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
Again the little ship went off to the Frisian Islands, and there she
torpedoed and sank a German destroyer. If you look at the map, you will
see how close these islands are to the German naval stations of
Wilhelmshaven and Emden. What should we have felt if a German submarine
had come up and sunk a British ship quite close to Portsmouth and
Plymouth? However, the War may bring us worse surprises than that, and
if it does we must bear them bravely.
E9 had an exciting time. While she was watching for her prey, she saw a
big German cruiser and she had to dive. When she came up again, the
cruiser had gone, but there was a destroyer instead, and this she marked
down. At one time she was actually too near the destroyer to fire a
torpedo because it would have been dangerous to herself. At last she got
about six hundred yards off and then she fired two torpedoes, one after
the other. The first missed, but the second hit the destroyer fairly in
the middle and blew her to pieces. Another German destroyer which was
near hastily ran away.
Lieut.-Commander Horton and his gallant men returned to Harwich flying
the little yellow flag, and underneath it a little white flag, also
bearing the grim device of a skull and crossbones. It was then that he
was given the jesting nickname of “The Double-toothed Pirate,” for as
you know the skull and crossbones has always been the emblem of pirates.
I do not myself like this nickname, for Lieut.-Commander Horton is by no
means a pirate. On the contrary, he always fights fair. He is as clever
as he is brave, and he has always been a great believer in submarines,
which he has been studying for years. When he was serving in H.M.S. Duke
of Edinburgh he won a gold medal for saving life. That was when the
Delhi went ashore with the Princess Royal and the late Duke of Fife and
their children on board.
An amusing story is told which shows the coolness of submarine officers.
One of these gallant fellows, finding that the enemy could see him on
the surface by daylight, sank his boat to the bottom and waited for
night. Someone asked him what he did all that time. “I did very well,”
he said, “we played auction bridge, and I won 4s. 11½d.” But games like
this at the bottom of the sea are the great exception.
Never forget our seamen and what they are doing for us in storm, in
cold, and in fog. If you have the good fortune to be related to a boy or
man in the Navy, write to him regularly and tell him all the home news.
He will love to hear it, and, busy as he may be, will probably find time
to answer you. But if you don’t hear for a long time, remember that the
delightful verses—with only one word altered—which were written by the
Earl of Dorset at sea in 1665 are as true now as they were two hundred
and fifty years ago:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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