Part 25 (1/2)

”There are plenty of sailing trawlers lying idle in ports.

”I therefore humbly venture to suggest to the Admiralty that if half a dozen of these were mounted with guns, covered by the dummy-boat-screen and manned by a small, smart crew, dressed in _ordinary fishermen's_ clothes (not the naval uniforms with gold braid and _white-topped_ ornamental caps, so much in vogue at present), those submarine pests would be caught napping without much difficulty; whilst the fishermen, who are mostly ruined, would at least feel that we had got a little of our own back with every pirate so sunk.

”It would also be easy to place a motor and propeller in the vessel so employed which would help manoeuvring in no small measure; whilst as to manning them, there is plenty of material of the very best to select from for such a job--men who have been patrolling in gunboats and trawlers for a year without a smell of powder which their nostrils hunger for. I personally know plenty who would willingly abandon good positions and hail such an opportunity with eagerness; whilst, if the chance was given, I myself would willingly and gladly volunteer my services with them in the first boat sent out, or under them in any capacity, from the lowly cook or cabin-boy upwards.

”If this seeming presumption on my part should be acted upon you may rely upon my wholehearted service for any a.s.sistance that I may be able to give in the fitting-out, etc., or otherwise, and it will be my pleasure to execute your smallest commands.

”I remain, your obedient servant, ”NICHOLAS EVERITT.

”('JIM' of the B.F.S.S.)”

This letter only produced further ”secret” thanks. The suggestion for active service was not responded to!

Cold comfort to one burning with such unquenchable desires. Poor grat.i.tude for services rendered. Depressing recognition for future effort.

But what could a mere civilian expect! It was the same in both Services at that period of the war. Civilians were as nothing; merely to be used as conveniences--if they had to be used at all. Or as stepping-stones for Service men to trample upon towards their own immediate advantage, utterly regardless of position, ability and status, and whether they had voluntarily or compulsorily sacrificed position, property, or dearer belongings.

Had any such ideas as these originated with a junior in the Service he would have had to have taken them at once to his superior officer. That dignified individual would in all probability have personally commended him in private, then put forward the ideas to those above him with much weight, but at the same time conveniently neglecting to couple the name of the real originator.

The secret annals of the Service could many such a tale unfold.

Should a junior officer have dared to presume to have sent in his original ideas direct to Whitehall, woe betide the day for his immediate future and his chances for early promotion.

The above opinions are no flights of imagination; they are founded solely on many bitter complaints which have come direct to the ears of the writer from junior officers in both arms of the Service, whose inventive ideas have either been summarily squashed by superior officers, or who have been compelled in their own future interests to stand aside, silent and disgusted, whilst they have observed others far above them taking what credit was to be bestowed for ideas or suggestions which were never their own, and often followed by decoration without any patent special service.

Shortly before this book went to press the author happened to meet a naval gunner who had served for a prolonged period aboard mystery s.h.i.+ps.

He was most enthusiastic on the subject of camouflage, and he related how he had served in 1915 in a s.h.i.+p which had one gun only, placed amids.h.i.+ps, which was concealed by a dummy silhouette boat.

According to his account the stunt was great. He narrated in detail the completeness of the deception, the instantaneous manner in which the gun was brought into action, and the success which had attended the introduction of the idea. He affirmed that no less than ten submarines had been sunk during the first few weeks this invention had been first introduced. But, as he explained, one day a vessel so fitted was attacked by two submarines at the same time, one being on each quarter, and the secret became exposed. After that, he added, the Germans became much more suspicious how they approached and attacked fis.h.i.+ng vessels, and successes fell off considerably.

It had been an Admiralty regulation that when a submarine was sunk and its loss proved, the successful crew was awarded 1,000 for each submarine recorded, which was divided proportionately according to rank.

Submarines claimed to have been sunk run to over two hundred. Many and various were the methods by which they were sent to the bottom of the sea; but so far as a number of inventors or the originators of ingenuity were or are concerned, it would appear that virtue alone remains their sole reward.

Since this book was accepted for press my attention has been called, in the February number, 1920, of _Pearson's Magazine_, to an article by Admiral Sims of the U.S.A. Navy, ent.i.tled ”How the Mystery s.h.i.+ps Fought,” in which he says:

”Every submarine that was sent to the bottom, it was estimated, amounted in 1917 to a saving of about 40,000 tons per year of merchant s.h.i.+pping; that was the amount of s.h.i.+pping, in other words, which the average U-boat would sink, if left unhindered to pursue its course.

”This type of vessel (Q-boats) was a regular s.h.i.+p of His Majesty's Navy, yet there was little about it that suggested warfare. _Just who invented this grimy enemy of the submarine is, like many other devices developed by the war, unknown._ It was, however, the natural outcome of a close study of German naval methods. The man who first had the idea well understood the peculiar mentality of the U-boat commanders.”