THE SILENT HAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15731, 26 October 1916, Page 7

THE SILENT HAND.

HUNTING GERMAN SUBMARINES. SECRETS IIEVEALED. I. (By Alfred Notes.) (.Published bv Svecial Arrangement.) (Copyright. 191(1. by Alfred Xo'yes.) Deutschland unter alles was the cry of all Germany when her submarine first- popped up. not without a touch of comedy, in Norfolk, Virginia; and undoubtedly 'ine reason for the new trans-Atlantic submarine is tho fact that certain measures have made English waters unsafe for them. Even submarines that arrive in America may disappear on their return journey. What those measures are it is now possible, though tho censorship is still strict, to. indicate a little more clearly.

There is a talo in Devonshire that Sir Francis Drake has not merely listened for his drum, during tho last 300 years, but has also heard and answered it on more than one. naval occasion. It was heard, as the men of the Brixham trawlers can testify, about a hundred years ago, when a little man, under the pseudonym of Nelson (for all Devonshire knows that Nelson was n reincarnation of Sir Francis) went sailing by to Trafalgar. Ask of t.ho Devonshire men For they heard, in tho dead of night. Tho roll of a drum, and they saw him paw On a shin afi eliining white. He stretched out his dead cold face. And ho sailed in the grand old way. The fishes had taken an eye and an arm; But ho swept Trafalgar's Bay! It was only a little before the great naval action in the North Sea—perhaps the greatest British victory sinco Trafalgar—that word came from the Brixliam trawlers again. They had "heard Drake's drum beat" and wcro now assured that the ghost of Sir Francis Drake was inhabiting the body of Sir John Jellicoe.

There is good reason why the trawlers should be aware of this first: for it is' among tho 3000 odd trawlers, drifters, and other fishing craft of the British auxiliarj* fleet that the seamen who broke tho Armada would find themselves most at homo to-day. In this host of auxiliaries England has. in fact, brought to life again and organiised on a lrngo scale, with certain modern improvements, the men and tho fleets of Drake and Hawkins; and it is these fleets and these men that hate struck terror into tho German submarines pnd driven them from the seas.

There has been some discussion in America as to whether Mr Wilson's Notes, or some other more secret and certain power, caused tho Germans to abandon their deadliest sea-weapon. Inasmuch as this weapon ceased to trouble tho English a little earlier than it ceased to Bink nentrals, tho latter alternative might Tie accepted as probable, even without further knowledge, but further knowledge absolutely confirms this probability.

Nothing is more striking in the conduct of this war than the way in which the British method of "slow and sure" has justified itself. Tho superficial clamour for sudden and sensational proofs of "what England is doing" began in the first fortnight of tho war. Neutral countries oven wondered why tho first month of the war had produced no grea\ historian.

In the meantime, England was making the history of the next thousand years; and that can only bo done on vast and deeply sunken foundations, which .must be laid in silence. (Jesuits, and solid results, of granito ant) oak were England's aim. • These are now appearing; and- whilo her great new armies aro demonstrating whnt England has created on that side, it is now possible to give a glimpse of the far-reaching method tliat destroyed the menace of the German submarine. FORCE OF 100,000 SEA-BOGS. It was done in silence and silence was one of the weapons. Submarine! went out and never returned. Other submarines went out, perplexed, against a mystery; and these, too, never returned, or returned, in mysterir ously diminishing numbers. Nothing was said about it till the destruction of the 50th was quietly celebrated at a small gathering in London; and then neutrals began to enquire, with a nev note of curiosity, "What is England doing?" We heard talcs of stoel [nets —as vague as the results would have been, but for certain great preliminaries of which we never heard. A few days ago I had the opportunity of seeing the finished, system, and this threw :v flood of light on the immense work that must havo gone before in even this one branch of our sea-warfare.

To begin with, a body of men larger ihan the United States Army was choscn from tho longshoro fishermen and trawler crews. They were gradually drilled, disciplined, and trained, and put into naval uniform. This force is now over 100,000 strong. They were choscn, of course, on an entirely different principle from that of the Army. They were tough sea dogs, of all ages, inured to all the ways of Cle sea; but not at all to any form of discipline. This in itself implies very great preliminaries, for the finished product is fit to man a battleship.

In the meantimo their fishing boats, trawlers, and drifters were gradually taken over by the and fitted out for tho hunt, somo threo thousand of them. To these wore added a fleet of fast motor-boats, specially built for scouting purposes. They were stationed at various points all round tho island.

Night and day, in all weathers. «-ection replacing section, these trawlers and drifters string themselves out from coast to coast; while on shore thousands of workers are turning out their own special munitions and equipment— nets, mines, and a dozen mysteries which mav not bo mentioned.

From one of their bases a patrolboat took me out along one of longest lines of the flotilla. This innocent line of trawlers strung out for some 50 miles had more nightmares »n store for tho German submarine than a fleet of battleships. It was an odd sensation to approach trawler after trawler, and note the one obviously universal feature of each —the menacing black gun at bow and stern. They were good guns, too —English, French, and Japanese. The patrol-boat carried.

a Hotchkiss, and most of the trawlers had equally efficient weapons. TRAPS 100 311LES LONG. There were other unusual features In every trawler, drifter, and whaler — features that' made one catch one's breath when their significance was realised. About this I may say very little. But, in the matter of the nets, it was demonstrated to me that, within 25 minutes any submarine reported in most of our liomo waters can be enclosed in a steel trap from which, there is no cscape. The vague rumours that we heard, in the earlier stages of tne war, led one to suppose that these nets might be used, perhaps in the English Channel, and other narrow waters. But I have seen traps a hundred miles long, traps that could shift their position and change their shape at a signal.

A submarine may enter their seas, indeed, and even go to America. She may even do some damage within their lines. But if she does this, her position is known, and, if there be any future damage done, it will probably have to be done by another submarine. For she has called up a thousand perils, from every point of the cornpass, to close upon her return journey. 1 liavo actually seen the course of a Herman submarine—which thought itself undiscovered—marked from day to day. on the chart at an English base. The clues to the ramifications of this work are held by a few men at the Admiralty in London. Telephone and telegraph keep them in constant touch with every seaport in tho kingdom. But let the reader consider tho amount of quiet organisation that went before nil this. Even the manufacture of the nets—which do not last for ever, even when made—is an industry in itself; and that is one of the least of a thousand activities.

- We boarded one of the trawlers, just as her nets were running out: and, at the end of 20 minutes, when tho long dwindling line of fishing craft had "dressed" itself, from the British coast to the coast opposite, all that was necessary was to wait for visitors. As for their "welcome, one skipper remarked to me cheerfully, "I don't know about the others, but I've killed ten."

CARE FOR NEUTRAL SHIPS. Throughout this work of the auxiliary fleet, it is worth noting that, in their records of rescue and salvage, a good half of their c-are is devoted to the ships of neutrals. It is England that sweeps the sea for mines, marks them off on her charts, warns, delays, and guides the traffic of the world through a thousand unknown perils. And England has paid the price for it; for, while the neutral traffic is held up for an hour Oj- two, as at the lifting of a policeman's hand, tho mines aro removed ; but sometimes those who remove them are awaited in vain by their homes in the little seaports. That neutrals are not altogether forgetful of the fact is shown by tho exceedingly generous subscriptions raised on tho Atlantic liners, among Americans and others, for tho widows and orphans of the mine-sweepers. On one Dutch liner recently over a thousand dollars was contributed for this purposo, in half nn hour, by the passengers at breakfast, who had come undisturbed through waters full of menaco.

But neutrals have not , always cscaped; and, in talking to the men on these trawlers, I was struck by tlio fact that a large proportion of their •talcs referred—as I have said above— tb the salvage or the actual saving of neutral ships. ■ Often, as in the case of the Falaba, the rescue work is attended with many perils to the auxiliary concerned. From the Falaba 116 persons were rescued ; and the drifter was "bilged," a phrase that, in this case, meant "almost foundered."

On. a few occasions, the hunters have themselves been trapped. Three men, taken off a trawlor by a submarine, endured an 80 hours' nightmare under the sea that shattered the mind of one, and left permanent traces on the other two. Periodically revolvers wero put to their heads and they were ordered, on pain of death, to tell all they knew of our naval dispositions. They saw a good deal of the internal routine of the German submarine also; and noted, characteristically, that the German crew—on this boat, at any rate — wero very "jumpy," too "jumpy" even to take a square meal. They munched biscuits at their stations at odd moments.

On the third morning thev heard guns going overhead, and watched the Germans handing out shells to fcheu own guns. Finally a torpedo was ined and they heard it take effect. Then they emerged into the red wash of dawn and saw only the floating wreckage of the big ship that had been sunk: and, amongst the wreckage, a smail boat. They wero bundled intp this: told they were free to row to England or Nineveh; and tho submarine left them —three longshore fishermen, who had passed through tho latest invention of tho modem scientific devil, two who could still pull at the oars, hut the other too crazy to steer, as his little porsonal part of the price paid by England for sweeping and patroliihg the seas of civilisation.

Many wero the tales of neutrals towad to port battered- but safe by these indefatigable auxiliaries. Ono was towed in upside down, by fixing an English anchor in one of her Germanmade shell holes; sho was towed for 100 miles, at a quarter of a knot, and arrived for the admiral at the base to make his inspection. But, even with neutrals, the auxiliary fleet finds it necessary sometimes to add the wisdom of the serpent to itageneral philanthropy. On one occasion a neutral tank steamer was overhauled. Sho was believed to bo carrying suspiciously largo supplier to tv suspiciously vague destination, but* was allowed to proceed for political reasons, and in the name of the freedom of tho seas. Nevertheless, with innocent fishing boats dotting our waters at intervals of half ' a mile, and wireless telegraphy to help them, tho sea lias almost as many eyes suid ears to-day as it has fishes; and at dusk a drifter rolled up to our neutral friend again.

"Begorra, it's twins!" said the gunner, training his .twelve-pounder on to her; and twins it was. ~ For tucked closo under cither quarter lay a German submarine, quietly being fed. Beforo they oould submerge or bunk away the crew of«the driftor had boarded tho neutral, and had persuaded tho submarines, with the help of a dozen revolvers, that they wero prisoners of war.

HOW THE GULFLIGHT WAS SUNK.

The skipper of another trawler that we boarded was a quiet-voiced man, with eyes that looked into the distance. There were suppressed tears in them, very sternly suppressed, as he told me that his brother had been killed, with all hands, on the mine-sweeper next to his own, only a few weeks ago. He also told me—and I wished that- Americans, could have heard him—of the German attack upon tho American ship, the Gulflight, which he had seen from Ins own fishiug boat. The German submarine was halfway between himself and the Gulflight, which was flying tho American flag, and could be recognised at four times the distance. The evidence of this man and his crew had never been asked or taken; but he gave me one significant pieco of it—the fur cap of one of the lost American sea--non. which ho had picked up. Even this bedraggled relic of a tragedy threw a new and sharper light on the position of neutrals.

No men were ever more clearly entitled to go on their ways unmolested than the crew of this all-American merchant ship. There was no mistake possible, no excuse, and no ground for pardon in that one anarchistic act of the German Navy.

The attack on the American, steamship Gulfliglit was narrated to me as Follows, by the skipper of his Majesty's drifter Contrive. lam sorry it has not the violent literary qualities which literary men call realism. Sailors have not yet learned frrioV j

who desire reality will know that the conventional expressions of this very plain yarn are at least true, and the speaker the sort of man who would send his kind rogards to a friend from his death-bed:—

"At the time of tho incident I was serving as a skipper of a vessel fishing out of Lowestoft. We were lying to our nets about nine miles off tho Seillys. In fact, wo could see the Scillys, as it was a very clear day, with a blue sky and a fresh breeze. Many vessels had passed us during tho day, and the scene was so peaceful that you could almost imagine we were still at peaec with everyone, and that such things as submarines and mines and 'such-like' never" existed. "Of course, I knew better; and I had good reason to remember the day the German Fleet came to bombard my native home. They weren't allowed Ito remain over long, as they were chased back to port ; but they stayed long enough to sow a' large minefield in tho way of the shipping. My brother was then a naval skipper in command 1 of his Majesty's drifter Will and Maggie—lie met his death trying to sweep up those mines, and his ship and his crew went with him. I've seen their submarines before, although when I did see them they were too busy trying to evade our patrols to try to sink my little ship. You must remember that I was then engaged in fishing, and couid onlj 7 rely on my stout stem to attack one. One night, just about sunset, I saw one She passed quite close to me—not more than miles, I should say. She was a great big chap, with two guns, and a lot of the crew on deck—that was abont 60 miles from the Seven Stones Lightship. "Well, to continue. My vessel, funnily enough, was called Our Friend, /and ibeforo the end of tho day ii wrjsi our luck to prove our friendship for our friends across the water. As I was saying, we had shot our nets, and, about noon, we saw a largo tank steamer coming up channel at a good pace. She was coming in our direction, and I soon saw her colours, tho Stare and Stripes, at the stern —a fine big ensign it was, and spread out like a board. When she was about two miles off to my horror 1 saw a submarine emerge from tho depths and come light to the surface. There was no sign oflifo on the submarine, but she lay stationary, rising and falling in the trough; and I knew instinctively that she was watching the steamer. * She had undoubtedly come from the same direction as that in which the steamer was going, and it did not take me long to realise what had actually happened. I took in the situation at a glance. The submarine had passed the Gulflight (for that proved to be her name). She had deliberately increased speed to lie in wait for her and get a sure target, rather than attempt to fire a torpedo when overhauling her, with the possible chance of missing and wasting one of those expensive weapons even on an American.

"Tho submarine was painted light grey, and had two guns; but I oould not see any number. For five minutes she lay motionless —and then, having fixed the position of her prey, and taken her speed into consideration, she slowly submerged in its direction. I knew what was coming, and it came— a dull, heavy explosion and a, silence, and then, as if to see the result.of her handiwork, the submarine again appeared. She did not stay up long, as smoke was soon seen on the horizon, and I knew the patrols had been looking for her. She knew it, too —and submerged-

"I hauled in my nets, and proceeded at full speed to the sinking ship, to try and save the lives of tho crew. Our boat was launched, and I went aboard. By this (time the Gulflighfs bows were well down, and her fore decks awafih, and she looked as if she would sink at any minute. She was badly holed ia her foro part. The Huns, I thought, had done their work well.

"Ten minutes later I saw tlie patrol vessels racing up for all they were worth, and one of these vessels took off the crew, two of whom were drowned. The can tain of the Gulflight died of shock. "Soon, four patrol vessels were on the spot; and three of these vessels put men aboard with wires in doublequick time. The fourth —a big trawler with wireless (which I now know in naval language as a 'trawler leader') steamed round and round in the vicinity, keeping a careful watch. "Iu less than two hours the Gulflight, her Stars and Stripes still flying above water, was being towed at a good speed to port with the trawlers in attendance. That is all I have to tell; vet ray story is perfectly true in every detail.

"Later on I went to Penzance, and found that the crew of the Gulflight were receiving every comfort and hospitality from tne senior naval officers, and were very pleased with, themselves."

The above is the first of five articles by Mr Alfred Noyes, who has' been granted special facilities by the Admiralty authorities. The second article will appear to-morrow.