ON CONVOY DUTY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 113, 17 May 1918, Page 4

ON CONVOY DUTY

CRUISE WITH A DESTROYER

ESCORT

GUARDIAN ANGELS OF THE

LINEIW

The following account of ine work of British destroyers on convoy duty is supplied by a Times, special corvee-, pondent who* recently ma-Je a cruiso in the leader of an escorting flotilla:We were in the harbour of a famous j southern port on board the leader of a I destroyer floTilla ready to start on 1 one |of its ordinary cruises as escort' w> merchant convoys. It was a cold, bleak, stormy day, witn a fine cross j sea running in the .Channel. Une af- ! ter the other the members of the flotilla cast off from the buoys, and slipped silently seaward. jCn : the outer harbour were the huge mercnantmon we were to escort into the comparative safety of the broad Atlantic. They : "Vvfire" a strange motley-looking crowd ■ with a camouflage appearance of the j weirdest description, calculsAed to send ; artists into ecstacies. Thesp weird-looking vessels followed the .destroyers in single file out of harbour at ; slO\v~spoed until well into the "Channel. ! There they were formed up and madi* mto as compact a crowd as possible. A destroyer in front and others on eacii flank conistituted a protective screen. After we had got well out and lined up our escort full |peed ahead was or :' dered, but that was full speed for: j the convoy only. The destroyers were at about" half-speed, and this was I partly expended in zig-zagging. Tf> 1 and fro without a moment's respite, the leader proceeded in fi-ont of the convoy, always about 500 to 600 yardsahead, as though showing to timid followers that it was perfectly safe 'to follow where we led. On , the flank* other destroyers kept up the same.. 7,isr . zag procedure, and astern yet another zigged and zacged and did her best to keep the rearmost ships up to th» ; full convoy speed. .-..;' ■ ■ ■ THROUGH A 60-MILE FOG BANK. Night shut down on us like a black blanket, adding greatly to: the difficul ties of the escort. 'Not a star was to be seen, and not a light permitted to' «y visible o n any ship. At 400 yard.distant very sharp-eyed look-outs cpuld just discern misty' black shapes,., and carry on navigation with just .s'uifi>. cient accuracy for safety. ' it became necessary to ask, by,mean': of a few ishort,. sharp flashes, with ' n electric signal lamp, where; the respective units of the convpy were. Despite

the utmost care lavished upon them, ch'ev had and were covering a wide jiistahce. ."Cannot, effectively screen yotl if you scatter like this/' was signalled. .Later 1 -we ran into a fog bank, which absolutely obscured, Visibility, and rendered zig-zagglng- a 'dangerous procedure. The look-out was increased, and the speed of tile escort reduced tto that of tlie convoy', which touch was kept by frequent speaking or whispering on the sirens. Hour after hour dragged slowly on, until by the time the sun ■ had burat through in the morning and the flotilla had rounded up the spattered ships v into. goods position again, we had passed through a fog bank 60, miles in length! Then the dreary zigzagging by the destroyers was resumed. Throughout the day there was no incident to relieve the routine of the voyage. The zig-zagglng proceeded ' with reularity, tKe ship continued her steady .roll, a nd "the 'waves continued ito wash the decks ' everywhere abaft the forecastle head. Arid so on into, the night again. By midnight the allotted hundreds of miles to comparative safety for the convoy had foeon almost .cohered/. Later it was decided to bid> them farewell, ..and so Ithero wore a few-more flashes from the lamps. ''Wish you safe and pleasant voyage," from the leader of the escort. This "was responded to by "Thanks lor your efficient from .the commodore of the .''empties,'' and "voy "and. escort separated and' rwent their'''respective ways into the black* uess of the night. * A CONVOY.

The destroyer escort. proceeded on a straight course that had neSther zig» nov zags in it, but at a speed of about 20 knofe. Somewhere out .in the-black unknown, in the region of a givenpoint, we were to . meet with a cpnyov. of laden ships ' arid' .escort; them. ,16 safety. They were about: 80 '■'■: away , when "we 'started; to l°pk '.•*?£:■ them, and in the early. daylight man>/ : eyes t;lued to glasses were' sweeping the \ horizon. A dirty little t smudge ; on" ,a , fleecy clouds that seemed* to oh the water .'as far away as the could reach first attracted attention* The sjnudge moved and g**y?> hirge.; other smudges appeared and! took: ;^ets-1 n'ite shapes -the objective WasVin ; "sight. In half an hour we were within "speaking" distance, and we had exchanged greetings ; and turned, about. !P6s}tioiie were again: 'taken up, and jthe honi* 1 ;; ward journey with ' the fully-laden convoy was begun. .■ . . , We had met in those wide water* within half an hour of thq fixed .tflfa There were* not so maoy homeward ships as there had 'been outward. Tk«y Had" been escorted so far'by a'' ; Brjtisa armed cruiser—a ; modern P. and O, liner. One ship 'was laden with meat for France, and she went off towards, her destination with ah attendant d. r stroyer. The armed cruiser, with another destroyer also left,; her speed . be-* inn • probably a suffifcif.ptt' safeguard, as far as her. home ''port.'' The remain- t inir foodships and destroyers shaped a more northerly courae. ' Aii; S.O.S. from a hospital ship caused momentary bustle and a hasty; calculation of her, position. She was at least 200 miles away, and therefore; beyond our aid; but in a few minutes came another wireless message cancelling the "'SJO.S./.. and making us more easy in our minds. Another message -told of the sulking: of a small Norwegian vessel aaid: theol her crew not very far aWay.

'Still another told of heavy firing west of the Scillies, but this .proved- to be a patrol singing a floating mine. Thou there was an intimation from a point about 30 miles away that a destroyer was busy with a submergod submarine. tickling her up with depth charges, or . wHaF the sailors call "pills." For two days and nights wo proceeded steadily towards the homo port mdicated on the calling instructions, a" tering courses on receipt of shore u> struetiona, as to the last whereabout* of "Fritz." We arrived at the very gates of the great Empire city pot*-, and there,-, with thei.v K charges S>safety, the destroyers just "dipped" «ut reyoir, __ turned about, and swept away on' Their 400 miles homeward journey. *'T am afraid," said our commander •before I left, "there is not mucJl* in this for you w> writo about, so you will. have space to say something on behalf of the men. Thev are really splendid. They have Httlo enough "to be jovial about, and not a •bit of comfort, on these vessels. and on FTm kind of work. Yet it seems that the more the discomfort and ilip greater the hardship the more cheerful they are.. ; They are our *gi'eafek national asset." "