Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
The Last of a Pirate
G. H. Davis
WAR IN THE UNDERSEAS
IN THE SINCERE HOPE THAT IF OPPORTUNITY BEHIS HE MAY EMULATE THE DARING OF HIS FATHER,WHOSE ACHIEVEMENT AT ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTENDWILL BE RELATED BY OLD BOYS TO THEIR JUNIORSUNTIL THE OCEAN HIGHWAY IS AS DRY AS ADUSTY ROAD
Foreword
Sea-power strangled Germany and savedthe world. Even when the Kaiser’slegions were riding roughshod over thegreater part of Europe its grip was slowlythrottling them. Despite the murderous missionof mine and U-boat, it kept the armies ofthe Allies supplied with men and munitions,and scoured the world for both. When theBritish Fleet took up its war stations in thesummer of 1914 it became the Heart of Thingsfor civilization. It continued to be so when themajor portion of the swaggering High Sea Fleetcame out to meet Beatty under the white flagin the chilly days of November 1918. It remainsso to-day.
The officers and men of the Royal Navywhose march is the Underseas played a perilousand noble part in the Great Conflict.British submarines poked their inquisitivenoses into the wet triangle of Heligoland Bightthree hours after hostilities were declared;they watched while the Men of Mons crossed8the Channel to stay the hand of the invader;they pierced the Dardanelles when mightierunits remained impotent; they threaded theirway through the icy waters of the Balticdespite the vigilance of a tireless enemy;they fought U-boats, a feat deemed to beimpossible; they dodged mines, land batteries,and surface craft, and depleted theHigh Sea Fleet of many valuable fightingforces. In addition, they had to contend withtheir own peculiar troubles—shoals, collisions,breakdowns, and a hundred and one ills whicha landsman never suspects. Some set out ontheir duties and failed to come back. They liemany fathoms deep. Their commanders havemade their last report. S