THE EMPIRE'S ORDEAL
IN the course of a few hours the officers and crew of the _Olive
Branch_ were in possession of the state of affairs so far as it was
possible for their English agent to impart information. Great things
were taking place, events of momentous importance, yet with few
exceptions the country was kept in ignorance of the initial disasters
of the war.
A secret treaty had been contracted between three great European
Powers, and so well were the terms of the understanding guarded that
the British Foreign Office was absolutely unaware of the existence of
any agreement between the countries concerned. Simultaneous "autumn
manoeuvres" had been the means of the foregathering of a powerful
combined fleet in the Atlantic, where, though away from the
recognised trade routes, it was within twelve hours' steaming
distance of the south coast of England.
At the same time most of the British warships under the supreme
command of Sir Protheroe Hobbes, Admiral of the Fleet, were cruising
off the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, while through unforeseen
defects, an unprecedented number were under refit at the home ports.
Several events, to which no one at the time attached the real
importance, took place during the week preceding the outbreak of war.
A large British-owned vessel entering Portsmouth Harbour with a cargo
of Norwegian granite for use on some of the dockyard works, ran
aground opposite the Round Tower--the narrowest part of the mouth of
the harbour. As she swung round broadside on to the strong flood tide
there was an explosion amidships and the vessel sank in ten minutes,
completely blocking up the fairway, and consequently "bottling up"
six useful units of the British Navy.
On the same day a mysterious outrage took place in Scotland, the
centre spans of the Forth Bridge being destroyed by some powerful
explosive. This act was wrongly attributed to Anarchists, who had
been extremely active of late. Though fortunately there was no loss
of life entailed, the consequences were disastrous, since, until the
debris was removed, the naval base of Rosyth was completely isolated.
The following afternoon the ambassador of the Triple Alliance left
London, and hostilities, without a formal declaration of war,
immediately broke out.
Under cover of darkness simultaneous attempts were made by airships
upon the principal naval ordnance magazines of Great Britain. The
attack upon Priddy's Hard Magazine failed, mainly through the
initiative taken by a young lieutenant in charge of B Y aeroplane at
Fort Blockhouse; but the enemy succeeded in destroying the magazines
of Bedenham, Chattenden, and Bull Point, though in the last instance
the airship dealing the blow was so crippled by the effect of the
explosion that she was compelled to come to earth at Saltash, where
her crew were immediately taken prisoners.
A small coasting steamer entering Plymouth Sound struck a submarine
mine a few cables from the Mewstone, and sank with all hands. It was
subsequently discovered that the channel on either side of the
breakwater had been strewn with mines, so that ere a battleship or
cruiser dare leave the Hamoaze the Sound had to be "swept" as far
seaward as a line joining Rame Head and Wembury Point.
Meanwhile the fleet of the Triple Alliance--outnumbering Admiral
Hobbes's command by no less than seven Dreadnoughts and
super-Dreadnoughts, eleven armoured cruisers, and more than twenty
ocean-going destroyers--sought to cut off the British fleet and
compel it to give battle. Once the British fleet were destroyed the
position of the Empire would be hopeless. Without landing a single
hostile regiment her downfall would be only a matter of a few weeks;
with her seaborne commerce captured or destroyed England would be
starved into submission; the partition of the Empire would follow in
due course.
The minute Admiral Hobbes heard by wireless of the outbreak of war,
he issued orders for the fleet to steam at its greatest speed
straight for the English Channel. A man of undoubted courage and
skill, he never hesitated to count the cost; disregarding the
disparity of force, he resolved to take the initiative and do his
best to win a decisive action.
At daybreak on the day following the departure of the British fleet
from Bantry Bay, two of the swift coastal destroyers signalled that
the enemy's ships were standing northwest in quarter line.
Unfortunately this information, though correct, was not complete, as
a strong division, in line ahead, was steaming parallel to that of
the main fleet, though some fifteen miles to the south-west. Thus,
should the British admiral of the fleet attempt to break the enemy's
line--as he decided to do--he would have to run the risk of being
raked by the guns of the powerful division lying hull down on his
starboard side.
Admiral Bloch, in supreme command of the combined hostile fleets, had
laid his plans carefully, but he had not reckoned with Captain
Brookes, of the _Olive Branch_. Bloch it was who had planned the
annihilation of the dreaded cruiser by means of a surprise night
attack by one of the latest type of airships.
The crew of the airship had cabled news of the failure of the
enterprise, but unfortunately for the enemy, owing to an error on the
part of a Greek telegraph operator, the code word for "destroyed" was
substituted for that signifying "escaped."
Consequently Admiral Bloch, imagining that all danger from that
source was at an end, did not hesitate to meet the British fleet,
well knowing that the latter, though powerful, was vastly inferior in
numbers to his own.
Meanwhile the _Olive Branch_ was tearing across the Bay. Two hundred
miles from Finisterre she overhauled a British transport homeward
bound. This vessel she promptly warned of the danger ahead, and as
the transport turned and made towards Gibraltar her sides were
crowded with troops who cheered the formidable cruiser to the echo.
The defects to the _Olive Branch's_ electrical gear had been made
good ere she passed Gibraltar; the 6in. shells were charged with
their powerful explosive; magazines were opened and water-tight doors
closed.
[Illustration: "In view of possible events I must ask you to take up
your quarters beneath the armoured deck," said Captain Brookes.]
As far as was humanly possible the vessel under Captain Brookes's
command was fit and ready for action.
At six bells the dull rumble of a terrific cannonade was heard away
to the nor'-west. The van of Admiral Hobbes's fleet was in touch with
the enemy.
It was a prolonged yet terrible encounter. The British fleet,
advancing in line ahead in double columns, suffered severely as they
received the concentrated fire of the hostile ships. It was a running
fight at this stage, for Admiral Bloch's main division, relying on
its superior numbers, was slowly retiring so as to subject its
pursuers to a heavy cannonade at long range ere the second division,
fresh for action, converged upon the flank of the British fleet.
In twenty minutes the _British Orion_ and _Thunderer_ were sunk,
while the _Princess Royal_, _Vanguard_, _Inflexible_, and
_Foudroyant_ had fallen out of line. In spite of their complicated
system of water-tight doors they were leaking badly, their powerful
centrifugal pumps being barely sufficient to cope with the inrush of
water. The _Foudroyant_ in particular was in a deplorable condition,
being battered entirely out of recognition.
The "lame ducks" must go. Admiral Hobbes could not hazard the rest of
his fleet by standing by. The cripples were ordered to make their way
as best they might for Haulbowline, trusting to luck to avoid the
detached armoured cruisers of the hostile fleet.
In this running fight the enemy possessed a decided advantage in the
fact that both torpedoes and mines could be employed, whereas the
pursuing vessels were unable to use either.
Nor had they suffered lightly. The huge 20,000-ton battleship
Kronprinz Gustave, her armoured sides shattered by the 13in.
projectiles of the King George V., was slowly settling down by the
head. The _Askoldin_ and _Trodet_--both regarded as formidable
vessels--had already disappeared, while the _Styx_, _Vonderflack_,
and _Gelion_ had dropped astern hopelessly crippled. These three
vessels, finding themselves overhauled by the British fleet,
surrendered at discretion. But Admiral Hobbes was not in a position
to take possession of the disabled ships; all he could hope was that
his own "lame ducks" would be able to complete the surrender.
Then with a terrific roar a small cruiser steaming about two cables'
length on the quarter of the _Donetz_--Bloch's flagship--burst into a
thousand fragments. Admiral Hobbes hailed this success with as much
delight as if it had been the sinking of one of the enemy's
super-Dreadnoughts, for the vessel had been recognised as the
_Hekla_, a mine-layer of the most aggressive type.
Thus the losses on the side of the Triple Alliance outnumbered those
of the British by one. This, Admiral Hobbes knew, was good, but not
good enough. Should the action be continued with the same proportion
of losses the allies would come out with a balance of eleven ships
to the good--and that without taking into consideration the as yet
invisible division of Vice-Admiral Neboff.
By noon the rival fleets, covering a front of eleven miles, were in
the vicinity of the Lizard. The British commander hoped that some of
the units left at Devonport might make a flank attack on the enemy.
His wireless gear had been swept away, and consequently he was cut
off from communication with the shore.
Then instead of the expected reinforcement one of the scouts came
within signalling distance with the grave news that another hostile
division was closing in on the British starboard quarter.
Half an hour later Admiral Neboff's division opened fire.
Admiral Hobbes realised that his position was hazardous in the
extreme. Cornered between two powerful fleets he had either to beat
an undignified retreat or to fight to the death. Quickly he made up
his mind; he would hammer and be hammered as long as a single ship
remained afloat.
At this juncture a grey cruiser, cutting through the water at an
inconceivable speed, was seen approaching from the south-east.
Eagerly, though hardly daring to hope, Admiral Hobbes watched her
approach through his glass. As she passed within a mile of the
partially disabled _Hertzog_ the foreigner imprudently let fly an
11in. shell. The mysterious cruiser returned shot for shot, but one
only was sufficient. Like a cardboard box the _Hertzog_ appeared to
crumple up, and amid a thick cloud of steam and smoke she disappeared
beneath the waters.
"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the British admiral, fervently. "'Tis the
_Olive Branch_."
[Illustration: chapter XXVI]