CHAPTER XI--The Wrecked Sea-plane
With her stock of torpedoes replenished and certain defects made good,H.M.T.B.D. _Calder_ sheered off from her parent ship, and, increasingspeed to 21 knots, shaped a course to rejoin the rest of the flotilla.
Lieutenant-Commander Richard Crosthwaite was in high spirits. Hethought that he had succeeded in bluffing the commodore to give hispermission to rejoin the rest of the fleet instead of being ordered backto the Firth of Forth. As a matter of fact, his senior officer,realizing that a "stout heart goes a long way", had purposely refrainedfrom asking a lot of awkward questions concerning the _Calder's_injuries. In the forthcoming and projected night attack every destroyeravailable would be needed to put the fear of the British navy into theminds of the Huns and 21-inch torpedoes into the vitals of theirbattleships.
The spirit of the _Calder's_ skipper was shared by every member of thecrew. Even the wounded showed reluctance to be transferred to theparent ship; those whose injuries did not prevent them from gettingabout sturdily asserting that they might be of use. Those obliged totake to their hammocks were emphatic in impressing upon their morefortunate comrades the request "to get their own back".
The sun was low in the north-western sky when the _Calder's_ look-outmen sighted two vessels slowly making their way in the direction ofhome. One, evidently badly damaged, was in tow of the other.
It was part of the destroyer's duty to investigate, since it might bepossible that the vessels were hostile craft endeavouring by making awide detour to reach their base.
A wireless message, in code, was sent from the _Calder_, requesting thetwo vessels to disclose their identity. The reply left Crosthwaite nolonger in doubt. The towing ship was the _Engadine_, while the crippledcraft wallowing in her wake was the heroic _Warrior_.
It was Crosthwaite's opportunity to regain the services of hissub-lieutenant if the latter had been lucky enough to escape from theterrible gruelling to which the British cruiser had been subjected.
Closing to within a cable's length of the _Warrior_ he signalled:
"Request permission to take off my sub-lieutenant."
To which the _Warrior_ replied:
"Permission granted, provided no needless risk to His Majesty's ships."
Crosthwaite smiled grimly. The idea of further damage being done to the_Warrior_ seemed out of the question, while he considered he was quitecapable of bringing the _Calder_ alongside without denting a singleplate.
Ordering "easy ahead", Crosthwaite brought the _Calder_ close alongsidethe _Warrior's_ port quarter. Although the sea was now running high,and the waves were breaking over the latter's almost submergedquarter-deck, it was comparatively calm under her lee.
"There's your glorified Thames penny steamer alongside, old man,"remarked Sefton's chum as the _Calder_ was made fast fore and aft, herdeck being little more than a couple of feet below that of thecruiser--so low had the latter settled aft. "No, don't trouble toreturn my coat. It's positively not respectable for the quarter-deck.Well, so long! I'll run across you again before this business is over, Iguess."
Scrambling over the debris, from which smoke was still issuing in faintbluish wisps, Sefton gained the armoured cruiser's side. Poisinghimself for an instant he leapt on the _Calder's_ deck, followed by AbleSeaman Brown.
"POISING HIMSELF FOR AN INSTANT, SEFTON LEAPT ON THE'CALDER'S' DECK"]
"Can I be of any assistance, sir?" enquired Crosthwaite from the bridgeof the destroyer.
The commanding officer of the _Warrior_ returned the salute and shookhis head. He was loath to detain even one destroyer from the fightingthat yet remained to be done.
Amid the cheers of both crews the _Calder_ sheered off, and, portinghelm, resumed her course, while the _Warrior_, in tow of the _Engadine_,was confronted with the approach of night and a steadily-increasingrough sea.
The badly-damaged _Warrior_ never reached port. After being towed fortwelve hours, her position became so serious that the sea-plane carrierhove alongside and removed her crew.
Giving three cheers for the old ship, as the _Engadine_, abandoning hertow, increased the distance between her and the _Warrior_, the gallantcrew watched the battered hulk rolling sullenly in the angry sea untilshe was lost sight of in the distance.
Having formally reported himself, Sefton went below to make up arrearsof sleep. Boxspanner and the doctor were in the ward-room, both engagedin animated conversation, not upon the subject of the action, but on themerits and demerits of paraffin as a substitute for petrol for amotor-bicycle.
With disjointed fragments of conversation ringing in his ears, and"carburation", "sooty deposit in the sparking plug", and "engine-knock"figuring largely, Sefton fell into a fitful slumber, dreaming vividly ofthe stirring incidents of the past few hours, until he was aroused bythe reversal of the destroyer's engines, the lightly-built hullquivering under the strain.
Instinctively he glanced at the clock. He had been asleep only tenminutes--it seemed more like ten hours by the length of his excitedmental visions.
Leaping from his bunk, Sefton scrambled into his clothes and hurried ondeck. It was still twilight. The wind was moaning through the aerials;splashes of spray slapped the destroyer's black sides as she lost wayand fell off broadside on to the waves.
Fifty yards to leeward was a large British sea-plane. She was listingat a dangerous angle, her starboard-float being waterlogged, and showingonly above the surface as the fabric heeled in the trough of the sea.Her planes were ripped in twenty places, while the fuselage showed signsof having been hit several times. The tip of one blade of the propellerhad been cut off as cleanly as if by a knife. All around her the waterwas iridescent with oil that had leaked from her lubricating-tanks.Waist-deep in water, and sitting athwart the undamaged float, was thepilot--a young sub-lieutenant, whose face was blanched with the cold.He had voluntarily adopted his position in order to impart increasedstability to the damaged sea-plane.
Lying on the floor of the fuselage, with his head just visible above thecoamings, was the observer. He had discarded his flying-helmet, whileround his head was bound a blood-stained scarf. Evidently his wound wasof a serious nature, for he evinced no interest in the approach of the_Calder_.
As the destroyer drifted down upon the crippled sea-plane a dozen readyhands gripped the top of one of the wings, and a couple of seamenswarmed along the frail fabric to the chassis.
The rescue of the pilot was a comparatively easy matter, but it took allthe skill of the bluejackets to extricate the wounded observer. It wasnot until others of the crew came to the aid of their comrades, the menin their zeal almost completing the submergence of the still floatingwreckage, that the unconscious officer was brought on board.
There was no time to waste in salvage operations. At an order from thelieutenant-commander a seaman, armed with an axe, made his way to theundamaged float. A few vigorous blows completed the work ofdestruction. Held by the tip of one of the wings until the man regainedthe destroyer, the sea-plane was allowed to sink.
"Rough luck to chuck away an engine like that," remarked a voiceregretfully.
Sefton turned his head and saw that the speaker was Engineer-LieutenantBoxspanner, and for once at least Dr. Stirling agreed with him.
The rescue of the sea-plane's crew threw additional work upon thealready harassed surgeon, for the observer was showing signs ofcollapse, while upon examination it was found that the pilot had beenhit in the forehead by a shrapnel bullet.
Pulling himself together, the observer managed to impart importantinformation before he fainted through sheer exhaustion. The sea-planehad sighted the main German fleet fifty miles to the nor'-nor'-east.
The intelligence was highly desirable. It settled without doubt theall-important question as to the enemy's whereabouts, and definitelyproved that Jellicoe's ships were between the Huns and their North Seabases. If steps could be taken to intercept the German vessels' retreatthrough the Cattegat, it seemed as if they
were doomed to annihilationat the hands of the British.
Quickly the news was wirelessed from the _Calder_ to the _Iron Duke_.Unless anything unforeseen occurred, it seemed pretty certain thatAdmiral Jellicoe would be able to turn the initial advantage into anoverwhelming defeat for the enemy.
The two airmen had rendered good service against considerable odds.They had ascended three hours previously, and, flying low in order to beable to see through the haze, had eventually sighted the badly-damagedGerman squadron under Rear-Admiral von Scheer, which had contrived toslip away while Admiral Hipper was endeavouring to delay the advance ofJellicoe's main fleet.
Owing to the low degree of visibility, the seaplane came within range ofthe hostile quick-firers almost before her pilot was aware of theunpleasant fact. Greeted by a hot fire, almost the first shell of whichcarried away the wireless, the sea-plane ascended, trusting to be hiddenin the clouds until she could volplane from another direction and renewher reconnaissance of the hostile fleet.
Unfortunately, it was a case of "out of the saucepan into the fire", foron emerging above the low-lying bank of clouds the sea-plane foundherself almost underneath a Zeppelin, several of which accompanied theGerman fleet, although their sphere of usefulness was considerablycurtailed by reason of the climatic conditions. Although the hazeprevented the British from inflicting greater damage upon theiropponents, it is fairly safe to assert that had the sky been clear theZeppelins would have given the German fleet timely warning, and anaction would never have ensued.
Nothing daunted, the British sea-plane opened fire upon her giganticantagonist; but the odds were against her. The Zeppelins, floatingmotionless in the air and in perfect silence, had long before heard thenoisy approach of the mechanical hornet, and her appearance was greetedwith a concentrated fire of half a dozen machine guns, accompanied by afew choice titbits in the shape of bombs.
The latter, without exception, missed their objective, but the hail ofbullets ripped the sea-plane through and through and dangerously woundedher observer. In spite of the riddled state of the planes the pilotkept his craft well under control, but was forced to descend, not beforethe Zeppelin was showing signs of having been much damaged by thesea-plane's automatic gun. The last the airmen saw of her was that shewas making off at full speed in an easterly direction, her stern portiondipping ominously in spite of the quantity of ballast hurled overboardby her crew.
The British air-craft's long volplane terminated on the surface of thesea miles from the place where she had "spotted" the hostile ships.Before long the pilot made the disconcerting discovery that one of thefloats was leaking. Having bandaged his unfortunate comrade's wound, heslipped over the side of the fuselage on to the damaged float. Failingto locate and stop the leak, he took up his position on the sound float,in the hope that his weight would preserve the sea-plane's stability.In this position he remained for two hours, until, numbed by the cold,he was on the point of abandoning hope when the _Calder_ hove in sight.
The sun had set when the _Calder_ rejoined the flotilla. The enemy wasentirely out of sight, but there was every possibility of the Germantorpedo-boats making a night attack upon the long line of battleships.
Every precaution was taken against such a step. The battleships andbattle-cruisers were encircled by a line of light cruisers, while beyondthem, and mostly between the British fleet and the reported position ofthe German ships, was a numerous gathering of destroyers for the dualpart of protecting the larger ships and also, when opportunity occurred,of making a dash against the Huns.
"Mark my words, Sefton," said Lieutenant-Commander Crosthwaite when the_Calder_, having transferred the two airmen, had taken up her allottedstation, "to-night's the night. We'll have the time of our lives."