The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers Part 37

"Sure," answered Eric.

"You're forgetting a lot of things," the other said. "An old time sailing-ship just had the one deck. When a boarding pirate crew had won the deck, they were masters of the ship. But a modern steamer is like a building with several floors, one on top of the other. A pirate crew which could put aboard a steamer as many men as the steamer itself carried, and still handle itself, would be a small army. What's more, on a modern steamship, with half a dozen stairways and the whole inside a labyrinth of rooms, the pirates would be ambushed like rats in a trap a dozen times over."

"Yes, there's something in that," the boy agreed.

"Then there's the wireless," continued Homer. "Supposing a pirate steamer hailed a craft. Long before the first boatload of men could board, or before the ships could have grappled, the wireless operator would send an 'S O S' call, with a description of the piratic vessel and the lat.i.tude and longitude. The pirate couldn't get coal aboard in less than twelve hours, and by that time half a dozen vessels would be steaming at full speed to the spot."

"What difference would that make?" said Eric. "If the pirate were armed with heavy guns, she could stand off a fleet of commercial vessels that didn't have any armament."

"Your imagination is working in great shape, Eric," his engineer friend replied. "It's a pity you don't think far enough ahead."

"How's that?"

"I suppose you'd have your pirate vessel chosen for speed?"

"Of course," the boy answered. "She'd have to be fast in order to make a getaway."

"Here's where you're forgetting your ship-building," his friend warned him. "Could she have speed if she were armed with heavy guns? Wouldn't she necessarily have to be partly the build of a man-o'-war, say a cruiser?"

"Perhaps she would," said the boy thoughtfully.

"And if she had the build of a cruiser, would she have the speed of an Atlantic greyhound?"

"That's true," admitted Eric, "she wouldn't. Still that wouldn't matter, if the only craft that could chase her was a craft without guns."

"Wouldn't it?" his friend queried. "Do you know how they chase wolves in some parts of Western Canada?"

"No."

"They use a couple of greyhounds and two or three heavy dogs, like bulldogs or Airedales or wolfhounds. The wolf can easily outrun the heavy dogs, but when it comes to real speed he isn't in it with a greyhound. The greyhounds overtake Mr. Wolf in less than no time, nip at him, worry him, anger him until he turns on them. They won't even try to fight and he hasn't a chance of catching them. Meantime, the heavy dogs, following up the scent, come pounding along the trail. The wolf sees them and lopes off again, the greyhounds after him. They badger and worry him again, and again he turns. By the time this has happened three or four times, the heavy dogs have caught up to their quarry, and the fight is on. Two or three minutes and it's all over, and there's one wolf the less to harry the flocks of sheep."

"Well?"

"That's just about what would happen to this pirate of yours. Suppose he did stop an Atlantic steamer, suppose he did board her successfully, suppose he got his coal bunkers full, suppose he carried a heap of treasure to his own vessel flying the Jolly Roger and got away with it.

He'd have the other ships around, wouldn't he?"

"I suppose he would," Eric admitted.

"You can bet your last dollar he would. And their wireless would be working overtime, wouldn't it?"

"Of course."

"Piracy is a matter that every maritime nation is interested in. The newspapers of the world would have the story by wireless the next morning, the governments of the world would know almost as quickly. By noon the next day half a dozen warships would be steaming from different directions in search of the pirate, led as straight as a magnet to the pole by the radio information constantly being sent from the light pa.s.senger steamers that were pursuing. If the naval fleet included a destroyer with a thirty-knot speed, where would your pirate get off at?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOAM--THE DERELICT'S ONLY TOMBSTONE.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MINING A LURKING PERIL.

A submerged derelict, waterlogged, scarcely visible, for which a diver must be sent down to place the mines.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

"He wouldn't have a show. I see," continued Eric, regretfully, "I'll have to give up the hope of being able to join in a real pirate chase."

"Of course," the young engineer said thoughtfully, "a pirate in a submarine might be able to do something."

"Now there's a real idea," exclaimed Eric. "Maybe there's a chance yet!"

"I'm afraid not, even there," answered the other, smiling at his friend's eagerness, "mainly because of that same question of fuel. The captain of the submarine would have to be in cahoots with some supply station, and with the howl that would be made all over the world by modern piracy, it would be hard for the fuel contractor to hide his output. The only way that I can see would be for such a pirate to watch out for ships loaded with what was most needed, run up and threaten to torpedo the craft with everybody on board unless they took to the boats, put a prize crew aboard and run that steamer to a lonely beach on an uninhabited island and start a supply depot of his own there."

"But a submarine couldn't carry a large enough crew to conquer a steamer."

"They wouldn't need to," said Homer. "It would be enough to send one man aboard to demand the treasure."

"Well?"

"The submarine could lie to, with her submerged torpedo tubes pointing full at the vessel. If within a given s.p.a.ce of time the treasure was not shipped and the pirate lieutenant returned safe, a torpedo would be fired which would send the steamer to Davy Jones with all hands. As a captain is more responsible for the lives of his pa.s.sengers than for their gold, he would have to consent. One might easily get half a million dollars from one of the larger vessels. Three or four cruises of that kind would be quite enough, and our friend, the imaginary pirate captain and all his crew, could retire from the profession."

"But do you really think such a thing is possible?"

"It's very unlikely," his friend replied, "but there's no doubt that it's possible. Several submarines have been sunk in the Great War, and one or more of these might be fished up by wreckers. Being hermetically sealed, no water would have got in, and their machinery would be as good as ever, even if they had been lying under the water for some months. As for crew--if the pay were big enough, there would be always enough desperate fellows to be found to make the venture. Yes, that plan is feasible enough. And, what's more, it would be hard to stop. Really, the more you think of it, the more possible it seems. The only weakness is the coaling."

"It seems to me," Eric said, "that if she could coal at sea, sink the ship and tow the boats containing the crew within reach of land, she would be pretty safe."

"Yes," his friend answered, "if she could stay at sea indefinitely until treasure enough had been acc.u.mulated, I believe a submarine could get away with it. There might be difficulty afterwards in getting rid of the bullion and the jewels, but, after all, that's a different question. It has nothing to do with the piracy."

Eric peered into the darkness, putting his hand over his eyes as though to look intently.

"Pirate, ahoy!" he called softly. "Three points off the starboard bow!"

The young lieutenant of engineers laughed.

"You'll be dreaming of pirates in your next watch below," he said, as he turned away, "or you'll be running up the skull and cross-bones instead of the Stars and Stripes and we'll have to court-martial you."

"Little chance of that," replied the boy, "but maybe there'll be a submarine pirate some day that we'll have a chance to chase. I'll live in hopes!"

By a somewhat curious coincidence, a few days after this conversation, the _Miami_ pa.s.sed the Dry Tortugas, the old-time capital of that Buccaneer Empire which for forty years held the navies of the entire world at bay. It was a curious chapter in the history of the seas, and Eric caught himself wondering whether the future of navigation held any such surprising and adventurous period in store. He was to learn shortly, however, that the Coast Guard was thoroughly fitted to meet similar emergencies and that her naval powers could be made swiftly operative even in times of peace.

As the cutter was proceeding to her station at Key West, she sighted a schooner, which, by signal flags, reported that she had that morning pa.s.sed a bark flying the reversed ensign, with her yards awry and her sails aback. On running close to the schooner the _Miami_ learned that the bark had changed her course when the schooner approached, and when the schooner fell on her course the bark came aback again. A second time the schooner went to her relief, and again the bark squared off on her course.

"Queer thing," said Eric, after the flags had been read. "What do you suppose it is?"

"Looks like mutiny," said his chum. "I suppose we'll chase her and find out. Too bad the schooner never got near enough to see her name."