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NAVAL HEROES 
 
 OF 
 
 TO-DAY 
 
(C) Brown and Dawson. 
 
 A Broadside at Night Taken by Its Own Light 
 
NAVAL HEROES 
 
 OF 
 
 TODAY 
 
 BY r I 
 
 FRANCIS A" COLLINS 
 
 Author of "The Fighting Engineers," 
 "The Air Man," etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 Vf**^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1918 
 
M 
 
 i 
 
 Copyright, 1918, by 
 The Cewtuby Co. 
 
 Published, September, 1918 
 
 OCT -I 1918 
 
::> 
 
 For much of the material 
 here presented the author is in- 
 debted to Lieutenant Wells 
 Hawks, Passed Asst. Paymaster, 
 U. S. N. R. R 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 GUARDING THE SEA LANES 
 
 OHAPTEE 
 
 I The American Spirit . 
 
 II WiTPi THE Destroyers . 
 
 III Returning Good for Evil . 
 
 IV The Inspiration of Names . 
 V Through Smoke and Flames 
 
 VI ''Abandon Ship" . 
 
 VII A Close Call . 
 
 VIII Wireless Dangers 
 
 IX His Last Words . 
 
 X Fire at Sea . 
 
 XI His Graduate Course 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 22 
 27 
 32 
 38 
 
 43 
 
 48 
 
 52 
 60 
 
 PART II 
 WITH THE MERCHANT FLEET 
 
 XII Routine Work . 
 
 XIII The First Blow . 
 
 XIV Without Warning . 
 XV The "Silver Shell" . 
 
 XVI A Record Performance 
 XVII One of the First Tests 
 XVIII Before and After the Wreck 
 
 67 
 
 73 
 
 83 
 
 92 
 
 100 
 
 104 
 
 108 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 XIX 
 
 XX 
 
 XXI 
 
 XXII 
 
 XXIII 
 
 XXIV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Aboard the Largest Transport 115 
 
 Via Wireless 120 
 
 A Success and a Failure . .125 
 
 Standing by the Ship. . . . 133 
 When the S.S. "Lincoln" 
 
 Sank 137 
 
 Guarding the Transports . . 147 
 
 PART III 
 
 ON AIR-SCOUT DUTY 
 
 XXV First to Fly . . 
 
 XXVI Early Exploits 
 
 XXVII An Air Battle . 
 
 XXVIII A Seaplane Wreck 
 
 XXIX A Balloon Wreck 
 
 XXX Air Coast Patrol . 
 
 XXXI Spotting the Fall of 
 
 XXXII Air Scouting . 
 
 XXXIII Aero Photography 
 
 XXXIV A Seven-Hour Air Battle 
 
 Shots 
 
 153 
 158 
 162 
 168 
 
 175 
 180 
 187 
 192 
 198 
 205 
 
 PART IV 
 
 IN HOME WATERS 
 
 XXXV In Peace Times 213 
 
 XXXVI On the Spur of the Moment . 219 
 
 XXXVII The Fire-Fighters .... 223 
 
 XXXVIII Those in Peril 227 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXXIX The Wreck of the "San Diego" 237 
 
 XL The Wireless Guard .... 244 
 
 XLI Modern Weapons 256 
 
 XLII Manning the Fleets . . . 265 
 
 XLIII 
 XLIV 
 
 PART V 
 
 WITH THE MARINES 
 
 With the Marines . . 
 "First to Fight" . 
 
 275 
 280 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A broadside at night taken by its own 
 
 light Frontispiece 
 
 Capture of the first German submarine by 
 
 Americans 17 
 
 A camouflaged destroyer 18 
 
 Launching a torpedo 35 
 
 Signal drill 36 
 
 On shore leave in the tropics 53 
 
 A gala occasion 54 
 
 A 400 lb. charge of powder for a 14-inch gun 71 
 
 A floating target 72 
 
 Some ship's mascots yy 
 
 The gun crew ready for action 78 
 
 Sunset at sea 87 
 
 Riding out a storm 88 
 
 German submarine destroyed by an American 
 
 depth bomb 109 
 
 The first American fighting men to reach 
 
 France no 
 
 On the high seas . . . 127 
 
 With all flags set ... 128 
 
 In home waters 145 > 
 
ILLqSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Awaiting the admiral 146 
 
 Practising on a submarine target . . . .163 
 
 With the air patrol fleet 164 
 
 Seaplane practice .- . . . 181 
 
 Drill at the Newport Navy Yard .... 182 
 An American fleet in Chinese waters . . . 199 
 
 The deck from aloft 200 
 
 The range finder 241 
 
 Training a gun crew 242 
 
 A landing party of American sailors . . . 251 
 
 Rolling scuppers under 252 
 
 U. S. Marines and Bluejackets enjoying a day's 
 
 outing at Culebra ....... 269 
 
 U. S. Marines in action 270 
 
PART I 
 GUARDING THE SEA LANES 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF 
 TO-DAY 
 
 THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 
 
 IT is difficult to define the American spirit. 
 We know it to be fearless, unselfish, and 
 dependable in emergency. The best defini- 
 tion is an example. There is a wealth of 
 material to choose from in every service of 
 the American Navy. 
 
 The peril of the submarine has brought 
 a new situation. Its missiles strike unex- 
 pectedly and with deadly effect, and often 
 the blow falls far from assistance. 
 
 The exploit of Osmond K. Ingram, chosen 
 almost at random from the submarine re- 
 ports, will serve the purpose. Ingram was 
 a gunner's mate of the first class aboard the 
 Cassin on submarine patrol duty. A U-boat 
 was sighted, one day, running on the surface 
 
 3 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 at a distance of five miles. The alarm 
 brought the men quickly to their battle sta- 
 tions, and the Cassin was headed for the 
 enemy full speed. The submarine had time 
 to submerge before the Cassin came up. 
 She cruised about for some time without 
 picking the submarine up, steaming in a 
 series of violent zigzags to confuse the en- 
 emy. 
 
 At the end of half an hour Commander 
 W. N. Vernon of the Cassin suddenly sighted 
 a torpedo only four hundred yards off. It 
 was aimed to strike the Cassin amidships. 
 The Captain rang for the emergency speed 
 for both engines. Men who have watched 
 the approach of a modern torpedo describe 
 the experience as one of the most terrifying 
 in a sailor's experience. Even those who 
 have been repeatedly under fire find the mo- 
 ment very trying. One does not see a shell 
 that strikes. The torpedo, on the other 
 hand, moves slowly in comparison. Many 
 seconds must elapse after it is sighted be- 
 fore the blow falls ; and the victim must face 
 them as calmly as he may. 
 
 The crew of the Cassin saw the wake of 
 4 
 
THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 
 
 the torpedo whiten and run out, drawing a 
 Hne on the water directly toward them. In- 
 gram, forgetting his own safety, rose to one 
 of those acts of supreme sacrifice that render 
 the American spirit traditional. As it be- 
 came clear that the torpedo would miss the 
 middle part of the ship and strike somewhere 
 astern, Ingram realized that the ship was en- 
 dangered by some boxes of explosives on the 
 after-deck. If the torpedo struck near them 
 they would destroy the ship. 
 
 It would have been a simple matter to run 
 forward with the rest of the crew and save 
 himself; but Ingram deliberately turned and 
 ran aft. He was racing with the torpedo. 
 It was a question of seconds. The torpedo 
 was only a few feet away when Ingram suc- 
 ceeded in picking up and throwing over the 
 last of the boxes of explosives. His pres- 
 ence of mind had saved the ship. When the 
 torpedo struck, Ingram was the only member 
 of the crew in the vicinity. He was thrown 
 into the water and drowned before assistance 
 could reach him, being the only man on board 
 to lose his life. 
 
 The torpedo struck a glancing blow which 
 5 
 
- NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 disabled one engine but struck no vital part. 
 As her crew hurried to repair the damage 
 the Cassin pluckily turned about, and, de- 
 spite her handicap, gave battle to the sub- 
 marine. She remained for hours on the 
 scene, and when the U-boat finally lifted, the 
 Cassin greeted her with four well placed 
 shots which forced her to disappear with 
 what damages it could only be guessed. 
 
 Acting with instant decision, Ingram gave 
 his life to save others and safeguard his 
 ship. In the ready intelligence of his ac- 
 tion, and in his unselfish devotion, Ingram 
 has set a very high standard for the achieve- 
 ment of the American spirit. As a special 
 mark of respect, one of the new destroyers 
 has been named for him. So great an au- 
 thority as Admiral Sims, in commenting on 
 the affair, said: 
 
 "The behavior was admirable. There 
 was no excitement, and afterwards the men 
 remained quietly at their battle stations 
 throughout the night." 
 
 The following letter, written by Secretary 
 Daniels, was read aloud to the crew of the 
 U. S. S. Cassin: 
 
 6 
 
THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 
 
 "The Department has received the report 
 of the action between the U. S. S. Cassin and 
 a German submarine on October 15, 191 7> 
 and notes with gratification the highly com- 
 mendable conduct of yourself, the other offi- 
 cers, and the crew of the Cassin. The man- 
 ner in which the Cassin kept under way with 
 her steering-gear disabled and practically at 
 the mercy of the submarine, and opened fire 
 on her when she appeared, is well worthy of 
 the best traditions of the Navy." 
 
 In another letter to Lieutenant McClaran 
 and Saunders, Secretary Daniels especially 
 praised them for their "highly commendable 
 conduct in going down into the smoking hold 
 adjacent to the magazines to ascertain the 
 extent of the damage done to the Cassin 
 after that vessel had been struck by the tor- 
 pedo." 
 
II 
 
 WITH THE DESTROYERS 
 
 EVERY man of the crews of our destroy- 
 ers on submarine duty is something of a 
 hero. Many of them will probably be dis- 
 tinguished by official recognition, but the list 
 of fearless men who have faced death at 
 this post of duty may be counted by thou- 
 sands. 
 
 Every one knows the speedy-looking craft 
 that are driving the submarines from the sea. 
 With their rows of funnels, they might be 
 mistaken at a distance for fast Atlantic 
 liners. They are the greyhounds of the 
 Navy. The beam of a destroyer is about 
 one twelfth her length. There is a great 
 gain for speed in this proportion, and it is 
 upon their speed that we depend to-day for 
 the safety of the seas. But for their crews 
 this narrow hull means indescribable dis- 
 comfort. 
 
 8 
 
WITH THE DESTROYERS 
 
 No ship afloat, probably, is less stable in 
 rough weather. A destroyer rolls through 
 an arc of sixty degrees in six seconds. Only 
 a sailor knows what this means. Such a 
 motion will often roll an old sailor overboard 
 before he can grasp a support. One of these 
 boats has been known to roll through an arc 
 of seventy-three degrees. As their speed 
 increases up to thirty knots an hour or bet- 
 ter, such craft roll and pitch, and combine 
 the two motions in a very terrifying man- 
 ner. 
 
 The men below decks must be strapped 
 into their berths in rough weather. Many 
 suffer from broken arms and legs. And a 
 storm may continue for days without relief. 
 The wireless man of a destroyer was once 
 held a voluntary prisoner in his cabin for 
 more than forty hours without food, rather 
 than face the sea that constantly swept the 
 decks. There may be hours at a time when 
 it is impossible to walk the length of the 
 boat. A steel rope is often rigged up sev- 
 eral feet above the deck to serve as a trolley. 
 A sailor passes a rope over this, and, fasten- 
 ing it about his shoulders, waits until the 
 
 9 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 boat has pitched steeply enough, when he 
 slides down in comparative safety. 
 
 Aboard this frail craft must be carried 
 considerable supplies of explosives, which a 
 chance blow may set off. The boat's wea- 
 pons include a number of depth bombs, for 
 instance, each of which contains about three 
 hundred pounds of T N T. The explosion 
 of one of these bombs deep in the water 
 wrecks everything in the vicinity. It is not 
 necessary that they strike the U-boat or ex- 
 plode very near them. Some idea of their 
 power and the danger of handling them may 
 be gained from the fact that a destroyer 
 must be going twenty-five knots an hour 
 when they are dropped astern. If the speed 
 be slower than this, the boats are likely to be 
 injured. There have been cases of destroy- 
 ers dropping depth bombs while traveling 
 at half this speed, when the explosion has all 
 but wrecked them. To save weight and 
 gain speed, which is so essential, parts of 
 the hulls of the destroyers are made only 
 three sixteenths of an inch thick — little 
 enough protection, it would seem, against 
 the storms of the Atlantic. 
 
 lO 
 
WITH THE DESTROYERS 
 
 No other service is so trying to men's 
 nerves as that aboard the destroyers in ac- 
 tive service. It has been found necessary to 
 give the crews a rest after each cruise equal 
 to about two thirds the time spent at sea. 
 The watchers on board are Hmited to eight 
 hours in every twenty-four. Day after 
 day the crew are unable to take off their 
 clothes, and must grab their food while 
 holding for their lives to a convenient 
 stanchion. 
 
 The officers are worked to the limit of 
 their endurance. For instance, in convoy- 
 ing a ship, a destroyer must zigzag about the 
 ship at top speed to keep every part of the 
 sea under observation. It frequently hap- 
 pens that the officer of the deck must change 
 the ship's course two hundred times in an 
 hour. On every destroyer one of the watch 
 officers does the additional work of acting 
 as chief engineer. The officers may also be 
 called upon to serve in the crow's-nest as 
 lookout, or to go aboard a torpedoed ship, 
 all in addition to his regular eight-hour 
 watch. The executive officer also acts at 
 times as navigator — and the work of naviga- 
 
 II 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 tion on these little crafts is very arduous. 
 The commanding officer frequently averages 
 nearly twenty hours of duty a day through- 
 out a cruise. 
 
 The destroyers start out to cover a regular 
 course, but they are at the beck and call of 
 everything that floats. A wireless SOS 
 may draw them hundreds of miles off their 
 course. The life of a destroyer's crew is 
 just one submarine chase after another. 
 
 Another perilous service that has come to 
 be looked upon as commonplace routine work 
 is that of the mine-sweeper. To free the 
 ocean lanes of dangerous mines, great nets 
 are drawn through the water and the "catch" 
 carefully removed. The operation is much 
 like that of fishing, but with the danger that 
 the mines encountered may be set off with 
 disastrous results. When such a mine is 
 caught in the net, it must be drawn up, 
 passed over the ship's side, and placed on 
 deck with the most anxious precaution. 
 The slightest jar may set off its delicate 
 mechanism, and such mines are loaded with 
 the design of destroying great ships at a 
 single blow. In rough weather, with the 
 
 12 
 
WITH THE DESTROYERS 
 
 boat rolling and pitching, the work is exceed- 
 ingly precarious. But familiarity breeds 
 contempt even for these floating mines, and 
 the sailors go about their perilous work with 
 light hearts. 
 
 One of the surprises of the present war 
 is the youthfulness of many of the men 
 who have gained high honors. Although 
 twenty-one years has been fixed for the selec- 
 tive draft, and eighteen for enlistment, the 
 age limit is often dodged, so anxious and so 
 fit are American boys to enter the service. 
 It has frequently been remarked abroad that 
 the American troops are surprisingly youth- 
 ful. One of the first boys to be invalided 
 home was a San Francisco school lad who 
 had enlisted, undergone the necessary period 
 of training, journeyed to France, fought 
 and been wounded before his eighteenth 
 year. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to 
 quote briefly from a letter written to the 
 Captain of the U. S. S. Georgia by the 
 mother of a second-class seaman serving 
 aboard his ship. It reads in part as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 13 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 I am writing to thank you for the good care you 
 gave my boy. 
 
 He was a boy just eighteen and deHcate, but he 
 came back to me a strong, healthy, robust, a fine 
 looking lad of nineteen, a boy any mother may feel 
 proud of ; and my prayer is that he will come back 
 again, and that we may be prouder than before. 
 May the Lord watch between him and me and all on 
 the U. S. S. Georgia until we meet again. 
 
 14 
 
Ill 
 
 RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL 
 
 OUR pride in the capture of the first 
 German submarine crew is far greater 
 than any satisfaction over its mere military 
 advantage. The American crew showed 
 themselves fearless and gallant fighters. 
 There are many kinds of courage. In the 
 encounter between the American destroyer 
 and the U-boat .no one held back in the ac- 
 tual physical encounter. It remained for 
 Americans, however, to face death willingly 
 a second time in a very terrifying form, to 
 save the men who had just sought their lives. 
 Many painful records of the inhuman treat- 
 ment of prisoners by the Germans might be 
 cited in contrast. 
 
 The engagement was one of the shortest 
 and most decisive in the history of the war. 
 While escorting a large convoy, the U. S. 
 destroyer Fanning sighted a submarine that 
 had crept close in unobserved. Her peri- 
 ls 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 scope appeared above the water for but a 
 few seconds— long enough, however, for 
 Coxswain Loomis of the Fanning to give the 
 alarm. Only the most alert lookout could 
 have observed the little tube with its wake 
 of bubbles. The alarm found every one at 
 his post. In such an encounter a few sec- 
 onds' advantage spells victory or disaster. 
 Without a moment's hesitation. Lieutenant 
 S. C. Carpenter, the commander of the Fan- 
 ning, headed for the U-boat's position. As 
 she swept over the spot, first one and then 
 another depth charge was dropped. 
 
 Every eye was strained upon the sur- 
 rounding waters for some sign of the enemy. 
 The next shot, delivered at such short range, 
 might decide the battle. Several anxious 
 moments followed. It began to be feared 
 that the submarine had moved nearer the 
 convoy and might deliver a fatal blow. 
 
 The strain was beginning to tell on all 
 hands, when the water broke at a point be- 
 tween the Fanning and her convoy, and the 
 periscope bobbed above the surface. A 
 third depth charge was loosened. The sub- 
 marine continued to rise rapidly until her 
 
 i6 
 
RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL 
 
 conning-tower appeared above the surface. 
 She was greeted by three shots from the 
 Nicholson, another American ship close by. 
 
 The Fanning then opened with her bow 
 gun, served by picked gunners. Each shot 
 told, and on the third discharge the hatches 
 of the submarine flew open and the crew 
 rushed upon deck. They crowded along the 
 narrow ledge facing the Fanning and held 
 up their hands in token of surrender. The 
 battle had been fought and won in less than 
 eighteen minutes from the time the U-boat's 
 periscope was first sighted. 
 
 Keeping her batteries trained on the sub- 
 marine, the Fanning cautiously approached. 
 The prize was a rich one, and the suddenness 
 of the surrender appeared suspicious. It 
 was not until the Fanning was alongside that 
 the nature of the trick was discovered. Be- 
 fore coming on deck, the crew of the U-boat 
 had scuttled their ship, thus literally burning 
 their bridges with a vengeance. The sub- 
 marine, as the men of the Fanning were to 
 learn, had been struck in a vital part and 
 could make no further defense: if she were 
 captured, however, the secrets of her con- 
 
 19 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 struction would fall into the hands of the 
 enemy. 
 
 The submarine was already well down 
 when the Fanning came alongside. A line 
 was thrown to the men; but, before they 
 could escape, the boat made her last plunge, 
 and the crew were forced to leap into the 
 sea. The stories of the treatment of the 
 vanquished by the crew of U-boats must 
 have been in the minds of these American 
 sailors. It was one of these submarines, it 
 will be remembered, that enticed the crew of 
 a torpedoed ship to come aboard, and, after 
 taking their life-preservers from them, sub- 
 merged, leaving them to face certain death. 
 
 A high sea was running about the Ameri- 
 can destroyer, and the water — for it was 
 midwinter — was cruelly cold. Without 
 awaiting orders, two of the crew of the Fan- 
 ning jumped overboard. The men who 
 showed this fine sense of the ethics of the 
 sea were Chief Pharmacist A. E. Harwell 
 and Coxswain F. G. Connor. The first 
 German brought aboard died from exposure, 
 which shows how severe a test of courage 
 was called for. One by one, the rest of the 
 
 20 
 
RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIU 
 
 crew, ten in all, were brought aboard. They 
 were found to be so weak that lines were 
 fastened about them to pull them aboard. 
 
 Nor did the gallantry of the American 
 sailors end here. The German who had 
 died was buried with full military honors by 
 the men whom they had sought to destroy. 
 The crew were served hot coffee, and our 
 sailors shared their food and clothing with 
 the prisoners. Several of the men took off 
 their overcoats in the biting wind, handing 
 them to the Germans. The Germans re- 
 ceived these attentions with amazement, and 
 the captain, lining up his men on the Fan- 
 ning's deck, called for three cheers for the 
 American sailors. 
 
 The men who jumped into the winter sea 
 have been commended and promoted for 
 their services. It is significant that the first 
 man on the list is an old honor boy in the 
 New York City schools, who enlisted at the 
 outbreak of the war, giving up a position of 
 salesman in a department store. 
 
 21 
 
IV 
 
 THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 
 
 IT has been a very happy idea on the part 
 of the United States Government to give 
 to ships of the Navy the names of heroic of- 
 ficers lost in the service. From the present 
 war, even in its early stages, a wealth of 
 material is supplied. Should America build 
 the greatest navy in the world, ships could 
 not be found to bear the names of all these 
 heroes. 
 
 In christening one of the latest destroyers, 
 the Kalk, the Government preserved the 
 memory of one of the most heroic actions in 
 the history of the Navy. Lieutenant Stan- 
 ton Frederick Kalk was the officer of the 
 deck of the U. S. destroyer Jacob Jones, lost 
 in action December 6, 191 7. The destroyer, 
 when attacked, was proceeding to port after 
 target practice. The blow came without 
 warning, and but for the vigilance of her 
 officers, all would have been lost. Lieuten- 
 
 22 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 
 
 ant Kalk was the first to observe the ap- 
 proach of the German torpedo while it was 
 still about half a mile distant from his ship. 
 
 Under the most favorable conditions the 
 torpedo is an exceedingly elusive missile. 
 Its rapid progress through the water is 
 marked, even in calm weather, only by a 
 wake of tiny waves and bubbles, indiscerni- 
 ble even at a short distance. On this par- 
 ticular December afternoon the sea was cov- 
 ered with floating ice and the weather rather 
 thick, which of course acted in favor of the 
 enemy. These torpedo attacks force our 
 men to face a situation new in warfare. The 
 training and discipline of years and the high- 
 est skill in gunnery count for little. There 
 is no opportunity to match skill and fearless- 
 ness against the enemy, as in an ordinary en- 
 gagement. The safety of the ship and the 
 lives of all on board may depend upon a 
 single command, and the skill with which it 
 is carried out. 
 
 In the few terrifying seconds of life left 
 to the destroyer as the torpedo approached, 
 there was little time for preparation. The 
 manoeuver ordered by Lieutenant Kalk could 
 
 23 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 not be carried out before the torpedo struck 
 fairly amidships. The wireless apparatus 
 and mainmast were carried away by the im- 
 pact, and the ship rapidly foundered. The 
 shock of the explosion killed many of the 
 crew, and threw others into the icy water. 
 There was little time to lower the boats. 
 Most of the men who were not killed by the 
 first blow succeeded in getting clear of the 
 ship, and reached the boats, rafts, or pieces 
 of wreckage. Of the crew of seven officers 
 and 103 men, two officers and 6y men were 
 lost. 
 
 The men who reached land brought stories 
 of bravery and self-sacrifice scarcely equaled 
 in the history of the seas. Scores of men 
 struggled for hours in the icy water. All 
 were under the shadow of death, and many 
 died in the water from shock and exposure. 
 At such a time the self-sacrifice of the officers 
 and their men was above all praise. 
 
 The heroism of Lieutenant Kalk has been 
 described by many witnesses. Although 
 weakened by the shock of the explosion, Kalk 
 continued to swim from one raft to another 
 to encourage his men and lend them all the 
 24 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 
 
 assistance in his power. His cheering 
 words reached most of his men, whom he 
 urged to hold on until help should arrive. 
 
 His supreme self-sacrifice, however, was 
 in voluntarily relinquishing his place on the 
 life-rafts when it was found that his weight 
 endangered them. He swam from one raft 
 to another, searching for a place, until his 
 strength failed him and he disappeared. 
 One of the sailors who saw him disappear 
 said of him that "he was game to the last." 
 
 In singling out men for conspicuous brav- 
 ery in this wreck. Secretary Daniels has also 
 mentioned the work of Lieutenant Norman 
 Scott, one of the executive officers. In the 
 few seconds that intervened between the first 
 observation of the torpedo and the explo- 
 sion, Scott found time to have the steam 
 turned off, thus guarding against scalding 
 the men if the pipes were broken. At his 
 orders, guns were fired up to the moment the 
 ship was struck. One of the officers, Lieu- 
 tenant David W. Bagley, was picked up by a 
 motor-boat, and succeeded in steering a 
 course by the stars and the direction of the 
 wind until he came into the shipping lanes 
 
 25 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 and was rescued by a small patrol boat. The 
 raft was commanded by Lieutenant J. K. 
 Richards, whose coolness and cheerfulness 
 in the face of almost certain death revived 
 the spirit of his men and brought them to 
 safety. Praise was also bestowed on Charles 
 Worth, a boatswain's mate, who removed 
 most of his clothes in the bitter cold to warm 
 a seaman more thinly clad than himself. 
 One of the seamen stuck to the ship after he 
 had been thrown overboard, in a desperate 
 eifort to clear a boat. He was finally drawn 
 under, but was rescued on coming to the sur- 
 face. When next the U. S. destroyer Kalk 
 is heard of, it will be well to recall the story 
 of the men whose death she commemorates. 
 
 26 
 
V 
 THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 
 
 WERE the exploits of J. R. Ridgely to 
 be reenacted for a moving picture 
 thriller, it would be considered impossible 
 melodrama. Even a hardened "movie" 
 audience would smile incredulously. 
 
 The crew had been called to quarters by 
 an alarm of fire. A hasty investigation 
 showed that the trouble lay deep down in the 
 engine-room, in a particularly inaccessible 
 part of the ship. With the celerity de- 
 manded at such times, the entire crew rushed 
 to their stations, the pumps were manned, 
 and the hose run out. Even on deck it was 
 soon clear that the fire was serious. Clouds 
 of black smoke began to pour from the ven- 
 tilators, indicating that the fire was being fed 
 by oil and was rapidly gaining headway. 
 
 When a ship's ventilators begin to smoke 
 the situation is serious. The fire may have 
 
 27 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 spread to the vital parts of the ship. An 
 oil fire is especially difficult to handle. Its 
 heat is intense, often driving back the most 
 daring crew ; and water may cause the burn- 
 ing oil to spread. 
 
 It had been the work of only a few min- 
 utes for the crew to scale the perpendicular 
 iron ladder leading to the engine-room, drag- 
 ging the heavy hose with them; but they 
 arrived too late. Working blindly in the 
 intense heat, tons of water were quickly 
 thrown into the dark hold, but the thick 
 smoke continued to pour up. At these lower 
 levels the air soon became suffocating. 
 There was no thought of retreat. The 
 pumps were run at top pressure. The crew 
 still clung to the steep ladders, directing the 
 hose into the darkness. 
 
 The black smoke still continued to pour 
 from the ventilators. Desperate attempts 
 were made to reach the seat of the fire from 
 other quarters. Men descended to the holds 
 and tried to work their way by other en- 
 trances, only to be driven back by the suf- 
 focating heat and smoke. It was soon 
 found that enough water had been poured 
 28 
 
THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 
 
 into the ship to drown the fire, had it reached 
 the right place. 
 
 One passage leading to the heart of the 
 fire still remained open, but the road was an 
 exceedingly perilous one. Since the black 
 smoke, despite the water poured into the 
 ship, still rose from the funnel, it was ob- 
 vious that the fire was at its base, or very 
 near it. A hose had been carried to the top 
 of the ventilator and a continuous stream of 
 water poured down, but without apparent ef- 
 fect. There remained only the extremely 
 hazardous passage down the ventilator 
 through the smoke and flame. If a man 
 could survive such a trip, he would doubtless 
 find himself face to face with the fire. 
 
 The seaman Ridgely volunteered to make 
 the trip. A rope was fastened beneath 
 his arms, leaving his arms free, and his 
 clothes were thoroughly saturated with 
 water, as was the rope. Then the sailor 
 climbed into the funnel, feet first. In one 
 hand he carried a hose, in the other a fire 
 grenade. Several of the crew grasped the 
 rope and at a signal began slowly to lower 
 him. His body slipped downward; for a 
 
 29 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 moment his face remained above the opening 
 of the funnel, and then disappeared. 
 
 If the rope were not burnt through or cut 
 by some sharp edge or projection in the next 
 few seconds, it would be possible to raise 
 the sailor once more to the level of the 
 deck ; but no one dared picture to himself the 
 condition of the man after such a trip. 
 There was the double danger of suffocating 
 from the smoke and of being burnt by con- 
 tact with the heated metal of the lower parts 
 of the ship. No one could tell into what an 
 inferno he might be descending. 
 
 A ship's ventilator, no matter what its 
 length, acts as a speaking-tube, carrying any 
 sound from its base to the deck with re- 
 markable clearness. At a signal, a shout of 
 warning, or a knock on the metal sides of the 
 funnel, the crew would instantly begin to 
 haul up. 
 
 The rope was steadily paid out, foot after 
 foot, indicating that the man was still de- 
 scending; but no sound reached the deck. 
 Every eye watched the taut rope. Should it 
 slacken suddenly before he reached the floor 
 of the engine-room far below, there would 
 
 30 
 
THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 
 
 be little hope of again seeing him alive. 
 The descent lasted but a few minutes — 
 long as it seemed to the watchers on deck — 
 when a reassuring shout from below told the 
 watchers that he had made the journey 
 through the smoke and lire in safety. Once 
 on his feet, he directed the hose so success- 
 fully that in a few minutes the fire was 
 flooded out and he could make his way to the 
 deck. In commending this hero for his act 
 Secretary Daniels praised him for "conspic- 
 uous bravery"; but even these glowing ad- 
 jectives scarcely suffice. 
 
 31 
 
VI 
 
 "ABANDON SHIP" 
 
 WITH the order, "Abandon ship," 
 comes a supreme test of discipHne. 
 As long as a ship floats, no matter what her 
 injuries, there is always hope of victory. 
 She may be outclassed and outfought, but 
 the tide of battle may always change. A 
 lucky shot or a well executed manoeuver may 
 turn the tables against the enemy. To de- 
 sert the ship ends every hope of success. 
 The crew throw away their weapons. 
 
 A war-ship is at once a fort and a fighting 
 machine. No matter how severe the attack, 
 the crew fight behind protection, the most 
 formidable of its kind science has been able 
 to devise. The moment they step from be- 
 hind these steel walls they are completely at 
 the mercy of the smallest gun the enemy may 
 bring to bear on them. In clearing the 
 decks of a battle-ship for action, the life- 
 boats are removed, and if the ship goes down 
 
 32 
 
"ABANDON SHIP" 
 
 suddenly there is little or no time for bring- 
 ing out and launching the small boats. 
 
 The safety of the steel walls and the com- 
 fort of the cabins are exchanged for the ex- 
 posure of an open boat or raft ; perhaps even 
 this chance of escape is gone. If the battle 
 occurs far from land and assistance, the or- 
 der to abandon ship is a death threat. Many 
 great ships flying the Stars and Stripes have 
 gone dov^n in storm or battle, and the famous 
 order has been heard repeatedly; but the dis- 
 cipline of the Navy has always stood the test. 
 In the present war the new methods of the 
 submarines has made the sinking of ships a 
 commonplace, but the records contain no 
 story of panic in such a crisis. 
 
 Early in the war a converted yacht acting 
 as a despatch boat was sunk by a submarine 
 under peculiar conditions. The craft had 
 been built for grace and comfort, and its hull 
 offered little protection from attack. From 
 the first moment she was hopelessly out- 
 classed by the U-boat. When the torpedo 
 designed to sink great battle-ships struck the 
 frail craft, her hull was literally torn to 
 pieces and she sank almost immediately. 
 
 33 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 So sudden was the blow that many of the 
 crew, who were asleep at the time, scarcely 
 had time to tumble on deck before the water 
 swept over her. A chief yeoman, who was 
 sleeping below deck at the moment the tor- 
 pedo struck, was one of those awakened by 
 the impact. To be roused from a deep sleep 
 in the middle of the night and find the water 
 rushing into the cabin is certainly a terrify- 
 ing experience. Without the iron discipline 
 of the Navy, such a crew would doubtless be 
 thrown into hopeless panic. 
 
 The first impulse in such an accident is, of 
 course, to make a rush for the decks, since 
 that way lies the only hope of escape. While 
 the rest of the crew, catching up their 
 clothes, ran to the companionways, the chief 
 yeoman deliberately remained below-decks. 
 The lights had gone out, leaving the cabins 
 in darkness. He must therefore feel his 
 way through the cabins, not knowing which, 
 plunge of the boat might be its last. 
 
 Arriving finally at the Captain's room, he 
 found it empty. The Captain had been on 
 deck at the moment of the explosion, and had 
 thought it foolhardy to try to reach his cabin. 
 
 34 
 
«-. -1- 
 
 5.1' 
 
 0^ '^ 
 
 ' i 
 
"ABANDON SHIP" 
 
 The chief yeoman wasted several priceless 
 minutes in searching about the dark room, 
 but finally secured the ship's papers and the 
 captain's war diary. There was barely time 
 for him to reach the deck before the boat 
 made her last plunge. No life-boats were in 
 sight. Wrapping the papers in his hand- 
 kerchief and thrusting them into his shirt, 
 the chief yeoman jumped overboard, clearing 
 the ship as she sank. 
 
 No boat or raft of wreckage of any kind 
 was in sight. He swam about the spot 
 where his boat had gone down for some 
 time, and finally chanced upon a piece of the 
 ship's air-tank, to which a sailor was cling- 
 ing. His strength was almost gone from 
 the long swim and the exposure, but his mate 
 succeeded in holding him on the tank. The 
 two floated about in this precarious support 
 for hours before they were both rescued and 
 the ship's papers preserved. 
 
 Z7 
 
VII 
 A CLOSE CALL 
 
 WITHOUT the aid of wireless electric- 
 ity, the tables probably could not 
 have been turned on the submarine. The 
 great fleets of scouting craft of every type 
 that are constantly sweeping above the sub- 
 marine-infested waters are linked together 
 by these invisible waves. Without the wire- 
 less they would work separately, each keep- 
 ing guard only over its own prescribed area. 
 At a touch of the key the widely scattered 
 fleets become parts of an organized machine. 
 Let the famous SOS flash over the seas, 
 and instantly many prows are speeding to- 
 ward the ship in distress. 
 
 In October, 191 7, a Luckenbach craft fly- 
 ing the American flag, bound for a French 
 port, was attacked by a German submarine. 
 An alert lookout on the steamer sighted the 
 enemy craft close in on the port bow. Be- 
 fore he could report the danger the U-boat 
 
 38 
 
A CLOSE CALU 
 
 opened fire. The first shot barely missed the 
 bow. Although she carried an armed 
 guard, the plight of the steamer was desper- 
 ate. The submarine's guns were the larger 
 and put the American at a disadvantage. 
 
 The shot was the first announcement to the 
 gun crew of the presence of the enemy. It 
 found them at their stations, and the rever- 
 berations had scarcely died away before a 
 reply rang out. The gunners on both the 
 submarine and the steamship maintained a 
 rapid fire. The U-boat, being the faster and 
 more mobile craft, so manoeuvered that she 
 presented a very elusive target. 
 
 The American Captain had lost no time 
 in directing the wireless operator to send out 
 the SOS with the full force of his ap- 
 paratus. The call for help was thrown out 
 for hundreds of miles in all directions. 
 Again and again the wireless man pressed 
 the key, but he listened in vain for any re- 
 ply. 
 
 The steamship was well within the war 
 zone, where a number of scouting craft of 
 various types were known to be on duty. 
 Such a call for assistance is usually answered 
 
 39 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 within a few seconds. Even if the craft that 
 responds be too far away to be of assistance, 
 the steamer in distress usually has the en- 
 couragement of receiving some reply. The 
 Captain visited the wireless room, and with 
 the operator waited anxiously for a reply; 
 but minute after minute passed and the air 
 remained silent. 
 
 The steamship was struck repeatedly. 
 Any shot now might finish her. The con- 
 flict could be drawn out for some anxious 
 minutes, but, unless speedy assistance came 
 to the steamer, the submarine's victory was 
 certain. 
 
 Preparations were made to abandon ship. 
 The boats were swung overboard, and the 
 crew and passengers took their boat stations, 
 prepared to face the inevitable. As a final 
 manceuver, the steamship's course was sud- 
 denly altered, and she was sent full speed 
 ahead in a direction that carried her away 
 from her destination. The submarine con- 
 tinued to keep within range, sending shot 
 after shot. 
 
 Meanwhile, the SOS had been picked 
 up by an American destroyer only a few 
 
 40 
 
A CLOSE CALL 
 
 miles away, and the speedy craft was run- 
 ning at forced draught to her reUef. The 
 destroyer had answered the call for help, but 
 the receiving apparatus aboard the steam- 
 ship had been deranged by the firing, and 
 her wireless man had no word of her. At 
 frequent intervals the destroyer sent out en- 
 couraging messages, such as "Hold on" and 
 "Stick — we are coming"; but the steamship 
 knew nothing about it. 
 
 At such a time the moral support of a 
 wireless message may be more useful than a 
 battery. The American not only faced ship- 
 wreck but the danger of the open boats as 
 well. She was far from land, and once the 
 men abandoned ship there was no opportun- 
 ity of signaling. 
 
 The submarine had meanwhile read the 
 wireless messages from the destroyer and 
 redoubled her efforts to finish the steamship 
 before help arrived. It was a question of 
 minutes. All hope seemed at an end, when a 
 lookout on the steamship sighted a faint line 
 of black smoke on the horizon. It grew 
 rapidly until the lookout could distinguish 
 the American destroyer rushing forward at 
 
 41 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 her utmost speed. It was not toward the 
 steamer she was pointed, however, but the 
 submarine. The German fire suddenly 
 ceased; the U-boat quickly submerged and 
 was not seen again. 
 
 42 
 
VIII 
 WIRELESS DANGERS 
 
 A GRACEFUL monument has been 
 raised in New York to wireless tele- 
 graph operators who have died at the post 
 of duty. In time of danger no other mem- 
 ber of the crew is perhaps so important to 
 the ship's safety. His skill and courage has 
 greatly reduced the toll of life in marine 
 disasters. So vital is his work that, by an 
 unwritten law, the wireless man is usually 
 the last to abandon ship before the Captain 
 himself. 
 
 The list of wireless men who have died in 
 service is already long. To choose almost 
 at random, the record of Robert Ausburne 
 of the U. S. transport Antilles is perhaps 
 typical. When the Antilles was struck, 
 Ausburne and a fellow electrician named 
 MacMahon were asleep in the radio-room. 
 
 43 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Wakened suddenly from his sleep, Ausburne, 
 without waiting to dress, rushed to his sta- 
 tion. His companion ran on deck, to find 
 the ship sinking rapidly and the men run- 
 ning to their boat stations. 
 
 Ausburne deliberately turned his back on 
 his chance of escape and devoted his entire 
 attention to his apparatus. It is presumed 
 that he received some response to his calls 
 for help, and remained in the hope that he 
 could direct some vessel to their position. 
 In the few minutes of life left to the trans- 
 port, he did not leave his key. MacMahon, 
 finding that all hope was past, made his way 
 through the confusion of the deck to the 
 wireless-room. He found Ausburne busily 
 engaged with his apparatus, his back turned 
 to the deck and safety. Even then he re- 
 fused to leave his key, and, with a cheery 
 "Good-by, Mac," continued to send out the 
 SOS. He was not seen again, and doubt- 
 less remained valiantly at his post until the 
 ship sank. 
 
 This war has made many demands upon 
 the wireless man. He must not only be a 
 skilful operator in sending and receiving, but 
 
 44 
 
WIRELESS DANGERS 
 
 he must elude the pitfalls that wireless men 
 of the enemy forces are constantl}^ laying for 
 him: for the German operators show an 
 amazing and quite shameless ingenuity in 
 sending decoy messages. Under the guise 
 of a call for help or a word of encourage- 
 ment, every effort is made to trap the opera- 
 tor into betraying his position or the name of 
 his ship. 
 
 So common have these wireless tricks be- 
 come that no wireless message is now sent 
 without the authority of the Captain. The 
 wireless man "listens in" day and night, and 
 picks up much valuable information; but he 
 is not allowed to transmit. One of the com- 
 monest tricks is for the enemy, a submarine 
 or perhaps a land station, to ask if the ship 
 will kindly transmit a message for them to 
 the shore. Under ordinary conditions, any 
 wireless man would willingly agree to do 
 this. Should he reply, the enemy would 
 know at once that there was a vessel within 
 reach and would start for it without delay. 
 
 Another plan is for an enemy operator to 
 send out an identification code that is not to 
 be found in the code books. If there is a 
 
 45 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 reply it will be known, of course, that a ship 
 is within receiving distance. It is the cus- 
 tom for a merchant-ship, on approaching the 
 shores of France or England, to send a mes- 
 sage to her owners in her private code. If 
 this ship had been so foolish as to reply to 
 any of the decoy questions, the enemy could 
 identify her on hearing her a second time, 
 and would know her relative position. It 
 is also possible to calculate from the strength 
 of the wireless waves the relative position of 
 a ship, and even the direction from which 
 these waves come. 
 
 The wireless man must be suspicious of 
 every call, no matter how friendly it may ap- 
 pear to be. A message may even be received 
 apparently warning of the presence of sub- 
 marines in the neighborhood. In the mid- 
 dle of a sentence it may be interrupted, or 
 some word badly garbled, in the hope of 
 arousing the wireless man's curiosity and 
 leading him to ask a question. The first dot 
 or dash gives the enemy the information he 
 is seeking. The high-powered stations also 
 take a hand in this deception. Therefore, 
 even when an S O S is heard from some 
 46 
 
WIRELESS DANGERS 
 
 friendly ship in danger, the wireless operator 
 makes absolutely sure of her identity before 
 answering. 
 
 Sometimes a fake call for help will be 
 sent out by the Germans over and over again 
 for many hours in the hope of getting some 
 reply that will betray the position of his prey. 
 The strain of listening day and night tells on 
 the strongest nerves. But let the wireless 
 man make a false move — perhaps only a 
 touch of the key — and the alert enemy will 
 be instantly headed for him, and the ship will 
 meet the fate of the Antilles. 
 
 47 
 
IX 
 
 HIS LAST WORDS 
 
 THE first American officer to lose his life 
 in the present war will be long remem- 
 bered. It is not the mere accident of his 
 being the first officer to die that distinguishes 
 him. Like many others, he displayed a 
 courage that is above praise. His last mo- 
 ments are especially remarkable because of 
 the serenity with which he faced death. 
 
 On April 17, 19 17, the American oil tanker 
 Vacuum was torpedoed without warning by 
 a German submarine, and sank in two min- 
 utes. The Vacuum carried an armed guard 
 officered by Lieutenant C. C. Thomas. The 
 day was clear but cold, and the sea had not 
 yet moderated its winter temperature. 
 
 The blow came without warning. When 
 the wake of the torpedo was observed, only 
 a few seconds remained before the impact. 
 There was no time to lower boats, much less 
 to manoeuver the ship to avoid the blow. As 
 
 48 
 
HIS LAST WORDS 
 
 our sailors have become more familiar with 
 submarines they have naturally gained in 
 confidence. But in this attack the Ameri- 
 can gunners faced a new peril under the 
 most trying circumstances. 
 
 The explosion following the impact, threw 
 two men overboard, one of whom was 
 Lieutenant Thomas. On seeing the torpedo 
 approach, Thomas had grasped an ax and 
 dashed toward one of the boats. He real- 
 ized that there was no time for lowering it to 
 the water — every second must be made to 
 count. He was chopping the ropes that held 
 the boat when the concussion threw him and 
 most of the gun crew into the sea. His ef- 
 forts had not been useless, however, and in 
 the two minutes left before the Vacuum took 
 her final plunge others of the crew succeeded 
 in loosening the boat and getting her over- 
 side. 
 
 But for the deathly chill of the water, 
 most of the crew would probably have been 
 saved. The sea was very rough and a bit- 
 ter wind blew from the north. The work 
 of picking up the crew proceeded slowly. It 
 was found very difficult to keep the boat from 
 49 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 being overturned by the high seas. Some 
 time elapsed before the boat chanced upon 
 Lieutenant Thomas. He was already too 
 weak from exposure to help himself, and had 
 to be lifted into the boat. 
 
 The boat continued to row about the point 
 where the Vacuum had gone down. It was 
 a dangerous position, and a wave soon struck 
 and overturned it, throwing the crew into the 
 icy sea. The sailors, though numb from 
 the cold, succeeded in righting the boat, and 
 began once more the perilous work of pick- 
 ing up the men. Even now the men in the 
 boat might have saved themselves; but, de- 
 spite the warning, they persisted in cruising 
 about the scene of the wreck. 
 
 A few minutes later the boat was upset a 
 second time, and the men were again thrown 
 into the water. Strong and vigorous as the 
 men were, the second icy bath proved too 
 much for their strength. Four of them 
 were drowned in the new accident; several 
 others died soon after from exposure; and 
 of the fourteen men picked up by the boat 
 eleven, including Lieutenant Thomas, died 
 
 SO 
 
HIS LAST WORDS 
 
 from the cold. Their bodies were swept 
 overboard. 
 
 When Thomas was picked up the second 
 time he was still conscious, but realized that 
 his end was very near. The scene was one 
 to daunt the strongest spirit — the open boat 
 filled with dying men, the waters dotted with 
 the bodies of his dead comrades. A sailor 
 bent over the officer to shield him from the 
 wind. Thomas thanked him, and then with 
 an effort made a last request: "See if you 
 can find my wife's picture. I had it in my 
 blouse." 
 
 The next day,- when a life-boat from the 
 Vacuum was picked up, but three survivors 
 were found of the eighteen men originally in 
 the boat. 
 
 51 
 
X 
 
 FIRE AT SEA 
 
 WHAT alarm is most feared at sea? 
 The greatest terror of all men who 
 go down to the sea in ships is doubtless that 
 of fire. The boundaries of the largest ships 
 are so confined that any blaze quickly endan- 
 gers the whole ship. So much of the ship's 
 material must be inflammable, and the ar- 
 rangement of the cabins and passageways is 
 so intricate, that the crew fight at a great 
 disadvantage. The danger of collision 
 comes mainly with thick weather when the 
 sea is smooth. Fire may break out at any 
 moment of the day or night, perhaps when 
 the sea is roughest, leaving the crew, once 
 the fire has gained the upper hand, without 
 retreat. 
 
 With the passing of the wooden ships the 
 fire menace was brought under better con- 
 trol. The steel hull and framework offered 
 protection against the hottest flames, and at 
 
 52 
 
FIRE AT SEA 
 
 the worst gained priceless time for the crew. 
 Many marvelous devices have been devised 
 to assist in the fight against this ancient 
 enemy. 
 
 An arrangement of electric signals may 
 connect every corner of the ship with the 
 bridge, so that a rise in temperature, meas- 
 ured by a delicate thermometer, spreads the 
 alarm automatically. The holds and cabins 
 are equipped, in some vessels, with sprin- 
 kling devices, which are turned on auto- 
 matically as the temperature rises. Many 
 ships, again, are supplied with water piping 
 like that of a city, which may be tapped at 
 any point while water pressure is constantly 
 maintained. 
 
 Aboard a war-ship the danger of fire is 
 increased. The great fabric is made almost 
 wholly of steel, but the presence of great 
 stores of explosives is a constant menace. 
 Fire-alarm systems and fire-fighting ma- 
 chinery may be multiplied, but in time of 
 danger the last dependency is the alert and 
 fearless seaman. The naval authorities are 
 especially quick to recognize and reward acts 
 of bravery in fighting fire. 
 
 55 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 An American seaman recently fought 
 single-handed a very stubborn fire, saving 
 not only his own vessel, l^ut three other ships 
 in the vicinity. The entire credit for the 
 exploit was given to Frank Marsh, a machin- 
 ist of the second class, aboard one of our 
 submarine-chasers. Marsh had enlisted a 
 short time before. His feat was especially 
 significant, since it showed the kind of mate- 
 rial the Navy can count upon in its newly 
 enlisted men. 
 
 The fire broke out suddenly in the engine- 
 room, and, feeding on the oil-saturated ma- 
 terial, spread with alarming rapidity. Be- 
 fore the hose could be adjusted the flames 
 had leaped to the walls of the cabin. The 
 engine-room force was completely routed. 
 The call to fire quarters brought the men to 
 their posts, but the heat and the gas fumes 
 were unbearable. For several minutes the 
 men continued to work blindly; then, believ- 
 ing the work impossible, made a rush for the 
 upper deck. 
 
 Left to itself, the fire quickly gained head- 
 way. The engine-room of a submarine- 
 chaser is large in proportion to its size. A 
 
 56 
 
FIRE AT SEA 
 
 blow amidships from a torpedo or by colli- 
 sion of any kind is usually fatal, since a hole 
 at this point floods the room, and the ship's 
 bulkheads can do little to keep her afloat. 
 With the engine-room ablaze the situation is 
 almost hopeless. 
 
 The boats were being made ready, when 
 Marsh volunteered to go below alone to fight 
 the fire. As he disappeared his friends 
 thought they saw him for the last time. 
 Just what happened amid the flames of the 
 engine-room Marsh alone could tell, and 
 since he is a modest man the true story can 
 only be guessed at. Without assistance he 
 soon had the fire under control. 
 
 Marsh had just completed his work and 
 had reached the deck, when dense black 
 smoke was observed coming from the base 
 of the starboard engine. The crew learned 
 afterward that the oil had become ignited. 
 The fire was extremely difficult to reach. It 
 was found useless to get a stream of water 
 to it through the portholes. 
 
 An attempt was made to reach it through 
 the skylight, but without success. Recog- 
 nizing the peril, Marsh returned voluntarily 
 
 57 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 to the engine-room, and, using sea water, 
 succeeded in putting out the fire a second 
 time. In commending Marsh for bravery 
 Secretary Daniels said that his work was 
 especially meritorious, since it had not only 
 certainly saved the destroyer, but three other 
 craft in the vicinity. 
 
 In facing such dangers, it must be remem- 
 bered that the sailor is well aware of the risk 
 he is taking. He does not rush blindly into 
 danger, but from long experience he is en- 
 abled to measure his chances with a prac- 
 tised eye. The loss of the two water-tend- 
 ers in a fire on the U. S. S. Burrows is 
 typical. 
 
 Fire had broken out below-decks on the 
 Burrows in a particularly inaccessible point. 
 The two water-tenders, Charles Bourke and 
 Martin Callahan, volunteered to go down to 
 it. Knowing the ship as they did, both men 
 fully realized their danger in remaining in 
 such a position. Both men voluntarily 
 abandoned all hope of escape in staying be- 
 low. In the suffocating heat of the fire- 
 room the men knew that only a few minutes 
 
 58 
 
FIRE AT SEA 
 
 of life remained to them; but they made no 
 eifort to escape. The men were old seamen, 
 long in service. 
 
 59 
 
XI 
 HIS GRADUATE COURSE 
 
 MANY of our sailors have entered serv- 
 ice directly from the schools and col- 
 leges. An interesting experiment is thus 
 made possible in testing the efficiency of the 
 American school-boy. General von Hinden- 
 burg has spoken disparagingly of the ''un- 
 trained louts" of America, whom he prophe- 
 sied would turn and run once a gun was 
 pointed at them. There is, of course, a 
 wealth of evidence to confute this hopeful 
 German outlook. Every reader of this page 
 will doubtless have some relative or friend 
 who fails to fit this description. It is inter- 
 esting to find a large proportion of the men 
 mentioned for conspicuous bravery among 
 the recent school-boys. 
 
 There is the case of Henry W. Robinson, 
 the hero of submarine-chaser 121. Robin- 
 son is a graduate of the Stevens Institute, 
 60 
 
HIS GRADUATE COURSE 
 
 and later took a course in the Naval School 
 at Columbia University. He enlisted on 
 May 2, 1917, and within a few months had 
 seen active service on three submarine- 
 chasers. 
 
 He rose rapidly, and was soon placed in 
 charge of the engine-room of the chaser 121, 
 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 
 January, 19 18, — and the date shows how 
 quickly our naval officers are turned out, — 
 a hurry call was received for all submarine- 
 chasers to put to sea. 
 
 The submarine-chaser 121 was well out to 
 sea, far from any assistance, when an ugly 
 fire broke out in the engine-room. The en- 
 gine had back-fired, and some gasolene in 
 the bilge was ignited, threatening the entire 
 boat. A fire on so small a craft is extremely 
 dangerous. The stores of gasolene and 
 ammunition must necessarily lie so close that 
 a few seconds may determine the fate of the 
 craft and all on board. The life of the crew 
 depends upon the quickness of her officers 
 and men. 
 
 Robinson rushed to the engine-room, to 
 find that the gasolene had flashed up and the 
 
 61 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 flames were licking the floor and walls. 
 While the crew ran to safety, Robinson 
 stood his ground. He fought against terri- 
 fying odds. The flames soon reached a can 
 of gasolene, which went off with a roar, and 
 a moment later spread to Robinson's clothes. 
 
 The situation might have driven the 
 strongest man to panic. His uniform was 
 saturated with gasolene. The heat in the 
 narrow hold was suffocating. The only 
 means of escape was by a steep ladder lead- 
 ing to the deck. To abandon the engine- 
 room meant the loss of the ship. 
 
 Robinson stood his ground, calculating 
 chances with a skilful eye. Making his way 
 to a rack of hand grenades, he swung the 
 globes with a sure aim at the burning floor 
 and walls. Several grenades were required, 
 but the fire on the floor and walls was finally 
 put out. The oil-can, however, was still 
 aflame, and Robinson's clothes were burn- 
 ing in several places. 
 
 First making sure that the fire in the room 
 was out, Robinson picked up the burning oil- 
 can and started for the deck. He was al- 
 ready badly burned about his neck and face. 
 
 62 
 
HIS GRADUATE COURSE 
 
 Struggling to the deck, he hurled the blazing 
 can overboard, and himself plunged into the 
 sea. It was the quickest and safest method 
 of putting out the fire on his burning cloth- 
 ing, and he had just enough strength left to 
 carry it out. Some minutes later he was 
 picked up in a semi-conscious condition by 
 a tug-boat, and taken ashore for treatment. 
 When he was dismissed from the hospital, 
 Robinson's face was still badly disfigured 
 by burns, a part of one ear was gone, and 
 two new eyelids had been grafted on the ones 
 he had lost in the engine-room. From the 
 hospital he was ordered to report to Annap- 
 olis, where he was examined for promotion 
 to Ensign. 
 
 63 
 
PART II 
 WITH THE MERCHANT FLEET 
 
XII 
 ROUTINE WORK 
 
 IN protecting our merchant-ships through- 
 out the Atlantic crossing, the American 
 Navy is fighting on a battle line three thou- 
 sand miles in length. The safety of our 
 great army en route to France, and the sup- 
 ply of food and ammunition, depend, of 
 course, upon the uninterrupted passage back 
 and forth of the great merchant fleets. 
 Should the line break or communication be 
 seriously interrupted, the lives of our men 
 abroad, even the issue of the war, would be 
 seriously endangered. 
 
 Only acts of conspicuous bravery in the 
 line of such duty come to the attention of 
 the public. To the thousands of alert, fear- 
 less men who guard these ships the nation 
 owes a debt of gratitude. On thousands of 
 voyages the crews must maintain the most 
 rigid discipline: at any moment the safety 
 67 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 of the ship may depend upon the alertness 
 of the lookout. The loss of a few minutes, 
 perhaps even of seconds, in observing the 
 approach of a U-boat periscope or the wake 
 of a torpedo may mean disaster. In case of 
 an actual conflict the issue may depend upon 
 the accuracy of a single shot. 
 
 Aboard merchant-ships tens of thousands 
 of men daily acquit themselves as heroes. 
 This routine work, as it may be called, is the 
 severest possible test of character and train- 
 ing. The service is largely filled with men 
 hastily recruited and trained. Boys taken 
 from the school and the shop are fitted in a 
 few weeks or months for this exacting 
 service. 
 
 Men must be found and trained by tens of 
 thousands to supply the armed guards. It 
 is impossible, of course, to convoy all the 
 ships at sea, and a great merchantman, with 
 its valuable cargo, must be intrusted to a 
 handful of men mounting guard upon two 
 comparatively small guns. If a submarine 
 be encountered, the gun crew will find them- 
 selves outnumbered and facing much heavier 
 guns than their own. The ships may cross 
 
 68 
 
ROUTINE WORK 
 
 a score of times in safety, but the vigilance 
 does not relax for a moment. Hour after 
 hour, day and night, the water on every side 
 must be watched with the most anxious 
 attention. 
 
 While it is known, in a general way, that 
 great convoys of merchant-ships are con- 
 stantly crossing the Atlantic, the layman 
 knows little of the labor involved in such 
 voyages. It is common for a fleet of as 
 many as thirty merchant-ships to cross to- 
 gether. The news reports mention that they 
 are "heavily convoyed," and their safe ar- 
 rival is taken as a matter of course. To 
 guard a fleet of this size, strung out over 
 miles of water, necessitates guarding them 
 on every side. A ring must be thrown about 
 them, so to speak, and remain unbroken 
 throughout the trip. Let a single subma- 
 rine pass this guard, and it would do enor- 
 mous damage to the fleet. The fact that 
 inside of a year a million or more soldiers 
 were safely carried to France will go down 
 in history as one of the navy's greatest 
 achievements. 
 
 The discipline maintained on all merchant- 
 69 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 ships against the hour of danger is no less 
 rigid than aboard a man of war. The fre- 
 quent boat and fire drills, the instruction in 
 the use of life-preservers, the suppression of 
 all lights at night, and many other details of 
 life aboard ship in these stirring times, are 
 controlled with military strictness. In a 
 few months the life aboard ocean liners has 
 been completely transformed. The great 
 floating population on a thousand ships has 
 been mobilized. 
 
 In case of attack, the entire ship's com- 
 pany will be found ready to meet any situa- 
 tion. The most serious danger fails to 
 throw the ship into confusion. Every one 
 has been trained since the first day at sea, 
 so that no time will be lost in reaching the 
 boats. However swiftly the blow may fall, 
 this discipline safeguards the passengers 
 and prevents the panics common in ship- 
 wrecks of the past. A place is fixed in ad- 
 vance for every one on board, and, even if 
 the ship must be abandoned, the people in the 
 boats will still be under discipline. 
 
 70 
 
(C) Press Illustrating Service. 
 
 A 400-lb. Charge of Powder for a 14-inch Gun 
 
XIII 
 THE FIRST BLOW 
 
 THE S.S. Columbia, the first American 
 ship to be deliberately destroyed by a 
 German submarine, was sunk — and the date 
 is significant — in November, 191 6. Sailing 
 from Boston for French and Italian ports, 
 she carried 1500 horses and 10,000 tons of 
 steel and copper, with a crew all told of 130, 
 which rendered her a very tempting target. 
 America had not yet entered the war, but 
 the German submarine U-53 had recently 
 made its disastrous raid off Newport, sink- 
 ing five vessels. There was trouble in the 
 air. 
 
 Carrying no armed guard, the Columbia 
 was wholly defenseless and should have been 
 safe under the international sea code. De- 
 spite this provocation, our Government re- 
 fused to place naval guns and gunners 
 aboard merchant-ships until some months 
 later. Her story may be told here, never- 
 
 73 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 theless, for its historic importance and the 
 inspiring spirit of the seamen of our mer- 
 chant fleets. 
 
 While loading at Boston a mysterious 
 rumor spread along the docks that the Co- 
 lumbia would be torpedoed, and several of 
 her engineers thereupon quit the ship. 
 Their places were quickly filled and the ship 
 cleared without incident for St. Nazaire. 
 The voyage over was uneventful, if the ex- 
 citement of running with lights out through 
 submarine-infested waters may be called 
 uneventful. 
 
 On nearing the war zone, every precau- 
 tion was taken. The life-boats were swung 
 outboard and fully equipped for an emer- 
 gency, while the crew were put through con- 
 stant boat drills. Some miles off shore a 
 French mine pilot came aboard and brought 
 the Columbia through the mine fields to the 
 safety of the naval dock at St. Nazaire. A 
 part of the cargo of horses was unloaded 
 here, a number of French soldiers assisting, 
 while a group of German prisoners stood on 
 the docks to lead the horses away. 
 
 The blow fell two days later, in a storm at 
 74 
 
THE FIRST BLOW 
 
 sea. The first warning was the report of a 
 cannon, and a few minutes later a shot 
 splashed in the water on the port bow. The 
 ship was stopped, for she was slow and de- 
 fenseless. The Captain hurried to the wire- 
 less booth and gave the operator the ship's 
 position, but directed that it be held back 
 for the present. The submarine was now 
 sighted cruising about at a distance of about 
 three miles. Some twenty minutes later a 
 second shot rang out, when the Captain or- 
 dered that the S O S be sent out. 
 
 Having lost her seaway, the ship rolled 
 violently. The' waves swept her deck and 
 broke many of the horse stalls and fittings. 
 For some anxious minutes there was no re- 
 sponse to the wireless call for help, but at 
 last a reply came from the Spanish land sta- 
 tion at Cape Finisterre. The Columbia's 
 wireless operator replied that a submarine 
 was cruising about and firing at them, but 
 did not mention that she was German, for 
 the U-boat was doubtless listening in. The 
 Spaniards asked if there were any boats 
 near enough to help in case the Columbia 
 was torpedoed. 
 
 75 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 It was observed that the submarine was 
 flying a string of flags, but the distance was 
 too great for them to be read. The Captain 
 of the Columbia now decided to make a dash. 
 The wireless apparatus was shut off, and 
 the ship, changing her course, went ahead 
 at forced draught. Nothing was seen of the 
 submarine for an hour, and the crew were 
 beginning to breathe freely when the U-boat 
 overtook them. Her guns were not effec- 
 tive at such long range, but her wireless 
 order was peremptory : 
 
 ''Stop your wireless; ask no questions or 
 I will shoot." 
 
 The sending apparatus was shut off, but it 
 was still possible to receive messages. Cape 
 Finisterre evidently realized the situation, 
 for she now sent a message suggesting, if the 
 Columbia could not transmit a call, that she 
 send a single long dash, and they would 
 know what had happened and send a ship to 
 her assistance. The Germans meanwhile 
 sent several such messages as ''Where are 
 you bound?" "What is your cargo?" 
 "Where bound from?" Later they ordered 
 the Columbia to turn, and because she did 
 
 76 
 
THE FIRST BLOW 
 
 not turn quickly enough to please theni she 
 threatened: "Turn at once or I will shoot." 
 
 The night came on and the storm in- 
 creased. Perhaps the most trying part of 
 the experience was the realization that there 
 was help near by, powerless to come to their 
 assistance. The submarine moved up to 
 within five hundred yards of the Columbia, 
 and all wireless sending was at an end. An 
 English vessel in the neighborhood was now 
 heard calling Cape Finisterre. Later the 
 Spanish yacht Giralda called repeatedly to 
 know if she should lend assistance. She ex- 
 plained that she was at Coruna and had been 
 sent by the Spanish Government to help the 
 Americans. Throughout the night Cape 
 Finisterre continued to call, fearing the 
 worst had happened. 
 
 When day broke the submarine ordered 
 by wireless, ''Come nearer and send a boat 
 over to us"; and later, "Send your Captain 
 over to us." Before the Captain could leave 
 his ship, a boat arrived from the submarine 
 with a German lieutenant and eight sailors, 
 who came aboard. One of them was a wire- 
 less operator. 
 
 79 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 The moment they reached the deck the 
 aerial was lowered, while the wireless man 
 ran aft to the wireless room. He carried 
 two large bombs, which he explained were 
 intended to blow up the ship. The wireless 
 apparatus was at once dismantled, and after- 
 ward taken aboard the submarine. While 
 the wireless room was being torn out the 
 German lieutenant appeared in the doorway 
 and, pointing his pistol at the operator, said 
 gruffly : 
 
 ''Don't you know you shouldn't use wire- 
 less when a submarine is around? We 
 should have torpedoed you then. I ought 
 to shoot you now." 
 
 The crew was lined up on deck. They 
 were wearing life-preservers. The Ger- 
 mans filled a boat with provisions from the 
 ship's ice-box and with fresh water. It was 
 bitterly cold, and the men were obliged to 
 stand exposed to the wind, their clothing 
 drenched with the icy water. First the 
 Captain was put in a boat and taken to the 
 submarine, where he was kept prisoner for 
 many days and finally landed in Spain. 
 
 The crew were at last put in boats and 
 80 
 
THE FIRST BLOW 
 
 taken to a Norwegian ship, the Balto, which 
 the Germans had previously captured. 
 From her deck they afterward watched the 
 sinking of the Columbia. Two bombs were 
 exploded, but the staunch American craft 
 was not injured in a vital part. Her old 
 crew watched for forty-live minutes, but she 
 showed no signs of sinking. The submarine 
 then launched a torpedo at her, which struck 
 amidships. She began to go down rapidly. 
 Her after-decks were soon awash, then her 
 stern went down, while her bow rose high 
 in the air. She came up once, then slowly 
 settled and disappeared. 
 
 The American and Norwegian crews were 
 obliged to witness several captures, and were 
 finally allowed to row to the Spanish coast, 
 and eventually found their way to New 
 York. 
 
 The sinking of the Columbia deserves a 
 place in our sea history, if only for the spirit 
 of its Captain in fighting against hopeless 
 odds. When forced to abandon his ship, 
 and not knowing what fate awaited him on 
 the German submarine, he found words of 
 encouragement for his crew. As the boat 
 
 8i 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 carried him away from his ship he stood up, 
 and, waving his hand to his old crew, shouted 
 cheerily: '^Good-by, boys. I hope to see 
 you again. Obey orders." 
 
 82 
 
XIV 
 WITHOUT WARNING 
 
 THE first armed merchant-ship to leave 
 New York, the S.S. Aztec, sailed on 
 March i8, 19 17. She was soon followed by 
 the Manchuria, at that time the largest of 
 American-built ships, and by the famous vS^^. 
 Louis. It was realized that the first armed 
 American ship to venture into the war 
 zone would be the target for submarine at- 
 tack. The German government had made 
 very clear what they purposed doing to any 
 ship flying the Stars and Stripes that was 
 so presumptuous as to attempt to defend her- 
 self. 
 
 The naval gunners faced a new situation. 
 Their experience in fighting had been gained 
 in the open, facing an enemy who stood up to 
 fight. No one doubted the ability of the 
 gunners to give a good account of themselves 
 under any conditions, but they had not then 
 
 83 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 gained confidence in combatting this new sea 
 menace. Every one realized the great dis- 
 advantage under which they must fight in 
 this first encounter, and the country waited 
 anxiously for word of her. 
 
 One March morning at about six o'clock a 
 gunner on lookout sighted a submarine fol- 
 lowing the ship at a considerable distance. 
 The guns were manned and trained on the 
 enemy; but, observing these preparations, 
 the U-boat quickly submerged, and no more 
 was seen of her. On the evening of the 
 same day the Astec sighted another subma- 
 rine. She was running at full speed with 
 lights out when the blow fell. 
 
 The work of darkening ship and blinding 
 every possible gleam of light aboard is more 
 difficult than it appears. The great hull is 
 likely to leak light at a hundred different 
 points. With the best intention in the 
 world, some one may move the curtain from 
 a port-hole, perhaps only for an instant, or 
 a door may be opened that will give the Ger- 
 mans the clue they are watching for. A 
 great ship was once lost because a ship's 
 printer, working very late at night, opened 
 
 84 
 
WITHOUT WARNING 
 
 his port near the water for a breath of fresh 
 air. The Germans afterward explained 
 that this gleam of light enabled them to aim 
 their torpedo. 
 
 At about nine-thirty in the evening the 
 Chief Engineer of the Aztec had noticed that 
 some light escaped from the port of the 
 wireless cabin, and went aft to warn the 
 operator. The wireless man was at work 
 at his station at the time, and, putting down 
 his receiver, went outside to examine it. It 
 was raining hard and a gusty wind lashed 
 the deck. The light was darkened, and the 
 wireless operator, noticing the chief gunner 
 standing at the rail, crossed the deck to join 
 him. Both men stood looking down into the 
 water for a moment, when the wireless man 
 made a cup of his hand and, raising his voice 
 above the wind, asked the gunner if he saw 
 anything. 
 
 Before there was time for an answer, a 
 torpedo struck the ship's side directly below 
 them. The force of the explosion threw the 
 gunner overboard, and nothing was again 
 seen of him. Another man standing near 
 by had his head completely severed from his 
 
 85 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 body by the explosion. The wireless man 
 was struck by a piece of flying wreckage, 
 which tore away the leg of his trousers, in- 
 flicted a wound of fourteen inches in length, 
 and hurled him a distance of twenty-five feet 
 down the deck. 
 
 The wireless operator, who brought the 
 story ashore, probably lay unconscious for 
 several minutes. When he regained con- 
 sciousness he ran to the wireless room, only 
 to find it completely wrecked. The last 
 chance of calling for help was gone. The 
 ship's deck was quite dark, and the driving 
 rain made it impossible to see an object a 
 few feet away. On running out on the deck, 
 the wireless man found the Naval Lieuten- 
 ant and the Captain calmly giving orders. 
 Only a minute or two of life remained for 
 the ship, but they were used to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 A life-boat was lowered, but before it 
 could reach the water a great wave broke it 
 against the ship's side, and the seven men 
 who manned her were thrown into the sea. 
 A second boat was filled, successfully low- 
 ered, and disappeared in the darkness. 
 86 
 

 
WITHOUT WARNING 
 
 The skill and fearlessness of a boatswain's 
 mate, John Eopolucci, was later especially 
 commended. Eopolucci had stood by his 
 gun until it was out of commission, when 
 he was ordered to assist with the life-boats. 
 He worked desperately helping to lower the 
 boats and get them away, standing calmly at 
 his station while others escaped. While 
 struggling with one of the life-boats he was 
 thrown into the water and lost, Eopolucci 
 was the first enlisted man of the Navy to lose 
 his life. He had served with credit for 
 eight years, and reenlisted in 19 15. 
 
 The Aztec sank with terrifying rapidity. 
 A few seconds more threatened to bring the 
 last plunge. The gunners' boat was now 
 made ready. The naval officer remained on 
 deck, directing the lowering of the boat. 
 No one was left on board except the Captain, 
 the Naval Lieutenant, and the wireless man. 
 
 The ship's discipline was observed until 
 the end. The Captain finally ordered the 
 operator to abandon ship, and when he had 
 succeeded in leaping from the swinging deck 
 to the boat the Captain and then the Naval 
 Lieutenant followed him. The boat had 
 
 89 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 only succeeded in gaining a hundred yards 
 from the ship when she sHd beneath the sur- 
 face. The top of her funnel disappeared in 
 less than seven minutes after she was struck. 
 
 In the intense darkness of the storm no 
 lights were visible, and the boat floundered 
 about in the heavy sea for five hours, when 
 a French boat was sighted. The crew fired 
 their pistols to attract its attention, but the 
 sound failed to carry against the wind. The 
 Lieutenant then lighted a Coston distress 
 signal, which in his foresight he had found 
 time to save from the ship, and the boat at 
 last turned toward them. She proved to be 
 a French patrol boat very happily named the 
 Jeanne d'Arc. The French officers helped 
 our men aboard and made them welcome, 
 sharing their clothing and warm quarters. 
 
 Of the Aztec's crew of thirty-six men, but 
 six were rescued. 
 
 As an especial mark of respect, Secretary 
 and Mrs. Daniels called upon Mrs. Eopo- 
 lucci, the widowed mother of the sailor, to 
 express their sympathy. The interest they 
 would naturally take in the first member of 
 America's fighting forces to die in the war 
 90^ 
 
WITHOUT WARNING 
 
 was heightened by the fact that Eopolucci 
 was for two years one of the crew of the 
 Dolphin, on which the Secretary and his 
 wife had made frequent trips. 
 
 Mrs. Daniels' visit was the second she had 
 paid to this home. The previous Saturday 
 afternoon she and Mrs. William D. Leahy, 
 wife of the commander of the U. S. S. 
 Dolphin, had called on Mrs. Eopolucci; and 
 later Mrs. Leahy sent a bouquet of Easter 
 lilies. 
 
 91 
 
XV 
 
 THE "SILVER SHELL" 
 
 FROM the first, no one doubted the ability 
 of the American sailor to down the Ger- 
 man submarine. The stirring victory of the 
 Silver Shell on May 30, 191 7, closely fol- 
 lowing America's entrance into the war, re- 
 assured us. The Silver Shell was only a 
 tanker — the last ship in the world, it would 
 seem, to be pitted successfully against a Ger- 
 man super-submarine. But she carried two 
 four-inch guns and an armed guard, lent for 
 the occasion by the United States Navy. 
 
 The voyage from an American port to 
 Marseilles promised at that time to be un- 
 eventful. It was not thought that the south- 
 ern ship lanes were seriously threatened. 
 Even in mid-Atlantic, however, the lookout 
 was not allowed to relax its vigilance. 
 
 The bulky tanker was, of course, at a 
 great disadvantage in this game of hide-and- 
 seek with the submarines, since she offered 
 92 
 
THE "SILVER SHELL" 
 
 a distinct target. At three o'clock one morn- 
 ing, a thousand miles off shore, a submarine 
 was sighted so close in that the throb of her 
 engines could be distinctly heard. A mo- 
 ment later the Silver Shell swept past within 
 one hundred feet of the enemy. 
 
 The submarine was moving on the surface 
 of the water, while her crew were seen to be 
 busied charging her batteries, probably for 
 the day's run. Clearly the German lookout 
 had been caught napping, although the ad- 
 vantage for observation had been all on his 
 side. The submarine made no attempt to 
 give chase. Before the after gun of the 
 Silver Shell could be trained on the subma- 
 rine, she was swallowed up in the darkness. 
 
 Farther on, another grim reminder of the 
 danger of the U-boats was encountered. A 
 wooden ship was sighted floating bottom up. 
 A gaping wotmd in her side, obviously the 
 work of a torpedo, told her story — or all, at 
 least, that the world was ever to learn. 
 Floating about the wreck was an empty life- 
 boat and a few life-preservers with other 
 wreckage. 
 
 On the voyage across sixteen warnings of 
 93 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 the presence of submarines were picked up 
 by the ship's wireless, of which twelve re- 
 ported submarines in the Mediterranean. 
 As the Silver Shell approached these his- 
 toric waters, the nervous tension increased. 
 A flotilla of undersea craft doubtless awaited 
 her coming. The tanker had reached a 
 point a day and a half steaming from Mar- 
 seilles, when on May 30 — and the date is 
 historic — she was sighted by an enemy craft. 
 Evidently the submarine had news of her 
 approach and had lain in wait for her. 
 
 When the alarm was sounded, the subma- 
 rine was observed off the Silver Shell's star- 
 board bow. She was one of the largest 
 types of her class, measuring more than 
 three hundred feet in length. The long 
 awaited moment had arrived. Working at 
 top speed, but without confusion, the crew 
 went through their life-boat drill made fa- 
 miliar by constant practice. The boats were 
 made ready to lower into the water, and the 
 entire ship's company buckled on their life- 
 belts. 
 
 So quickly had the drill been carried out 
 that the bundles containing the valuables 
 
 94 
 
THE "SILVER SHELL" 
 
 were being tumbled into the life-boats by the 
 time the first shot was fired by the German. 
 It exploded about a hundred yards short of 
 the ship. A second shot fired a moment 
 later did better, just missing the wireless 
 cabin, and, passing over the ship, struck the 
 water just ahead. 
 
 A string of code flags fluttering from the 
 German ship had meanwhile been deci- 
 phered. It ordered the Silver Shell to haul 
 down the American flag and wait until the 
 Germans came aboard. By way of reply, 
 the Chief of Turret, W. J. Clark, opened on 
 the submarine with the four-inch aft gun. 
 
 For the first few shots the range was wide ; 
 but this was quickly observed and the ex- 
 treme elevation pin of the gun was knocked 
 out, giving the gun about forty degrees. 
 The American shells were seen to drop about 
 the submarine with terrifying accuracy. 
 
 Against the tanker's battery of four-inch 
 guns the Germans brought to bear two five- 
 inch guns. By all the rules of the game the 
 Germans had the advantage, and for a time 
 they clearly outshot the Silver Shell. Sev- 
 eral shells burst about the tanker. One 
 
 95 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 missed the cabin by a short two feet. The 
 roar of the guns and the explosions were 
 deafening. The range was now under 3000 
 yards. 
 
 Not the least difficult post, meanwhile, was 
 that of the wireless operator. Throughout 
 the engagement he never left his key. His 
 assistant buckled a life-belt about him as he 
 worked. Every explosion now knocked the 
 delicate radio apparatus out of adjustment. 
 A call for help had been thrown broadcast 
 over the waters of the Mediterranean. A 
 vessel asked in Spanish, ''What vessel is that 
 asking for help?" and repeated the query 
 until it seemed that she was deliberately 
 interfering. Finally the station at Algiers 
 answered. Her message read, "Help thirty- 
 five miles northwest, gunboat FQ." 
 
 A few moments later the Silver Shell suc- 
 ceeded in picking up the gunboat FQ, and 
 received the welcome message, "Coming as 
 fast as possible." 
 
 Under normal conditions the Silver Shell 
 had never been able to make more than 
 eleven knots an hour. In response to a des- 
 perate demand for speed, she now crept up 
 
 96 
 
THE "SILVER SHELL" 
 
 to a perilous fourteen. Her safety-valve 
 had been screwed down. It soon became 
 clear, however, that the enemy held re- 
 sources of speed in reserve, for the stretch 
 of sea that separated them was steadily nar- 
 rowed. The submarine could be clearly 
 seen in the wake. She made very heavy 
 weather of it. Her decks were constantly 
 swept by the head seas, so that her gun crews 
 were buried in water to their waists. But 
 between the intervals of every plunge she 
 fired, and the shells came with amazing reg- 
 ularity every ten seconds. 
 
 It was a very daunting business to watch 
 the firing of the gun that might be hurling 
 death and destruction. There would be a 
 flash, and then for ten breathless seconds 
 the crew must wait for the arrival of the 
 shell and its explosion. When the subma- 
 rine had crept up to a 2300-yard range, she 
 used shrapnel to sweep the decks. Any one 
 of the shots might be the end. It was esti- 
 mated that fifteen minutes more of this firing 
 would destroy all above-decks, while the life- 
 boats would be at the mercy of the guns if 
 the crew should try to escape. 
 
 97 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 The attack ended as suddenly as it had 
 begun. Throughout the engagement the 
 men had served their guns with skill and 
 courage above praise. While facing a supe- 
 rior battery which fired in all thirty-five 
 shots, the Americans had delivered twenty- 
 five shots, but their superior gunnery won 
 the day. At the critical moment a shot 
 struck the submarine just aft of her conning- 
 tower. Her bow rose high in the water, and 
 she slowly sank stern first, her crew clinging 
 to the deck. 
 
 The engagement had lasted less than half 
 an hour. No member of the Silver Shell's 
 crew was seriously injured. A last word, 
 however, was heard from the Germans. 
 The wireless operator soon after picked up 
 an unsigned message reading, 'Tf possible, 
 steer south. I will meet you in an hour." 
 Evidently the message was a decoy sent out 
 by some submarine in the neighborhood. 
 All messages sent out by ships that are not 
 authorized or confirmed by land stations, 
 however, are disregarded. 
 
 In giving credit for this valiant sea fight, 
 the Government especially commended Chief 
 
 98 
 
THE "SILVER SHELL" 
 
 of Turret W. J. Clark, an enlisted man who 
 had served twelve years in the Navy. It 
 was due to his excellent judgment that the 
 guns and gunners had been handled so 
 efficiently. 
 
 A few minutes later the gunboat FQ asked 
 by wireless for the Silver Shell's new posi- 
 tion, and on receiving news of the fight 
 flashed back, ''Good work." 
 
 Three hours later the gunboat approached 
 so close that messages were exchanged by 
 Morse lamp signals. The next day the Sil- 
 ver Shell triumphantly entered the harbor of 
 Marseilles, to ' find that she was the first 
 American ship to reach that port since the 
 United States had declared war on Germany. 
 
 99 
 
XVI 
 A RECORD PERFORMANCE 
 
 FOR more than a year the victory of the 
 Borinqiien has been unsurpassed for 
 fast and decisive fighting. Taken unawares 
 in the middle of the night, her crew re- 
 sponded so vigorously to a submarine attack 
 that her third shot sent the enemy craft down 
 stern first. 
 
 Every factor favored the U-boat. She 
 had sighted the Borinqiien from a distance, 
 when the low-lying submarine was naturally 
 invisible, and had managed to creep up to 
 within eighty 3'^ards of the steamer before 
 firing her first shot. There was therefore 
 ample time to make every preparation. The 
 men were at their stations; the guns were 
 trained on the most vital part of the mer- 
 chantman. In night attacks it is impossible 
 to equalize the terms on which two such 
 antagonists meet. The great bulk of the 
 100 
 
A RECORD PERFORMANCE 
 
 steamers offer a conspicuous target, while 
 the U-boat's diminutive size and greater 
 speed lend her an overwhelming advantage. 
 
 To balance this handicap, the merchant- 
 ship must rely on the vigilance of her crew 
 and the accuracy of her gunners. The 
 alarm was sounded within a few minutes of 
 midnight on an unusually dark night. The 
 commander of the guard. Gunner's Mate 
 Thomas J. Beerman, was in his quarters 
 at the time, working on his log. It is essen- 
 tial on these cruises that it be known at 
 every moment of the day or night just where 
 the ship lies. The Borinquen was on a very 
 dangerous sea lane approaching a French 
 port. The strain on the men is very trying 
 at such times. The officers are on duty 
 about twenty hours out of every twenty- 
 four. 
 
 There was a shout of warning from one 
 of the men at the guns, and at almost the 
 same instant a shot rang out. By the time 
 the crew could rush across the narrow deck 
 to their stations, a second shot was fired. 
 Through the misty darkness the outlines of 
 the submarine could barely be defined. She 
 
 lOI 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 lay off the port bow, a mere shadow on the 
 water some eighty yards away. So close in 
 was the enemy that the sparks of her wire- 
 less could be clearly seen. She was evi- 
 dently in communication with some other 
 German boat. It was impossible to guess 
 whether her reinforcements were far or 
 near. 
 
 But the wireless served the Americans for 
 the moment at least, and this sufficed. The 
 faint sparks gave the Americans a clue in 
 the inky blackness. Although the subma- 
 rine went into action with all her crew at 
 their quarters, and the Americans might nat- 
 urally at such an hour have been off their 
 guard, the reply of the Borinquen came be- 
 fore the German could fire a third time. 
 The shot grazed the conning-tower of the 
 submarine. 
 
 Both ships were now firing point-blank. 
 There was little chance of missing at this 
 short range, although the advantage was still 
 greatly in favor of the Germans. All real- 
 ized that a few seconds must decide the issue 
 of the battle, one way or the other. 
 
 The third shot from the American gun- 
 
 I02 
 
A RECORD PERFORMANCE 
 
 ners on the Borinquen struck the U-boat's 
 conning-tower fairly, and exploded. It 
 proved to be the decisive shot of the engage- 
 ment. A fourth shot was not needed. The 
 submarine slowly Hfted. Her prow rose 
 high in the water, and she sank rapidly, bow 
 first. Within a few seconds the water had 
 closed over her. 
 
 In the official comment on this victory, 
 especial stress was laid upon the alertness 
 of the crew in responding to the alarm. 
 Every waking hour is a constant strain for 
 all on board, and there is little rest for the 
 gun crews. A delay of a few seconds in 
 responding to the call to quarters would 
 probably have lost the ship. The alarm, be- 
 sides, came after several days spent in the 
 danger zone, when the strain might be ex- 
 pected to tell on all the men engaged. To 
 down a powerful submarine with three shots 
 is even more than the most sanguine gunner 
 might reasonably expect. 
 
 103 
 
I 
 
 XVII 
 ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 
 
 T remains to be seen if the lightning 
 Americans can cope with the Germans 
 who have been trained from their youth up." 
 So said the Kaiser when America entered 
 the war. The question has been quickly an- 
 swered. Within a few weeks after the dec- 
 laration of war, the armed guards aboard 
 American ships had given an excellent 
 account of themselves. 
 
 The work of the armed guards is ex- 
 tremely exacting. Like trench warfare, 
 such fighting requires a highly trained per- 
 sonnel. It is high praise for the discipline 
 and training of our sailors that they should 
 have acquitted themselves so brilliantly upon 
 such slight experience in this new warfare. 
 
 One of the earliest of our victories came 
 with the encounter, in the first weeks of the 
 war, between the transport Nyanza and a 
 104 
 
ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 
 
 submarine. Our men were new to the dif- 
 ficulties and dangers of warfare in these 
 submarine-infested waters. A periscope is 
 an exceedingly 'elusive object at sea. They 
 are very small, and project only a few inches 
 above the surface of the water. To make 
 the work of the submarine observer more 
 difficult, they are painted a silvery gray to 
 blend with the color of the sea. Their sur- 
 faces are, besides, treated so that they will 
 not reflect the rays of the sun. Although 
 the American sailors aboard the Nyanza had 
 never seen a German U-boat, they had been 
 trained in an excellent school. It is a matter 
 of official record that the lookout on the 
 American transport in her first engagement 
 sighted the silvered periscope of the German 
 submarine at a thousand yards. 
 
 The range is short enough for torpedo 
 work, and gives a ship little time for manoeu- 
 vering. A moment after the periscope was 
 sighted, the German loosed a torpedo. It 
 was reported, and by skilful seamanship the 
 Nyanza dodged the blow. Her helm was 
 put hard to port and the vessel's stern swung 
 clear. At the same time, her gunners 
 105 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 opened fire on the undersea craft. The 
 German fell astern, rose to the surface, and 
 gave chase. The transport, which was 
 filled with American soldiers, made a tempt- 
 ing target. 
 
 The battle began at rather short range. 
 The German used two guns, firing shrapnel. 
 Her manoeuver was new to the Americans. 
 She darted about at a high speed, zigzagging 
 from side to side to make it possible to use 
 both her guns at once, and at the same time 
 helping to confuse the American's aim. The 
 submarine fired, in all, about two hundred 
 shots. The Nyansa was hit five times. 
 One shell passed completely through the 
 ship; another destroyed the guard mess- 
 room; still another wrecked the gun plat- 
 form. None of the shells, however, hit any 
 of the gunners or interrupted the fire. So 
 close did one of the shots come that a cadet 
 engineer was wounded, his clothing being 
 literally torn from his body. 
 
 The fire of the American gunners was 
 very fast. They sent, in all, ninety-two 
 rounds, less than half the number of Ger- 
 man shells. The Germans had a much 
 106 
 
ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 
 
 larger target to hit. The submarine was 
 not only low in the water, but her rapid zig- 
 zag manoeuver rendered it extremely diffi- 
 cult to strike. The Nyanza gunners finally 
 found the range, however, and sent four 
 shells into the German. The submarine 
 turned broadside, keeled over, and disap- 
 peared. The battle had lasted two and a 
 half hours. The Germans had been out- 
 manoeuvered and outfought at every turn. 
 
 In the officer's report of the engagement, 
 he closes with the hopeful remark: "Our 
 gunners gained experience which I think will 
 be manifested in the next attack." 
 
 107 
 
XVIII 
 BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 
 
 NO mere landsman can appreciate the 
 work of the men far below decks in a 
 sea fight. In the open air, or near it, a sailor 
 may be said to face his antagonist. Even if 
 he be shut in behind armored walls, there is 
 still an encouraging sense of freedom. If 
 the worst comes, a step brings him to the 
 open deck or the boats. A man can endure 
 much who knows that his retreat is kept 
 open. 
 
 Few landsmen have visited the engine- 
 rooms of ocean liners or war-ships. It is a 
 terrifying experience under the most favor- 
 able conditions. The holds set apart for the 
 machinery lie at the foot of deep shafts far 
 below the surface of the sea. The visitor 
 is led through intricate passageways until it 
 seems a hopeless task to find his way back 
 to daylight. At the opening of these shafts 
 the ordinary staircases come to an end, and 
 io8 
 
td 
 
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 
 
 a steep descent must be made down perpen- 
 dicular iron ladders. 
 
 Here one leaves the comfort of the ship's 
 cabins behind. Everything is built of metal, 
 which becomes hot and grimy. The heat in- 
 creases as one descends, until in the neigh- 
 borhood of the engines it becomes suffocat- 
 ing. A few dim electric lights partially re- 
 veal the unfamiliar scene. The great shapes 
 of the engines and boilers, the dark shadows 
 in every corner, the flare of the fires, strike 
 terror to the landlubber. Let this crowded 
 hold swing violently as the ship rolls and 
 pitches, and the place becomes a nightmare. 
 
 In a sea fight the engine-room is a place of 
 imminent danger to all. The crew, working 
 in semi-darkness, know little of what is going 
 on high above them. The electric signals 
 that keep these* remote regions in instant 
 communication with the bridge tell almost 
 nothing. The crew, receiving calls for in- 
 creased speed or a sudden stoppage of the 
 engines, can only guess at what is happening. 
 
 In a fight with a submarine the danger is, 
 of course, greatly increased. The torpedo 
 strikes below the belt. The heaviest arma- 
 III 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 ment above the water-line offers no protec- 
 tion to the crew in the engine-room. With- 
 out a moment's warning, the ship's side may 
 be shattered by an explosion from a well- 
 directed torpedo, and the inrush of water 
 may drown the men like rats in a trap. 
 Even when escape is not shut off, the perpen- 
 dicular ladders leading from the engine- 
 room to safety offer a precarious footing. 
 A slip, as the boat swings violently from side 
 to side, may mean a fatal fall. To carry the 
 injured to the deck above, even in a smooth 
 sea, is difficult work. 
 
 From this glimpse of these lower regions, 
 one may gain some idea of the courage that 
 keeps the crew at their stations in the engine- 
 rooms throughout a submarine battle. 
 When the decisive blow falls and the ship 
 begins to fill and sink, it is often a terrify- 
 ing race with death to reach the decks and 
 such safety as they afford. 
 
 In the engagement between the Alcedo 
 and a submarine, the crew, as usual, stood 
 manfully at their posts. They had worked 
 for hours without news from above, when a 
 terrifying explosion shook the ship. A por- 
 
 112 
 
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 
 
 tion of the hull had been torn away by the 
 impact, and the water rushed in. The crew 
 ran to the ladders. 
 
 A member of the engine-room force, of 
 his own will, remained behind. The lights 
 had been extinguished, and the water rapidly 
 mounting soon reached to his knees. Know- 
 ing the engine-room by heart, even in the 
 darkness and confusion, he made his way to 
 the safety-valve. The machinery was so 
 disjointed by the shock that the power could 
 not be turned on, and it was necessary to 
 raise the safety-valve slowly, laboriously, by 
 hand. The water rose above the man's 
 knees before the work was completed. To 
 operate the machinery required a cool head 
 and a steady hand. 
 
 Later, when the Alee do was sunk by a 
 submarine, her crew displayed unusual gal- 
 lantry. The ship sank in a winter sea, when 
 the icy water might have terrified the bravest 
 men. A member of the Alcedo's crew, after 
 swimming about for some time, found a raft 
 and succeeded in climbing on it. It was soon 
 found that the raft was overcrowded and 
 the lives of all were imperiled unless some 
 113 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 one freed it of his weight. There were no 
 other boats or rafts in sight at the time. No 
 drawing of lots was needed to select the one 
 who should face the new danger. No argu- 
 ment was necessary, much less any force. A 
 second-class seaman quietly volunteered. 
 With a hasty good-by, he stood up and quite 
 calmly jumped into the water. The unsel- 
 fish sailor of the Alee do who willingly gave 
 up his place on the life-raft should be 
 counted in any estimate of our gallantry as 
 a nation. He was picked up by a boat after 
 long exposure and brought safely ashore. 
 
 114 
 
XIX 
 
 ABOARD THE LARGEST 
 TRANSPORT 
 
 ONE of the most significant victories of 
 the war, destined to Hve long in the 
 history of the Navy, was won on the bridge 
 and in the engine-room of a merchant-ship. 
 UnUke most naval engagements, which last 
 but a few hours, this victory was won by 
 skill and vigilance that was never relaxed 
 for more than a week. The heroes of the 
 battle are two young men, the American cap- 
 tain and engineer of the steamship Levia- 
 than (formerly the Vaterland) . 
 
 The Leviathan, as all the world knows, is 
 the largest ship in commission. Her great 
 length of nearly looo feet, her width of more 
 than 100 feet, and her tonnage of more than 
 50,000, are, of course, familiar figures. So 
 complicated is the navigation of the great 
 liner that her German owners considered it 
 necessary for her to carry five ranking cap- 
 tains. The chief, with the title of Commo- 
 ns 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 dore, exercised general supervision, while 
 four captains devoted their entire attention 
 to special departments. One was an expert 
 in navigation, a second in machinery, a third 
 in signals. 
 
 The work of the men in the great engine- 
 room was also highly specialized. To drive 
 this enormous bulk through the water, the 
 most powerful marine engines ever con- 
 structed were installed. The complication 
 of this vast network of machinery was be- 
 wildering. Eight engineers presided over 
 the engines, each busied with a special de- 
 partment of his own. All Germany took 
 immense pride in this largest of steamships 
 and in the skill and efficiency of its crew. 
 
 When the United States was drawn into 
 the Great War, it was, of course, realized 
 that the German ships might be seized, in- 
 cluding the greatest prize of the fleet, the 
 Vaterland; and plans long matured were at 
 once carried out to disable the ships scienti- 
 fically, beyond hope of repair, by Americans, 
 at least. Certain vital parts of the machin- 
 ery of the ships were destroyed or impaired. 
 
 On the day that this havoc was wrought, 
 ii6 
 
ABOARD THE TRANSPORT 
 
 orders were sent to Germany to manufacture 
 these parts from the original ships' draw- 
 ings, and to hold them in readiness to ship to 
 America. The German reasoning was con- 
 clusive. It was impossible, they believed, 
 for these parts to be made in America. The 
 ships must therefore lie useless until the end 
 of the war, when new parts would be hurried 
 from Germany, installed by German work- 
 men, and the ships would be as good as new. 
 The Germans made no allowance for 
 American ingenuity. When the fleet was 
 taken over by our government, the havoc in- 
 flicted by the. German engineers was found 
 to be appalling. The delicate machinery 
 had been attacked with sledge-hammers in 
 the most vital parts. To reproduce the in- 
 jured parts would have been the work of 
 months, perhaps years. But, with charac- 
 teristic ingenuity, the naval officers sought a 
 short cut, and found one. The broken parts 
 were welded together by means of acetylene 
 flame and electric devices, and the parts on 
 being tested were found to be stronger than 
 ever. Within a few weeks the fleet was 
 ready for the sea under its new flag. 
 117 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Here was a triumph for American engi- 
 neering, but the work was not at an end. 
 The Germans had made the fatal mistake of 
 grossly underrating the despised Americans. 
 They had scoffed at the idea that Americans 
 could master the intricacies of their machin- 
 ery. The instruments used by the naviga- 
 tion officers, for instance, are extremely com- 
 plicated. The Vaterland had been equipped 
 with a gyroscopic compass that served as the 
 mother compass for a secondary set. The 
 great hull, again, was divided by steel bulk- 
 heads into upward of fifty water-tight com- 
 partments, which rendered her practically 
 unsinkable. This elaborate precaution was 
 taken to guard against danger in case of col- 
 lision or other accident at sea. All this ma- 
 chinery the American officers put in order, 
 and the equipment now serves admirably in 
 case of torpedo attack. There are, besides, 
 elaborate devices for indicating the outbreak 
 of fire in any part of the ship, and systems 
 of electric communication which keep every 
 part of the enormous hull in instant touch 
 with the bridge. 
 
 The Leviathan has made many trips carry- 
 ii8 
 
ABOARD THE TRANSPORT 
 
 ing ii,ooo American soldiers — by far the 
 greatest number ever accommodated on a 
 single ship. The writer has seen Germans 
 greatly amused at the suggestion that a mere 
 American could preside over so vast and 
 complicated a fabric as the largest of steam- 
 ships; but still another surprise awaited the 
 Germans. A single officer, aged twenty- 
 eight years, borrowed from the United States 
 Navy, took complete charge of the engines 
 of the Leviathan, replacing eight highly spe- 
 cialized German experts. In place of the 
 five captains, a single American officer, aged 
 thirty-two years, directed the great ship 
 from the bridge. And, with her patched 
 machinery and reduced staff of executive 
 officers, the largest of ships lowered her own 
 best previous record by nearly a knot an hour 
 throughout the Atlantic crossing. 
 
 119 
 
XX 
 
 VIA WIRELESS 
 
 ALTHOUGH countless changes have 
 transformed its fleets and new perils 
 tested the bravery of its men, the spirit of 
 the Navy is unalterable. A century after 
 Perry's stirring command, "Don't give up 
 the ship," the same fearless spirit found ex- 
 pression in almost identical words. Modern 
 equipment, which would have seemed magi- 
 cal to Perry and his men, make it possible 
 to flash the message by wireless across the 
 open sea. Whether our men be attacked 
 from the sky, from the sea, or by the dangers 
 lurking beneath it, the spirit of the Navy re- 
 mains the same. 
 
 Early in the war, before American sea- 
 men had gained the familiarity with sub- 
 marines and their methods which was to 
 breed contempt, a vicious attack was made 
 upon the steamship Luckenbach. The 
 steamer carried an armed guard in charge of 
 1 20 
 
VIA WIRELESS 
 
 two guns mounted fore and aft. The under- 
 sea craft was sighted at seven-thirty one 
 bright morning, moving rapidly on the sur- 
 face at some distance. Without the slight- 
 est warning, she trained her guns on the 
 Luckenbach and opened fire. From the first 
 the steamer was clearly outclassed. 
 
 A terrific bombardment followed. In less 
 than two hours the German fired 225 shots 
 from her several guns. With her towering 
 sides, superstructure, and funnels, the 
 American was as easy to hit as the proverbial 
 barn door. As a matter of record, however, 
 the submarine, gunners made only nine clean 
 hits. The armed guard replied with 202 
 rounds. 
 
 The first well directed shell from the Ger- 
 man set the Luckenbach on fire, injuring sev- 
 eral of her crew. Hopeless as the engage- 
 ment seem.ed the discipline on the Lucken- 
 bach never relaxed. The fire alarm brought 
 the crew to their stations and the situation 
 was soon well in hand. A torpedo from the 
 submarine might send the steamer to the 
 bottom at any moment, but the crew fought 
 one problem at a time. The fire-fighters 
 121 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 rushed below, and left the hold only when 
 that particular danger was over. 
 
 Although the hits were few and far be- 
 tween, the Germans made several very lucky 
 shots. The next effective shell pierced the 
 engine-room, wounding the engineers and 
 putting the engines out of commission. The 
 submarine rapidly approached the helpless 
 vessel, increasing her fire. From the Luck- 
 enhach a steady fire was still directed at the 
 U-boat, while her wireless flashed a call for 
 help in all directions. 
 
 Still another shot burst an important 
 steam-pipe, wounding a mess-boy and a fire- 
 man, and still further crippling the steamer. 
 As the U-boat closed in, she improved her 
 aim and one of her shells struck the after 
 gun of the Luckenhach, completely disabling 
 it. The defense was continued by the one 
 remaining gun. At this critical moment 
 the Luckenhach' s wireless succeeded in pick- 
 ing up a destroyer in the neighborhood, 
 which was instantly headed full speed to her 
 assistance. 
 
 In the exchange of wireless messages be- 
 tween the Luckenhach and the destroyer, we 
 
 122 
 
VIA WIRELESS 
 
 find the ancient spirit of the Navy, which 
 would have dehghted Perry or Farragut. 
 
 ''How quickly can you get here?" was 
 flashed from the Luckenhach. 
 
 "Two hours," was the destroyer's answer. 
 
 A world of meaning was compressed in 
 the Luckenbadi s laconic reply : 
 
 "Too late. Look for boats." 
 
 The destroyer, rushing forward at forced 
 draught, seemed helpless to avert the 
 tragedy. Knowing that any shot from the 
 German might put the Luckenhach out of 
 commission, the destroyer sent a brief mes- 
 sage of encouragement. Doubtless some 
 memory of Perry's famous order was in her 
 Captain's mind when he despatched the 
 words : 
 
 "Don't surrender." 
 
 The LuckenhacKs reply was almost in- 
 stantaneous : 
 
 "Never." 
 
 With her single gun the Luckenhach still 
 continued to keep the submarine at bay. Of 
 the 202 shots fired by the Luckenhach, the 
 forward gun sent 167. At the end of an 
 hour the crew of the steamship began to 
 123 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 strain their eyes for some sight of the de- 
 stroyer. Minute by minute passed as the 
 submarine, now rapidly closing in, shortened 
 her range. Half of the second hour had 
 passed when the lookout reported a faint 
 trail of smoke on the horizon, which gradu- 
 ally darkened and spread out. It was the 
 destroyer, coming up at better than thirty 
 knots an hour. She arrived alongside punc- 
 tually at two-thirty, on time to the minute 
 of her two-hour schedule. The submarine 
 had disappeared. A few hours later, with 
 her engines repaired, the Luckenbach under 
 convoy of the destroyer reached port safely. 
 
 124 
 
XXI 
 
 A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 
 
 IT would be interesting to know whether 
 Chief Boatswain's Mate John Macken- 
 zie of the Naval Reserve ever read Victor 
 Hugo's description of the loosened cannon 
 that threatened the French corvette Clay- 
 more in his famous novel, ''Ninety-Three." 
 In all fiction there are few scenes so dra- 
 matic, and the bravery of the French gunner 
 who risks his life to keep the bronze gun 
 from wrecking the ship has been universally 
 admired. The parallel between the feats of 
 the French gunner and, of the American 
 sailor mentioned is remarkable. In both 
 cases a storm was raging, and the ships and 
 their crews were endangered; but, while the 
 Frenchman struggled with a cannon, the 
 American wrestled with a heavy bomb which 
 might explode at any moment. If the 
 125 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 American boy was trying to imitate the 
 French hero, his act was an extremely dan- 
 gerous form of plagiarism. 
 
 The bomb was loosened by a curious acci- 
 dent. The United States steamship Remlik 
 was making heavy weather in a severe gale, 
 when her plunging caused the breaking of a 
 box or crate holding a depth bomb. The 
 bomb had been lashed on the after part of 
 the deck in what was considered an out-of- 
 the-way spot. The plunge that broke the 
 box tossed the broken wood overboard, while 
 the bomb was rolled in the opposite direction. 
 To the consternation of the crew, it went 
 bouncing about the deck, threatening to blow 
 the ship to pieces. 
 
 There have been many cases of men at 
 such a moment rushing forward, picking up 
 explosives, and throwing them overboard, 
 at imminent peril to their lives. This depth 
 bomb, however, weighed several hundred 
 pounds. No one could lift it, and the rolling 
 of the ship made it impossible for the men 
 to lay hold of it. To increase the excite- 
 ment, some one noticed that the pin had 
 come out, and shouted out this terrifying 
 126 
 
A^k^ 
 
 (C) Brown and Dawsou. 
 
 With All Flags Set 
 
A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 
 
 news. The crew, though reaHzing that the 
 next moment might be their last, failed to 
 form any concerted plan of action. 
 
 At this highly critical moment Macken- 
 zie rushed forward and grappled with the 
 bomb. He flung his body against it, exert- 
 ing all his strength to stop its plunge; but 
 the bomb was much too heavy for him. He 
 repeated the attempt again and a third time. 
 Each time he almost succeeded in getting his 
 arms around it, but it tore itself away from 
 him. On the third attempt the weight of the 
 metal almost crushed him in its plunge. He 
 realized that the hundreds of pounds of ex- 
 plosives in his arms might go off at any mo- 
 ment, and that the charge had been calcu- 
 lated to destroy an entire ship at a blow. 
 
 At the fourth attempt Mackenzie made a 
 supreme effort, secured a firm grip on the 
 bomb, and heaved it upright till it stood on its 
 flattened end. Having won this advantage, 
 he calmly sat on the bomb and held it down 
 until assistance came. The members of the 
 crew, who had apparently been fascinated by 
 the danger of the moment, now rushed for- 
 ward. Ropes were hastily brought, and the 
 129 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 depth bomb was safel}^ lashed in place. All 
 danger was at an end. 
 
 In recognition of this unique feat, Secre- 
 tary- of the Navy Daniels has awarded a 
 Medal of Honor to Mackenzie and a gratuity 
 of $ioo. 
 
 The commanding officer of the Remlik, in 
 his report recommending that the Medal of 
 Honor be conferred on Mackenzie, says : 
 
 "Mackenzie, in acting as he did, exposed 
 his life, and prevented a serious accident to 
 the ship and probable loss of the ship and 
 entire crew. Had this depth charge ex- 
 ploded on the quarter-deck, with the sea and 
 wind that existed at the time, there is no 
 doubt that the ship would have been lost." 
 
 Less fortunate was a member of a gun 
 crew on a merchant-ship who found himself 
 in a similar situation. The batteries aboard 
 these ships are, as a rule, hastily installed, 
 and occupy very exposed positions. The 
 ships were not constructed with any idea of 
 mounting guns on their decks, much less the 
 five- or six-inch guns necessary to pierce the 
 armor of the modern super-submarine. It 
 is only when some unusual strain is brought 
 130 
 
A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 
 
 to bear on the guns that their inherent weak- 
 ness is discovered. 
 
 In this instance the vessel had encountered 
 a full gale at sea, which tested every joint of 
 her frame. A great wave breaking over her 
 deck had snapped off a stanchion. The life- 
 boats were smashed or swept away, as were 
 all movable objects above-decks. Every- 
 thing that foresight could do to secure the 
 guns had been done, and an alert watch ob- 
 served them anxiously. After several 
 hours of this terrific bombardment, the lash- 
 ings of one of the guns suddenly snapped, 
 and the great mass of steel was loosened. 
 
 As long as the ship continued to roll mod- 
 erately, the weight of the gun kept it in 
 place; but a violent swing might at any mo- 
 ment cause it to shift its position. In such 
 a case, anything might happen in the twink- 
 ling of an eye. If the gun were overturned, 
 its delicate mechanism would be broken be- 
 yond hope of repair, at sea at least, while the 
 high waves might easily roll it overboard. 
 For several anxious moments the gun slipped 
 from side to side, covered with a smother 
 of sea-foam. 
 
 131 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 In a momentary lull, one of the gun crew 
 caught up a rope and, watching for his 
 chance, sprang upon the gun. He was 
 obliged to contend with two dangers that 
 made his position particularly perilous. The 
 gun might roll upon him, crushing him be- 
 fore he could dodge it, or the waves might 
 sweep him from his position. There was a 
 desperate struggle for several anxious min- 
 utes. The gunner had succeeded in fasten- 
 ing one end of the rope about the cannon, 
 when a surge of water loosened his hold and 
 swept him overboard. No life-boat could 
 live in such a sea, and from the ship's sides 
 nothing could be seen of the unfortunate gun- 
 ner; but, undeterred by the tragedy, other 
 seamen rushed forward, and the gun was 
 finally secured and rode out the storm in 
 safety. 
 
 132 
 
XXII 
 STANDING BY THE SHIP 
 
 MANY torpedoed ships have been saved 
 from sinking, against all the proba- 
 bilities, by the alertness of their crews. 
 According to the laws of gravitation the Ar- 
 menia should have gone down within a few 
 minutes after. being struck. The attack oc- 
 curred at 12.40 A. M., February 19, 1918, 
 an hour when the guard might be found 
 somewhat relaxed. 
 
 The torpedo struck the Armenia at an an- 
 gle on the starboard quarter. The subma- 
 rine was completely hidden in the darkness, 
 and the first warning came from the lookout, 
 E. M. Wright, a seaman of the second class 
 connected with the armed guard. The tor- 
 pedo was but forty yards off when sighted, 
 and a few seconds intervened before she 
 struck. There was, of course, no time to 
 133 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 alter the course of the vessel or to manoeuver 
 to avoid the blow. 
 
 The wreckage was appalling. The tor- 
 pedo passed completely through the ship's 
 side, bending it far in, and leaving a hole 
 through which the sea poured at a terrifying 
 rate. So great was the force of the impact 
 that the steel deck was buckled up to a height 
 of three feet. The wooden bulkheads were 
 set on fire. 
 
 Chief Boatswain Mate S. Hamiab, com- 
 manding the gun crew, and the lookout, who 
 sighted the torpedo, were thrown into the 
 air by the explosion, and all of the men were 
 badly knocked about. When the crew got 
 to their feet and ran to their stations, they 
 found the gun platform a mass of wreckage. 
 No defense could be made, so complete was 
 the demolition, and all hands were mustered 
 to save the ship. 
 
 The ship's discipline proved all that could 
 be desired. Although in imminent danger, 
 since the ship might take her final plunge at 
 any moment, the seamen, responding will- 
 ingly to orders, rushed below-decks. The 
 collision mats were brought out, and, work- 
 134 
 
STANDING BY THE SHIP 
 
 ing coolly, the men succeeded in placing them 
 in position and stopping the inrush of water. 
 Standing up to their waists in water, which 
 was rapidly rising, the work was completed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the ship was afire in several 
 places. So disorganized was the ship's pip- 
 ing that it was found impossible to make use 
 of the regular fire hose. There was not a 
 moment to lose, and the seamen descended 
 to the burning hold and put out the fire with 
 their hands. 
 
 Three American seamen, enlisted men, 
 had an even closer call aboard a British 
 merchant-ship, and later were commended 
 by our naval authorities for their part in 
 saving her. The merchantman was struck 
 by a torpedo, September i, 191 7, and filled 
 rapidly. All hope seemed at an end, and 
 the ship's company was ordered to take to 
 the boats. Two of the American seamen, 
 Stephan J. Downy and F. Kellard Goulach, 
 got away safely in separate boats. A third 
 American, Alfred Allard, stayed on the ship, 
 with her Captain. 
 
 As long as the ship remained afloat the 
 Captain refused to leave her. The crew, 
 135 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 meanwhile, rowed away to a safe distance. 
 The last plunge of a large ship, as every sea- 
 man knows, is likely to carry down all on 
 board. The suction caused by the sinking 
 hull draws down all objects in this terrify- 
 ing vortex, and the strongest swimmer is 
 powerless against it. 
 
 Left alone on the ship, the Captain and 
 Allard watched the ship slowly settle. The 
 crew, having retreated to a safe distance, 
 rested on the oars and waited for the final 
 plunge. The three American seamen mean- 
 while proved invaluable in keeping the boats 
 in touch with the merchant-ship by signal- 
 ing. Allard, standing on the bridge beside 
 the Captain, directed Downy and Goulach, 
 by wigwagging, the distance they were to 
 keep from the ship, and kept them informed 
 of her condition. 
 
 Several hours later the Captain began to 
 hope that his ship might still be saved. An 
 examination of the water in the hold decided 
 him to make the effort. Allard was directed 
 to call in the boats and the crew by his sig- 
 nals, and once aboard all hands set to work. 
 The ship was finally beached in safety. 
 136 
 
XXIII 
 WHEN THE S.S. ''LINCOLN" SANK 
 
 THE crucial test of the naval drills and 
 preparations for a surprise attack came 
 with the sinking of the transport Lincoln. 
 There were 715 men all told aboard the Lin- 
 coln, while her great size, and the height of 
 her boat-decks above the water, made it dif- 
 ficult to execute quickly the final orders. 
 She had been struck almost simultaneously 
 by two torpedoes, sinking within a few min- 
 utes. The noise of escaping steam made it 
 impossible to give verbal order throughout 
 the length of the great vessel, and the com- 
 plicated work of abandoning ship had to be 
 carried out by signals. 
 
 Working under the most trying condi- 
 tions, the crew went about its duties coolly 
 and intelligently. Several men had been 
 killed and many wounded by the explosions, 
 and there were a number of sick and 
 137 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 wounded returning from France, including 
 two paralyzed men. Nevertheless the en- 
 tire ship's company, with provisions, was 
 transferred to life-boats and life-rafts, and 
 the flotilla kept under perfect discipline for 
 hours until picked up. Three officers and 
 twenty-three men lost their lives. 
 
 The scenes on board the Lincoln and in 
 the boats have been admirably described in 
 the official report prepared by Commander 
 Percy W. Foote, the commanding officer of 
 the transport. The matter-of-fact way in 
 which the most thrilling acts are recorded 
 illustrates the attitude of the men of the 
 Navy toward their own exploits. 
 
 "Three torpedoes were sighted approach- 
 ing the ship on the port side at a distance of 
 from three to four hundred yards away," 
 says Commander Foote's report. "Efforts 
 were made to turn the ship to avoid the tor- 
 pedoes, but there was not sufficient time to 
 do so, and two torpedoes struck together 
 practically in the same place, about 120 feet 
 from the bow, and one torpedo struck about 
 120 feet from the stern. The call to battle 
 stations was instantly sounded when the tor- 
 138 
 
WHEN THE S.S. "LINCOLN" SANK 
 
 pedoes were sighted, and every one went 
 quickly, but quietly, to his proper post. 
 
 "Preparations were made for launching 
 the boats and life-rafts, and the guns were 
 manned and made ready for fire. Inspec- 
 tions were made below-decks, and it was 
 found that the bulkheads were holding the 
 water in the forward hold, but aft the en- 
 gine-room bulkhead was ruptured, and the 
 water entered the engine-room. There was 
 plenty of time, however, for the men to 
 escape from the engine- and fire-rooms, and 
 no casualties occurred therein. Seven men 
 at work in the" forward end of the ship were 
 killed by the force of the explosion or the 
 inrush of the water. 
 
 "Fifteen minutes after the ship was 
 struck, it appeared quite evident that she 
 would sink. The boats and rafts were 
 placed in the water, and the order was given 
 all hands to abandon ship." 
 
 Several of the officers and the gun crews, 
 however, still remained on the sinking ship. 
 It was found later that two men stayed too 
 long, and were lost when the ship went down. 
 The danger was obvious to all, but the men 
 139 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 stood calmly at their posts, awaiting orders. 
 A few minutes later fire was opened from 
 the bow gun in the general direction in which 
 it was thought the submarine might lie, on 
 the chance of preventing another attack and 
 to cover the retreat of the open boats. The 
 personal narrative continues : 
 
 "Four or five minutes before the ship 
 finally sank, half the vessel being then under 
 water, the chief master-at-arms reported 
 that his inspection below-decks showed all 
 hands to be out of the ship. The order was 
 then given for every one, including the gun 
 crews, to leave the ship; and the master-at- 
 arms and> I then went into the water and 
 swam to a life-raft. 
 
 ''Due to the difTficulties which generally 
 exist when boats are filled with people and 
 lowered quickly in emergency, it had been 
 previously arranged for every one to go in 
 the water and get on the rafts. Only five 
 men and an officer were assigned to the boats 
 to lower them; the boats then to go among 
 the life-rafts and pick up the people. This 
 proved to be a very satisfactory arrange- 
 ment, as the boats were lowered and got clear 
 140 
 
WHEN THE S.S. 'LINCOLN" SANK 
 
 of the ship without difficulty. One boat, 
 however, was loaded with the sick before 
 lowering; and all the sick, including the two 
 paralyzed soldiers, were saved." 
 
 The scene is probably unique in the his- 
 tory of the Navy. There survived over 
 seven hundred men, some five hundred in 
 the open boats and two hundred on the life- 
 rafts, crowding these frail crafts to their 
 capacity. The sea was rough, and the near- 
 est land remote. The report continues : 
 
 "After the ship sank the work of loading 
 the boats to their capacity and securing the 
 rafts together was begun, and while this 
 work was under way, about half an hour 
 after the ship sank, the submarine appeared, 
 and came near the boats and rafts. The 
 submarine first took one of the sailors. Sea- 
 man Anderson, on board, and then a little 
 later took one of the officers, Lieutenant 
 Isaaca, after which it returned the seaman to 
 the boat. 
 
 "Another instance which illustrated the 
 
 coolness of the young American boys who 
 
 composed the crew of the ship occurred when 
 
 the submarine was cruising among the boats. 
 
 141 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 We naturally thought of the possibility of 
 the submarine firing on the boats, and an of- 
 ficer on the submarine was seen to go to the 
 muzzle of one of the guns and, as we thought 
 at that time, remove the covering prepara- 
 tory to firing. When this was observed, one 
 of the men in the boat said: 'Good night! 
 Here comes the fireworks.' But the sub- 
 marine did not fire, and all the survivors in 
 the boats escaped unharmed. 
 
 "The submarine remained in the vicinity 
 of the boats for about an hour and a half. It 
 returned in the afternoon about two o'clock, 
 remained near at hand for about an hour, 
 and then left the vicinity and did not re- 
 appear. 
 
 "The work of collecting the boats and 
 rafts together was continued, and by dark we 
 had the rafts tied together and the boats se- 
 cured to the rafts and to each other; the 
 boats being loaded practically to their carry- 
 ing capacity, there being about five hundred 
 men in the boats and about two hundred on 
 the rafts. 
 
 "Lighted lanterns were hoisted on the oars 
 in the boats, and Coston flare-lights were 
 142 
 
WHEN THE. S.S. "LINCOLN" SANK 
 
 turned at frequent intervals. Watches were 
 set, and those not on watch were told to go 
 to sleep. Despite the hurry of departure, 
 the boats and rafts had been amply provi- 
 sioned with food and water. Throughout 
 the night the stores remained untouched. It 
 was anticipated that many days might be 
 spent in the boats, and the supplies were 
 saved against a time of absolute need. The 
 spirit of the men throughout the long night 
 was admirable. Chief Petty Officer Oulette 
 brought ashore the following incident : 
 
 " 'There were a number of officers with 
 the men on the raft,' he writes, 'among whom 
 was the chaplain, and Oulette told me that 
 the chaplain very properly said prayers for 
 the rescue of the men. But Oulette feared 
 the men would become somewhat despon- 
 dent, so he decided to tell some jokes and 
 sing a song, and the song he sang was, 
 "Where Do We Go from Here?" ' 
 
 "At about 1 1 p. M.^ when it was quite dark, 
 a blinking white light was sighted, and very 
 soon it was found that one of the American 
 destroyers had arrived to our rescue. A 
 rousing cheer was given by the men, and the 
 143 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 work of embarking on board the destroyer 
 was begun. About an hour afterward an- 
 other destroyer arrived, and by 2 A. m. all the 
 survivors were embarked aboard the de- 
 stroyers. After waiting till daylight, when 
 a final search was made for any persons who 
 might still be adrift, the return trip to France 
 was begun, where we arrived in due course 
 of time, and very shortly afterward em- 
 barked for America on another ship." 
 
 144 
 
XXIV 
 GUARDING THE TRANSPORTS 
 
 THE question is often asked, — and prob- 
 ably nowhere oftener than in Germany, 
 — how do the transports elude the subma- 
 rines? No secret is made of the methods 
 of defense. Either the transport depends 
 upon its fleetness, or it is so heavily con- 
 voyed that the most determined efforts of 
 the Germans is of no avail. 
 
 One of the most desperate attempts to 
 ''get" a heavily laden American troop-ship 
 occurred in the Bay of Biscay, when no less 
 than eight German submarines lay in wait 
 for our soldiers. On the previous eastward 
 voyages the transport had sailed without 
 convoy, and had been met on approaching 
 the other side by two destroyers. It was be- 
 lieved that she was especially signaled out for 
 attack, however, and Rear-Admiral Wilson, 
 in command of the destroyer flotilla of the 
 147 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 American Navy operating in French waters, 
 sent out four of his destroyers as a precau- 
 tion. 
 
 The transport, with thousands of Amer- 
 ican soldiers aboard, was nearing the French 
 coast at dawn one morning, when two Ger- 
 man submarines were sighted just ahead. 
 A few moments later two more U-boats ap- 
 peared off the starboard side; shortly after 
 two more just ahead, and two more a little 
 distance away on the beam. The German 
 attack had evidently been planned in detail. 
 The fleet, comprising eight submarines in all, 
 now drew together on the starboard side, 
 which was the side away from that on which 
 the destroyers usually sailed. It was evi- 
 dently their intention to sight the two de- 
 stroyers and, of course, sink the transport. 
 
 Several torpedoes were soon fired at the 
 transport, but she managed to elude them by 
 steering at top speed in a series of rapid zig- 
 zags. The naval crew of the transport 
 opened with a shot from the six-inch forward 
 gun on the starboard side. The first shot hit 
 the conning-tower of one of the U-boats. A 
 second shot a few seconds later struck the 
 148 
 
GUARDING THE TRANSPORTS 
 
 same submarine amidships, sinking her with 
 all her crew. The destroyers meanwhile 
 had reached the active side of the transport 
 and engaged the rest of the fleet. While the 
 U-boats were in the act of shooting torpedoes 
 at the Americans, a destroyer with several 
 well planted shots put another submarine 
 quickly out of commission, finally sending 
 her down. 
 
 By this time the commander of the fleet 
 of submarines was aware of the fact that 
 four destroyers instead of two were arrayed 
 against him, and, signaling to the other 
 boats, he at once submerged. As the last 
 boat disappeared a shot from one of the de- 
 stroyers struck her upper works and, it is 
 believed, sank her. All four of the destroy- 
 ers were above the points where the sub- 
 marines had submerged, and the fight was 
 continued by dropping a series of powerful 
 depth bombs. Judging from the agitation 
 of the sea following the explosion, the naval 
 officers feel confident that they accounted for 
 two more of the U-boats. 
 
 Of the eight submarines making the at- 
 tack, two were unmistakably sunk by shell 
 149 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 fire from the transport and the destroyers, 
 and three others are believed to have been 
 sunk by depth bombs, while three got away 
 clear. A naval officer who witnessed the 
 battle reported that he considered it the most 
 determined attempt the Germans had made 
 to sink a transport on her east-bound trip. 
 The transport — which was one of the largest 
 and fleetest in the service — proceeded in 
 safety to her French port of destination. 
 
 On the transport's last previous east- 
 bound trip, two German submarines had 
 come to the surface so near her starboard 
 quarter that they could not find room to 
 manoeuver into position to fire their torpe- 
 does. The distance was so short that it also 
 served to protect the Germans, since the de- 
 stroyers were afraid to drop their depth 
 bombs for fear of injuring the hull or the 
 propellers of the transport. 
 
 The marvelous record of our transports in 
 safely transporting a great army through the 
 submarine-infested waters does not depend 
 upon chance or good luck. 
 
 150 
 
PART III 
 ON AIR-SCOUT DUTY 
 
XXV 
 FIRST TO FLY 
 
 A DETACHMENT of naval airmen 
 were the first Americans to arrive in 
 France and enter active service against the 
 enemy. It is a matter of pride in the Navy 
 that these men reached foreign soil three 
 weeks before the first transport arrived 
 bringing the army forces. The airmen had 
 been trained for active service on this side of 
 the Atlantic, and were quickly hurried to the 
 front. Several of the men in this first de- 
 tachment have since lost their lives in flight 
 work. The first, Louis Reindardt, a seaman 
 of the second class, enlisted at Norfolk in 
 1916. The second of the airmen to lose his 
 life was George Herbert Manly. 
 
 More various uses have been found for 
 the aircraft in connection with naval opera- 
 tions than any other type of fighting ma- 
 153 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 chine. At the opening of the war naval 
 aeronautics was in its infancy. To-day the 
 aircraft department is one of the main de- 
 pendencies of the fleets. Their activities 
 have been classified in some seventeen dis- 
 tinct divisions. The average man has little 
 conception of the extent of their actual oper- 
 ations. 
 
 A variety of types of seaplanes and dirigi- 
 bles are effectively employed in making 
 direct attacks upon ships and submarines at 
 sea, using bombs, torpedoes, and guns. The 
 same craft are also employed in bombing 
 the enemy's bases and stations. Naval ex- 
 perts of a generation since did not anticipate 
 that naval craft would soon actually fly over 
 great stretches of sea, and even over moun- 
 tains, and inflict serious damage. To-day 
 such raids are commonplace. 
 
 A modern armada is accompanied by a 
 fleet of aircraft, which engages the aircraft 
 of the enemy. It employs aeroplanes and 
 seaplanes, with a flying radius of several 
 hundreds of miles, which may be launched 
 directly from the decks of ships, or may be 
 lowered alongside and rise from the surface 
 154 
 
FIRST TO FLY 
 
 of the water. Pictures of the great sea- 
 plane carriers, with half a dozen or more 
 large aeroplanes on their decks, are of course 
 familiar. The aircraft, on returning, land 
 on the surface of the water, and are re- 
 trieved by being hoisted to their stations. 
 
 A variety of aircraft serve as the eyes and 
 scouts for the sea fleets. Trained observers 
 go aloft to high altitudes in dirigibles, sea- 
 planes, and kite balloons, and by means of 
 direct telephone wires or by wireless keep 
 their bases informed of the position of the 
 enemy. The same types of machine are em- 
 ployed to protect ships at sea or in port 
 against attacks from hostile submarines or 
 battleships. 
 
 The defense of naval bases from both 
 naval and aerial attacks is largely dependent 
 at present upon aircraft. Everything that 
 flies is used in such work. The dirigible has 
 been superseded for raiding purposes by the 
 aeroplane. We hear no more of Zeppelin 
 raids, for the huge craft make too obvious a 
 target for aeroplane attack. The dirigible 
 still plays an important role, nevertheless, in 
 patrolling coasts, searching for submarine 
 155 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 bases, spying upon suspicious ships, and for 
 convoying fleets at sea. 
 
 The speed of the seaplane is also depended 
 upon to prevent hostile aircraft from locat- 
 ing the positions of fleets and ascertaining 
 the number and the nature of the ships that 
 compose it. By keeping hostile aircraft at 
 a distance, they also prevent the enemy from 
 getting the range of naval bases, magazines, 
 and other stations. Many operations are 
 also carried over land and sea to divert the 
 attention and mislead the enemy while 
 strategical operations are being carried out. 
 
 All types of aircraft are also employed to 
 cooperate with submarines and guide them 
 in their attacks on enemy fleets and bases. 
 In many scouting trips they locate the pres- 
 ence of mine fields and keep their fleets in- 
 formed of their position. Much valuable 
 time is saved, again, in planting mines by 
 the assistance of the air squadrons. In at- 
 tacking hostile ships and directing gun fire 
 the spotting of aircraft is invaluable. 
 
 It often happens that messages cannot be 
 transmitted, even by wireless, between ships 
 widely separated without giving the enemy a 
 156 
 
FIRST TO FLY 
 
 clue as to the ship's position. The aircraft 
 serve as despatch-bearers in carrying mes- 
 sages, at a rate of a hundred miles an hour 
 or more, throughout a radius of hundreds of 
 miles. 
 
 157 
 
XXVI 
 EARLY EXPLOITS 
 
 THE American Navy was the first to rec- 
 ognize the possibiHties of aircraft and 
 to organize an aviation section. The officers 
 who ventured aloft in many experimental 
 flights faced a hazard unique in naval his- 
 tory. To their daring and ingenuity is due 
 much of the development of the air service 
 at sea, which other nations have been quick 
 to utilize. In any record of the naval heroes 
 of to-day the exploits of these men, who 
 dared so much for the advancement of their 
 service, deserve to be remembered. 
 
 The first naval appropriation for aero- 
 nautics in history was made by Congress in 
 191 1. In view of the war budget a few 
 years later counted by billions, it is inter- 
 esting to recall that the first appropriation 
 was $25,000. The Navy first appointed 
 three officers to visit the aeroplane factories 
 158 
 
EARLY EXPLOITS 
 
 to receive instructions in flying. At that 
 date the seaplane was unknown, and aero- 
 planes had not yet been equipped with pon- 
 toons to support them on the water. Some 
 very daring experiments were carried on by 
 these officers in attempting to start aero- 
 planes by a cable launching device, which was 
 the nucleus of the catapult of later years. 
 
 Considering the difficulties and dangers of 
 this experimental work, the progress was re- 
 markable. From April, 191 1, to August, 
 1912, some 593 flights were made by the in- 
 struction officers. The United States Navy 
 at this period owned an air fleet consisting of 
 three aeroplanes. In the winter of 191 1 the 
 aviation camp was transferred to San Diego, 
 California; later it was established at An- 
 napolis. 
 
 The first aerial reconnaissance ever made 
 by a naval officer of rank was flown May 2, 
 19 1 2, under the direction of Rear-Admiral 
 Bradley A. Fiske, then commanding the Sec- 
 ond Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. The 
 aeroplane in this historic flight flew to and 
 landed alongside the U. S. S. Georgia, the 
 flagship anchored at Salem harbor. Later 
 159 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Rear-Admiral Fiske flew in this machine. 
 A sea flight was made a few weeks later 
 from the Aero Station near Annapolis to the 
 battle-ship Louisiana at an altitude of four 
 hundred feet, which aroused world-wide at- 
 tention. In the same year a world's record 
 was established in flying over Chesapeake 
 Bay, when the officer remained aloft for six 
 hours and ten minutes. Some Interesting 
 experiments were also made in communicat- 
 ing by wireless electricity between an aero- 
 plane aloft and a battle-ship. The aero- 
 plane had now passed the experimental stage 
 and was recognized as one of the arms of the 
 fleet. 
 
 The United States Navy was also the first 
 in history to fly under war conditions. 
 When the mobilization was ordered to pro- 
 ceed to Mexican waters in the summer of 
 1914, it found the Navy prepared. The or- 
 ganization of the aero division is shown by 
 the promptness with which it was able to act. 
 Orders were received at the Pensacola sta- 
 tion at noon on Sunday, April 19, for the 
 First Aeroplane Section to embark on the 
 Birmingham. Within six hours the avail- 
 160 
 
EARLY EXPLOITS 
 
 able fleet of six aeroplanes, with all neces- 
 sary parts required for active service, two 
 hangar tents, and camp equipment for three 
 officers and ten men of the section were on 
 the dock. The Second Aeronautical Section 
 was no less prompt in embarking on the Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 When the Mississippi, with the Second 
 Aeroplane Section on board, reached Vera 
 Cruz on April 25, an aeroplane was in the air 
 five minutes after she dropped anchor. On 
 every day following flights were made; some- 
 times the aeroplanes went aloft several times 
 a day. The navy aeroplanes scouted along 
 the outposts and far beyond the lines, pre- 
 paring maps of the country and observing 
 the position of the Mexican forces. 
 
 For some time America held the distinc- 
 tion of having not only the first but the most 
 highly developed aeronautical section of any 
 navy in the world. With the progress of the 
 war America fell behind and was soon out- 
 classed. Her activities to-day may enable 
 her to regain her position of the first naval 
 air force. 
 
 161 
 
XXVII 
 AN AIR BATTLE 
 
 THERE is no better raw material in the 
 world for the making of heroes than is 
 to be found in America. Ensign Stephen 
 Potter, U. S. N. R., was enrolled as a second- 
 class seaman in the Naval Flying Corps, on 
 September 26, 19 17, and was made an ensign 
 November 2 of the same year. On Novem- 
 ber 12 he was ordered to France, and was 
 sent to England on January 18, 19 18, for 
 active service. The dates are eloquent, indi- 
 cating as they do how quickly the average 
 American youth may be transformed into a 
 skilful flyer. 
 
 Within six weeks of his enrolment Potter 
 had acquired an experience in this difficult 
 and dangerous service that made it possible 
 for him to go to France, and in a little more 
 than a month he saw actual air service at the 
 front. There are doubtless thousands of 
 162 
 
^ ""fWW 
 
 > 
 
AN AIR BATTLE 
 
 similar cases, but Potter has been singled 
 out by the Government because of his bril- 
 liant subsequent record and the stirring air 
 battle in which he met his death. 
 
 The records show that Potter had been fly- 
 ing in actual service scarcely six weeks when 
 he met a German seaplane in Heligoland 
 Bight and in a brilliant air fight shot it down. 
 His last battle occurred April 25 over the 
 North Sea. He was serving at the time as 
 second pilot to a British Royal Air Force 
 captain. While out on scout duty, he was 
 overtaken by a formidable German fleet of 
 seven single-seaters, and found himself hope- 
 lessly outclassed ; but he sold his life dearly. 
 
 Potter's last air battle is one of the most 
 daring in the history of air conflicts. The 
 report of the engagement that follows, re- 
 ceived from the London representative of 
 the Committee on Public Information, needs 
 no elaboration. 
 
 Potter left a North Sea station in a British 
 seaplane, and steered due east until six miles 
 W. S. W. north of Hinder light. Another 
 plane accompanied Potter, keeping a posi- 
 tion to starboard throughout the action. 
 165 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Two enemy planes were sighted to port, 
 heading toward them, flying low. Both 
 British planes dived about a hundred yards 
 apart, closing upon the nearest German. 
 
 Fire opened from both at close range. 
 
 Potter's companion had emptied one drum 
 from the forward cockpit when the gun 
 jammed. Two more hostile planes then ap- 
 peared overhead, attacking vigorously. 
 Both Britons turned to the west, pursuing 
 one of the lower enemy, who was soon lost 
 to view. Three others passed astern, fol- 
 lowed at a sharp angle. Potter was close 
 above his companion, and dove to within a 
 hundred feet of the water. 
 
 Both machines flattened out, and Potter's 
 companion, being faster, throttled down un- 
 til Potter came abreast. They ran west- 
 ward in this formation at full speed for sev- 
 eral minutes, under continuous volleys from 
 the rear. 
 
 Four more enemy machines now appeared 
 in V formation. Of the seven Germans in 
 action, four attacked Potter, and the others 
 engaged his companion. Potter fell behind 
 and began to zigzag. He first veered 
 i66 
 
AN AIR BATTLE 
 
 slightly to starboard, then turned at right 
 angles to port. 
 
 Again his companion throttled down to 
 let him catch up, and began climbing to re- 
 duce headway. Potter dodged again, but 
 was then broadside to all enemy machines, 
 and under their fire only fifty feet from the 
 water. His companion, flying above saw. 
 Potter's machine burst into flames, come 
 down part of the way under control, then 
 crash on the port wing-tip. 
 
 Potter was last seen on the surface amid 
 flames that turned suddenly to a huge cloud 
 of smoke. 
 
 Two of the enemy circled over the spot, 
 then joined the other five. When the pall 
 had cleared, not even wreckage was visible. 
 
 The commanding officer of the station 
 from which Potter went aloft on his last 
 flight added the following comment to the of- 
 ficial report of the air battle : 
 
 "Potter always displayed the greatest eag- 
 erness to fly at all times. On the long re- 
 connaissance in which he shot down the Ger- 
 man aeroplane he showed courage and cool- 
 ness. He was very popular at this station." 
 167 
 
XXVIII 
 A SEAPLANE WRECK 
 
 WITH the appearance of the seaplane 
 in our Navy has come a new test of 
 courage. The pilot and observer aboard 
 these frail aircraft in their long scouting 
 trips at sea face a unique danger. In case 
 of accident on a surface craft the life-boats 
 give the sailor a fighting chance of escape. 
 The worst catastrophe to ordinary craft, too, 
 falls less swiftly. The airman finds gravity 
 a very exacting master. Let his engine 
 stall or any one of a hundred possible acci- 
 dents befall his delicate craft with its com- 
 plicated machinery, and his descent is meas- 
 ured by seconds only. Even if he carry 
 wireless equipment, there is likely to be little 
 chance to use it to summon help, and the air- 
 craft carries no life-boats for navigating 
 either air or water. 
 
 After a rapid volplane to the surface the 
 aviator's plight is likely to be serious. The 
 i68 
 
A SEAPLANE WRECK 
 
 fragile pontoons on which his aircraft rests 
 offer very slight support. His aeroplane is 
 in no sense seaworthy, and he is at the mercy 
 of every wave. He is without oars or other 
 means of propulsion, and must lie chained to 
 his curious wreck. The wreck of the sea- 
 plane carrying Ensign E. A. Stone, U. S. 
 Naval Reserve, is unique in naval history. 
 Forced to descend to the surface of the water 
 while far out at sea. Stone and his companion 
 floated for eighty hours and lived out a 
 severe storm before relief arrived. 
 
 The American sailor acting as a pilot of a 
 British seaplane, with Sub-Lieutenant Eric 
 Moore of the Royal Naval Air Service, had 
 started out to convoy patrols from a British 
 port. Land was far out of sight when the 
 periscope of a German submarine was 
 sighted, and the aircraft at once started in 
 pursuit. It was unsuccessful in picking up 
 the German, and meanwhile lost its way. 
 Some two and a half hours later the engine 
 dropped dead, and the airmen were forced to 
 descend to the surface of a rough sea. The 
 situation in which the men found themselves 
 is described in Stone's own words: 
 169 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 "We had no kite or radio to call for assist- 
 ance, so we released our two carrier-pigeons. 
 We tied a message with our position and the 
 word sinking on each. The first bird, a blue- 
 barred one, flew straight oflf and reached 
 home. But the other, which was white 
 checked, lit on our machine and would not 
 budge until Moore threw a navigation clock 
 at him, which probably upset him so that he 
 failed us." 
 
 The sea rose, meanwhile, until the waves 
 broke the frail wings of the aeroplane, caus- 
 ing them to sink. It soon became clear that 
 the machine was being slowly but steadily 
 drawn down by the stern, thus turning her 
 over. To lessen the impact of the waves, 
 the airmen tore away the covering of the 
 wings, but she continued to go down. The 
 aeroplane finally rose perpendicularly in the 
 air, and the men were obliged to climb over 
 her nose and cling to the under side of the 
 pontoons. Since these consisted merely of 
 light frames covered with thin plate metal, 
 their buoyancy was not great. Stories of 
 suffering from hunger at sea are common, 
 170 
 
A SEAPLANE WRECK 
 
 but the experience of the wrecked airmen in 
 this respect is peculiarly trying. Ensign 
 Stone says, in writing of these hours : 
 
 "Our emergency ration had been in the 
 observer's seat at the back, but we had been 
 so busy in trying to repair the motor and 
 save ourselves from turning over that we 
 didn't remember this until too late. When 
 I crawled aft for food, Moore saw that I was 
 only helping the machine to capsize. He 
 yelled to me to come back, and I did, just in 
 time to save myself from being carried down 
 with the tail and drowned. 
 
 "From then on, for nearly four days, until 
 picked up by a trawler, we were continually 
 soaked and lashed by seas, and with nothing 
 to eat or drink. We had nothing to cling 
 to, and so, to keep from being washed over- 
 board, we got upon the same pontoon and 
 hugged our arms around each other's bodies 
 for the whole time. 
 
 "We suffered from thirst. I had a crav- 
 ing for canned peaches. Twice a drizzle 
 came on, wetting the pontoon. We turned 
 on our stomachs and lapped up the moisture, 
 171 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 but the paint came off, with the salt, and 
 nauseated us. 
 
 ''Our limbs grew numb. From time to 
 time the wreckage from torpedoed ships 
 would pass. Once two biscuit tins came 
 near enough to swim for ; but by then, in our 
 weakened state, we knew that we would 
 drown if we tried to get them. We did 
 haul in a tin and break it open. It was filled 
 with tobacco." 
 
 The shipwrecked sailor in an open boat or 
 even on a raft suffers less than men aboard 
 a wrecked seaplane. The airmen could not 
 lie down or stretch themselves, and the effort 
 of holding to the wreck in the rough seas 
 was very exhausting. They had no mast on 
 which to raise a flag, or lights to attract the 
 attention of passing boats. Several ships 
 passed within a comparatively short distance 
 without sighting the low-lying wreck of the 
 aircraft. These airmen were doubtless the 
 first shipwrecked seamen in the history of 
 the seas to sight an aeroplane. Let the air 
 pilot tell the experience in his own words : 
 
 "On Monday afternoon a seaplane came 
 from the west. It was flying only 800 feet 
 172 
 
A SEAPLANE WRECK 
 
 over our head, aiming down the Channel. 
 It seemed impossible that she could not sight 
 us, for the air was perfectly clear. She 
 passed straight above, without making any 
 signal, flew two miles beyond, and came back 
 on her course. 
 
 " 'Her observer must be sending wireless 
 about us,' I said. 
 
 " 'Yes ; that is why we get no recognition,' 
 said Moore; 'and now she's decided to go 
 back and report.' 
 
 "But the plane had not even seen us. Our 
 spirits fell." 
 
 It was not until after eighty hours had 
 been spent on the wrecked seaplane that help 
 came. A trawler sighted them, and, mis- 
 taking them for Germans, approached war- 
 ily. Both men were too weak to stand up 
 and signal, but the ship finally drew near and 
 the men were lifted aboard. Later they 
 learned that every machine from the sea- 
 plane bases, and even those from a station 
 on the French coast, had flown continually 
 for three days over the sea in search of them. 
 
 Ensign Stone, who is a native of Norfolk, 
 enlisted as a seaman, was trained as an avi- 
 ^7Z 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 ator, and attached to the naval air station 
 at Hampton Roads. While flying abroad he 
 served under the commander of the United 
 States naval forces for patrol duty. 
 
 174 
 
XXIX 
 
 A BALLOON WRECK 
 
 THE first American medal to be awarded 
 for "extraordinary heroism" in the war 
 with Germany was presented to Patrick Mc- 
 Gunigal, a ship's fitter of the U.S.S. Hunt- 
 ington. No matter what position a man 
 may fill in the United States Navy, he may 
 be counted upon to respond instantly to a 
 call for help. The hero is often a man with 
 no special preparation for the work de- 
 manded. 
 
 In the long history of the Navy it might 
 be imagined that every conceivable form of 
 accident would be a commonplace, but Mc- 
 Gunigal nevertheless faced a danger new to 
 the seas. A lieutenant had gone aloft in a 
 balloon to make observations, when a squall 
 struck his unwieldy craft so suddenly that 
 he had no time to save it. The captive bal- 
 loon is a novelty on shipboard, and the crews 
 175 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 are as yet scarcely familiar with all the tricks 
 that the wind may play with it. 
 
 A balloon is in no sense shipshape. Un- 
 der the most favorable conditions it is an 
 awkward, unwieldy thing to handle. The 
 inflation even of a small observation balloon 
 requires skill and patience. The generators 
 must be carefully adjusted and the huge 
 silken bag kept under control with difficulty 
 while it slowly fills. A considerable force 
 of men is required for the work. 
 
 No other activity on shipboard is so much 
 at the mercy of the weather. A gust of 
 wind that would pass unnoticed under ordi- 
 nary conditions is anxiously watched by the 
 balloon crew. A light breeze is enough to 
 make the captive balloon toss about and 
 strain at its ropes. The fabric, too, is so 
 delicate that contact with some metal corner 
 of the ship's upper works may tear it. 
 
 Once inflated and the observer's basket 
 attached, the balloon ropes must be paid out 
 skilfully until it is free from the ship. 
 Should it swing against hot metal, there is 
 imminent danger of an explosion. The 
 wind must be closely watched, since every 
 176 
 
A BALLOON WRECK 
 
 gust is a menace to the balloon and its pas- 
 sengers. Even when it has risen above the 
 level of the stacks, the towering steel obser- 
 vation masts of our battle-ships menace it 
 until the balloon is well aloft. 
 
 In drawing down and housing the ship's 
 balloon the dangers are repeated. The bal- 
 loon must, besides, be kept inflated for days 
 at a time. It is usually lashed as securely 
 as possible on the after-deck, where it takes 
 up a surprising amount of valuable space. 
 A ship thus equipped appears to have some 
 curious swelling or excrescence bulging high 
 above the turrets. In case of a blow the 
 silken bag, even in this position, offers so 
 much surface to the wind that it is often 
 difficult to keep it in place. 
 
 The captive balloon on the U.S.S. Hunt- 
 ington had been struck by a squall, driven 
 down, and soused into the sea in a flash. 
 The officer observer in the basket was drawn 
 under the water, and on rising found him- 
 self a prisoner amid a tangle of ropes in 
 the partially submerged basket. A wrecked 
 balloon is an exceedingly dangerous craft. 
 The air-filled bag is, of course, practically 
 177 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 unsinkable, but it also drives before the 
 wind. The basket may be compared to a 
 tilted pail as it is dragged along the water 
 in the wake of the balloon. The inflated 
 silk proves very elusive. A man cannot dig 
 his nails into the soft silk, and it sinks like 
 a pillow under his weight if he tries to 
 climb on it. 
 
 The officer in the basket was drenched and 
 blinded by the water. McGunigal was the 
 first to reach the wreck. He climbed down 
 the ship's side and, dragging a rope after 
 him, swam to the balloon. The basket filled 
 and sank, and McGunigal, while supporting 
 the exhausted officer, struggled with the tan- 
 gle of ropes. 
 
 While supporting the officer with one arm, 
 McGunigal tried desperately to hold to the 
 balloon for support. It continued to elude 
 him, sinking at the slightest touch or driv- 
 ing ahead before the wind with each gust, 
 and pulling the two men along in its wake. 
 It would be difficult to conceive of a more 
 baffling object. But a drowning man will 
 grasp at a straw — or a submerged balloon. 
 McGunigal managed to fasten the rope he 
 178 
 
A BALLOON WRECK 
 
 carried about the officer, who was now thor- 
 oughly exhausted, and the two were finally 
 drawn on board. 
 
 179 
 
XXX 
 
 AIR COAST PATROL 
 
 THE exploit of the first naval dirigible to 
 be detailed on actual submarine scout 
 duty in home waters is typical of this dan- 
 gerous service. The names of the pilot and 
 of the student who made the flight have been 
 censored by the naval authorities. 
 
 Profiting by French and English experi- 
 ence in building such aircraft, the new 
 American naval dirigible is especially effi- 
 cient. It is of the general "blimp" type. 
 Beneath a cigar-shaped balloon envelope is 
 suspended a serviceable car carrying the 
 engines and the crew, which, unlike many 
 European dirigibles, will float upon the sur- 
 face of the water. 
 
 The craft will rise rapidly to great alti- 
 tudes, and may be driven under favorable 
 conditions at a speed of forty miles an hour 
 or better. Like other lighter-than-air ma- 
 i8o 
 
% m^ 
 
AIR COAST PATROL 
 
 chines, the naval dirigible can maintain a 
 stationary position in the air, which renders 
 it especially valuable for scout work. It can 
 therefore do some scout work better than 
 the aeroplane — in its present stage of de- 
 velopment. 
 
 The aeroplane scout makes much faster 
 time than a dirigible covering a wider area ; 
 but the aeroplane must maintain a constant 
 speed of fifty miles an hour or so, which 
 makes close observation difficult. If the 
 sea be rough or obscured by fog, it is a very 
 easy matter in such rapid flight to miss so 
 small an object as the periscope of a subma- 
 rine. From the car of the new naval dirig- 
 ible, whose flight maybe stopped at any mo- 
 ment, the observer can observe more closely. 
 
 When the first submarine raid was made 
 on American shipping off the Atlantic coast, 
 it found the Navy in readiness for scout 
 service. The Government has not permitted 
 any definite figures to be published as to the 
 strength of the scouting fleet of aircraft en- 
 gaged in the work, but it was probably num- 
 bered by hundreds. While the torpedo- 
 boats and submarine-chasers were scouring 
 183 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 the waters for the enemy, the most formi- 
 dable air fleet ever assembled in America 
 was soon aloft, scouting far out to sea. 
 From the various coast resorts the air fleets 
 were watched day after day as they pa- 
 trolled back and forth at regular intervals 
 with the regularity of a railroad schedule. 
 
 The service aloft in these scouting craft 
 is a very daunting business. It is extremely 
 creditable to the hundreds of naval airmen 
 that they should have responded so quickly 
 and acquitted themselves so well in this new 
 experience. Few, if any, of these men had 
 ever seen active service. The scouting 
 trips carried them far out of sight of land. 
 In case of accident they might find them- 
 selves far from assistance in the open sea. 
 
 Much of the time the weather was unfa- 
 vorable and the air fleets faced high winds. 
 The reader will readily recall the fact that 
 but a few years since an airman who went 
 aloft took his life in his hands and his flight 
 was watched with breathless interest. To- 
 day the Navy comprises tens of thousands 
 of men who not only take their aircraft aloft 
 184 
 
AIR COAST PATROL 
 
 under the most dangerous weather condi- 
 tions but are prepared to fight as well. 
 Every member of the great scouting fleet 
 may be said to have shown conspicuous 
 bravery. 
 
 One of the scouting dirigibles, however, 
 deserves special mention. It had started out 
 from the naval station at Cape May, carry- 
 ing a pilot and a student aviator. So fleet 
 are these craft that it was ordered to patrol 
 the entire length of the New Jersey coast 
 from Cape May to Sandy Hook. While 
 flying far out at a point forty-five miles 
 southeast of Sandy Hook, the engines be- 
 came disabled and the dirigible was forced 
 to descend. 
 
 The dirigible had planned to scout off 
 shore the length of the New Jersey coast 
 and return before night. When the time 
 for her arrival had passed, a fleet of sea- 
 planes and destroyers was sent out, and 
 searched throughout the night, but without 
 finding any trace of her. The crew of the 
 wrecked dirigible, meanwhile, plutkily la- 
 bored for hours to get the engines to work, 
 185 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 without success. Several passing ships were 
 sighted at a distance, but they failed to sight 
 the dirigible. 
 
 After many hours in this extremely peril- 
 ous position, the dirigible was sighted by the 
 schooner Luther Little and brought safely 
 to New York. Three other naval airmen 
 were wrecked in a similar manner, and were 
 missing for three days, but succeeded in 
 bringing back their aircraft. It is gratify- 
 ing to know that the naval airmen were found 
 well prepared for service and that hundreds 
 of aircraft were able to fly for tens of thou- 
 sands of miles under difficult conditions 
 without the loss of a single man. 
 
 i86 
 
XXXI 
 SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 
 
 DURING a naval engagement the most 
 exposed position in the entire fleet is 
 probably that of the men who go aloft to 
 spot the fall of shots. Whether his observa- 
 tions be made from a kite balloon or an 
 aeroplane, he becomes a tempting target for 
 the enemy's fire. The great bulk of a bal- 
 loon tethered to the masts of the battle-ship 
 is clearly visible for miles, while the white 
 wings of an aeroplane are always conspicu- 
 ous. The observer in such a craft is abso- 
 lutely without protection of any kind, and a 
 lucky shot brings him down with a rush. 
 
 A writer of fiction who prophesied years 
 ago the use of aircraft with the navies 
 questioned whether men could be found to 
 face calmly so great a hazard as these flights 
 required. He dwelt upon the horrors of a 
 fall from a great altitude, and the insecurity 
 187 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 of the position, drawing a fairly accurate 
 picture of the service that is to-day a com- 
 monplace. His doubts have been definitely 
 answered. Aeronautical work is now prob- 
 ably the most popular branch of the service. 
 
 The records of the Navy Department fail 
 to mention any award of merit for conspicu- 
 ous bravery among the aero observers. It is 
 a high tribute to the courage of the men that 
 this exceedingly difficult and dangerous work 
 should have been performed satisfactorily 
 for years, and is looked upon merely as an 
 every-day affair undeserving special men- 
 tion. 
 
 The observers are carried aloft by aero- 
 planes, naval dirigible balloons, kite balloons, 
 and ordinary captive balloons. Each form 
 of aircraft has some advantage of its own; 
 all are distinctly perilous. From a position 
 above the fighting-ships the observer must 
 not only coolly face the danger of instant 
 destruction, but his observations require him, 
 at the same time, to make complicated math- 
 ematical calculations. A man may find 
 courage to control himself and look down 
 
SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 
 
 the mouth of an enemy's gun, but it is an- 
 other thing at such a time to make use of 
 his knowledge of higher mathematics. 
 
 The observer in a captive balloon commu- 
 nicates with his base, as a rule, by means of 
 a telephone running down the rope that teth- 
 ers him to his ship. He sits in the basket 
 with a telephone receiver clasped to his ears 
 and a transmitter before him, leaving both 
 hands free. With his glasses trained on 
 the enemy's position, he can report his ob- 
 servation without the delay of a second. 
 The value of such observations are obvious. 
 
 An aeroplane or a naval dirigible, being 
 detached, may cruise to any distance, and 
 has a much better chance of dodging the 
 enemy's fire. The observations in this case 
 are transmitted by wireless telegraphy. Un- 
 til the war came, observers were seriously 
 hampered by the lack of light and efficient 
 wireless apparatus. The equipment weighed 
 from three to five pounds per mile of trans- 
 mission. Their radius was thus very lim- 
 ited. In two years the weight of such ap- 
 paratus was reduced, however, to only one 
 189 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 pound per mile of transmission, and the car- 
 rying capacity of all forms of aircraft was 
 at the same time greatly increased. 
 
 It is necessary for the observer in an 
 aeroplane or a dirigible to be an expert wire- 
 less operator or to carry an assistant. It 
 requires a good mental poise to use one's 
 knowledge of so complicated a science when 
 exposed under fire at high altitude, but there 
 is no lack of volunteers for this difficult post. 
 
 The efficiency of gun fire has been enor- 
 mously increased with the assistance of these 
 observers. From an altitude of perhaps 
 several miles they can look directly down 
 upon the enemy. If a shot falls short or 
 goes too far, the gunners are instantly in- 
 formed and can correct their aim for the 
 next discharge. Since the gun fire of mod- 
 ern battle-ships is marvelously accurate, a 
 word is sufficient. There have been in- 
 stances of observers giving such minute di- 
 rections to their gun crews that a particular 
 part of a ship has been struck, not once but 
 repeatedly, at a distance of several miles. 
 
 With the aid of the observers, the long- 
 range guns of the battle-ships may be used 
 190 
 
SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 
 
 to bombard cities and ships on waterways 
 far inland. The target may be miles dis- 
 tant, and separated by intervening moun- 
 tains and wooded country ; yet shots thus di- 
 rected have struck within a few feet of the 
 target. 
 
 191 
 
XXXII 
 AIR SCOUTING 
 
 WHEN the history of the war comes 
 to be written, it will be found that 
 the naval air pilots have taken a major part 
 in turning the scales against the submarine. 
 When a new line of attack was demanded to 
 overcome this menace, the naval air pilot 
 rose to the occasion. By many long and per- 
 ilous vigils, by day and night, above the sea 
 lanes, he has put fear into the hearts of the 
 U-boats' crews. 
 
 Naval aircraft are counted by thousands. 
 With the progress of the war the most fan- 
 tastic dreams of romances have been real- 
 ized. These fleets go aloft, patrol extended 
 areas, and return with the regularity of a 
 railroad schedule. Thousands of square 
 miles of water are thus kept under constant 
 observation. Even so small an object as 
 the periscope of a submarine cannot long 
 escape their observation. 
 192 
 
AIR SCOUTING 
 
 These air fleets must be manned by a 
 highly specialized personnel. Apart from 
 the skill and experience required by the pilot 
 in making long air cruises, the observer must 
 be especially fitted for his work. One of the 
 great advantages of such craft is the oppor- 
 tunity they afford for "deep sea vision." 
 The phase is new in naval terms. From a 
 point directly above, the observer is able to 
 look down into the water to surprising 
 depths. He can spy upon submarines, even 
 when submerged to a depth of a hundred 
 feet, which would be invisible to any other 
 craft. 
 
 Before being intrusted with the post of 
 observer, the naval aero observer requires 
 long technical training. The depth at which 
 a submarine may be observed depends upon 
 the color of the floor of the sea and on that 
 of the sky. A thousand details must be 
 mastered. A different experience in train- 
 ing is required for the men who observe from 
 a scouting aeroplane or from a "blimp" — a 
 balloon with an aeroplane chassis attached 
 beneath it. The chassis carries the motor 
 and propeller, these being supported by the 
 193 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 balloon instead of by wings. The propeller 
 drives the chassis through the air, and the 
 balloon is drawn along after it. The ob- 
 server in a ''blimp" can travel forty miles 
 an hour, but he can also hover or come to 
 rest in mid-air, and remain in a stationary 
 position for an indefinite time. The aero- 
 plane, on the other hand, may have a speed 
 of more than a hundred miles an hour, but 
 it cannot slow down to less than thirty miles 
 without danger of falling. 
 
 The American Navy has for several years 
 been actively training air pilots and observ- 
 ers. It is not generally known that the first 
 submarine hunt in America occurred as early 
 as March 26, 191 7. Two U-boats were re- 
 ported one day off the Long Island shore, 
 "lying in toward the Sound." The report 
 proved to be a false alarm, but it found the 
 naval authorities on the alert. Four flyers 
 rose from Mineola and Governor's Island, 
 and, in the face of a forty-mile wind with 
 rain and fog, scouted off the Long Island 
 shore. The aeroplanes went out to sea from 
 five to seven miles. The search lasted for 
 three days. 
 
 194 
 
AIR SCOUTING 
 
 .The first report of the submarine raid on 
 American shipping off our coast early in 191 8 
 found the Navy well prepared. No official 
 figures are available, for obvious reasons; 
 but it is known that several hundred aero- 
 planes, manned with experienced pilots and 
 observers, were ready for duty. Within a 
 few hours the whir of their propellers might 
 be heard along the coast from Maine to 
 Florida. The patrol covered thousands of 
 miles without a serious accident. 
 
 The pilots and observers are also trained 
 in bomb-dropping. The men first receive 
 technical instruction which enables them to 
 calculate the trajectory of a bomb in falling 
 from an aeroplane in rapid flight. He prac- 
 tises with an ingenious contrivance, drop- 
 ping weights upon a miniature landscape or 
 sea dotted with ships. In many flights he 
 learns to drop dummy bombs upon a variety 
 of targets. A great force of alert American 
 boys are already actively engaged in such 
 naval patrol work abroad and at home, while 
 a much larger force is receiving instruction. 
 
 No flying is probably at once so perilous 
 and so fascinating as the night reconnais- 
 195 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 sance work. As a rule, only the most expe- 
 rienced and dependable air pilots are in- 
 trusted with such details. These airmen 
 must fly practically blindfolded. Since the 
 earth is hidden, the pilot must depend largely 
 upon his sense of equilibrium to tell him at 
 what angle his craft may be inchned. The 
 lights visible on land or water at night from 
 an altitude of several miles are at best very 
 indistinct and misleading. 
 
 Since all friendly as well as enemy air- 
 craft fly with lights out, they cannot be seen, 
 even on clear nights, except at close range. 
 The night pilot must get his bearings at such 
 times from the noise made by the propellers 
 of approaching craft. From long experi- 
 ence, he is able to distinguish the different 
 note in the whir of the propellers driven by 
 different engines. His life may depend upon 
 the accuracy of his judgment in thus dis- 
 tinguishing friend from foe. 
 
 The obvious danger in night flying is, of 
 course, that the pilot may lose his way and 
 be unable to return to his base. An elab- 
 orate system of signals has been worked out 
 to enable him to recognize his friend. On 
 196 
 
AIR SCOUTING 
 
 approaching his base, while sailing at a safe 
 altitude, the pilot, by means of a light, com- 
 municates in a secret code. He must wait 
 until he receives a reply in the same code 
 before coming down. The enemy will, of 
 course, try to deceive him, and the pilot must 
 be on his guard. Only when an exchange of 
 signals absolutely satisfies him is the pilot 
 allowed to negotiate the difficult operation 
 of a night landing. 
 
 197 
 
XXXIII 
 AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 ALTHOUGH no men have as yet been 
 singled out for conspicuous bravery 
 among the aero photographers of the Navy, 
 their service is at once so perilous and so 
 picturesque that no list of naval heroes would 
 be complete without them. The aero pho- 
 tographer faces much the same danger as 
 other flyers, and in addition must approach 
 close enough to the enemy positions to focus 
 his camera upon them, and return again and 
 again to the point of danger to make sure of 
 his exposures. A verbal report of the work 
 of the bombing planes will not suffice: the 
 aero camera-man must bring back actual 
 photographs, and good ones, of the damage 
 inflicted. 
 
 No other country is so well prepared as 
 America to supply expert camera-men for 
 this service. We are a nation of photog- 
 198 
 
(C) Brown and Dawson. 
 
 An American Fleet in Chinese Waters 
 
(C) Brown and Dawson. 
 
 The Deck from Aloft 
 
AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 raphers. It has been estimated that there 
 is one camera in use for every four people, 
 counting the entire population. Children 
 begin by snapping pictures with small hand 
 cameras, and replace them with better ap- 
 paratus as they grow older. Much of this 
 knowledge is elemental, but a large propor- 
 tion of the population learn to take excellent 
 pictures. When the demand for photog- 
 raphers for the Navy was made, there was a 
 wealth of good material to choose from. It 
 was not necessary to train men from the be- 
 ginning. Thousands were found among 
 those enlisted • who were already skilled 
 camera-men. 
 
 In order to carry on naval preparations 
 over the sea, hundreds of miles of photo- 
 graphic maps must be prepared. Every de- 
 tail of the enemy's coast-lines is photo- 
 graphed. Before an air raid is carried out 
 — such as that upon the German submarine 
 base at Ostend — the aero photographers are 
 sent out again and again. The anti-aircraft 
 defenses are able to put up a barrage fire to 
 a height of more than ten thousand feet, or 
 two miles. To fly below this level is to face 
 
 20I 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 great danger. The photographic planes 
 often venture much lower down, however, 
 to secure sharply focussed pictures. And 
 they do so, perhaps, at intervals of a few 
 hours, in order to photograph any changes 
 the enemy may make in his defenses. 
 
 So vital are these aero photographs to the 
 naval authorities in planning a raid that no 
 risk is considered too great in securing them. 
 With these photographic maps of the coast- 
 lines before him, a naval officer may be said 
 to look directly down upon the enemy. Lit- 
 tle is left to chance. From these pictures 
 the exact position of the weak points in the 
 enemy's lines are ascertained, and the pilots 
 of bombing machines may be told just what 
 he is to do. 
 
 Aero photographers not only precede the 
 raids, but they must follow them as well, to 
 bring back definite photographic evidence of 
 the damage inflicted. As a matter of course, 
 the enemy knows that the aero photogra- 
 phers are coming, and is on the lookout for 
 them; but even this danger must be faced, 
 so important is the evidence collected. 
 
 While working under (or is it over?) fire, 
 202 
 
AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 the aero camera-man must have steady 
 nerves and an unshaken hand. Every one 
 knows how dehcate a matter it is to judge 
 the distance and the Hght in making a good 
 picture. In photographing from the air the 
 problem becomes much more compHcated. 
 The passage of clouds and the effect of at- 
 mospheric conditions at high altitudes must 
 be considered. With the enemy sending up 
 a deadly barrage, or perhaps an enemy fleet 
 attempting to drive him away, these camera- 
 men of the air forces never falter. 
 
 Everything is done to simplify the work 
 and save a few seconds of priceless time. 
 The cameras are sometimes placed in the 
 floor of the car, or fastened to the outer 
 side, and arranged with ingenious automatic 
 devices for making the exposures. The pic- 
 tures may be taken by pressing a button or 
 pulling a strap. Moving pictures are also 
 taken aloft, and thousands of exposures 
 made, as the aeroplane dodges the enemy's 
 fire. 
 
 The remarkable photographs that appear 
 in such numbers in the papers and magazines 
 gain a new interest when we consider how 
 203 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 high a price is paid to secure them. The 
 aero camera-man must exercise all his skill 
 and ingenuity, knowing that any exposure 
 may be his last and an unlucky shot may 
 send him plunging down. The courage 
 that enables our men to face such dangers 
 is so common that the authorities have not 
 seen fit to give it special mention. 
 
 204 
 
XXXIV 
 A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 
 
 AT the beginning of the war the aero- 
 plane was little more than a toy. Its 
 most enthusiastic friends did not anticipate 
 its amazing development. The first encoun- 
 ters between aircraft were watched with 
 curiosity, but the military advantage of the 
 air fleets was considered problematical. 
 Under the most favorable conditions it was 
 found difficult to keep an aeroplane aloft for 
 any length of time; they carried little weight, 
 and air navigation was difficult. When two 
 aeroplanes met in combat, they manoeuvered 
 much the same as knights in a medieval 
 tournament. Flying at comparatively low 
 altitudes, they would pass each other, firing 
 a few shots from guns of small caliber, and 
 then turn and repeat the attack. 
 
 Two American officers — Lieutenant J. A. 
 Eaton and K. B. Keyes — recently took part 
 in an air battle that lasted for more than 
 205 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 seven hours. The engagement took place 
 above the sea, far out of sight of land. In 
 case of accident the airmen faced the danger 
 of drowning. A series of complicated ma- 
 noeuvers were carried on aloft, while the bat- 
 tle was fought by formidable air batteries. 
 
 The description of the air battle written 
 by Lieutenant Keyes is fascinating. Keyes 
 was gun-layer in an aeroplane, one of a fleet 
 of five aircraft flying off the coast of Hol- 
 land near Terschelling, when a fleet of Ger- 
 man machines was sighted. 
 
 ''Lieutenant G was seated near the 
 
 wheel," Keyes writes. "His duty was to 
 kneel, with his eyes above the cowl, and di- 
 rect the pilot. I was in the front cockpit, 
 with one gun and four hundred rounds of 
 ammrmition. In the stern cockpit the en- 
 gineer and wireless ratings were to handle 
 three guns. 
 
 "We took battle formation, and went for- 
 ward to meet the enemy machines ; but when 
 almost within range they turned and ran 
 away from us." 
 
 Later another fleet of German planes was 
 sighted and again driven off. These fleets 
 206 
 
A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 
 
 were probably acting as decoys, for shortly 
 afterward the Germans appeared in consid- 
 erable force. Lieutenant Keyes describes 
 the main action as follows: 
 
 "Suddenly we discovered that a large num- 
 ber of hostile planes were steering toward 
 us, not high in the air, but very close to the 
 water. Ten machines were in this group, 
 but they were joined in a few minutes by 
 five more. The scouts were painted black 
 and the two seaters green, and seemed very 
 hard to pick up. 
 
 *'We swung into battle formation and 
 aimed for the middle of the fleet. When 
 we were nearly within range, four planes on 
 the port side and five on the starboard side 
 were close to our level. Two planes passed 
 directly beneath us, shooting upward. The 
 firing was incessant from the beginning, and 
 the air seemed blue with tracer smoke. The 
 Germans used explosive bullets." 
 
 The wounding of Lieutenant G , which 
 
 occurred at the height of the battle, did not 
 shake the nerve of the Americans, who con- 
 tinued to fight while their comrade lay un- 
 conscious beside them. 
 207 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 ''Once I looked round," writes Lieutenant 
 
 Keyes, ''and noticed that Lieutenant G 
 
 was in a stooping position, with his head and 
 one arm on his seat, the other arm hanging 
 down as if reaching for something. I had 
 seen him in this posture earlier in the day, 
 and so thought nothing of it. All this I 
 noticed in the fraction of a second, for I had 
 to continue firing. 
 
 "A few minutes later I turned around 
 once more, and found with a shock that 
 
 Lieutenant G was in the same position. 
 
 It was then that the first inkling of the truth 
 dawned on me. By bending lower I dis- 
 covered his head was lying in a pool of 
 blood." 
 
 The Allied squadron put up a good run- 
 ning fight, despite their losses. The reports 
 of the various pilots shows that the discipline 
 was excellent throughout. The aeroplanes 
 kept in battle formation and carried out sev- 
 eral difficult air manoeuvers. Lieutenant 
 Keyes' description of the later phases of the 
 battle makes stirring reading: 
 
 "Suddenly I found our machine had been 
 208 
 
A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 
 
 cut off from the formation and we were sur- 
 rounded by seven enemy seaplanes. We 
 fought for ten miles or so, until we drove 
 seven Germans off. One of them was driven 
 down out of control and made a very poor 
 landing. Another was badly hit, side- 
 slipped, and crashed in flames from a height 
 of two thousand feet. All were severely 
 punished." 
 
 The engines of Lieutenant Keyes' machine 
 now began to act badly. From the matter- 
 of-fact description it is difficult to realize that 
 the scene was taking place high above the 
 sea. 
 
 "The engineer came forward," writes the 
 Lieutenant, "to say that the port engine pe- 
 trol pipe had broken. By this time I had laid 
 
 out Lieutenant G in the wireless cockpit, 
 
 cleaned up the second pilot's seat, and taken 
 it myself. 
 
 "We descended to the water at 4 145 p. m., 
 ten miles northwest of Vlieland. There I 
 
 loosened Lieutenant G 's clothing, made 
 
 his position easier, and felt for his heart, 
 
 which I was sure was beating feebly. Then 
 
 209 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 we rose and sighted two of our own planes. 
 We picked them up, swung into formation, 
 and laid our course for Z. 
 
 ''At 7 : 10 we sighted land, and twenty min- 
 utes after we were resting in front of the 
 slipway. We at once summoned medical 
 aid, but found that nothing could be done 
 
 for Lieutenant G . The shot had gone 
 
 through his head, striking his mouth and 
 coming out behind one ear, tearing a two- 
 inch gash. Our boat was riddled with a 
 number of shots, and had also a torn top be- 
 tween the front cockpit and the beginning of 
 the cowl. The duration of the fight was 
 seven hours and ten minutes." 
 
 2IO 
 
PART IV 
 IN HOME WATERS 
 
XXXV 
 IN PEACE TIMES 
 
 PEACE has its heroes no less than war. 
 In the daily routine life of the fleet 
 there is no lack of opportunity for distin- 
 guished service. The fleets comprise a 
 widely scattered population equal to that of a 
 considerable city. An immense amount of 
 labor must be done on an exacting schedule. 
 This population, again, is constantly threat- 
 ened by the manifold dangers of life at sea, 
 ^yhile each of the floating fortresses carries 
 immense stores of explosives. The average 
 man who watches a great fleet sweep out to 
 sea little realizes the sleepless vigilance that 
 guards its safety. 
 
 From the hour a ship is laid down in some 
 navy-yard until, years later, she is con- 
 demned and broken up, every hour of her life 
 is fraught with danger. A man-of-war laid 
 up for repairs at the New York Navy- Yard 
 213 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 would seem to be safe from the perils of the 
 sea. No submarine could penetrate here 
 while her gangway leads directly to solid 
 earth. Yet, during the repairing of a ship 
 in this dry-dock recently, an ugly fire broke 
 out in the lower part of the ship's hold. It 
 was a simple matter to flood the burning 
 area, and the fire-fighters of the crew were 
 at their stations, when a report came that a 
 workman was missing somewhere below. 
 Following the alarm there had been ample 
 time for all to reach the deck; but, as it was 
 discovered later, a boy assisting the workmen 
 in the ship's tank had become unconscious 
 from the smoke and heat and was left be- 
 hind. 
 
 A hurried consultation was held on deck, 
 and it was decided that the boy must lie at the 
 bottom of a shaft some thirty feet below the 
 main-deck. It was impossible to reach the 
 point by the ship's ladder or by stairways, 
 which were cut off by the flames. A volun- 
 teer was called for, and a seaman was se- 
 lected from the several sailors who stepped 
 forward. A line was placed around his 
 body, and, armed with a small lantern, he 
 214 
 
IN PEACE TIMES 
 
 was lowered cautiously into the darkness. 
 
 As he descended the heat became intense 
 and the smoke was suffocating. A signal 
 would have brought him to the safe level of 
 the deck in a few seconds; but the sailor 
 made the descent, and then, lantern in hand, 
 began to search for the missing workman. 
 To the men holding the rope on deck the time 
 seemed interminable. Several minutes 
 passed without any sign from below. The 
 men were on the point of pulling up, fearing 
 their man was unconscious, when the wel- 
 come signal came. The increased weight on 
 the rope told its own story. When the sailor 
 appeared above deck, he was clasping the 
 unconscious body of the missing boy. A lit- 
 tle adventure of this kind is considered all 
 in the day's work. 
 
 A somewhat similar accident occurred 
 aboard the U. S. S. Buck at one of the navy- 
 yards. Two employees of the navy-yard had 
 entered the coffer-dam of the Buck without 
 permission, and were overcome by poisonous 
 gases in the hold of the vessel. Every one 
 realized the danger of entering the hold and 
 breathing the dangerous fumes, but volun- 
 215 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 teers to save the men were not lacking. A 
 quartermaster, Felix Laskowsky, was se- 
 lected from among those who volunteered. 
 Attaching a long line about his body, he de- 
 scended into the hold safely, found one of 
 the unconscious men, and was struggling up 
 the ladder with his burden when he was him- 
 self overcome. He fell from the ladder, 
 fracturing his skull, and died almost imme- 
 diately. The young quartermaster had en- 
 listed at Dallas, Texas, less than a year 
 before. 
 
 The term sea-cook should no longer be a 
 term of reproach. No special heroism is 
 called for in the ship's galley under ordinary 
 circumstances. Every man aboard ship 
 nevertheless, when the test comes, may be 
 depended upon. The adventure of William 
 B. Gray of the Naval Reserve, while serving 
 as ship's cook, should serve to remove that 
 ancient stigma which attaches to the sea cook 
 and his progeny. 
 
 Gray's ship chanced to be stationed in 
 
 North Carolina Sounds one January when 
 
 an unusually severe cold wave covered the 
 
 Sounds with thick ice, which remained un- 
 
 216 
 
IN PEACE TIMES 
 
 broken for three weeks. The condition was 
 very unusual in that locality. A lighthouse 
 within sight of the ship, with its inmates sta- 
 tioned at a particularly inaccessible point, 
 was completely isolated and cut off from sup- 
 plies. Word reached the ship that the light- 
 house-keeper and his family were suffering. 
 
 The ice covering the Sounds was much too 
 thick to break a channel for a boat, while too 
 thin in places to allow a man to cross in 
 safety. The Sounds were, besides, swept by 
 strong* and irregular currents, and should a 
 man break through he would probably be 
 swept under the ice. Gray conceived the 
 idea of attaching runners to a ship's boat, 
 and when this remarkable boat-sled was 
 ready it was loaded with supplies for the 
 marooned lighthouse-keeper. Gray made 
 the trip alone. 
 
 The heavier portions of the ice were 
 crossed by pushing the boat cautiously for- 
 ward. There were many weak spots, and 
 Gray had to keep tight hold of his boat to 
 guard against accident. Several times he 
 broke through the ice, but saved himself by 
 holding to the side of the boat and climbing 
 217 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 aboard. When the ice proved too thin to 
 support the sled, the boat was pushed labori- 
 ously forward. Standing at the prow, Gray 
 would break the ice before him with an oar 
 and then push his boat into the opening. It 
 was slow work. 
 
 After many hours Gray reached the light- 
 house and the supplies were transferred. 
 Throughout the trip the cold was intense, 
 and after each wetting the water froze sol- 
 idly the cook's clothes. Considerable skill 
 was required in handling the boat to negoti- 
 ate these icy passages. Gray was new to the 
 service, having enlisted but a few months be- 
 fore. He is a native of Newbern, North 
 Carolina, and doubtless drew encouragement 
 from the fact that his act of heroism was to 
 bring relief to people of his own State. 
 
 218 
 
XXXVI 
 ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT 
 
 IN commending the bravery of Ora Graves, 
 a seaman of the U.S.S. Pittsburgh, the 
 Government showed that it keeps an alert 
 eye upon every activity of its great fleets. 
 On this date, December 23, 1917, great 
 issues were at stake in European waters, 
 and an act of heroism at home might easily 
 have passed unnoticed. 
 
 The Graves affair is specially interesting 
 because it came unexpectedly in the course of 
 ordinary daily drill. In a great naval battle, 
 or while navigating dangerous waters, the 
 crew might naturally be keyed up to the occa- 
 sion and in a mood for special acts of hero- 
 ism. The firing of a salute in American 
 waters was as commonplace as the scrubbing 
 of a deck. Discipline might be expected to 
 relax at such times below the fighting pitch. 
 Like scores of other duties aboard ship, it is 
 219 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 all in the day's work, when the men might be 
 caught off their guard. 
 
 The drill has been made familiar by many 
 pictures, including moving pictures. The 
 gun crew take their stations on the open 
 deck, for no return fire is to be expected. 
 The cartridge is brought up by an electric 
 hoist. The men have come to look upon 
 such drill with the contempt of its dangers 
 bred of long familiarity. A mere three-inch 
 shell seems as harmless to them as a fire- 
 cracker. The smooth mechanism of the gun 
 is set in motion. The gun is opened and a 
 cartridge slid swiftly into place and the 
 breech closed. Accustomed to the roar of 
 fourteen-inch guns the report of the salute 
 charge scarcely attracts the crew's attention. 
 
 At the firing of such a salute charge from 
 a three-inch gun, one day aboard the U.S.S. 
 Pittsburgh, an ugly explosion occurred. 
 Two men were instantly killed and several 
 others, including Graves, seriously injured. 
 The crew were taken entirely by surprise. 
 
 The seaman Graves had been struck sense- 
 less and hurled some distance along the deck. 
 The alarm of the explosion spread instantly, 
 220 
 
ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT 
 
 and in a moment men were rushing to the 
 gun to lend assistance. Graves lay for a 
 few seconds unconscious some feet from the 
 gun, and in the excitement of the moment 
 was overlooked. 
 
 He recovered consciousness, pulled him- 
 self to a sitting position, and looked about 
 hazily. His eyes rested on some burning 
 waste that had been ignited by the explosion 
 and hurled some distance from the gun. It 
 had fallen near a casement containing a large 
 supply of explosives. No one else had no- 
 ticed the fire or realized the danger to the 
 ship. There was not an instant to spare. 
 
 Weak as he was from the explosion, 
 Graves staggered to his feet. He might 
 have called for help, but he realized that he 
 could reach the burning waste before any 
 one else, and the safety of the ship might be 
 decided by a second's time. His injuries 
 pained him cruelly, and once he staggered 
 and nearly fell ; but he had reached the burn- 
 ing waste before any one else realized the 
 ship's danger. 
 
 The fire had already spread near the pow- 
 der when Graves, gathering up the cotton in 
 
 221 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 his arms, and working with desperate haste, 
 began to throw it overboard. There were 
 several armloads of the waste, but Graves 
 stuck doggedly at his work until the last of 
 it was in the sea. Not until the danger was 
 over did he realize that he was seriously 
 burned about the face, neck and hands. A 
 few seconds' delay would have brought the 
 flames to the powder and the entire ship 
 would have been wrecked and probably lost. 
 The inspiration of the incident lies in the 
 readiness of the seaman to think and act the 
 moment he regained consciousness. Few 
 people, on awaking even from a normal sleep, 
 instantly regain all their faculties. After 
 such a shock the strongest man might be 
 expected to look somewhat hazily about him. 
 Graves was able to see and act with instant 
 decision. The medal awarded to Graves 
 was the second to be awarded since our 
 entrance into the war. 
 
 222 
 
XXXVII 
 THE FIRE-FIGHTERS 
 
 AMERICAN seamen are found ex- 
 tremely versatile in attacking problems 
 that demand quick decision. Scattered as 
 they are throughout the country, a great va- 
 riety of demands are continually made upon 
 them, quite apart from their duties with the 
 fleet. The constantly mounting debt that 
 the public owes the men of the Navy for 
 such assistance is not generally appreciated. 
 
 When the business district of Norfolk, 
 Virginia, was threatened by fire, every one, 
 as a matter of course, turned to the sailors 
 for assistance. The case is typical. The 
 discipline of the Navy is one of the most 
 highly prized assets of the country. The ar- 
 rival of sailors at the scene of any catas- 
 trophe instantly inspires confidence. 
 
 The fire at Norfolk, it will be remembered, 
 223 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 threatened the entire city. Every available 
 piece of fighting apparatus had been called, 
 but the fire continued to spread. The fire 
 departments of near-by towns were called 
 upon. Scores of fire-engines were hastily 
 loaded on flat-cars and rushed to the city. 
 
 The arrival of a large force of enlisted 
 men from the Norfolk Navy Yard finally 
 turned the tide of battle and the city was 
 saved. Hurried to the scene, some of the 
 men were detailed to patrol the city, to han- 
 dle the crowd and protect property, while 
 others took a hand in the fight. The men 
 gave an excellent account of themselves. At 
 such a time the discipline and team work 
 that is the result of years of training comes 
 out strongly in contrast with the well mean- 
 ing but undisciplined efi^orts of a crowd of 
 volunteers. 
 
 No time was lost in discussion. At a com- 
 mand, the men advanced double quick to 
 their designated stations. The terror of the 
 advancing flames and the darkened streets 
 spread terror to the people. The sailors 
 were at home amid such confusion. Trained 
 to stand at their guns under shell fire and 
 224 
 
THE FIRE-FIGHTERS 
 
 coolly to execute complicated orders, they 
 remained as self-possessed as if on parade. 
 
 Before the arrival of the sailors there had 
 been great difficulty in keeping the crowds 
 within bounds. At several points they had 
 ''rushed" the ropes, filling the streets where 
 the firemen were at work. But the sight of 
 these well set up, disciplined men inspired 
 confidence. Thereafter the streets were 
 kept clear. The guard proved especially 
 valuable in transmitting orders throughout 
 the burning area, and in organizing and 
 keeping the different fire-fighting units in 
 touch with one another. 
 
 On the fighting line, face to face with the 
 fire, the sailors proved invaluable. Without 
 relief many of them worked continuously 
 throughout the night. The weather was ex- 
 tremely cold, and many of the men were 
 repeatedly drenched to the skin with the icy 
 waters; but they continued at their posts, 
 refusing to be relieved as long as the danger 
 continued. 
 
 There were many narrow escapes, and 
 when the men reported later the officers were 
 gratified to find that none were missing. At 
 225 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 one point, in carrying a line of hose to the 
 top of a building to gain a better position, 
 the sailors were repeatedly warned by the 
 local firemen. They held their posts, how- 
 ever, until their own officer ordered them to 
 retreat. A few minutes afterward the walls 
 of the building fell in. 
 
 An especially narrow escape was made by 
 John Joseph McLoughlin, a chief boats- 
 wain's mate, and two sailors who succeeded 
 in carrying a line of hose through the flames 
 to a valuable strategic point of attack. Like 
 the many others, they continued to work 
 throughout the night, although wet with 
 water that froze their clothing. Many of 
 the men remained continuously on duty in 
 the cold for more than two days. 
 
 226 
 
XXXVIII 
 THOSE IN PERIL 
 
 IN the Navy the rescue of drowning men is 
 almost a daily occurrence. To fail in 
 courage when such a call comes would be a 
 disgrace. A complete report of such rescues 
 would become monotonous from its repeti- 
 tion of feats that, taken separately, would 
 seem inspiring. Let the familiar cry, "Man 
 overboard !" be heard at any hour of the day 
 or night, winter or summer, in calm or storm, 
 and there will be no lack of volunteers. The 
 waters may be infested with sharks, or 
 strewn with dangerous rocks : there is never 
 a moment's hesitation. Once this trifling 
 service has been performed, the sailor goes 
 about his work and thinks nothing of the 
 exercise. 
 
 It is only when such a rescue takes some 
 novel form that the public is likely to hear 
 of it. Even amid the endless repetition of 
 
 22^ 
 
THOSE IN PERIL 
 
 rescues, the case of Lieutenant Richard L. 
 Connoly stands out prominently. At the 
 time a full northeast gale swept the Atlantic, 
 swinging his ship almost on its beam ends, 
 when some object became involved with the 
 steering-gear. A quartermaster, in trying 
 to clear the wheel, lost his balance on a sud- 
 den roll of the ship, and was swept over- 
 board. The sea was running wild, and, al- 
 though a good swimmer, the quartermaster 
 was soon exhausted. 
 
 When it was seen that he could not help 
 himself, a ship's cook fastened a rope about 
 his waist and jumped in the water after him. 
 He reached the quartermaster, and suc- 
 ceeded with great difficulty in bringing him 
 to the side of the ship. The sea, meanwhile, 
 had worn out the cook, and both men were 
 too weak to make use of the rope thrown to 
 them. It was then that Lieutenant Connoly 
 hit upon a novel plan of reaching the men. 
 Swinging himself far out over the water, he 
 fastened his feet in the ship's rail, and, with 
 his head down, fished (so to speak) for the 
 two men in the water. He could reach them 
 only when the ship rolled far over. Several 
 228 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 times the ship rolled toward them, but not 
 far enough. The Lieutenant meanwhile, 
 hanging head down, was raised violently up 
 and down. After repeated attempts, he 
 reached the men in the water, who grasped 
 his outstretched hands. With a man cling- 
 ing to each arm, he was drawn back to the 
 level of the deck, saving both men at the 
 same time. 
 
 An ingenious variation on this method was 
 tried with success by a seaman on the U.S.S. 
 Naradalogs. The ship was lying at anchor 
 in an Atlantic port, when a seaman, while 
 passing a line outside the main-rigging, tum- 
 bled overboard. Like Lieutenant Connoly, 
 the seaman saved his man without so much 
 as wetting his shirt-sleeves. Climbing down 
 on the ship's chain to within a few feet of 
 the water, he took a firm hold of the chain 
 and swung himself down until his legs were 
 on a level with the seaman's shoulders. 
 
 The seaman was weak from his fall and 
 exposure, but his rescuer twined his feet and 
 legs about him and held him above the water. 
 A boat was hastily lowered and the seaman 
 was lifted into the boat. An interesting f ea- 
 229 
 
THOSE IN PERIL 
 
 ture of the rescue was the fact that the agile 
 seaman had only been in service since 191 7. 
 
 The proverbial readiness of the United 
 States Marines was evidenced in a sensa- 
 tional life-saving exploit in Guantanamo 
 Bay, Cuba. A private of marines was float- 
 ing on a log well out in the Caribbean Sea, 
 when he was attacked by a shark. In de- 
 fending himself he fell off the log, and, to 
 add to the danger of the situation, was sud- 
 denly taken with cramps. He managed to 
 keep afloat, rubbing his leg vigorously to re- 
 store circulation, and splashing the water to 
 scare away the shark, which might still be in 
 his neighborhood. 
 
 A squall meanwhile came up quickly, as 
 they are likely to do in this region, and the 
 marine found himself drifting out to sea. 
 He was observed from shore, and a recruit- 
 ing party was at once despatched to his as- 
 sistance; but the rising sea prevented them 
 from getting near him. Meanwhile Private 
 Leonard B. Dean, of the Marine Corps 
 Branch of the National Naval Volunteers, 
 watched the man drifting out to sea, and 
 made his own plans to rescue him. It is one 
 230 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 thing to jump into the sea in the excitement 
 of the moment and bring in a man: it re- 
 quires a different kind of courage to work 
 out such a rescue by the laws of navigation, 
 and to carry it out by three hours of swim- 
 ming in a high sea. 
 
 Dean watched the movement of the cur- 
 rent and the direction of the storm, and, lay- 
 ing a course accordingly, overtook the man 
 on the log well out to sea, but in a favorable 
 current. After three hours of swimming he 
 brought his man safely to shore. He did 
 not encounter the shark. After reaching 
 land, Dean remarked quietly: "I thought 
 the fellow would take the course he did, and 
 planned it beforehand." 
 
 A high sea tests the courage of the most 
 hardened salt, and when to the storm is 
 added the menace of sharks the combination 
 is terrifying. Secretary Daniels has given 
 special recognition to Wallace Odell Prater, 
 a machinist mate of the second class, for 
 facing both dangers in making a rescue. 
 
 A seaman had fallen overboard and been 
 attacked by a shark, which had bitten off his 
 leg. Four other sharks were in plain view, 
 231 
 
THOSE IN PERIL 
 
 circling about the injured man with fierce 
 darting movements. Prater, although rec- 
 ognizing the danger, jumped into the water 
 without the slightest hesitation, swam to the 
 injured man, and, supporting him, turned to 
 the ship. The fins of several sharks were 
 seen in the water within a few feet of the 
 two men, but they returned in safety. Pra- 
 ter is a Kansas boy who had served only a 
 few months in the Navy before making his 
 rescue. 
 
 Every section of the country seems to have 
 contributed men to the long list of those re- 
 warded for saving life. It is inspiring to 
 realize that the Navy can draw upon so wide 
 an area for the material from which heroes 
 are made. A lad raised in the northern part 
 of Alaska recently won official distinction for 
 such service. He was serving in the Naval 
 Reserve, second class at sea, when a ship's 
 storekeeper lost his footing and fell over- 
 board. In falling he struck the rail of a 
 lower deck, and was senseless when he 
 reached the water. The body instantly dis- 
 appeared between the boat and the dock. 
 The position was extremely awkward, for 
 232 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 the body was quickly drawn beneath the 
 dock. 
 
 The Alaskan, without any suggestion 
 from his officers, instantly jumped in at the 
 point where the body had disappeared. The 
 body of an unconscious man is very difficult 
 to handle even in open water, and in this 
 cramped position great physical strength as 
 well as skill was required. The storekeeper 
 was brought safely aboard. The ship's of- 
 ficers watched the rescue from the deck al- 
 most directly above. Upon their enthusias- 
 tic report of the Alaskan's daring, the Sec- 
 retary of the Navy ordered official recogni- 
 tion of the act. 
 
 The presence of a naval vessel of any kind 
 is an assurance that the waters of the neigh- 
 borhood will be efficiently patrolled against 
 accident. Another remarkable rescue was 
 made from a patrol boat in Long Island 
 Sound. A young New York lad, who had 
 entered the service only a few weeks before, 
 was standing on deck when he saw a boat 
 carrying a pleasure party swept against a 
 wharf and its party thrown into the water. 
 
 Although the tide was unusually strong, 
 233 
 
THOSE IN PERIL 
 
 the sailor was after them in a moment. 
 Swimming to the upturned boat, he reached 
 a man, and, keeping him afloat, swam about 
 until he found one of the women of the 
 party. He succeeded in keeping both afloat 
 until assistance arrived. This lad had had 
 no experience of the water before enlisting. 
 
 A medal has been awarded by Secretary 
 Daniels for the conspicuous bravery of a 
 seaman in saving the life of a man who, in 
 turn, was saving a third seaman. A launch 
 carrying two men belonging to the Aeronau- 
 tical Station at Pensacola was cruising well 
 out to sea when its gasolene tank suddenly 
 caught fire. The fire spread so quickly that 
 the boat was soon a mass of flames, and the 
 men, after fighting it until they were both 
 badly burned, were forced to jump over- 
 board. One of the men, an apprentice 
 named Gash, was unable to support himself 
 in the water, and his companion, a seaman 
 named George Buckley, immediately went to 
 his assistance. 
 
 Both men were afloat when a Commo- 
 dore's barge arrived on the scene. A life- 
 preserver was thrown to them, but unfortu- 
 234 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 nately it struck Buckley in the face, causing 
 him to lose his hold on Gash, who disap- 
 peared. The coxswain of the launch, John 
 R. Hay, instantly went in, and brought 
 Buckley to the boat's side in safety, then 
 turned to find Gash. He was nowhere to be 
 seen. Hay swam about until he had made 
 sure of this, and then repeatedly dived to the 
 bottom of the bay, finally succeeding in bring- 
 ing the body of Gash to the surface. 
 
 Through the efforts of several fearless 
 American seamen, the entire ship's company 
 of the Paddleford was saved, when all hope 
 of rescue seemed at an end. The Paddle- 
 ford had gone ashore in a heavy surf at an 
 unnamed point. It was thought that no 
 boat could live in the sea thus running. The 
 distress signals were answered by an Ameri- 
 can gunboat, whose crew readily volunteered 
 to make the attempt. Lieutenant D. E. 
 Barbey and Chief Boatswain Mates Strick- 
 land and Williams finally succeeded in carry- 
 ing a line through the breakers to the Paddle- 
 ford. A heavy line was pulled aboard, 
 which made it possible to take off two-thirds 
 of the Paddleford's crew in safety. Later 
 235 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Ensign Ethridge and seven men from the 
 gunboat succeeded in taking a boat through 
 the breakers and by skilful seamanship com- 
 ing alongside the wreck. In several trips 
 every one remaining aboard the Paddleford 
 was brought safely ashore. 
 
 236 
 
XXXIX 
 
 THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 
 
 NxWAL discipline is maintained on the 
 theory that the most desperate situa- 
 tion may develop without warning at any 
 moment. There may be but one chance in 
 millions that a bolt will descend from a per- 
 fectly clear sky, but the men are never 
 caught off their guard. An excellent illus- 
 tration of this rule is afforded in the attack 
 on the United States cruiser San Diego, sunk 
 off Fire Island, July i8, 1918. No German 
 craft were supposed to be on this side of the 
 Atlantic, and the position of the cruiser, al- 
 most at the entrance to New York harbor, 
 with its manifold defenses, seeemed reason- 
 ably safe from attack. 
 
 Despite the suddenness of the attack, the 
 entire crew, men of every rank, faced the 
 danger with perfect self-possession. Cap- 
 tain H. H. Christy, of the San Diego, not 
 237 
 
THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 
 
 knowing how imminent was the danger of 
 sinking, descended from deck to deck to the 
 most inaccessible part of the hold. As the 
 water poured into the lower part of the ship, 
 the officers and men of the engine-rooms 
 stood quietly at their posts. When the 
 water had risen so high that the gun crew 
 stood submerged to their waists, the men 
 stubbornly stood to their guns in the hope 
 of getting a shot at the enemy. 
 
 Later, when the vessel sank, turning over 
 as she went under, the crew showed no un- 
 due haste in making their last leap into the 
 water, while many clung to the ship, hoping 
 against hope that she might right herself. 
 Rear-Admiral Palmer, in his official report, 
 makes the scene very real. 
 
 "The explosion took place," he writes, 
 "on the port side just aft of the forward 
 port engine-room bulkhead. The feed-tank 
 and circulating pump were blown in and the 
 port engine was wrecked. Full speed ahead 
 was rung, and the starboard engine operated 
 until it was stopped by water rising in 
 the engine-room. Machinist's Mate Haw- 
 thorne, who was at the throttle in the port 
 238 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 engine-room, was blown four feet under the 
 engine-room deck. He got up, closed the 
 throttle on the engine, which had already 
 stopped, and then escaped up the engine- 
 room ladder. 
 
 ''Lieutenant Miller, on watch in the star- 
 board engine-room, closed the water-tight 
 door to the engine-room, and gave the neces- 
 sary instructions to the fire-room to protect 
 the boilers. 
 
 ''The ship listed to port heavily, so that 
 water entered the gun ports on the gun-deck. 
 The vessel listed eight degrees quickly ; then 
 hung for seven minutes; then gradually 
 listed, the speed increasing until thirty-five 
 degrees was reached. At this time the port 
 quarter-deck was under three feet of water. 
 The ship then rapidly turned turtle and sank. 
 Captain Christy went from the bridge down 
 two ladders to the boat-deck, slid down a line 
 to the armor-belt, then dropped down four 
 feet to the bilge keel, and thence to the dock- 
 ing keel, which at that time was eight feet 
 above water. From there he jumped into 
 the water. The ship was about five minutes 
 239 
 
THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 
 
 in turning over after she reached thirty-five 
 degrees heel." 
 
 The first intimation of the attack was 
 a dull explosion. The impact completely 
 wrecked the wireless apparatus, so that it 
 was impossible to send out a call for help. 
 Although taken completely by surprise, the 
 necessary orders were given and executed 
 without the least panic. The Admiral's of- 
 fiicial report continues: 
 
 "Captain Christy immediately sounded 
 submarine defense quarters and the general 
 alarm. Everything went quietly and ac- 
 cording to drill schedule. The Captain rang 
 full speed ahead, and sent an officer to in- 
 vestigate the damage. At the time he 
 thought the ship would not sink. Two mo- 
 tor-sailers were ordered rigged out, but not 
 to be lowered until further orders. 
 
 "At the submarine defense call the men 
 went quietly to their stations and manned 
 the guns. They stood by the port guns un- 
 til they were awash, and by the starboard 
 guns until the list of the ship pointed them 
 up into the air. 
 
 240 
 
.lit 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 "When it seemed obvious that the vessel 
 would capsize, the order was given to aban- 
 don ship, except the port-side gun crew, 
 which were to remain at their stations as 
 long as the guns would bear. Boats were 
 ordered lowered, and two sailboats, one 
 dinghy, one wherry, and two punts were 
 launched. The life-rafts were launched, 
 and the lumber piled on deck was loosed and 
 set adrift. Fifty mess-tables and a hundred 
 kapok mattresses were thrown overboard. 
 Abandon ship was complete before the vessel 
 began to capsize. 
 
 'Terfect order was preserved, the men 
 cheering. When on the rafts they sang 
 'The Star Spangled Banner' and 'My Coun- 
 try, 'T is of Thee," cheered for the Captain, 
 the executive officers, and the ship, and 
 cheered when the United States ensign was 
 hoisted on the sailboat.'* 
 
 243 
 
XL 
 
 THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 T N modern warfare, an enemy finds many 
 opportunities to conceal his operations. 
 The possibilites of clandestine wireless 
 communication, for instance, are amazing. 
 Only the constant vigilance of Government 
 experts, and their ingenuity in outwitting 
 the enemy, serves to keep the situation in 
 hand. 
 
 In a war the frontiers must, of course, 
 be carefully guarded, and an elaborate watch 
 maintained over spies within. Wireless 
 electricity has greatly complicated the 
 situation. From some hidden base, per- 
 haps hundreds of miles inside the borders, 
 instant communication is possible with sta- 
 tions in other countries or even overseas. 
 Until the invention of such communication 
 the United States enjoyed the advantages of 
 an isolated position. 
 
 244 
 
THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 Long before America entered the war the 
 regulation of wireless messages had become 
 a serious problem. To maintain its neutral- 
 ity, the Government was obliged to set a 
 vigilant watch upon all wireless stations, 
 whether upon the land or afloat. Many 
 problems new to international law were en- 
 countered. It was permitted, for instance, 
 to send messages even in cipher over an un- 
 dersea cable, while a rigid censor forbade 
 the same practice by the long-distance over- 
 sea wireless stations. The wireless message 
 could, of course, be picked up and read by 
 ships for thousands of miles in all directions. 
 A sea raider — and there were several such 
 at large — could thus receive orders from its 
 base concerning the position of enemy ships. 
 With every desire to be neutral, America 
 thus became the base from which war op- 
 erations were directed. 
 
 Thus an interesting problem arose as to 
 whether the intangible wireless waves were 
 not contraband of war, and therefore to be 
 controlled by the laws governing such prop- 
 erty. Early in the war, therefore, Govern- 
 ment experts were placed in the high- 
 245 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 powered long-distance wireless stations on 
 the Atlantic seaboard, and these experts 
 rigidly censored every message thrown out 
 across the seas. It will be recalled that the 
 cables running directly to Germany were cut 
 early in the war, thus isolating Germany 
 from America, except for the wireless links. 
 
 The utmost ingenuity of Government ex- 
 perts must be kept constantly on the alert to 
 foil the efforts of the German wireless men. 
 At scores of wireless stations throughout the 
 country experts 'listened in," day and night, 
 to detect these clandestine messages. It 
 was possible to transmit to ships at sea from 
 any point on the coast, or from miles inland, 
 messages that might have disastrous re- 
 sults. When a suspicious message was 
 picked up, it was located as accurately as pos- 
 sible, and agents were at once sent out to 
 scour the country to find the station from 
 which it was sent. 
 
 It soon became necessary to regulate the 
 thousands of amateur wireless stations scat- 
 tered broadcast throughout the country. No 
 other country is so well equipped as America 
 with such stations. There are more than a 
 246 
 
THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 hundred thousand amateurs in the United 
 States operating wireless stations of some 
 sort. The greater part of these are, of 
 course, merely receiving sets that do no 
 harm; but there are many thousands capa- 
 ble of sending messages for considerable 
 distances. It became necessary, therefore, 
 either to close the amateur sending stations 
 or to forbid their operation except under 
 rigid Government censorship. 
 
 The most arduous work of the wireless 
 censors, however, is found in watching the 
 floating wireless stations. Every ship in- 
 side an invisible boundary line three miles 
 off shore comes under Government jurisdic- 
 tion. When a vessel equipped with wireless 
 comes into an American port, therefore, it 
 comes under Government control. If there 
 be any suspicion of its being used for pur- 
 poses of the enemy, the apparatus is disman- 
 tled. 
 
 One of the most interesting cases of such 
 censorship was aboard the captured German 
 steamer Appam. Like other ships under 
 suspicion, the Appam was carefully exam- 
 ined. Her regular wireless apparatus was 
 247 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 removed; but the investigation did not stop 
 there. It was suspected that the steamer, 
 while interned at Norfolk, Virginia, was 
 clandestinely in communication with the 
 German Government. For some time the 
 most careful watch failed to fix the suspi- 
 cion. 
 
 The problem was finally solved through 
 the ingenuity of J. A, McCarron, an electri- 
 cal engineer of the first class, serving aboard 
 the United States Coast Guard cutter Yama- 
 craw. The evidence was placed in the hands 
 of the authorities on March 13, 191 7. The 
 Captain of the Appam had been for a long 
 time regularly transmitting messages to the 
 commanders of active raiders, and possibly 
 submarines, transmitting orders from the 
 German Government. These messages also 
 contained information, often detailed, of the 
 afifairs of the United States Government, 
 which could thus be relayed to Germany. 
 
 McCarron discovered aboard the Appam 
 a complete secret wireless apparatus, con- 
 structed and installed with great ingenuity. 
 The aerial was strung aloft in such a way as 
 to be invisible to the closest scrutiny from 
 248 
 
THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 the deck of any near-by ship. As an addi- 
 tional precaution, however, the aerial was 
 lowered by the Germans before daybreak 
 every morning, and put in place after dark 
 in the evening. All the wireless transmis- 
 sion was carried on between the hours of 7 
 p. M. and 7 A. M. The apparatus was pow- 
 erful, making it possible either to receive or 
 transmit messages for great distances. The 
 German commander. Captain Berg, thus 
 continued to send and receive messages of 
 vital importance under the very guns of the 
 American fleet. 
 
 By connecting the aerial with his state- 
 room, the German captain could "listen in" 
 at any hour of the night without the incon- 
 venience of rising from his bed. From the 
 privacy of his state-room he could, so to 
 speak, ring up Berlin, although surrounded 
 by American warships. The work of the 
 naval engineers who have foiled German in- 
 genuity should be mentioned among the no- 
 table achievements in the great struggle. 
 
 The appearance of German U-boats in 
 American waters has brought a new problem 
 to the wireless men. The wireless operators 
 249 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 on American ships on this side of the Atlan- 
 tic often pick up mysterious messages, evi- 
 dently in German code. It seemed impossi- 
 ble that they should be sent out from Amer- 
 ica, and no German boat now sails the seas 
 capable of such long-distance transmission. 
 The messages, as a matter of fact, are known 
 to be sent out from Nauen, a small German 
 town near Spandau, where the most power- 
 ful of the German wireless stations is situ- 
 ated. 
 
 The Nauen station is a very elaborate one. 
 The antenna is suspended from nine great 
 towers rising to a height of 850 feet. It is 
 reported from German sources that last year 
 the German Government used the Nauen sta- 
 tion very extensively, sending out some five 
 million words. So great is the power of this 
 sending apparatus that its invisible waves 
 can be read for six thousand miles. The en- 
 tire Atlantic coast of the United States is, 
 therefore, well within range of this station. 
 
 Although these German messages are sent 
 
 out very frequently, no word of reply is ever 
 
 heard. The explanation is very simple. 
 
 The Nauen station is sending messages to its 
 
 250 
 
THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 great fleet of submarines in every sea, but 
 the undersea craft do not reply. A subma- 
 rine may be six thousand miles from Nauen, 
 but it remains in constant communication 
 with this base. The German headquarters, 
 therefore, keeps an unbroken communication 
 with the submarine fleet. 
 
 Most of the submarines of other countries 
 are equipped with wireless apparatus capa- 
 ble of operating only throughout a radius of 
 a few hundred miles. The antenna is raised 
 on masts, a few feet above the deck, that are 
 folded up and taken in when the craft sub- 
 merges. The Germans employ a highly in- 
 genious device, however, for receiving long- 
 distance messages. Two balloons are in- 
 flated and sent aloft to an altitude of about 
 two thousand feet. From these is suspended 
 the antenna, which at this height picks up the 
 long-distance waves without trouble. When 
 the message has been received, the balloons 
 are drawn down, emptied of their gas, and 
 housed for the next da3'''s use. 
 
 By "listening in" day and night, it has 
 been found that these long-distance messages 
 are sent out at regular intervals. The com- 
 253 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 mander of a submarine, of course, knows 
 when to expect orders from its base in Ger- 
 many, and is found ready waiting with his 
 aerials aloft to receive the message. Much 
 of the effectiveness of the U-boats has been 
 foiled by the alertness and ingenuity of the 
 naval wireless men. 
 
 A careful search has been made by the au- 
 thorities for enemy wireless stations along 
 the New Jersey coast and throughout a zone 
 many miles inland. It was thought that the 
 success of the German submarine in sinking 
 the Carolina and other ships off this coast 
 was probably due to assistance of this kind. 
 As a result of this search, a wireless sta- 
 tion was discovered on a farm near English- 
 town, some twenty miles inland. A tall flag- 
 pole was employed to raise an "umbrella 
 aerial" to a considerable height, from which 
 wires had been run to a sending apparatus. 
 The wireless outfit was capable of sending 
 messages for several hundred miles off shore. 
 The farm was surrounded by a pine forest, 
 which served to conceal the antenna. 
 
 The same system has been carried out in 
 detail in European waters. A chart has 
 254 
 
THE WIRELESS GUARD 
 
 been discovered aboard a captured German 
 submarine which reveals exactly how work 
 was carried on. The waters about the Brit- 
 ish Isles have been divided by the Germans 
 into a series of squares, each of which is 
 known by a number. The German system 
 makes it possible to gain valuable informa- 
 tion as to the name of boats sailing from 
 Channel ports, their destination, and details 
 of their cargoes. This information is sent 
 out from the German wireless stations 
 broadcast over the seas. The messages are, 
 of course, in cipher; but every submarine 
 commander has the key, and is thus informed 
 of the position of Allied vessels with amaz- 
 ing definiteness. The entire submarine fleet 
 can thus receive daily, or if necessary hourly, 
 bulletins. 
 
 255 
 
XLI 
 MODERN WEAPONS 
 
 THE failure of the German submarines to 
 work any material damage in American 
 waters has become so obvious that an official 
 explanation, or rather several of them, have 
 been issued by the Kaiser's government. 
 Germany has been very keenly disappointed 
 over the failure of the submarine to stop 
 American troop-ships. The confession of 
 failure given out by the Chief of the German 
 Admiralty Staff, Admiral von Holtzendorff, 
 makes very interesting reading. He says, in 
 part : 
 
 The Americans have at their disposal for de- 
 barkation the coastal region from the northern 
 point of Scotland to the French Mediterranean 
 ports, with dozens of debarkation places. Must we 
 put our boats to lurk off these harbors on the chance 
 of getting shot at by the strongly guarded convoys 
 of fast American transports? The convoys do not 
 come with the regularity and frequency of railway 
 trains at a big railway station, but irregularly, with 
 256 
 
MODERN WEAPONS 
 
 long interruptions, and often by night and in fog. 
 When one remembers all that, one realizes what 
 little prospect of success it offers to set the U-boats 
 especially at American transports. 
 
 But the Admiral's explanation fails to ex- 
 plain the immunity of the American troop- 
 ships. Their safety is maintained by out- 
 witting the Germans at every turn. The in- 
 genuity of our most experienced naval of- 
 ficers, the excellent seamanship of the entire 
 personnel engaged, and a spirit of absolute 
 fearlessness has made this possible. The 
 defense of the home waters and the long sea 
 lanes is a far more complicated matter than 
 the German Admiral's explanation would in- 
 dicate. The success of the American Navy 
 in safely transporting a great army overseas 
 will doubtless rank in history as one of the 
 great victories of the war. 
 
 A fleet under convoy is a much more com- 
 plicated formation than the landsman imag- 
 ines. It is said to have been brought to its 
 highest efficiency in the American Navy. 
 The fleet of perhaps thirty or more ships sail 
 in a V-shaped formation, regularly spaced, 
 and held under the most rigid rules to avoid 
 257 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 collision. The group is protected by destroy- 
 ers, which maintain a constant guard on all 
 sides by sailing in a series of zigzags. Sev- 
 eral hydroplanes may be carried to maintain 
 an air patrol throughout a wide radius. 
 
 Such a fleet carries a variety of weapons, 
 and men with courage and skill to use them. 
 It is not generally realized, for instance, that 
 a depth bomb carries the same elements of 
 destruction as a modern torpedo, and is far 
 more dangerous to handle. One of these 
 bombs contains from 250 to 300 pounds of 
 T.N.T., and four cubic feet of this explosive 
 produces 40,000 cubic feet of gas. Now, 
 this gas, when released, naturally follows the 
 line of least resistance, and will blow in the 
 side of the ship nearest it impartially, 
 whether it be friend or foe. The charge 
 must be dropped by a fearless and skillful 
 hand. It is especially effective when con- 
 trived to explode at a considerable depth. 
 The sailor must risk his life on the accuracy 
 of abstruse calculations. 
 
 Only by long training, again, do our men 
 become expert in managing the smoke- 
 screens that have been brought to such per- 
 258 
 
MODERN WEAPONS 
 
 fection in the present war. When a ship is 
 concealed behind a well placed smoke-screen, 
 its chance of being hit is reduced about sev- 
 enty-jEive per cent. There are two kinds of 
 smoke-screens — the fixed and the movable 
 curtains. The modern sea-fighter must be 
 an expert chemist to handle these dangerous 
 elements. The apparatus used for produc- 
 ing the smoke curtains consists of a metal 
 container and two cylinders, each holding a 
 different gas. By opening the valves the gas 
 is allowed to escape under pressure, and by 
 mixing the two chemicals the curtain is 
 quickly developed. The gas is allowed to es- 
 cape for twenty minutes, as a rule, and is 
 controlled at any time by closing the valve. 
 
 The movable gas bombs are dropped at in- 
 tervals to spread a fog-like curtain over the 
 water, and allow a ship to escape the enemy, 
 or at least dodge its fire. These bombs go 
 off in from six to eleven seconds, and in so 
 short a period of time develop a dense smoke- 
 screen. The screen may consist of a yellow, 
 white, or black cloud, as the occasion de- 
 mands, which completely engulfs the ship. 
 The smoke tends to fall, and the officer who 
 259 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 directs it must calculate the force of the wind 
 to a nicety, in order to get the greatest pos- 
 sible protection. 
 
 Entirely new to this war is the art of cam- 
 ouflage. The first idea, in this deceptive dec- 
 oration, is to render the ship as much as pos- 
 sible a part of its background of sea and sky. 
 The ship should appear as shapeless as possi- 
 ble, the familiar form of the vessel being 
 scientifically destroyed. Large masses of 
 color are employed to give an effect of shad- 
 ows at a distance, which do not, of course, 
 exist. A false bow and stern are simulated, 
 which makes it difficult to tell which way the 
 ship is headed. A great vessel may be 
 broken in two by ingenious camouflage, or 
 made to appear a hopeless derelict. One of 
 the most successful decorative schemes is to 
 give a ship the appearance of having been 
 wrecked by shell fire, so that the enemy de- 
 cides it is not worth its while to pursue so 
 disreputable a wreck. It is not important 
 that the vessel should appear to have a low 
 visibility. The proof of the success of the 
 art is shown by the fact that the insurance 
 260 
 
MODERN WEAPONS 
 
 companions accept lower rates if a ship be 
 disfigured in this way. 
 
 The vessels, again, are equipped with deli- 
 cate microphones that detect the presence of 
 a submarine at surprising distances. The 
 sound made by the propellers of a U-boat is, 
 of course, quickly muffled by the water; but 
 the delicate microphone picks up the slight- 
 est disturbance, magnifies it, and brings it to 
 the ears of the lookout. There are many 
 more highly ingenious devices aboard the 
 American boats whose secrets are carefully 
 guarded. The most fearless crew would be 
 powerless against the enemy without elab- 
 orate training and preparation. 
 
 American gunners have long enjoyed a 
 reputation for accuracy. The new subma- 
 rine warfare has raised difficulties unknown 
 to the gunners of the past. The periscope 
 of a U-boat is very elusive; it rises and dis- 
 appears so quickly that the most expert 
 marksman often finds himself completely 
 baffled. An entirely new system of training 
 must be devised to meet the new problem. 
 Despite the difficulties of the new game, 
 261 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 American gunners have made a reputation 
 for accuracy in hitting the new target. 
 
 The success of our gunners is the result of 
 careful preparation. The difficulties of the 
 new game are, of course, obvious. The gun- 
 ner sees his target only for a moment across 
 an expanse of shifting seas. No ordinary 
 gun practice would train a man to bag such 
 prey. To meet the problem, an extremely 
 ingenious range, as it may be called, has been 
 devised. A long table is painted to resemble 
 the sea, while a submarine or the periscope 
 of a submarine is carefully prepared to scale. 
 
 The gunner sights his target by looking 
 through a slit in a card at one end of the 
 board. He is allowed only a fleeting glimpse 
 as a sheet of tin is slipped back and forth be- 
 fore his eyes, much as the shutter of a lense 
 is used to take a photograph. In the frac- 
 tion of a second he is allowed to look at the 
 target, the gunner must make his calculation 
 and instantly call out the aim he would give 
 his gun. 
 
 The spot at which he has theoretically 
 aimed his gun is marked on the board by 
 placing over it a tuft of cotton to represent 
 262 
 
MODERN WEAPONS 
 
 the spout of water made by a falling shot. 
 At the next glimpse the gunner sees the cot- 
 ton marking his last efifort with the dummy 
 submarine, and corrects his aim. The toy 
 U-boat makes a very elusive target when 
 seen for only a flash, but it is by such train- 
 ing that the gun crews of the American Navy 
 are prepared for their difficult work at sea. 
 
 A hundred new problems must be faced in 
 driving the submarines from the seas. Each 
 must be carefully analyzed and a new method 
 devised for meeting it. Working with ex- 
 cellent material, the Navy has thus been able 
 to turn out in record time a highly specialized 
 personnel. 
 
 Great loss of life has been avoided by boat 
 drills. In many accidents at sea an appal- 
 ling loss of life has resulted from the clum- 
 siness of passengers and crews in taking to 
 the boats. This is now a thing of the past. 
 From the first day out, all the passengers on 
 board are required to go regularly through 
 a boat drill to prepare them for accident. 
 Each person learns the position of the life- 
 preservers, and how to put them on with the 
 least delay. When an accident befalls, 
 263 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 there is no confusion. Each one knows his 
 place in the boats, and has been trained to 
 take it without excitement or protest. It is 
 largely due to such drills that the loss of life 
 on torpedoed ships has steadily decreased 
 with the progress of the war. 
 
 Aboard the submarine-chasers the drills 
 are even more rigid. The crews of these 
 craft literally live in their life-preservers. 
 A special form of life-belt, or rather life- 
 jacket, has been designed for them. It 
 completely envelops them, while a high roll- 
 ing collar protects the neck. The men eat 
 and sleep in these jackets, so that when an 
 accident befalls no time will be lost. A sin- 
 gle shot from a great gun, or the explosion 
 of a torpedo or a depth charge, may throw 
 these men into the water without the slight- 
 est warning. All this preparation is made 
 to save a few seconds of priceless time. 
 
 264 
 
XLII 
 MANNING THE FLEETS 
 
 THE record of America's naval forces 
 abroad has been made possible by a 
 remarkable feat of organization at home. 
 The beginning of the war found America's 
 naval forces much reduced. In the spring 
 of 1 91 7 there were only about seventy thou- 
 sand men enrolled in the Navy, and some 
 thirteen thousand in the Marine Corps. 
 Such was our first line of defense at the 
 close of the third year of the world war. 
 
 To-day there are more than half a million 
 fighting men enrolled in these branches of 
 the service, and men are being mustered in 
 at the rate of two thousand a day. Chosen 
 from every rank of life, these great forces 
 are being constantly fed into the great train- 
 ing camps for the Navy. The complicated 
 science of seamanship must be taught from 
 the beginning. A few months later these 
 same lads take up perhaps the most difficult 
 problems ever faced by American sailors. 
 265 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 An unprecedented problem confronted the 
 United States Navy. The inroads of the 
 submarine in the early months of the war 
 were terrifying. New methods of attack 
 and defense must be involved, and men must 
 be trained to put them into practice. The 
 Navy was suddenly called upon to man hun- 
 dreds of ships. The acquisition of the Ger- 
 man merchant-ships alone required the serv- 
 ices of thousands of skilled officers and men. 
 The Vaterland, rechristened the Leviathan, 
 required nearly fifteen hundred men. 
 
 No figures may be printed as to the force 
 of naval men now aboard the merchant 
 fleets, but the total is amazing. Men must 
 be trained on deck and in the engine-rooms 
 besides the gun crews. The problem of the 
 submarine defense is very complicated, and 
 only by tireless efficiency can the tables be 
 turned against the undersea craft. Every 
 man placed aboard the merchant fleets in 
 these war times must be dependable. 
 
 The men recruited in such force are first 
 
 given technical instruction. Later they 
 
 must serve in the engine-room and on the 
 
 bridge, to gain actual experience before the 
 
 266 
 
MANNING THE FLEETS 
 
 great fleets are intrusted to them. For 
 many weary months they are required to 
 "'split watches" with men already qualified 
 for the work. A few weeks more, and these 
 same lads, newly recruited from the schools 
 and officers, are intrusted with the safety of 
 great ships carrying troops or stores to the 
 war zone. 
 
 As quickly as ships are built, the men 
 stand ready to man them. Our feat in turn- 
 ing out ships of every class has no parallel 
 in history. There are at the present writing 
 some twelve hundred in process of construc- 
 tion. The feat of training men to man 
 them is even more remarkable. Secretary 
 Daniels has recently announced that in the 
 fall of 191 8 one hundred thousand addi- 
 tional men will be needed for the new fleet. 
 
 It will be recalled that Germany openly 
 sneered at the idea that a great navy could 
 be built up in America in a few months or 
 even years. Their naval experts laughed 
 at the theory that men quickly trained could 
 cope with the complicated problems of mod- 
 ern warfare. And there were many doubt- 
 ful minds even in America. The gunners 
 267 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 on the great merchant fleets must fight under 
 new and difficult conditions. The crews of 
 the submarine-chasers of every kind must be 
 highly skilled, and hardened to experiences 
 that it is generally supposed come only with 
 long practice. 
 
 The speed with which the American Navy 
 responded, once war was declared, came as 
 a gratifying surprise on both sides of the At- 
 lantic. As early as May i6, 1917, it was 
 officially announced that a flotilla of United 
 States destroyers had arrived safely in Brit- 
 ish waters. As a matter of fact, they had 
 reached the other side rather earlier, but it 
 had been planned to give the officers and 
 crews some time to rest before entering 
 active service. When the American officers 
 reported to the British authorities for duty, 
 they were asked how long it would take them 
 to get ready for service. The trip over in 
 the frail destroyers had been very rough, 
 and the men were naturally fatigued. The 
 officers' answer, which deserves to be remem- 
 bered with many other famous phrases of 
 the American Navy, was : 
 
 "We are ready now." 
 268 
 
"^^"r~'n~m"'Wx-^-w 
 
MANNING THE FLEETS 
 
 While it was understood on this side of 
 the Atlantic that the destroyers began their 
 work May i6, they had made their presence 
 felt as early as May 4. By the middle of 
 May it was officially announced by the Brit- 
 ish Admiralty that the Americans were giv- 
 ing an excellent account of themselves. It 
 is now permitted to state that the American 
 fleet sailed late in April, and that its first port 
 of call was Queenstown, Ireland, where it 
 received an enthusiastic reception. 
 
 The official recognition of its entrance 
 into the war is contained in the following 
 message from Vice-Admiral Sir David Be- 
 atty. Commander of the British Grand Fleet, 
 to Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander of 
 the United States Atlantic Fleet. It reads: 
 
 "The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlan- 
 tic Fleet appreciates the messages from the 
 British Fleet and welcomes the opportunity 
 for work with the British Fleet for the free- 
 dom of the seas." 
 
 At the present writing — August i, 191 8 — ■ 
 there are known to be two hundred and fifty 
 American warships having permanent bases 
 in European waters. 
 
 271 
 
PART V 
 WITH THE MARINES 
 
XLIII 
 WITH THE MARINES 
 
 ANY one reading the list of those men- 
 tioned for "conspicuous bravery" in 
 the Navy will be impressed by the surprising 
 variety of the services performed. Among 
 hundreds of such awards, no two acts are 
 alike. The most imaginative teller of sea 
 tales could scarcely conceive such endless 
 variety and contrast of incident. 
 
 The part that the American Navy is play- 
 ing in the Great War naturally overshadows, 
 for the time, its other activities. However, 
 far from the theaters of war, the American 
 seaman still finds opportunities to distin- 
 guish himself. Even in the routine of daily 
 duties there is the element of surprise, and 
 opportunity need knock but once. 
 
 Two American boys attached to the Ma- 
 rine Corps, a service not unknown to fame, 
 chanced recently to be on shore leave in the 
 275 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 Dominican Republic when an incipient revo- 
 lution developed. Like many of these polit- 
 ical outbreaks, it fell with the suddenness of 
 a tropical thunder-storm. No political revo- 
 lution followed, and the outbreak w^as later 
 described in the official reports of the Navy 
 as a ''native brawl''; but for a time it raged 
 with fierceness only possible in political dis- 
 cussions in those latitudes. 
 
 The American Marine Corporal William 
 Henigsmith and Private C. E. Millard at 
 the time were quietly enjoying their shore 
 leave. It was Sunday. The streets were 
 crowded with a holiday crowd, and political 
 upheavals would scarcely be anticipated. 
 The Americans were objects of more or less 
 curiosity, but the crowd appeared friendly 
 and the merchants accepted their money for 
 various purchases with the utmost willing- 
 ness. No one could have imagined that 
 these pleasure-seekers could be transformed 
 in a moment into a dangerous mob threat- 
 ening the lives of the Americans. 
 
 The marines' attention was attracted by 
 shouting in a side street, and on turning the 
 corner they found a crowd of natives in vio- 
 276 
 
WITH THE MARINES 
 
 lent altercation. The group quickly divided, 
 and in a moment were savagely attacking 
 two men. There could be no doubt about 
 their murderous intention. Before the ma- 
 rines could reach the spot, both men had been 
 wounded, one fatally and the other seriously. 
 
 The marines went to the assistance of the 
 wounded men. They had no interest in 
 local political questions; they were prepared 
 to render first aid. 
 
 But the situation was perilous. The odds 
 against the Americans, on a conservative 
 basis, were several thousand to one. The 
 crowd violently resented any interference in 
 their political affairs, and for the two men 
 to go into that seething mass of excited peo- 
 ple was a highly dangerous undertaking. In 
 commending them later for their act, the 
 naval authorities especially praised the men 
 for their cool thinking and quick decision. 
 
 Henigsmith and Millard consulted for a 
 moment, and then hurried forward, pushing 
 their way through the crowd to the injured 
 men. The crowd shouted insults and abuse 
 at very close quarters. Arms and even 
 knives were brandished in their faces. But 
 277 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 the marines quite calmly kneeled beside the 
 men and administered first aid. One of the 
 men was saved, but the other was past help. 
 
 When the men had been bandaged as well 
 as the situation allowed, the marines at- 
 tempted to take them to the hospital. The 
 crowd violently resented such interference. 
 Lifting the wounded men to their feet, the 
 Americans began to force their way through 
 the crowd. Had they shown any trace of 
 fear or attempted to retreat, they would 
 doubtless have been murdered. But their 
 coolness seemed to awe the crowd and they 
 advanced slowly. 
 
 Carrying their double burden, the men 
 finally reached the hospital in safety. But 
 the crowd was not appeased, and, gathering 
 about the building, continued to threaten the 
 Americans. The local government seemed 
 powerless to protect the hospital or to dis- 
 perse the crowd. The news of the affair 
 quickly spread and the crowd grew to large 
 proportions. The marines had finished 
 their work in administering first aid and 
 carrying the wounded to the hospital, and 
 their responsibility seemed at an end. But, 
 278 
 
WITH THE MARINES 
 
 since the hospital itself seemed in danger of 
 attack, they mounted guard before it to pro- 
 tect the wounded, and remained at this peril- 
 ous post for ten hours before it was consid- 
 ered safe to leave. The men have been offi- 
 cially commended by Major-General George 
 Barnett of the Marine Corps. 
 
 279 
 
XLIV 
 "FIRST TO FIGHT" 
 
 MEASURED by European standards, 
 our Marines, on reaching France, 
 were still green troops. They had little or 
 no "trench training," and were compara- 
 tively new to the complicated game of war- 
 fare on the western front. Under the 
 pressure of necessity, they were thrown 
 into the thick of the fight and confronted by 
 "crack" German troops. Among the dead 
 afterward identified before them were found 
 members of the famous Prussian Guards 
 and Death Heads, indicating that their an- 
 tagonists were the most formidable that 
 could be mustered aganist them. 
 
 The Marines engaged in this sector com- 
 prised two detachments of infantry with the 
 customary auxiliary service. It is believed 
 that the detachment had a larger proportion 
 of regular army officers than is common to 
 most American forces; but the men were, 
 280 
 
"FIRST TO FIGHT" 
 
 after all, of about the general average of 
 our enlisted personnel. 
 
 The order to advance was received at five 
 o'clock in the afternoon of May 30, 1918. 
 An immense amount of labor is involved in 
 rapidly executing such an order. The men 
 were widely scattered throughout more than 
 fifty villages in this region. It is a matter of 
 record that the first of the men were col- 
 lected, equipped, and entrained for the front 
 in a few minutes, and at the end of twelve 
 and a half hours the last of the forces, with 
 their horses, food, and ammunition, were on 
 their way. 
 
 By midnight some of the emergency 
 American troops were already in position, 
 and by nine o'clock the following morning 
 the entire force had been thrown across the 
 famous Chateau Thierry road. The men 
 carried two days' rations and supplies. 
 Ammunition dumps were established, tem- 
 porary intrenchments constructed, and the 
 artillery was brought up to support the in- 
 fantry. 
 
 During the night of June i a gap two and 
 half miles in extent was reported, through 
 281 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 which German advance seemed imminent. 
 The French corps commander ordered the 
 American Marines to ''fill this gap if you 
 can." The men who were rushed forward 
 comprised one infantry unit, a machine-gun 
 unit, and a detachment of Marines. The 
 men had been wakened from their sleep and 
 hurried along dark roads, and had taken up 
 their position on some open hills. By nine 
 o'clock the following morning they were in 
 readiness; and against the most determined 
 attacks of the German troops the line held 
 firm. 
 
 Several days of severe fighting followed. 
 The Marine units repelled two severe attacks 
 on June 4. The marching forces now began 
 to arrive, and the entire unit was soon in 
 place with the artillery supporting it. Sev- 
 eral attacks were repiilsed on June 5. On 
 the following night an especially determined 
 effort by the enemy failed to yield an inch. 
 Later a part of a Marine unit counter- 
 attacked and drove the Germans as far as 
 Bussaires. The entire force now attacked 
 in the direction of Torc}^, driving the enemy 
 back, inflicting heavy losses, and taking 
 many prisoners. 
 
 282 
 
"FIRST TO FIGHT" 
 
 It was not originally intended to take 
 Torcy, which was not one of the objectives; 
 but, once started, the Marines were not read- 
 ily checked. They had already taken Hill 
 ^33} which commanded the place, and after 
 making the German position untenable they 
 swept the town. 
 
 In recognition of its splendid work, the 
 brigade was cited by the French army, and 
 the regimental colors received the Croix de 
 Guerre and the palm, the highest honor won 
 by any regiment up to that time. The 
 American Colonel who was wounded early 
 in the fighting was made a Chevalier of the 
 Legion of Honor. Throughout the fighting 
 and afterward the spirit of the Marines was 
 above praise. Some days later, when the 
 wounded had been transferred to a Paris 
 hospital, a Marine insisted on sitting up in 
 bed and singing the old battle hymn of the 
 Marines, 'The Halls of Montezuma." A 
 great chorus instantly joined in, the wounded 
 and the gassed men singing with a spirit 
 that rather shocked the dignity of the great 
 hospital. 
 
 More than a hundred of the Marines en- 
 283 
 
NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 
 
 gaged in these actions have been awarded 
 distinguished service medals for conspicuous 
 bravery. When the medals were formally 
 presented, but thirty-seven marines appeared 
 in the line, the rest having died on the field 
 or were in the hospital. 
 
 The presentation took place on the lawn 
 of a beautiful old chateau on the banks of the 
 Marne. The American General who pinned 
 the medals on the uniforms of these men 
 found some very happy phrases to describe 
 the work of the Marines. 
 
 'Tt is with inexpressible pride and satis- 
 faction," he said, ''that your commander re- 
 counts your glorious deeds on the field of 
 battle. In the early days of June, on a front 
 of twenty kilometers, after night marches 
 and with only the reserve rations which you 
 carried, you stood like a wall against the 
 enemy advance on Paris. For this timely 
 action you have received the thanks of the 
 French people whose homes you saved, and 
 the generous praise of your comrades in 
 arms. 
 
 ''Since the organization of our sector, in 
 the face of strong opposition you have ad- 
 284 
 
'TIRST TO FIGHT" 
 
 vanced your lines two kilometers on a front 
 of eight kilometers. You have engaged, 
 and defeated with great loss, three German 
 divisions, and have occupied important 
 strong points — Belleau Wood, Bouresches, 
 and Vaux. You have taken about fourteen 
 hundred prisoners, many machine-guns, and 
 much other material. The complete success 
 of the infantry was made possible by the 
 splendid cooperation of the artillery, by the 
 aid and assistance of the engineer and signal 
 troops, by the diligent and watchful care of 
 the medical and supply services, and by the 
 unceasing work of the well organized staff. 
 All elements of the division have worked to- 
 gether as a well trained machine. 
 
 ''Amid the dangers and trials of battle, 
 every officer and every man has done well his 
 part. Let the stirring deeds, hardships, and 
 sacrifices of the past month remain forever 
 a bright spot in our history. Let the sacred 
 memory of our fallen comrades spur us on to 
 renewed effort, and to the glory of American 
 arms." 
 
 THE END 
 
 285 
 
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