Rounding up the Raider: A Naval Story of the Great War — John Shaqi
Rounding up the Raider: A Naval Story of the Great WarWesterman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
General
Rounding up the Raider: A Naval Story of the Great War
Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Juvenile fiction
It was then that Denbigh and O'Hara had yet another example of the
thoroughness of the German system. The usual practice would have been
to sew the body up in a shotted hammock and throw it overboard, but
Kapitan von Riesser had another plan.
One of the boats, with the name "_Zwaan_--Rotterdam" painted on the
stern, was lowered. In it the corpse was placed and the boat turned
adrift.
In due course, the kapitan hoped--and the crew, realizing that
necessity knows no law, agreed with him--that the boat would be sighted
by one of the British cruisers, and thus give the impression that the
raider had sunk.
About four on the following morning the two subs were roused by the
sudden increase of the revolutions of the propellers, and the frantic
tramp of feet on deck.
"Hulloa, what's wrong now?" asked O'Hara. "They've got a move on for
something."
"One of our ships in chase, I think," replied Denbigh. "As we are
locked in we may just as well go to sleep again. I'd like to wake up
and find the hooker hove-to and a prize."
"Not bad advice," rejoined the Irishman, turning over and rolling
himself in his blankets. "Thank goodness it's not our watch. If these
fellows carry on much farther we'll find ourselves on the way to the
South Pole."
Sleep, however, was out of the question. The two chums talked at
intervals until the appearance of Fritz warned them that it was time to
dress for breakfast.
After the meal the subs found, somewhat to their surprise, that they
were not prohibited from going on deck, as was generally the case when
another vessel was sighted.
It was piercingly cold. A heavy dew had frozen as it fell, rendering
the decks very slippery. Several of the crew were at work with hoses,
washing down the planks with salt water in order to clear away the thin
coating of ice. So keen was the wind that Denbigh and his companion
were glad to take shelter under the lee of the deck-houses.
Astern, at a distance of about two miles, was a long, rakish-looking
craft, with two short masts and two funnels. She was painted a dark
grey, almost appearing black. She flew no flag, but a signal fluttered
from the foremast. Owing to the direction of the wind it was
impossible, even with the aid of powerful glasses, to distinguish the
flags, since the vessel was steaming directly in the wake of the
runaway _Pelikan_.
Several of the latter's officers were aft keeping the mysterious craft
under observation, while on the after-bridge Kapitan von Riesser and
the officers of the watch were engaged upon a similar task.
Seeing the British officers appear the kapitan descended the bridge and
strolled aft. Affecting surprise at finding Denbigh and the Irishman
on deck he asked:
"What do you make of that vessel, Herr Denbigh? Is she one of yours?"
The sub shook his head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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