_ was struck the order was given, “Every man for
himself.” In a few moments the water was full of struggling swimmers.
One petty officer was a very strong swimmer and did all he could to
help others who were not so strong as himself.
As soon as he found himself in the water he swam about among his mates
helping them to lay hold of spars and pieces of wreckage. In time he
got together a group of eleven men and kept cheering them up and making
them as secure as he could. Some of them had only their heads and
shoulders above the water; and four of them sank while trying to raise
themselves to get a better hold.
Meanwhile several boats were racing across the water to pick up the
exhausted men. When they came up, the poor fellows had to be dragged on
board; and even the hardy and heroic petty officer was too much spent
to help himself.
Only a few days passed and our Navy suffered a still heavier loss. The
three cruisers _Aboukir_, _Hogue_, and _Cressy_ were on patrol work
in the North Sea and were steaming along three miles apart, through a
choppy sea. All at once the first cruiser was seen to reel and then
settle down sideways. She had been struck by a torpedo.
The _Cressy_ and the _Hogue_ immediately closed in to save life while
the men on the sinking ship tried to lower one of their boats. But
they were not able to do so, and they ran or slid over the hull of the
vessel into the water.
Just as the _Aboukir_ was heeling over, the _Hogue_ was struck in two
places. The great ship reared up in the water like a charger upon its
hind legs, and quivered all over. Then she settled down, and sank in a
few minutes, leaving the greater part of her crew in the water. But,
strangely enough, as she went down, she righted herself, and two of her
boats becoming detached, floated from her. The boats were soon filled
and were the means of saving many lives.
It was now the turn of the _Cressy_, which had come up and was standing
by for rescue work. She was struck by two torpedoes and sank almost at
once. Two Dutch ships and a British trawler picked up as many men as
they could crowd on board and made for the English coast. The total
loss on the ships was 1500 men.
Even in this terrible disaster, the men of the British Navy were
“ready, aye ready” when all that was now asked of them was that they
should die like heroes.