[Illustration: A STRIKING PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN FROM THE AIR, OF THE CAMOUFLAGED TROOPSHIP ONWARD LYING ON HER SIDE BY FOLKESTONE QUAY AFTER SHE HAD BEEN SCUTTLED TO PUT OUT A FIRE. THE SALVAGE SHIP IS ANCHORED JUST OFF THE ENDS OF HER FUNNELS, WHILE THE RAILWAY LINES ON THE QUAY ARE SEEN IN THE FOREGROUND, THE UPRIGHT PILES OF THE QUAY ITSELF HAVING THE APPEARANCE OF THE SLEEPERS OF A RAILWAY TRACK] The _O. B. Jennings_ was also taken in tow and brought to Sandown Bay in safety. Day after day the fire continued to rage in her, vast clouds of smoke continued to foul the heavens. Nothing could quench the flames, and at the end of ten days the Admiralty salvage officer gave instructions for a torpedo boat to shell the tanker until she sank. [Illustration: THE ONWARD WITH HER FUNNELS CUT OFF AND DECK HOUSES REMOVED. NOTE ONE OF HER PROPELLERS JUST SHOWING ABOVE THE WATER AND ALSO THE LIFTING CRAFT BETWEEN HER AND THE SALVAGE STEAMER] It was a desperate remedy, but it proved a brilliant solution of the puzzling problem. As she went down, the sea just overwhelmed the fire and allowed the salvage men to tackle the wreck. Divers tapped the undamaged tanks of the ship, pumps were connected up and 8000 tons of oil taken from the sunken vessel. Then the places where the shells had pierced the hull were repaired and the _O. B. Jennings_ was pumped out and floated into dock. A patch was put on her wound, and she set out for the United States; but, as ill-luck would have it, she was caught by another German submarine less than 100 miles from New York and sent to the bottom for good, so all the efforts of the British salvage men were wasted in the end. That collision cost Great Britain just £1,000,000. Another outstanding case where the ship was deliberately scuttled in order to put out a fire was that of the troopship _Onward_, which carried many thousands of troops to France. She was lying about midnight at the quay at Folkestone when flames suddenly burst from her, owing, it is thought, to a thermit bomb secreted by a spy. She blazed up furiously, threatening destruction to the whole quay and endangering our communications with France. The destruction of the quay at that time would have been a disaster compared with which the loss of the steamer was as nothing, so quickly the decision was made to sink the _Onward_ by opening her sea-cocks. This was done, and the fire went out in a venomous hiss as the sea swept in. Unluckily, in sinking, the ship turned over on her side, and before she could be raised she had to be set upright. As she lay, she was preventing a much-wanted berth of the quay from being used, so the Salvage Section was given a month to get her out of the way.