Told in gallant deeds : $b A child's history of the warLowndes, Marie Belloc
History
Told in gallant deeds : $b A child's history of the war
Lowndes, Marie Belloc
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile literature
What a splendid, lion-hearted boy! Was he saved? you will ask. I cannot
be sure, but I think he was.
Midshipman Cazalet of the Cressy, aged sixteen, saved no fewer than
eighty-eight lives, including one of his own officers. When Mr. Cazalet
saw that the Aboukir had been hit, he went out in the Cressy’s whaler
and picked up twenty-five men. He took them to the picket boat of the
Hogue, and went back for more. Altogether he picked up two more
boatloads, and it was not till he could see no more survivors that he
himself took refuge on board the Dutch trawler Titan.
A little drummer-boy of the Marines, Cecil Kneller, who was only
fifteen, had a great adventure, for he kept himself afloat in the water
for about four hours with the aid of an empty rum cask. And when he got
back to his father, who is a railway porter living at Chatham, it was
noticed that he was just as rosy-cheeked as when he went away! So he did
not suffer much from his long bath.
I am sorry to tell you that Captain Johnson, of the Cressy, was not
among the saved. This very gallant gentleman was last seen on the bridge
of his ship, carefully tying leaden weights round a parcel, which he
dropped into the sea.
Can you guess what was in that parcel? It was the secret signal-book of
the ship, and it was most important that it should not fall into the
hands of the enemy. If the enemy had got hold of it, then they would
have been able to read the signals with which our ships talk to one
another, and that might easily have led to a terrible disaster.
Captain Johnson was determined that that should not happen, and when he
had cast the parcel into the sea, he went down with his ship contented,
for he had done his duty.
V
Much excitement was caused by the exploits of the German cruiser Emden,
which took and sank over twenty British merchantmen, and disposed of
several warships. Her commander, Captain von Müller, behaved
chivalrously to the crews of his prizes, treating them well while in his
power, and sending them to the nearest port. This contrast with the
behaviour of the Germans on land made everybody realise the brotherhood
of the sea.
For the first time in any big war, the fastest ocean liners on both
sides were armed with naval guns and turned into warships. I am going to
tell you about a most exciting duel between two of these armed liners,
which happened on September 14. Some of you may have crossed the
Atlantic to America in the White Star liner Carmania, and if so you will
read with all the more interest the story of her victory over the German
ship Cap Trafalgar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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