Part 3 (1/2)

”Then jolly rotten stuff,” commented the lieutenant-commander as he motioned for the prisoner to be removed below. ”We'll give them another quarter of an hour before we board her.”

The stated time pa.s.sed without any signs of further internal explosions.

The _Calder_ made good use of the interval, Harwich being communicated with by wireless, announcing the capture of the prize, and requesting tugs and lighters to be dispatched to a.s.sist the disabled U boat into port.

”Now I think it's all O.K.,” remarked Crosthwaite. ”Sure you're keen on the job?”

Sefton flushed under his tanned skin. His skipper was quick to notice that he had blundered.

”Sorry!” he said apologetically. ”Ought to have jolly well known you better. Off you go, and good luck. By the by, take a volunteer crew.”

Of the seventy men of the _Calder_ every one would have unhesitatingly followed the sub. Asking for volunteers for a hazardous service was merely a matter of form. There was quite a mild contest to take part in the operations of boarding the submarine.

By this time the falling tide had left nearly the whole extent of the deck dry. There were four hatchways in addition to the conning-tower, each of which was securely fastened. Through the open aperture in the conning-tower Sefton made his way. Below all was in darkness, for with the explosion the electric lamps had been extinguished. A heavy reek of petrol fumes and sulphurous smoke scented the confined s.p.a.ce.

The sub switched on the electric torch which he had taken the precaution to bring with him. The rays barely penetrated the smoke beyond a few feet.

”Phew!” he muttered. ”Too jolly thick. It is a case for a smoke-helmet.”

Back went the boat, returning in a short s.p.a.ce of time with the required article. Donning the safety-helmet, one of the bluejackets descended, groped his way to the nearest hatchway and opened it.

An uninterrupted current of fresh air ensued, and in ten minutes the mids.h.i.+p portion of the prize was practically free from noxious fumes.

”Blow me, n.o.bby,” exclaimed one of the carpenter's crew, ”did you ever see such a lash up? Strikes me they slung this old hooker together in a bit of a hurry.”

The s.h.i.+pwright's contemptuous reference to the Teuton constructor's art was justified. The submarine had every appearance of being roughly built in sections and bolted together. Everything pointed to hurried and makes.h.i.+ft work.

Under the engine beds Sefton discovered two unexploded detonators. The one that had gone off was ”something of a dud”, for the explosive force was very feeble--insufficient even to start any of the hull plating.

But it had performed a useful service to the British prize crew: the blast had detached the time-fuses from the remaining gun-cotton charges, and had thus preserved the submarine from total destruction.

Nevertheless Sefton heaved a sigh of relief as the two detonators were dropped overboard. Guncotton, especially German-made stuff, was apt to play peculiar tricks.

The fore and after compartments or sub-divisions of the hull were closed by means of watertight doors in the bulkheads. The foremost was found to have four feet of water--the same depth as that of the sea over the bank on which the vessel had stranded. It was here that the plates had been started when the U boat made her unlucky acquaintance with the Haisborough Shoal.

Flas.h.i.+ng his torch upon the oily surface of the water, Sefton made a brief examination. On either side of the bulging framework were tiers of bunks. This compartment, then, was the sleeping-quarters of the submarine's crew. Of torpedo-tubes there were no signs; nor were these to be found anywhere else on board. Aft was a ”gantry” communicating with an ingeniously contrived air-lock. The submarine was not designed for torpedo work but for an even more sinister task: that of mine-laying. Not a single globe of latent destruction remained on board. Already the U boat had sown her crop of death; would there be time to destroy the harvest?

CHAPTER IV--Not Under Control

Quickly the news of the captured submarine's former activities was flash-signalled to the _Calder_, and with the least possible delay the information was transmitted by wireless to Great Yarmouth and Harwich.

Until the minefield was located and destroyed it was unsafe for any s.h.i.+pping to proceed to or from Yarmouth Roads.

Questions put to the U boat's crew elicited that the vessel was one of seven operating in conjunction with the raiding cruisers. While the German fleet was bombarding Yarmouth, the submarines--having on account of their slower speed set out on the previous day--proceeded to lay a chain of mines from the Would through Haisborough Gat, and thence to a point a few cables east of the Gorton lights.h.i.+p, thus completely enclosing Yarmouth Roads from the sea. The UC6--that being the designation of the prize--had just completed her task when she sighted the _Calder_ approaching. Miscalculating her position, she had run her nose hard upon the shoal, with the result that her low compartment quickly flooded, thus rendering her incapable of keeping afloat.

It was not long before four mine-sweepers came lumbering northwards from Yarmouth, while others proceeded in different directions to ”clear up the mess”, as their crews tersely described the dangerous operations of destroying the mines.

The _Calder_, still standing by, had missed the northern limit of the German minefield by a few yards. Had she held on her former course the probability was that she would have b.u.mped upon a couple of the infernal contrivances--for the mines were dropped in twos, each pair connected by a span of cable to make more certain of a vessel's bows being caught in its bight--and been blown up with the loss of all her crew.

The destroyer had been sent on particular service. Other side issues had demanded her attention, and, with the pluck and resourcefulness of British seamen, her crew had risen to the occasion. To them it was all in the day's work, with one ulterior motive--to push on with the war.

Deftly, the result of months of experience, the mine-sweepers set to work. With little delay the first of the mines was located, dragged to the surface, and sunk by means of rifle-fire. Others were destroyed in quick succession, two exploding as the bullets, made for the purpose of penetrating the buoyancy chambers, contrived to hit the projecting horns of the detonating mechanism.