Once again Death has stretched forth his bony fingers to catch me by the throat, and only by a chance have I wriggled free.
Yesterday afternoon at 5 p.m. we sighted a small steamer flying Spanish colours and steering for Cardiff. The weather was choppy, but not too bad, and I decided to exercise the gun's crew, though I did not think there would be much doing, as the Spaniards soon give in.
I opened fire at six thousand metres, and pitched a shell ahead of her and ran up the signal to heave–to. The wretched little craft paid no attention, and continued on her lumbering course. I suspected the presence of an Englishman on her bridge, and determined to hit.
This we did with our sixth shot, and she stopped dead and wallowed in the trough, with clouds of steam pouring out of her engine–room; we had evidently got the engine–room.
As we closed her, it was evident that a tremendous panic was taking place on board. The port sea boat was being launched, but one fall broke and the occupants fell into the water. My Navigator begged me to give her another, which I did, and hit her right aft. Two boatloads of gesticulating individuals now appeared from the shelter of her lee side and began pulling wildly away from the ship.
The Navigator, whose eyes were dancing with excitement, was very keen to play with them by spraying the water with machine–gun bullets; but it seemed to me to be waste of ammunition, and I would not permit it.
Meanwhile we had approached to within about four hundred metres of her port bow. I was debating whether to accelerate her sinking, when I noticed that a fire had broken out aft, and I became possessed with a childish curiosity to see the fire being put out as she sank. It was a kind of contest between the elements.
As I watched her, I was startled to hear three or four reports from the region of the fire.
"Ammunition!" shouted the pilot, with wide–opened eyes.
In an instant I pressed the diving alarm as I realized our deadly peril. Fool that I had been, she was a decoy–ship. They must have realized on board that I had seen through their disguise, for as we began to move forward, under the motors, a trap–door near her bows fell down, the white ensign was broken at the fore, and a 4-inch gun opened fire from the embrasure that was revealed on her side.
We were fortunate in that our conning tower was already right ahead of the enemy, and as I dropped down into the conning tower, I saw that as she could not turn we were safe.
A few shells plunged harmlessly into the water near our stern, and then we were under.
We came up to a periscope depth, and I surveyed her from a position off her stern. She was sinking fast, but I felt so furious at being nearly trapped that I could not resist giving her a torpedo; detonation was complete, and a mass of wreckage shot into the air as the hull of the ship disappeared. As to the two boats, I left them to make the best course to land that they could.
As they were fifty miles off the shore when I left them and it blew force six a few hours afterwards, I rather think they have joined the list of "Missing." We are now steering due west to our second position.
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Received orders last night to return to base forthwith on the north about route. [19]
I have shaped course to pass fifty miles north of Muckle Flugga; no more Fair Island Channel for me.
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Statlandlet in sight, with the Norwegian coast looking very lovely under the snow—we never saw a ship from north of the Shetlands to this place, when we saw a light cruiser of the town class steaming south–west at high speed.
She had probably been on patrol off this place, where the Inner and Outer Leads join up and ships have to leave the three–mile limit.
She was well away from me, and an attack would have been useless. I did not shed any tears; I have lost much of the fire–eating ideas which filled my mind when I first joined this service.
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