The great hull we see here has seen more battling in the present war than any other of our “capital” ships. Officially “sunk” by the Germans, she will yet prove a troublesome ghost to them. In the foreground the dockyard workers are busily surveying the ship’s Gargantuan cables for weakened or damaged links. [Illustration] LXXXIV ON A BATTLESHIP: LOWERING A BOAT FROM THE MAIN DERRICK The “Main Derrick” is a great crane and lifts a heavy boat like the one in the drawing, or an Admiral’s barge, out of the water and stows it on deck with the greatest ease. [Illustration] LXXXV APPROACHING A BATTLESHIP AT NIGHT A battleship revealed by the beam of its own searchlight. A big gun emerges in silhouette, as well as a sentry on duty. One feels considerable awe when threading one’s way in a small picket boat between the ships of the Fleet at night. [Illustration] LXXXVI A LINE OF DESTROYERS A line of destroyers at anchor. Seen from a distance, in this formation, a long line of destroyers looks curiously like a battalion drawn up in line of platoons in file, at a wide interval, and standing on the sea. It will be remembered that the battle of Jutland was as much a battle of destroyers as of any other type of warship. [Illustration] LXXXVII ON A BATTLESHIP: A GUN TURRET Part of the deck of one of the most famous of British ships, cleared for action. [Illustration] LXXXVIII ON A BATTLESHIP IN THE FORTH Britain has many beautiful estuaries, but the Forth has features like the distant Highland hills and its enormous Bridge which make it unique among our waterways. The Bridge makes even the largest warship seem a pigmy, yet one has a queer sensation when about to pass under it for the first time; one momentarily expects all the ship’s top hamper to be carried away--everything about the Bridge being on so big a scale that what is safely distant seems perilously close. [Illustration] LXXXIX (a and b) A FLEET SEASCAPE To the left a group of destroyers are gathered round a parent ship. To the right is the beginning of an imposing line of battleships. [Illustration] THE CREW AT A SMALL GUN ON A BATTLESHIP From this point of view the shield partly hides the muzzle of the gun. The gun crew are listening to instructions. Note the “Navy Warm” worn by the figure in the middle: often, when the weather is “fine” from the landsman’s point of view, it is still bitterly cold on the North Sea. Two larger guns can be seen protruding from their turret in the deck below. [Illustration] XC THE FO’C’SLE OF A BATTLESHIP The crew of a Battleship at “General Drill” on a brisk spring morning is an exhilarating sight to the spectator posted at a quiet corner well out of the way. The band of the Marines plays, and the maximum of everything possible seems to be going on at once. In the sketch the ship’s boats have been launched and are making their way with steady stroke out to a neighbouring ship and back. [Illustration] XCI