British Secret Service During the Great War Part 25

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

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

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

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

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

"('JIM' of the B.F.S.S.)"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shortly before this book went to press the author happened to meet a naval gunner who had served for a prolonged period aboard mystery ships.

He was most enthusiastic on the subject of camouflage, and he related how he had served in 1915 in a ship which had one gun only, placed amidships, which was concealed by a dummy silhouette boat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Extracting further paragraphs from Admiral Sims' article:

"There is hardly anything in warfare which is more vulnerable than a submarine on the surface within a few hundred yards of a four-inch gun. A single well-aimed shot will frequently send it to the bottom. Indeed, a U-boat caught in such a predicament has only one chance of escape; that is represented by the number of seconds which it takes to get under water.

"Clearly the obvious thing for the Allies to do was to send merchant ships armed with hidden guns along the great highways of commerce. The crews of these ships should be naval officers and men disguised as merchants, masters, and sailors."

At p. 104 of the magazine Admiral Sims refers directly to my invention as described and ill.u.s.trated:

"Platforms were erected on which guns were emplaced; a covering of tarpaulin completely hid them; yet a lever pulled by the gun crews would cause the sides of the hatchway covers to fall instantaneously. _Other guns were placed under lifeboats, which, by a similar mechanism, would fall apart_ or rise in the air exposing the gun.

"From the greater part of 1917 from twenty to thirty of these ships (Q-boats) sailed back and forth in the Atlantic."

The February number of the _Wide World Magazine_, p. 361, also contained a most interesting article by Captain Frank H. Shaw ent.i.tled, A "Q," and a "U," in which he describes how he personally helped to sink a submarine with the aid of a camouflage apparatus on the lines of my invention as ill.u.s.trated:

"Meanwhile the fitters were making most of their opportunities aboard the _Penshurst_ (the Q-boat in question). A useful twelve-pounder gun--one of the best bits of ordnance ever devised for short range work--was mounted on the fore-deck. A steel ship's lifeboat was cut in two through the keel, and so faked that on pulling a bolt, the two halves would fall clear away. This dummy boat was then put in place over the twelve-pounder and effectively concealed its presence.

"So far as the outward evidence was concerned, the _Penshurst_ was simply carrying a spare lifeboat on deck--a not unnecessary precaution, considering the activity of the enemy submarines."

Captain Shaw describes in stirring narrative and vivid detail how a submarine held up his ship, how part of their crew abandoned the ship, and how the Hun boat was lured well within easy gun-fire range, and how my ideas worked in practice:

"_The foredeck boat opened beautifully like a lily and the gun came up, with its crew gathered round it._ The twelve-pounder was not a second behind its smaller relative. Her gunlayer, too, was a useful man. He planted a yellow-rigged sh.e.l.l immediately at the base of Fritz's conning-tower. It exploded there with deafening report and great gouts of water flew upwards with dark patches amongst the foam."

By my friends I was disparaged for foolishness in not putting forward a claim for compensation in connection with these ideas, followed by an accepted invention of recognised utility. In the U.S.A. in the spring of 1919 I heard this invention considerably lauded; in New York, Boston, and Washington. It was also described and ill.u.s.trated in certain American periodicals.

If the figures given by Admiral Sims are true estimates, and, say, only twenty-five submarines were sunk by the direct a.s.sistance of this simple contrivance, then it follows that about 1,000,000 tons of shipping were saved each year it was in active use.

Eventually I communicated with Admiral W. R. Hall, C.B., through whom I had submitted my suggestions in the first instance. From him I received a charming letter in which he regretted the matter had pa.s.sed beyond his department. Therefore on January 26th, 1920, I wrote to the Secretary of the Admiralty referring by number to previous letters conveying the _secret_ thanks of the Lords of the Admiralty to me in 1915 and asking him whether (now that the war was over) I was ent.i.tled to any recognition for this invention, and if so, how and to whom I should apply.

I wrote again on April 29th, asking for a reply to my previous letter, but being only a civilian, I suppose he did not consider either myself or the subject matter I enquired about worthy even of simple acknowledgment.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE SINKING OF THE "LUSITANIA" BY GERMAN TREACHERY

HOW THE DASTARDLY DEED WAS PLANNED--COMMEMORATION MEDAL PREMATURELY DATED--SINKING ANNOUNCED IN BERLIN BEFORE THE VESSEL WAS ATTACKED--GERMAN JOY AT THE OUTRAGE--BRITISH SECRET CODE STOLEN--VIOLATIONS OF AMERICAN NEUTRALITY--FALSE MESSAGES--AUTHORITY FOR THE FACTS.

So long as the memory of mortal man endures, this dastardly act of German treachery will never be forgotten.

On May 7th, 1915, the SS. _Lusitania_, a pa.s.senger ship of 32,000 tons of the Cunard Line, was sunk by torpedoes, fired at short range from a German submarine off Kinsale. She carried on board 1,265 pa.s.sengers and a crew of about 694 hands. From this number 1,198 were drowned, including 113 Americans and a large number of women and children.