[Illustration: GUNNER’S MATES BARKO AND MOORE, AND A DEPTH CHARGE] [Illustration: WATCHING THE APHRODITE GO OUT ON PATROL “HOPE SHE GETS A SUB”] It is highly probable that the _Corsair_ wiped one U-boat from the active list on this moonlit night in the Bay of Biscay and her crew had the right to feel pride in the exploit. That careful, well-poised petty officer, Quartermaster Augustus Smith, who saw the whole show from his station at the wheel, took pains to write down his own observations which confirmed, in every respect, the conclusions of Commander Kittinger and his officers: On the night of October 2, 1917, at 11.25 P.M., a dark object was sighted by the officer of the deck, bearing about three points on the port bow. The officer of the deck, after looking at the object with the night glasses, called out that it was a submarine. The order was given for full left rudder and to steady on the submarine which was then plainly visible in the moonlight. At the same time emergency speed was rung up and before we had swung to the new course we were fast gaining speed. The captain almost immediately came on the bridge and ordered that a shot be taken at the submarine which was about three hundred yards away and moving slowly on the surface in the general direction we were steering. We swung a little to starboard and one shot was fired which cleared the periscope and showed the submarine distinctly for a second. From the way the _Corsair_ answered the rudder we were making fine speed. The submarine completely disappeared when we were just a little way off. As we crossed her apparent course we began dropping depth charges, four in all. As we passed over her position we went full right rudder, dropping two of the cans as we swung. We then steadied on North 74° East, the original course, and ran it about five minutes. We then slowed to thirteen knots and went full right rudder, and steadied on South 80° West. Returning over the spot where the charges had exploded, we ran into a great slick of oil that seemed to spread out for several hundred yards. A strong odor of oil could be smelled, even on the bridge. CHAPTER V WHEN THE ANTILLES WENT DOWN For more than three months the _Corsair_ had been escorting transports and supply steamers to and fro, in an area of ocean where the hostile submarines cruised incessantly. Not a ship in all these unwieldy convoys had been torpedoed, and the few hard-driven yachts could feel, without boasting, that they were doing their bit to keep the road open to France. It was unreasonable to expect, however, that the record could be kept wholly clear of disaster. The fortune of war was not as kind as this.