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THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


WORKS    BY   THE   SAME   AUTHOR 


ECHOES  FROM  THE  FLEET 

THE  LORD  HIGH  ADMIRAL 

THE  SECRET  OF  CONSOLATION 

THE  MERCHANT  SEAMAN  IN  WAR 

THE  BRITISH  NAVY:    THE  NAVY  VIGILANT 

THE  FAIRY  MAN 


COMMANDKk   C.    UKNNI.S    BURNEY,  C.M.G. 

KuvAL  Navy 

I'ro'tllf/'uxc  r/wio  I'y  Lajaycltc  Ltd. 


THE  PARAVANE 
ADVENTURE 


BY 

L.   COPE   GORNFORD 


HODDER  AND  STOUGHTON 

LONDON  NEW  YORK  TORONTO 


r\ 


fiA 


TO 

THE   PARAVANE   OFFICERS 
OF    THE    ROYAL    NAVY 

1914-1918 


The  author  desires  to  express  his 
thanks  to  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Board  of  Admiralty,  to  whose 
courtesy  he  is  indebted  for  permission 
to  examine  the  records  of  the  Para- 
vane Department. 


AUTHOR'S  NOTE 

Ex-Paravane  officers  who  have  kindly  read  the  proofs  of 
this  book  have  suggested  that  the  erroneous  impression 
may  be  most  unfortunately  disengaged  that  more  was 
effected  by  the  Paravane  in  the  submarine  war  than  was  in 
fact  effected.  The  Admiralty  have  courteously  raised  the 
same  objection,  affirming  that  "the  narrative  ignores 
throughout  every  other  factor  which  made  for  the  defeat 
of  the  submarine  and  mine,"  such  as  the  convoy  system, 
regulation  of  merchant  ship  routes,  minelaying,  auxiliary 
patrols,  mine-sweepers,  the  hydrophone,  the  depth  charge, 
and  "many  other  factors,  for  which  could  be  claimed,  as 
compared  with  the  Paravane,  a  much  more  direct  success 
in  attacking  the  submarine."  Quite  true.  I  would  how- 
ever observe  that  I  was  writing,  not  about  these  other 
magnificent  achievements,  for  which  no  praise  can  be  exces- 
sive but,  about  the  Paravane.  I  would  therefore  pray  the 
reader  to  bear  in  mind  the  limitations  imposed  by  the 
nature  of  my  task,  and  to  study  the  other  aspects  of  the 
submarine  war  as  already  depicted  by  cleverer  hands  than 
mine. 

Lest  there  should  be  any  misunderstanding,  I  would 
say,  further,  that  the  information  concerning  each  of  the 
persons  of  this  history,  was  given  to  me  in  every  instance, 
not  by  himself  but,  by  his  colleagues.  It  is  a  narrative 
presented  in  reflecting  mirrors.  Even  so,  the  officers  on 
active  service  (with  what  I  regard  as  an  excessive  modesty) 
insisted  that  they  should  be  designated  by  initials  alone. 
In  the  case  of  Commander  Burney,  as  his  name  was  already 
publicly  associated  with  the  Paravane  in  two  continents, 
it  was  plainly  foolish  to  suppress  it,  and  for  that  reason 
he  reluctantly  withdrew  his  request.  It  remains  to  add 
that  for  the  brief  account  of  Commander  Burney's  financial 
arrangements  in  respect  of  his  inventions,  and  for  state- 
ments concerning  Admiralty  procedure,  I  am  alone  re- 
sponsible. 

L.   C.   C. 
October,   19 19. 


INTRODUCTION 

For  some  time  before  the  conclusion  of 
the  Armistice,  the  present  writer,  as  a 
student  of  naval  affairs,  could  not  but 
remark  what  was  evidently  a  weakening 
of  the  German  submarine  offensive,  and 
an  absence  of  losses  by  mine.  There 
were  evidently  forces  at  work  of  which 
he  knew  not,  nor  sought  to  know.  But 
that  a  new  spirit  was  abroad,  the  storm- 
ing of  Zeebrugge  and  the  blocking  of 
Ostend  sufficiently  demonstrated.  Of  the 
Paravane  he  had  once  heard  the  name, 
when  the  captain  of  a  convoying  cruiser 
told  him  that  the  boatswain  complained 
that  the  Paravane  '  caught  fish.'  Why  the 
captain  seemed  to  think  the  circumstance 
amusing,  I  did  not  know,  having  then  no 
conception  of  the  Paravane,  nor  did  the 
captain  explain. 


viii      THE  PARA.VANE  ADVENTURE 

When    I    read    Admiral    of    the    Fleet 
Viscount  Jellicoe's  history  of  the  Grand 
Fleet  during  the   first  two  years   of  the 
war,  the   contrast  between  the   state   of 
the    Navy    then,    and    its    condition    at 
the   time    of    the    surrender    of    the    Im- 
perial German  Navy  (which  event  I  wit- 
nessed) insistently  emerged.    In  the  mean- 
time,   it    had    been    officially    announced 
that    a    real    War    Staff,    with    executive 
powers,  had  been  instituted  at  the  Admir- 
alty, with  the  First  Sea  Lord  as  Chief  of 
the   Imperial  Staff.     Here  was  a  reform 
which  had  been  urged  by  Lord  Beresford 
and    others     for    five-and-twenty    years. 
They  had  represented  that  there  should 
be   created   at  the  Admiralty  a  body  of 
officers  whose  sole  business  should  be  the 
study  of  the  war ;    including  the  collation 
of  intelligence,  the  investigation  of  weapons 
and  their  application,  and  the  preparation 
of  plans.    These,  broadly  speaking,  are  the 
duties  of  a  war  staff. 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  Armistice, 
the  present  writer  was  privileged  to  read 
the  following  letter,  written  to  the  owners 
by  the  master  of  the  ship.  (The  Otter  to 
which  he  refers  is  the  merchant  service 
variety  of  the  Paravane.) 

H.M.  Hospital  Ship  'Goorkha' 
Salonika,  19th  November  1918. 
The  Managers, 

Union  Castle  Mail  S.S.  Co.,  Ltd., 
3-4  Fenchurch  St.,  London, 

Gentlemen, — I  would  like  to  pay  a  tribute  to 

the  efficiency  of  the  Otter  Gear  as  fitted  to  the 

Goorkha.     The  last  minefield  I  passed  through 

in  daylight,  the  Otters  cut  adrift  three  enemy 

moored  mines  (in  15  minutes)  which  came  to  the 

surface   just   abaft   the   bridge.     In   dangerous 

areas,  especially  such  as  some  of  the  pro -enemy 

waters  we  have  to  traverse  just  now,  the  Otters 

are  more  than  ever  necessary,  and  look-outs  are 

placed  in  Nos.  5  and  6  boats  to  watch  the  water 

surface  above  the  Otters.     The  patients  (who 

are  able)  are  kept  on  deck  with  lifebelts  on,  and 

the  crew  also,  as  far  as  possible.    The  tremendous 

tearing  sound  and  vibration  caused  by  the  mine 

mooring  wire  rushing  along  the  Otter  towing 

wire,  does  not  leave  many  of  the  crew  in  their 


X        THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

quarters  forward,  and  is  felt  quite  strongly  on 
the  forecastle  head.  In  the  event  of  getting 
among  mines,  I  see  nothing  for  it  but  to  steer  a 
straight  course,  full  speed  if  possible,  as  slowing 
down  too  much,  or  stopping,  brings  the  Otters  to 
the  surface  where  they  are  useless,  and  turning 
under  helm  renders  the  stern  liable  to  strike  a 
mine,  which  the  Otters  have  cut  adrift.  The 
very  hard  steel  cutting  teeth  in  the  jaws  of  the 
Otter  show  little  or  no  signs  after  cutting  mine 
wires,  although  in  one  case,  portions  of  the  wire 
were  found  in  the  jaws,  and  in  another  a  length 
of  wire  and  the  depth  nipper  were  brought  on 
board  with  the  Otter.  In  another  instance,  the 
port  Otter  refused  to  work  and  came  alongside 
ship,  when  it  was  found  on  hoisting  it  out  of  the 
water,  that  though  it  had  cut  the  mine  adrift, 
it  had  fouled  the  wire  with  some  anchoring 
arrangement  attached.  The  wire  was  cut  with 
an  axe,  and  the  Otter  freed.  In  most  cases,  the 
mines  cut  adrift  by  the  Goorkha's  Otters  have 
very  shortly  afterwards  been  sunk  by  gunfire. 
In  the  Mediterranean  from  28th  June  to  17th 
November,  the  ship  steamed  1594  hours,  during 
which  time  the  Otters  were  in  use  361  hours. — 
Yours  obediently, 

(Signed)    John  D.  Whitton. 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

At  the  same  time,  there  were  casually 
published  in  the  Press  some  rather  vague 
and  obviously  inaccurate  references  to  the 
Paravane.  Clearly  the  effect  of  this  device 
(whatever  it  might  be)  had  been  consider- 
able ;  and  it  occurred  to  the  present 
writer  that,  if  the  Admiralty  no  longer 
desired  to  keep  the  matter  secret,  a  precise 
account  of  the  invention  would  both 
rightly  inform  the  public,  and  affix  the 
credit  thereof  where  it  was  due. 

He  therefore  wrote  to  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty  on  the  subject,  and  the 
Board  most  courteously  gave  him  access 
to  the  requisite  information,  stipulating 
that  any  technical  description  of  the 
apparatus  should  be  submitted  to  their 
Lordships  before  publication,  and  that  the 
work  should  not  be  used  as  a  text-book 
for  officers. 

Both  these  conditions  have,  of  course, 
been  observed,  and  the  present  writer 
desires  to  express  his  sense  of  the  courtesy 


xii   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

and  kindness  of  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty.  It  should,  however, 
be  distinctly  understood  that  the  Admir- 
alty have  no  responsibility  whatever  for 
the  statements  in  the  book,  for  which  the 
author  is  alone  responsible. 

In  the  course  of  his  researches  the  present 
writer  discovered  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  War  Staff  at  the  Admiralty  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  invention  or  use  of 
the  Paravane,  because  the  War  Staff  did 
not  exist  at  the  time.  Had  the  War  Staff 
existed,  the  story  of  the  Paravane  adven- 
ture might  have  been  very  different.  As 
it  was,  the  Paravane  officers  did  in  spite 
of  the  system,  what  a  War  Staff  would 
have  done  by  virtue  of  the  system. 

There  is  now  a  War  Staff  at  the  Admir- 
alty ;  but,  it  is  officially  stated,  its  organ- 
isation is  not  yet  complete  ;  and  times 
change  ;   and  people  forget.  .  .  . 

The  history  of  the  Paravane  is  the 
history  of  a  romantic  adventure,  trium- 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

phantly  achieved  ;  it  is  the  history  of  a 
young  officer  of  high  inventive  genius,  who, 
loyally  backed  through  foul  weather  and 
fair  by  his  brother  officers,  proved  that 
nothing  is  impossible  to  him  who  wills  ; 
and  it  is  also  the  most  instructive  example 
extant  of  the  necessity  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  a  permanent  War  Staff,  in  peace 
as  in  war. 

J-/,    v^.    L/« 

London,  June  1919. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Commander  C.  Dennis  Burney,  C.M.G.        Frontispiece 

PAGE 

General  Arrangement  of  High  Speed  Sub- 
marine Sweep,  showing  an  Explosive  Paravane 
engaging  submarine     .  .  .  •       q9 

General  Arrangement  of  Protector  Paravane        71 

General  Arrangement  of  High  Speed  Mine 
Sweep,  showing  Paravane  towing  from  stern 
of  Destroyer  .  .  .  .  .74 

Stern  of  a  Destroyer  under  way  .  .       76 

Showing  the  towing-wire  (electric)  of  the  High  Speed 
Submarine  Sweep  standing  out  from  the  fore-and-aft  line 
of  the  ship  as  the  Paravane  tows.  Looking  aft  over  the 
Destroyer's  starboard  quarter. 

High  Speed  Submarine  Sweep  Paravane  being 
hoisted  in  to  the  dropping-gear  after  a  run 
AT  Spithead  in  a  Destroyer    .  .  .76 

An  Otter  being  hoisted  in  .  .  .193 

The  Standing  Cutter  on  the  towing-frame  of 
AN  Otter  with  the  towing-wire  attached  to 

ITS    UPPER    JAW    BY    THE    SPECIAL    TOWING-SLEEVE 

FROM  WHICH  THE  WIRE  IS  SEEN  HANGING  DOWN     .       193 

The  moorings  of  a  mine  encountered  by  this  wire  are 
automatically  forced  into  the  jaws  of  this  cutter  and  are 
there  cut  by  the  serrated  teeth  of  the  knives  which  lie  one 
in  each  jaw.  "With  a  magnifying  glass  these  teeth  can  be 
clearly  seen  in  the  cutter  jaws. 


xvi   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


Taken     from    the     forecastle -head     of     s.s. 

'  accrington  '  at  spithead,  looking  aft  along 

her  port  side  .... 

Showing  the  gallows  fitted  for  hoisting  and  lowering  an 
Otter ;  and  the  inhaul  wire  leading  from  it  to  the  Otter 
running  below  the  water. 


I'AGE 


An  Otter  being  hoisted  in  at  the  gallows  head 
on  starboard  side  of  s.s.  '  accrington  '  .     208 

A  Mine  whose  moorings  have  been  cut  being 
secured  to  the  gallows  in  s.s.  '  accrington  ' 
preparatory  to  hoisting  it  on  board  .  .     208 

Taken  from  the  forecastle  of  s.s.  'Accrington' 

LOOKING  aft  along  HER  STARBOARD  SIDE  .       241 

The  ship  is  under  way  and  her  starboard  Otter  has  just 
cut  the  mooring  of  a  submerged  dummy  mine  at  which 
the  ship  was  directly  steered.  The  mine  has  been  flung 
away  from  the  ship,  its  moorings  have  then  reached  the 
cutter  on  the  Otter  and  have  been  cut,  and  the  mine  is 
here  seen  leaping  to  the  surface  well  clear  of  the  ship's 
side. 

An  Otter  being  hoisted  out  over  port  side  of 
S.S.  'Accrington'  ....     241 

Taken  from  the  forecastle- head  of  s.s. 
'Accrington  '  at  Spithead,  looking  aft  along 
her  starboard  side       .... 

Showing  the  gallows  fitted  for  hoisting  and  lowering  an 
Otter ;  and  the  inhaul  wire  leading  from  it  to  the  Otter 
running  below  the  water. 


2.56 


256 


This  is  the  story  of  how  a  group  of  young 
naval  officers,  during  the  Great  War, 
matched  their  wits  against  the  craft  of 
the  German  and  outwitted  him. 

The  beginning  of  the  story  is  really 
the  Imagination  of  Lieutenant  C.  Dennis 
Burney ;  but  it  is  better  to  start  in  the 
middle,  that  is,  in  February  1916,  when 
there  came  to  Scapa  Flow  two  officers, 
Commander  E.  L.  W.,  Royal  Navy, 
and  Lieutenant  C.  Dennis  Burney,  Royal 
Navy,  bringing  with  them  a  Paravane. 
Exactly  what  is  a  Paravane  will  be  ex- 
plained presently.  The  two  officers  went 
on  board  H.M.S.  Iron  Duke,  in  which  they 
were  received  by  the  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Grand  Fleet,  Admiral  Sir  John 
Jellicoe  (now  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Viscount 
Jellicoe  of  Scapa). 


2         THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

The  subject  of  the  conversation  which 
then  took  place  in  Sir  John  JelHcoe's  cabin, 
between  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  Lieu- 
tenant Burney,  is  not  on  record  ;  but  it 
may  be  deduced  from  the  posture  of  affairs 
at  the  time. 

During  the  previous  year  and  a  half, 
the  British  had  lost,  by  enemy  action  and 
marine  risks,  about  one  million  and  three- 
quarters  gross  tons  of  merchant  shipping, 
or  about  250  vessels,  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  had  lost  over  three-quarters  of  a 
million  gross  tons  of  merchant  shipping, 
or  about  two  and  a  half  million  tons  in  all. 
The  Grand  Fleet  had  no  power  to  protect 
merchant  shipping,  other  than  the  power 
it  exercised  of  keeping  the  German  ships 
of  war  in  their  ports  ;  for  the  Grand  Fleet 
could  deal  neither  with  mine  nor  sub- 
marine. The  Grand  Fleet  itself  was  con- 
tinually hunted  by  submarines  and  per- 
petually in  danger  of  crashing  into  unknown 
minefields.  Lord  Jellicoe's  history  of  that 
time  shows  that  the  existence  of  the  Grand 
Fleet  was  menaced  by  day  and  by  night, 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE         3 

and  that  nothing  but  incomparable  skill 
and  vigilance  saved  it  from  disaster. 

If  the  position  is  to  be  made  plain,  I 
must  ask  the  reader  to  bend  his  patience 
to  a  very  brief  consideration  of  technical 
conditions.  But  first  let  us  define  our 
terms.  Strategy  means  the  act  of  bringing 
your  forces  into  contact  with  the  enemy. 
Tactics  means  the  act  of  using  your  forces 
when  they  are  thus  brought  into  contact 
with  the  enemy.  Both  strategy  and  tac- 
tics depend  upon  the  weapons  in  use  on 
either  side.  If,  for  instance,  there  is  a 
minefield  between  you  and  the  enemy, 
you  cannot  get  at  him.  Or  if,  when  you 
have  come  within  range  of  the  enemy, 
he  can  torpedo  you  ere  you  can  prevent 
him  from  so  doing,  your  guns  will  be 
useless. 

Now  in  the  old  wars,  there  was  nothing 
to  prevent  you,  if  the  wind  served,  from 
bringing  your  fleet  into  action  with  the 
fleet  of  your  enemy.  Nor  was  there  any- 
thing to  prevent  you  from  cruising  up  and 
down  outside  his  ports,  thereby  blockading 


4^^     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

him.  Therefore  the  principle  of  naval 
warfare  was  to  maintain  so  powerful  a 
fleet,  that  it  could  either  bring  the  enemy 
to  battle  and  defeat  him,  or  shut  him  up 
in  his  ports.  In  either  event,  he  could 
not  interfere  with  the  free  passage  of  the 
seas.  And  to  keep  the  free  passage  of  the 
seas,  while  denying  it  to  the  enemy,  is  the 
object  of  naval  warfare.  The  thing  is  so 
simple  in  theory,  that  many  eminent  per- 
sons who  have  read  of  it,  think  they  can 
conduct  a  war  at  sea  ;  and  so  difficult  in 
practice,  that  many  a  sagacious  Admiral 
has  failed  to  accomplish  it. 

When  the  mine,  the  long-range  torpedo, 
the  submarine,  the  flying  ship  and  the 
aeroplane  came  to  be  employed  by  the 
Germans,  the  principles  of  naval  warfare 
remained,  but  the  old  methods  of  carrying 
those  principles  into  execution  became 
partially  nullified.  And  that  disagreeable 
fact  was  exactly  what  Sir  John  Jellicoe 
perceived  when  he  took  command  of  the 
Grand  Fleet. 

The  Grand  Fleet  was  built,  armed  and 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE         5 

equipped  and  trained  to  use  the  old 
methods.  These  so  far  succeeded  that 
the  main  German  Fleet  was  held  in  check. 
But  in  the  meantime  quite  another  German 
Fleet  was  interfering  with  the  free  passage 
of  the  seas  and  bringing  the  war  to  the 
very  doorsteps  of  these  islands.  To  deal 
with  the  new  warfare  the  Grand  Fleet  was 
helpless. 

That,  in  brief,  was  the  technical  situation. 
And  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  flushed 
old  gentlemen  on  shore  went  about  saying 
defiantly,  '  Well,  whatever  happens,  the 
Navy  is  All  Right !  ' 

Whether  or  not  Sir  John  Jellicoe  thought 
the  Navy  was  all  right,  may  be  deduced 
from  his  admirable  book.  It  is  another 
count  to  the  credit  of  that  great  public 
servant,  that  when  Lieutenant  Burney 
arrived  in  the  flagship  bringing  a  new 
weapon  with  which  to  wage  the  new  war- 
fare. Sir  John  Jellicoe  most  carefully  in- 
vestigated its  value,  and  gave  his  decisive 
support  to  Lieutenant  Burney.  That 
young  two-stripe  Lieutenant  had  produced 


6         THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

a  device  which,  he  said,  would  help  to 
destroy  the  submarine  and  which  would 
enable  a  ship  to  pass  unharmed  through 
a  minefield. 

I  have  begun  in  the  middle  of  the  story 
instead  of  at  the  beginning,  because  the 
approval  of  the  Paravane  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief marks  the  culmination  of 
what  happened  before,  and  made  possible 
what  ensued. 


II 

The  beginning  of  the  story  is  the  Imagin- 
ation of  Lieutenant  C.  Dennis  Burney.  We 
name  that  quahty  of  mind,  Imagination, 
by  means  of  which  man  is  enabled  inwardly 
to  see  pictures  of  what  has  happened,  what 
may  happen,  even  what  must  happen,  and 
what  he  wants  to  do  or  to  make.     All  that 
man  has  made  existed  in  his  mind  as  a 
Thing — what    the    metaphysicians    call    a 
Thing-in-itself,  by  way  of  making  it  clear 
— before  it  existed  in  material  substance. 
Very  well :  Lieutenant  Burney  could  not 
help  having  imagination  ;  but,  like  many 
other  people,  he  might  have  refrained  from 
the  trouble  of  transmuting  his  perceptions 
into  real  things.     The  process  is  full  of 
pain.     It  can  only  be  accomplished  by  an 
indomitable    tenacity.     And    imagination 
and   tenacity   are   two   gifts   but   seldom 
granted  to  one  person. 


8         THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Lieutenant  Burney  was  that  person. 
Like  most  pioneers,  he  was  naturally 
devoid  of  respect  for  established  authority, 
as  such.  It  is  indeed  obvious  that  if  the 
pioneer  in  any  walk  of  this  adventurous 
life  here  beloAv  were  to  respect  authority 
simply  because  it  was  authority,  and  not 
because  it  manifested  intelligence,  he  would 
never  become  a  pioneer.  And  it  is  the 
first,  elemental  impulse  of  established 
authority  to  resist  innovation. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  we  will  go 
back  to  the  year  before  the  war,  in  which 
Lieutenant  Burney  was  inspired  to  predict 
what  would  happen  if  war  came.  His 
prognostication  was  contained  in  an  article 
published  in  the  Review  produced  by  the 
Naval  Society,  for  private  circulation,  of 
May,  1913.  Tlie  idea  upon  which  the 
article  is  based  is  that  the  object  of  war 
is  to  bring  the  most  destructive  weapon 
possible  into  contact  with  the  enemy  in 
the  shortest  possible  time.  Lieutenant 
Burney  thought  that  in  order  to  fulfil  that 
principle,  it  was  necessary  to  study  weapons 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE         9 

and  their  uses.  As,  however,  there  was  no 
department  at  the  Admiralty  especially 
charged  with  that  duty,  there  was  no  reason 
why  an  officer  should  not  conduct  his  own 
researches. 

Lieutenant  Burney  foresaw  that  air 
power  would  in  the  future  be  one  of  the 
decisive  factors  in  naval  as  in  military 
warfare.  At  that  time,  the  heaviest  load 
of  an  aeroplane  was  about  two  tons.  Air- 
ships had  been  built  by  Germany  with  a 
radius  of  action  of  1500  miles,  carrying 
capacity  of  forty  men  and  speed  of  fifty 
miles.  In  this  country  there  were  no 
efficient  large  dirigibles.  There  was  no 
defence  against  submarines. 

Lieutenant  Burney  suggested  in  May  1913 
that  aircraft  should  be  used  to  attack  sub- 
marines, and  that  ships  should  carry  aero- 
planes, which  should  be  fitted  with  wireless 
and  should  be  used  for  attack,  for  recon- 
naissance and  for  scouting.  '  On  the  one 
hand  when  used  solely  as  a  scout,  they 
will  enable  us  almost  to  eliminate  the 
strategic   advantages   of  the   Kiel   Canal, 


10   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

and  on  the  other,  used  as  an  offensive 
agent,  they  will  enable  us  to  defeat  the 
submarine,  and  so  free  our  fleets  for  action 
in  the  North  Sea ;  and  it  is  upon  these 
two  points  and  upon  these  two  only,  that 
Germany  is  at  the  present  time  placed  in 
so  favourable  a  position.'  Considered  in 
the  light  of  the  experience  of  the  war, 
this  is  a  remarkable  passage. 

Lieutenant  Burney  argued  that  '  the 
introduction  of  aircraft  .  .  .  tends  for  the 
first  time  in  history  to  carry  the  offensive 
over  the  enemy's  towns  and  ports,  without 
first  having  to  meet  and  defeat  the  enemy's 
craft.  In  short,  it  means  that  our  methods 
of  offence  are  beginning  to  outstrip  our 
methods  of  defence^  and  when  the  meaning 
of  this  has  been  grasped,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  whole  art  of  war  will  be  gradually 
revolutionised.' 

During  the  war,  it  became  painfully 
evident  that  the  enemy's  methods  of  offence 
had  actually  outstripped  our  methods  of 
defence. 

'  It  appears  therefore  that  efficient  air- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   11 

craft  could  practically  bring  the  industries 
and  communications  of  a  country  to  a 
standstill,  and  in  so  doing  make  that 
country  helpless.  What  does  an  invading 
army  do  but  try  to  get  all  means  of  com- 
munication into  its  hands,  and  stop  all 
distributions  and  industries  in  its  wake  ? 
The  invaders  do  not  attempt  to  kill  all 
the  inhabitants  but  fight  certain  selected 
men  of  their  opponents  for  positions, 
which  enable  them  to  dominate  the  lines 
of  communication.  W^ith  the  introduction 
of  aircraft  this  can  be  done  without  first 
gaining  those  dominant  positions,  and  it 
is  only  necessary  to  send  a  sufficiently 
strong  force  of  aircraft  to  destroy  the 
enemy's  communications.  .  .  .  Has  a 
moral  sense  ever  governed  a  nation's 
action  when  it  is  fighting  for  its  exist- 
ence .  .  .  ?  ' 

It  may  be  noted  at  this  point  that  in 
an  official  statement  published  in  the 
Press  of  20th  April,  1919,  the  damage  in- 
flicted upon  the  City  of  London  alone  by 
twelve  air  raids,  is  estimated  to  average 


12       THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

£1,250,000  for  each  raid,  or  £15,000,000  in 
all.  In  none  of  these  raids  was  a  large 
force  employed. 

Lieutenant  Burney  was  not  alone  in 
forming  these  conclusions.  They  were 
held  by  the  Royal  Flying  Corps.  Burney 
quotes  a  remark  made  by  Major  Sykes, 
Commandant  of  the  Military  Arm  of  the 
Royal  Flying  Corps  (as  he  was  then)  in 
the  course  of  a  lecture.  '  The  navies  of 
the  world — I  am  sorry  for  them — but  in 
my  dream  they  have  somewhat  to  re- 
linquish their  present  proud  position. 
Their  role  is  that  of  floating  defence.  The 
Air  Service  is  the  foremost  line.'  '  Being 
a  soldier,'  observes  Burney,  '  he  is  quick 
to  see  how  it  will  affect  the  Navy,  but 
contends  that  it  will  not  affect  the  role  of 
the  Army.  Similarly,  naval  officers  realise 
that  land  war  is  altered,  but  some  are  blind 
where  their  own  Service  is  concerned.' 

Burney's  main  purpose  in  setting  forth 
these  anticipations  was  to  urge  the  con- 
struction of  the  hydro-aeroplane,  a  craft 
which  should  combine  the  qualities  of  an 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   13 

aeroplane  with  the  quahties  of  a  seaworthy 
boat  able  to  keep  its  speed  in  rough  water, 
and  which  should  be  used  for  attacking 
submarines  with  gun  and  bomb,  for  re- 
connaissance and  for  scouting.  Burney 
conceived  that  the  hydro-aeroplane  should 
be  '  about  four  tons  total  weight,  with  a 
speed  of  between  seventy  and  eighty  miles 
per  hour,  carrying  capacity  for  a  crew  of 
three  men  with  the  necessary  navigational 
instruments,  four  or  five  hundred  pounds 
of  explosives,  with  a  light  gun  for  pro- 
jecting them ;  a  range  of  between  400 
and  500  miles  in  the  air,  and  800  to  1000 
miles  on  the  sea  and  air  combined ;  a  sea 
speed  of  anything  up  to  fifty  miles  per 
hour  according  to  the  state  of  the  sea, 
and  capable  of  being  used  for  over  300 
days  in  the  year.' 

At  that  time  experiments  were  being 
made  with  such  a  type  of  vessel,  and  two 
years  before  (in  1911)  an  aeroplane  had 
been  constructed  which  left  the  water 
under  its  own  power.  It  is  not  our  present 
purpose  to  trace  the  development  of  the 


14   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

hydro-aeroplane,  but  to  note  that  in  the 
course  of  his  endeavours  to  build  a  practic- 
able machine,  which  were  inspired  by  a 
sense  of  the  necessities  of  the  times,  and 
which  were  cut  short  by  the  outbreak  of 
war,  Burney  gained  a  knowledge  and  an 
experience  which  enabled  him  to  devise 
the  Paravane. 

The  article  in  which  Burney  in  1913 
forecast  the  developments  of  the  war, 
unlike  the  brilliant  prophecies  of  Mr.  H.  G. 
W^ells  or  the  late  Lord  Tennyson's  glimpse 
of  futurity,  was,  not  an  effect  of  pure 
fantasy  but,  the  imaginative  deduction 
from  long  previous  study  and  industrious 
experiment.  In  1910,  Burney,  then  a 
sub-lieutenant,  was  appointed  to  H.M.S. 
Crusader  for  work  on  the  Anti-Submarine 
Committee  formed  in  that  year,  of  which 
his  father.  Rear- Admiral  (now  Admiral 
Sir  Cecil)  Burney  was  the  first  president. 
The  Committee  studied  both  the  develop- 
ment of  the  submarine  and  methods  of 
defence  against  submarine  attack.  At 
that  time,  the  theory  was  that  submarines 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   15 

were  useful  for  harbour  and  coast  defence, 
but  that  they  could  not  be  employed 
independently  in  deep  water.  It  was, 
however,  demonstrated  by  experiment 
that  a  submarine  could  navigate  under 
her  own  power,  proceeding  far  out  to  sea, 
attacking  and  torpedoing  a  man-of-war. 
To  meet  this  new  form  of  offensive,  various 
methods  of  towing  explosive  charges  were 
devised,  which,  by  the  time  the  war  came, 
had  developed  into  what  was  called  the 
Modified  Sweep.  Young  Burney,  for  the 
Committee,  invented  and  conducted  ex- 
periments, which  were  of  course  secret. 
In  the  course  of  these  adventures,  a  sub- 
marine (without  crew)  went  to  the  bottom 
and  stayed  there  in  an  unknown  position. 
Burney  borrowed  a  primitive  aeroplane  in 
order  to  discover  her  position  from  above, 
and  was  thereby  inspired  to  study  aircraft. 
In  September  1911,  he  left  the  Anti- 
submarine Committee,  went  on  half-pay 
to  pursue  his  researches  at  the  experi- 
mental aviation  works  of  Sir  George  White, 
at  Bristol,  and  persuaded  the  Admiralty 


16   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

to  lend  to  him  a  torpedo-boat  for  use  in 
the  experiments  in  the  development  of 
the  hydro-aeroplane.  Here  it  falls  to 
observe  that  the  late  Sir  George  White 
was  a  true  patriot.  He  was  a  pioneer  in 
scientific  aviation,  and  spent  money  and 
time  in  research  and  experiment,  without 
thought  of  gain. 

Henceforward,  for  many  months,  though 
the  Admiralty  might  move  his  body  here 
and  there,  Burney's  heart  and  mind  dwelt 
in  Bristol,  bent  upon  the  making  of  the 
seaplane. 

For  instance,  in  November  1911,  the 
Admiralty  mill  ground  out  Burney's  ap- 
pointment to  H.M.S.  Venerable,  in  which 
ship  he  remained  just  long  enough  to  apply 
for  half-pay  and  to  receive  it,  when  he 
returned  to  Bristol.  And  in  the  following 
March,  1912,  the  Admiralty  mill  ground 
out  his  appointment  to  H.M.S.  Black 
Prince,  in  which  ship  he  also  remained  to 
apply  for  half- pay  and  to  receive  it,  when 
he  returned  to  Bristol. 

During    1912    Burney    joined    H.M.S. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   17 

Excellent  for  the  course  in  gunnery. 
Accordingly,  he  became  a  gunnery 
officer,  in  the  intervals  of  Bristol.  To 
Bristol  he  went  every  week-end,  so  arrang- 
ing that  the  draughtsmen  employed  under 
his  instructions  should  be  at  work  during 
his  visit. 

Burney  was  then  appointed  to  H.M.S. 
President  for  experimental  work,  and  con- 
tinued his  experiments  in  seaplane  construc- 
tion and  anti-submarine  defence.  During 
liis  time  at  Bristol,  Burney,  together 
with  his  technical  collaborator,  Mr.  F.  S. 
Barnwell,  did  in  fact  construct  an  efficient 
seaplane.  He  also  acquired  a  professional 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  aviation,  and 
learned  the  methods  and  office  routine 
of  a  private  commercial  firm  (which  differ 
extremely  from  Government  methods), 
attainments  which  in  the  future  were  to 
serve  him  well. 

But  Lieutenant  Burney  was  now  a  gun- 
nery officer,  and  four  months  before  war 
was  declared,  he  was  appointed  according 
to  the  usual  procedure  to  the  Chatham 

B 


18   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Gunnery  School  as  instructing  officer. 
And  he  continued  to  spend  his  week-ends 
at  Bristol. 

Early  in  1914,  representatives  of  the 
Royal  Naval  Air  Service  witnessed  the 
first  official  trial  of  the  Burney  hydro- 
aeroplane, or  seaplane,  at  Pembroke,  where 
the  Senior  Officer  was  generously  directed 
by  the  Admiralty  to  render  every  assist- 
ance '  at  Lieutenant  Burney's  expense.' 

Shortly  afterwards,  the  war  put  an  end 
to  Burney's  experiments  in  the  design  of 
aircraft.  So  far,  Burney  had  equipped 
himself  with  a  specialist's  knowledge  of 
the  design,  construction  and  use  of  sub- 
marine vessels,  had  devised  methods  of 
defence  against  submarine  attack,  had 
mastered  the  principles  of  aviation,  and 
had  done  much  practical  inventive  con- 
struction of  aircraft.  These  things  he  had 
accomplished  entirely  of  his  own  initiative. 
It  was  of  course  not  the  part  of  the 
Admiralty  to  encourage  young  officers  to 
adventure  outside  the  scope  of  their  duties. 
As  an  Admiral  once  said  to  the  present 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   19 

writer,   young   officers    are    not    paid   to 
think. 

Upon  the  outbreak  of  war,  Lieutenant 
Burney  was  appointed  to  the  command 
of  H.M.S.  Velox,  torpedo-boat  destroyer, 
in  the  Channel  patrol,  based  upon  Ports- 
mouth, where  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir 
Hedworth  Meux  was  Commander-in-Chief. 


Ill 

When  war  came,  the  British  pubHc  held 
a  subhme  and  apathetic  confidence  in  the 
British  Navy  which  endured  to  the  end. 
And  in  so  far  as  the  skill,  tenacity,  valour, 
and  seamanship  of  the  Fleet  were  con- 
cerned, that  confidence  was  absolutely 
justified.  The  preparation,  organisation 
and  direction  of  the  Fleet,  apart  from 
its  conduct  at  sea,  were  another  matter, 
of  which  the  public,  fortunately  for  their 
composure,  knew  and  were  permitted  to 
know,  nothing.  Not  until  the  publica- 
tion of  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Viscount 
Jellicoe's  book,  in  February  1919,  did  the 
country  begin  to  understand  the  frightful 
perils  from  which  it  had  been  saved.  How 
it  was  saved  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  book 
to  show. 

In  The  Grand  Fleet,  1914-10 :  Its  Crea- 
tion, Development  and  Work,  Lord  Jellicoe 

20 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   21 

indicates  plainly  enough  that,  had  the 
German  High  Seas  Fleet  challenged  a 
general  action  early  in  the  war,  the  British 
Fleet  might  well  have  been  defeated  ;  for 
had  Germany  attacked  when  the  usual 
proportion  of  British  vessels  were  absent 
from  the  Fleet,  obtaining  fuel  or  under 
repair,  the  High  Seas  Fleet  would  have 
been  equal  in  strength  to  the  British  Fleet 
in  capital  ships,  and  in  destroyers  greatly 
superior.  The  German  High  Seas  Fleet 
was  safely  in  harbour,  whence  it  could 
come  at  any  moment.  The  British  Fleet 
was  constantly  at  sea,  destitute  of  a 
defended  harbour ;  exposed  by  day  and 
by  night  to  submarine  attack ;  and  in 
danger  of  destruction  by  mine. 

From  the  beginning,  the  Germans  em- 
ployed the  new  weapons  of  the  mine  and 
the  long-range  torpedo,  which  is  fired  both 
from  the  destroyer  and  the  submarine. 
The  Grand  Fleet  had  no  harbour  in  which 
it  could  safely  lie.  Had  a  single  submarine 
penetrated  the  makeshift  defences  of 
Scapa,  it  might  have  destroyed  the  British 


22   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

superiority  in  capital  ships.  The  Grand 
Fleet,  perpetually  hunted  by  submarines, 
retreated  to  Lough  Swilly,  there  to  remain 
while  defences  were  erected  at  Scapa,  and 
returned  to  Scapa  to  find  the  barrier 
unfinished. 

Against  the  mine  there  was  no  defence. 
Against  the  submarine  there  was  no  de- 
fence, other  than  a  screen  of  patrolhng 
destroyers,  always  numerically  insufficient, 
and  the  device  of  manoeuvring  at  high 
speed.  The  use  of  the  mine  as  a  method 
of  warfare  had  been  constantly  considered 
by  the  staff  of  H.M.S.  Vernon,  but  the 
Government  invariably  refused  to  grant 
the  money  requisite  for  experimental 
work.  The  coast  defence  mining  section 
of  the  Navy  had  been  abolished,  and  the 
mining  branch  of  the  Fleet  was  utterly 
inadequate. 

Theoretically,  the  business  of  the  Grand 
Fleet  was  to  seek  out  and  destroy  the  Fleet 
of  the  enemy,  and  in  the  meantime  to 
enforce  the  blockade.  With  the  secondary 
war   upon   commerce   conducted   by   the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   23 

enemy,  the  Grand  Fleet  had  nothing  to 
do.  The  theory  of  naval  warfare  thus 
embodied,  was  traditional.  It  was  far 
from  covering  the  exigencies  of  modern 
war ;  but  such  as  it  was,  the  theory  had 
never  been  carried  into  practice.  For  the 
Grand  Fleet  was  utterly  unprepared  for 
its  task.  It  was  deficient  in  numbers  of 
officers  and  men;  it  was  deficient  in  num- 
bers of  vessels ;  it  was  deprived  of  protected 
bases;  it  was  short  of  docks;  there  was  no 
adequate  organisation  of  coal  and  oil  and 
auxiliary  vessels  ;  and  the  technical  equip- 
ment of  ships  was  inferior  to  the  German 
equipment.  All  these  things  and  more 
are  described  by  Lord  Jellicoe,  without 
comment.  These  vast  deficiencies  must 
be  made  up  by  improvisation.  '  Improvisa- 
tion,' remarked  Sir  Douglas  (now  Earl) 
Haig,  '  is  never  economical  and  seldom 
satisfactory.' 

But  during  the  first  two  years  of  the 
war,  no  improvisation  had  restored  to  the 
Fleet  the  freedom  of  movement  of  which 
it    was    deprived    by    minefields.     Mines 


24   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

might  be  swept  but  they  were  laid  again. 
Nor  had  any  improvisation  quelled  the 
submarine.  It  would  appear  that  it  was 
first  the  determination  of  the  ^Admiralty 
to  conduct  the  war  at  sea  upon  the 
assumption  that  the  submarine  was 
comparatively  harmless. 

In  August  and  September,  1914,  217,108 
gross  tons  of  British  and  foreign  merchant 
shipping  had  been  lost  by  enemy  action 
and  marine  risks.  The  number  of  British 
steamships  over  1600  gross  tons  lost  was 
31.  But  these  losses  were  considered 
negligible.  They  did  not,  it  was  said, 
affect  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

Then,  on  22nd  September  1914,  the 
three  armoured  cruisers,  Aboukir,  Captain 
John  E.  Drummond,  Cressy,  Captain 
Robert  W.  Johnson,  and  Hogue,  Captain 
Wilmot  S.  Nicholson,  were  sunk  by  sub- 
marine. They  were  cruising  in  company 
and  were  put  down  one  after  the  other 
with  dreadful  loss  of  life. 


IV 

Burney's  position  at  this  moment  was 
near  desperate.  He  had  no  money  to  spend 
upon  that  most  costly  of  occupations, 
invention  ;  he  had  no  time,  his  days  and 
nights  being  consumed  with  his  duties  as 
captain  of  a  patroUing  destroyer ;  and 
those  duties  were  often  highly  exhausting. 
He  was  a  Lieutenant,  and  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  the  etiquette  of  the  Service,  so  low 
in  the  scale  of  created  beings,  that  he  was 
hardly  entitled  to  an  opinion  of  his  own, 
still  less  to  express  it.  All  these  things  were 
against  him. 

On  his  side,  was  the  reputation  he  had 
earned  by  achievement  in  submarine  and 
hydroplane  experiment.  And  also  on  his 
side  was  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  Ports- 
mouth. That  distinguished  officer  is  a 
man  of  affairs  as  well  as  a  seaman,  and  in 

26 


26   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

both  spheres  accustomed  to  have  his 
way. 

Now  the  problem  to  whose  solution 
Burney  again  set  his  mind,  was  how  to 
attack  and  destroy  the  submarine  below 
the  surface.  A  submarine  on  the  surface 
can  be  tackled  with  the  gun.  A  submarine 
below  the  surface  must  first  be  detected. 
Therefore  it  was  necessary  to  discover 
something  which  could  detect  the  sub- 
marine under  water,  and  when  it  was 
detected,  destroy  it.  That  something 
must  be  attached  to  a  ship  and  worked 
from  a  ship.  Explosive  charges  towed 
from  the  stern  of  a  destroyer  had  proved 
comparatively  ineffective,  and  in  any  case, 
the  number  of  destroyers  available  for 
submarine  pursuit  was  very  few. 

It  is  obvious  to  the  least  initiated  that 
a  towed  body  tends  perpetually  to  come 
to  the  surface,  and  that  any  alteration  of 
speed  or  course  on  the  part  of  the  ship 
towing,  will  alter  the  depth  of  the  body 
towed.  The  difficulty  is  partly  met  by 
the    device    of   the    otter-board    used    by 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   27 

trawlers  to  keep  their  nets  down,  but  the 
otter-board  alone  was  useless  for  the 
purpose  required. 

Therefore  the  problem  to  be  solved 
might  be  stated  thus  -.—To  keep  a  body, 
containing  the  requisite  explosive  or  appli- 
ance, towing  at  a  consta7it  depth  unaffected 
by  any  variation  of  speed  or  of  helm. 

By  the  orders  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  Portsmouth,  Burney  was  attached 
to  H.M.S.  Vernon  torpedo  school,  for 
experimental  purposes,  while  remaining 
on  patrol  duty  in  Velox,  an  arrangement 
which  in  practice  enabled  Burney  to  con- 
duct experiments  in  Velox.  He  proceeded 
at  first  upon  the  hydro-aeroplane  prin- 
ciple, devising  a  towed  surface-hydroplane 
body  based  on  his  experiments  made  at 
Bristol.  In  September,  Burney  submitted 
his  scheme  through  H.M.S.  Vernon,  asking 
for  authority  to  arrange  that  the  requisite 
experimental  wooden  bodies  should  be 
made  in  Portsmouth  Dockyard  and  to 
purchase  six  planes  from  Sir  George  WTiite 
at    Bristol.     The    request    was    officially 


28   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

approved  on  9th  October  1914.  But  in 
the  meantime,  in  order  to  avoid  delay, 
Sir  George  White  had  sent  the  planes, 
which  had  been  removed  from  Burney's 
model  at  Bristol  for  the  pm'pose,  to  Burney 
at  Portsmouth  ;  Burney  had  contrived  to 
secure  the  wooden  bodies,  to  finish  an 
experimental  machine,  and  to  complete 
its  trials,  so  that  by  the  time  official 
approval  was  received,  the  thing  was  done. 
At  this  point  in  the  narrative,  emerges 
that  contrast  between  individual  initiative 
and  official  procedure,  which  will  become 
more  and  more  insistent.  The  methods 
of  the  Admiralty,  like  the  methods  of  other 
great  Departments  of  State,  are,  and  per- 
haps must  be,  stereotyped  to  operate  in 
rigid  grooves.  And  at  this  point,  Burney, 
who  had  his  own  views  as  to  the  urgency 
of  the  situation,  began  to  take  a  personal 
responsibility  involving  his  own  fortunes 
in  some  hazard,  albeit  in  this  first  instance 
the  risk  was  trifling  enough.  Burney  merely 
anticipated  official  approval,  and  in  its 
appointed  course  it  duly  arrived. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE       29 

On  the  8th  October,  the  day  before  the 
official  assent  was  received,  a  description 
and  drawings  of  the  new  gear  were  sub- 
mitted to  the  Admiralty  by  H.M.S.  Vernon 
with   a   request   that   complete   drawings 
should  be  prepared  by  Portsmouth  Dock- 
yard.    The  request  was  approved  and  the 
drawings    were    made    by   the    Dockyard 
draughtsmen    under    Burney's    direction. 
The  Dockyard  was  of  course  very  busy 
and  found  it   difficult  to  take   on   more 
work,   but  inside  a  month  the  drawings 
were  submitted  to  the  Admiralty  together 
with  a  description  of  the  gear,   and  an 
account  of  its  trials  in  Velox  and  proposals 
for  future  development.  The  Admiralty  au- 
thorised the  manufacture  in  the  Dockyard 
of  one  set  of  gear  and  the  continuance  of 
the  trials  in  Velox. 

The  gear  was  made  and  was  subjected 
to  further  experiments,  when  it  was  found 
that  the  surface-hydroplane  body  might 
be  eliminated.  The  Admiralty  were  in- 
formed of  the  proposed  modification  on 
25th  January  1915. 


30   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Burney,  having  discovered  that  the  sur- 
face-aeroplane body  was  superfluous,  and 
having  reported  the  fact,  went  steadily 
on  with  his  experiments,  while  his  report 
was  proceeding  through  the  Admiralty. 
Presently  he  succeeded  in  devising  what 
was,  in  fact,  a  submarine  aeroplane,  a  tor- 
pedo body  fitted  with  a  plane,  which  would 
tow  outwards  from  the  ship's  side  and 
which  would  keep  down  below  the  surface 
at  a  depth  unaffected  by  the  speed  of  the 
ship. 

This  invention,  clearly  of  the  first  im- 
portance, was  reported  to  the  Admiralty 
by  H.M.S.  Vernon  early  in  February.  A 
few  days  later,  two  Admiralty  letters  were 
forwarded  to  Lieutenant  Burney  for  his 
information.  Both  bore  the  same  date. 
One  directed  the  Commander-in-Chief  of 
Portsmouth  to  stop  all  experiments.  The 
other  directed  the  captain  of  H.M.S. 
Vernon  to  go  on  with  them.  The  explana- 
tion of  what  was  apparently  a  contradic- 
tion is  probably  simple,  but  it  was  not 
apparent ;     and    when    Burney    received 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   31 

copies  of  the  two  letters,  one  saying  no 
and  the  other  yes,  he  naturally  sought  the 
advice  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Ports- 
mouth. Sir  Hedworth  Meux,  who  had 
helped  Burney  from  the  first,  and  who 
also  appreciated  the  gravity  of  the  sub- 
marine peril,  sped  to  the  Admiralty,  and 
obtained  their  Lordships'  sanction  for  the 
making  of  the  new  gear  at  Portsmouth 
for  purposes  of  experiment. 

The  gear  was  fitted  in  H.M.S.  Mastiffy 
t.b.d.,  and  was  tested  at  Harwich  by  Com- 
modore (T).  In  May  1915,  the  Commodore 
in  his  report  expressed  the  highest  ap- 
proval of  the  invention,  which,  he  con- 
sidered, would  be  a  most  effective  weapon 
in  dealing  with  submarines. 

This  was  the  first  Paravane. 


After  seven  months'  tense  and  unre- 
mitting labour,  Burney  had  solved  the 
main  difficulty  of  his  problem  :  to  keep 
a  body,  containing  the  requisite  explosive 
or  appliance,  towing  at  a  constant  depth, 
unaffected  by  any  variation  of  speed  or 
of  helm.  The  Paravane  was  still  far  from 
perfect,  but  it  would  work.  So  much  had 
Burney  accomplished  since  the  sinking  of 
the  three  cruisers.  All  day  he  was  at  sea 
in  Velox^  experimenting  with  wooden 
models,  noting  defects  and  inventing 
remedies  ;  when  he  landed,  he  must  in- 
struct the  draughtsmen  in  the  Dockyard, 
and  go  round  the  shops  to  supervise  the 
making  of  the  models  ;  during  the  even- 
ings and  half  the  night  he  was  designing, 
calculating,  and  framing  reports. 

In  the  meantime,  how  went  the  war  ? 

32 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   33 

In  September  1914,  the  three  cruisers  had 
been  put  down ;  on  1st  November,  the 
British  squadron  under  the  command  of 
Rear- Admiral  Sir  Christopher  Cradock  had 
been  defeated  ;  on  5th  November,  Great 
Britain  declared  war  on  Turkey  ;  on  the 
8th  December,  Vice-Admiral  Sir  Doveton 
Sturdee  avenged  Cradock  off  the  Falkland 
Islands ;  on  1st  January,  1915,  H.M.S. 
For7nidable,  Captain  Arthur  N.  Loxley, 
had  been  torpedoed  in  the  Channel ;  on 
24th  January  was  fought  the  naval  action 
off  the  Dogger  Bank  ;  on  25th  February, 
the  Allied  Fleets  had  attacked  the  Darda- 
nelles, serious  losses  ensuing.  And  in  the 
same  month  Germany  proclaimed  the  sub- 
marine blockade  of  this  country,  officially 
announced  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  waters  round  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, including  the  English  Channel,  are  hereby 
declared  a  military  area.  From  February  18th, 
every  hostile  merchant  ship  in  these  waters  will 
be  destroyed,  even  if  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
avoid  thereby  the  dangers  which  threaten  the 
crews  and  passengers. 

2.  Neutral  ships  will  also  incur  danger  in  the 

c 


84   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

military  area,  because,  in  view  of  the  misuse  of 
flags  ordered  by  the  British  Government  on 
January  31st,  and  the  accidents  of  naval  war- 
fare, it  cannot  always  be  avoided  that  attacks 
may  involve  neutral  ships. 

3.  Traffic  northwards  around  the  Shetland 
Islands,  in  the  east  part  of  the  North  Sea,  and 
a  strip  of  at  least  thirty  sea  miles  in  breadth 
along  the  coast  of  Holland  is  not  endangered. 

(Sgd.)  Von  Pohl, 
Chief  of  Admiralty  Staff. 

The  blockade  of  Germany  by  Great 
Britain  was  not  at  that  time,  and  not  until 
long  afterwards,  strictly  enforced.  And 
while  the  British  public  believed  that  Great 
Britain  was  blockading  Germany,  what 
was  really  happening  was  that  Germany 
was  blockading  Great  Britain.  Tlie  Brit- 
ish Navy  was  doing  its  duty ;  suspected 
ships  were  duly  sent  into  port ;  but  all 
save  a  small  percentage  were  released  by 
order  of  the  Government.  Germany,  how- 
ever, meant  business. 

To  show  how  that  business  was  done,  I 
give  here  some  examples,  taken  from  my 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   85 

book  ^  on  the  subject,  which,  by  the 
courtesy  of  the  Admiralty,  I  was  enabled 
to  compile  from  the  official  records. 

'  In  the  grey  noon  of  an  October  day  the 
Glitra,  an  old,  small  iron  steamship,  was 
approaching  the  harbour  of  a  neutral 
country,  whose  tall  headlands  loomed 
ahead.  So  far  the  master,  following  the 
directions  of  the  Admiralty,  had  brought 
his  ship  scatheless.  Within  an  hour  or 
two  she  would  be  safe. 

'  The  master  and  the  chief  officer  were 
on  the  bridge,  and  an  able  seaman  was 
posted  as  lookout  on  the  forecastle  head. 
Up  went  the  flag  calling  for  a  pilot,  and 
presently  the  master  descried  the  pilot's 
motor-boat  swiftly  approaching  from  the 
shore.  At  the  same  moment  he  perceived 
a  long  and  low  object  moving  towards  him 
on  the  water  some  three  miles  to  seaward. 
The    apparition    was    like    a    blow    over 


*  The  Merchant  Seaman  in  War.  With  a  Foreword  by 
Admiral  Viscount  Jellicoe.  (London,  Hodder  and 
Stougliton.) 


36   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  heart  to  the  men  of  the  Glitra.  But 
it  might  be  a  British  submarine.  The 
master,  staring  through  his  glass  at  the  flag 
flying  from  the  short  mast  of  the  nearing 
vessel,  made  out  the  black  German  eagles. 
The  pilot  saw  them  too,  for  he  went  about, 
heading  back  to  the  harbour ;  and  with 
him  the  men  of  the  Glitra  beheld  their  last 
hope  for  the  ship  implacably  receding,  and 
confronted  the  inevitable  with  the  dogged 
composure  of  the  British  seaman. 

'  The  master  altered  course,  steering 
away  from  the  submarine,  which,  fetching 
a  wide  circle,  drew  towards  the  Glitra. 
The  submarine  had  the  speed  of  the  old 
cargo-boat,  and  as  she  came  closer  the 
master  heard  the  metallic  ring  of  tube- 
firing,  and  a  flight  of  small  shot  sang 
about  his  cars.  Thereupon  he  stopped  his 
engines,  and  the  Glitra  lay  still,  while  the 
submarine  drew  nearer  and  stopped  within 
a  ship's  length  of  the  steamer.  There  she 
lay,  the  water  lipping  on  the  rounded  hull, 
from  which  the  conning-tower  rose  amid- 
ships.    The  commanding  officer  stood  by 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   37 

the  rail  of  the  conning-tower,  and  men  were 
descending  thence  to  the  narrow  platforms 
fore  and  aft,  and  busying  themselves  on 
the  deck.  Then  the  submarine  hoisted 
the  code  signal,  meaning  "  drag-rope  "  ; 
and  the  men  on  board  the  Glitra  saw  the 
Germans  get  a  collapsible  boat  into  the 
water.  Two  men  pulled,  and  a  third  sat 
in  the  stern-sheets. 

'  The  men  of  the  Glitra  awaited  events 
in  silence  ;  and  the  next  thing  of  which 
the  master  was  acutely  conscious  was  the 
cold  muzzle  of  a  revolver  pressing  into  the 
flesh  of  his  neck,  while  the  excited  German 
officer  wielding  that  weapon  ordered  him 
in  throaty  but  intelligible  English  to  leave 
his  bridge  and  to  get  his  boats  away  in 
ten  minutes,  as  his  ship  was  to  be  tor- 
pedoed. 

'The  master,  going  down  on  deck  with 
a  disagreeable  sensation  as  of  a  pistol 
aimed  at  his  back,  mustered  the  silent 
crew,  who  assembled  under  the  hard  eyes 
of  three  Germans  covering  them  with 
revolvers,  and  who  at  the  same  time  beheld 


38   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

two  guns  on  the  submarine,  one  forward 
and  the  other  aft  of  the  conning-tower, 
trained  expectantly  upon  the  ship.  Then 
the  master,  looking  directly  at  the  small 
black  circle  of  the  revolver's  muzzle,  was 
ordered  to  haul  down  his  flag.  Still 
followed  by  the  revolver,  he  went  to  the 
halliards  and  dropped  the  flag  to  the  rail, 
over  which  it  hung  drooping  and  discon- 
solate. And  then  he  was  ordered  to 
fetch  the  ship's  papers  which  are  the  most 
sacred  trust  of  the  master  of  a  vessel. 
Down  below  he  went,  with  the  pistol  at 
his  back  ;  and  no  sooner  had  he  vanished 
down  the  companion-way  than  the  German 
officer  seized  the  flag,  tore  it  across  and 
across,  flung  the  pieces  on  the  deck,  and 
stamped  upon  them  like  a  maniac.  The 
master  came  on  deck  to  witness  the  re- 
markable spectacle  of  an  officer  of  H.I.M. 
Imperial  Navy  wiping  his  sea-boots  on 
the  Red  Ensign. 

'  The  German,  having  thus  gratiffed  his 
emotions,  again  turned  his  revolver  on 
the  master,  ordered  him  to  hand  over  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   39 

ship's  papers,  forbade  him  to  fetch  his 
coat,  and  refused  to  allow  the  crew,  who 
were  sullenly  launching  the  three  boats, 
to  get  any  additional  clothing.  Then  the 
German  officer  ordered  the  three  boats 
to  pull  to  the  submarine  and  to  make  fast 
to  her. 

'  The  men  of  the  Glitra,  fetching  up  along- 
side the  submarine,  gazed  curiously  upon 
the  dull,  rigid  faces  of  the  German  blue- 
jackets, and  marked  the  strange  and  ugly 
form  of  the  Tinfish,  as  the  merchant  ser- 
vice calls  it.  So  soon  as  the  boats  were 
made  fast,  the  submarine,  with  a  grinding 
noise  like  the  working  of  millstones,  drew 
off  about  a  ship's  length,  towing  the  boats, 
and  stopped  again.  During  this  time  the 
master,  scanning  his  lost  ship  intently, 
saw  the  three  Germans  left  on  board  her 
hurrying  to  and  fro,  taking  his  charts  and 
compasses  and  lowering  them  into  their 
own  boat.  Then  one  of  them,  supposed 
by  the  master  to  be  an  engineer,  went 
below.  Presumably  the  German  turned 
on  the  sea-cocks,  for  the  master  presently 


40   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

observed  the  Glitra  to  be  settling  down  by 
the  stern. 

'  It  was  then  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
since  the  crew  had  quitted  the  Glitra  ;  and 
the  commanding  officer  of  the  submarine 
ordered  the  master  to  cast  off  and  to 
proceed  towards  the  land. 

'  As  the  boats  drew  away  from  his  ship, 
lying  deserted  and  sinking  lower  into  the 
water,  the  master,  watching,  perceived  the 
dim  shape  of  the  submarine  still  circling 
about  her,  like  a  sea-beast  of  prey.  Gradu- 
ally the  boats  drew  out  of  sight  of  the  last 
scene. 

'  The  men  had  been  rowing  for  about 
an  hour  when  the  pilot-boat  came  up  and 
took  them  in  tow.  Then  the  men  of  the 
Glitra  were  taken  on  board  a  neutral  ship 
of  war.  The  master  of  the  Glitra  and  the 
crew,  thus  stranded  in  a  foreign  man-of- 
war  with  nothing  in  the  world  except  what 
they  had  on,  heard  the  growl  of  guns  rolling 
from  seaward,  where  the  submarine  was 
working  her  will  on  the  desolate  ship. 

'  The   capture   and   destruction   of  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   41 

Glitra  marks  an  early  stage  in  the  evolution 
of  the  German  pirate.  The  destruction  of 
the  ship  in  default  of  having  brought  her 
before  the  Prize  Court  of  the  enemy,  was 
a  violation  of  international  law,  which 
might,  however,  be  defended  on  the  plea 
of  necessity.  The  refusal  to  permit  officers 
and  men  to  take  with  them  their  effects 
was  an  infraction  both  of  universal  rule 
and  of  the  German  Naval  Prize  Regula- 
tions of  1914.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may 
be  contended  that  the  enemy  did  in  fact 
place  the  crew  of  the  captured  ship  in 
safety. 

'  The  British  were  threatened  with  re- 
volvers, and  guns  were  trained  upon  them, 
but  these  weapons  were  not  fired,  and  no 
one  was  injured.  In  his  later  stages  the 
German  pirate  observed  no  such  restraint. 
As  for  the  insult  to  the  British  flag,  while 
it  may  have  been  the  result  of  an  un- 
pleasant personal  idiosyncrasy,  it  is  also 
significant  of  a  mental  condition  prevailing 
among  German  officers,  of  which  examples 
subsequently  multiplied.' 


42   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'On  November  23rd,  1914,  the  little 
cargo  boat  Malachite,  four  days  out  from 
Liverpool,  was  drawing  near  to  the  French 
coast.  It  was  a  quarter  to  four  in  the 
afternoon ;  the  ship,  rolling  gently  to  the 
easterly  swell,  was  within  an  hour  or  so 
of  Havre,  which  lay  out  of  sight  beyond 
Cape  La  Heve,  darkening  in  the  haze 
some  four  miles  distant  on  the  port  bow. 
The  master  and  the  mate,  who  were  on 
the  bridge,  descried  the  indistinct  form  of 
a  long  and  low  vessel  lying  about  two 
miles  away  on  the  starboard  beam.  As 
they  looked,  the  mist  clinging  about  the 
unknown  craft  lit  with  a  flash,  followed 
by  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  a  shot  sang 
across  the  bows  of  the  Malachite.  Then 
the  two  officers  on  the  bridge  recognised 
the  vessel  to  be  a  German  submarine. 
The  first  that  the  men  below  in  the  engine- 
room  knew  was  the  clang  of  the  bridge- 
telegraph  and  the  swinging  over  of  the 
needle  on  the  dial  to  "stop."  They  eased 
down  the  engines,  and  as  the  ship  lost  way, 
they  heard  two  long  blasts  of  the  steam 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   43 

whistle    sounded    on    the    bridge.     Then 
silence,  the  ship  rolling  where  she  lay. 

'  The  master  and  the  mate,  standing 
against  the  bridge-rail,  contemplated  the 
approach  of  the  submarine.  The  German 
officer  and  the  quartermaster  were  on  the 
conning-tower.  Abaft  of  the  conning- 
tower,  on  deck,  a  seaman  stood  beside  a 
small  gun,  which  was  fitted  with  a  shoulder 
piece.  The  submarine  drew  close  along- 
side the  Malachite,  and  her  officers  looked 
down  into  the  eyes  of  the  German  naval 
officer,  and  the  German  naval  officer  looked 
up  at  the  two  British  seamen.  These  knew 
well  enough  what  to  expect,  and  merely 
wondered  in  what  manner  it  would  arrive. 

'  The  German  officer  was  polite  but 
business-like.  VV^here  have  you  come  from  ? 
Where  are  you  going  ?  What  is  your 
cargo  ?  These  were  his  questions,  framed 
in  that  school  English  which  for  many 
years  every  German  midshipman  has 
learned  as  part  of  his  pass  examination, 
in  order  that  he  may  communicate  with 
the  conquered  race  of  Britain. 


44   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'  The  master  gave  the  required  informa- 
tion. He  could  do  nothing  else.  Then 
the  submarine  olBcer  gave  an  order,  and 
a  sailor  ran  along  the  deck  of  the  sub- 
marine and  hoisted  the  German  ensign  on 
the  short  mast  mounted  aft.  All  being 
now  in  order,  the  submarine  officer  re- 
quested the  master  of  the  Malachite  to 
prepare  to  leave  his  ship  at  the  expiration 
of  ten  minutes,  and  to  bring  with  him  the 
ship's  papers. 

'  The  master,  mustering  the  crew,  got 
away  the  two  lifeboats,  and  fetched  his 
papers.  The  two  boats  came  alongside 
the  submarine  ;  and  now  the  submarine 
officer  gazed  down  at  the  stolid  British 
seamen,  who  were  utterly  in  his  power, 
and  they  stared  curiously  up  at  the  trim 
and  easy  German. 

'  The  master,  handing  over  his  papers, 
since  there  was  no  help  for  it,  asked  that 
the  ship's  log  and  the  articles  might  be 
given  back  to  him.  The  submarine  officer 
declined  to  grant  the  request.  Then  he 
added,   "I  am  sorry  I  cannot  accommo- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   45 

date  you  and  your  crew,  but  war  is 
war." 

'  Then  he  told  the  master  to  stand  clear, 
and  as  the  two  boats  hauled  off,  the  sub- 
marine got  under  way.  The  men  in  the 
boats,  resting  on  their  oars,  saw  the  sub- 
marine open  fire  on  the  Malachite  at  a 
range  of  about  200  yards,  saw  the  shot 
strike  the  ship  at  the  base  of  the  funnel, 
and  a  hissing  cloud  of  steam  and  smoke 
enshroud  her,  saw  shot  after  shot  pierce 
the  hull,  and  the  ship  begin  to  settle  down 
by  the  head. 

'  Darkness  was  gathering,  and  the  fog 
was  closing,  when  the  master  ordered  the 
men  to  give  way,  and  steered  towards 
Havre.  As  they  pulled  through  the  gloom, 
the  men  in  the  boats  heard  the  inter- 
mittent bark  of  the  gun  sounding  from 
seaward.  After  about  three  quarters  of 
an  hour  there  was  silence. 

'  They  came  into  Havre  Harbour  at  half- 
past  eight,  after  a  pull  of  some  three  and 
a  half  hours.  Subsequently  they  learned 
that  the  submarine,  having  fired  the  ship. 


46   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

left  her,  and  that  she  remained  afloat  all 
that  night  and  the  next  day. 

'  The  taking  of  the  Malachite  is  typical 
of  the  end  of  the  first  phase  of  submarine 
warfare  ;  the  phase  in  which  the  German 
officer,  individual  acts  of  biTitality  apart, 
at  least  recognised  the  existence  of  the  law 
of  nations,  used  a  certain  consideration 
for  the  crews  of  captured  vessels,  and  was 
occasionally  even  courteous.  On  the  other 
side,  merchant  ships  were  still  totally 
defenceless ;  and  sometimes,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Malachite,  were  taken  within 
sight  of  land  and  close  to  a  port  of  arrival.' 

'  The  Tokomaru  was  a  steamship  of 
nearly  4000  tons  register,  had  left  Well- 
ington, New  Zealand,  and  had  touched 
at  Tencriffe,  which  port  was  swarming 
with  Germans.  The  Tokomaru  lay  at 
Tencriffe  for  eleven  hours,  during  which 
time  many  shore  boats  came  alongside. 
The  visitors  could  easily  have  ascertained 
her  destination.  Wliether  or  not  that 
circumstance  was  related  to  her  destruc- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   47 

tion  was  not  known.  Teneriffe  belongs 
to  Spain. 

'  Like  the  Malachite,  the  Tokomaru  was 
bound  for  Havre.  Off  Ushant  she  spoke 
a  French  man- of  war,  giving  her  name  and 
destination.  At  about  nine  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  Saturday,  January  30th, 
1915,  she  was  within  seven  miles  of  the 
Havre  lightship.  Somewhere  on  the  sea- 
floor  beneath  the  Tokomaru' s  keel  lay  the 
bones  of  the  Malachite.  It  was  a  fine, 
clear  morning,  the  land  mistily  sparkling 
beyond  the  shining  levels  of  the  sea.  Some 
of  the  crew  were  busy  about  the  anchors, 
preparing  to  moor.  The  master  and  the 
second  and  third  officers  were  on  the 
bridge.  An  able  seaman  was  posted  on 
the  forecastle  head,  looking  out.  Between 
the  ship  and  the  shore  a  French  trawler 
was  steaming  about  her  business. 

'  Without  any  sign  or  warning  a  tre- 
mendous blow  struck  the  ship  on  the  port 
side  with  a  loud  explosion,  and  a  column 
of  water,  rising  to  the  height  of  the  funnels, 
descended  bodily  upon  the  three  officers 


48   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

on  the  bridge,  swept  along  the  decks, 
poured  down  the  companion-ways,  and 
filled  up  the  stokehold.  The  ship  leaned 
over  to  port,  and  officers  and  men  felt  her 
settling  down  under  their  feet. 

'  Several  things  happened  simultaneously. 
The  master,  cool  and  composed,  looking 
seaward,  perceived  a  little  hooded  dark 
object  cleaving  the  surface  about  600  yards 
away  on  the  port  beam,  and,  making  a 
path  from  it  to  the  ship,  irregular,  eddying 
patches  of  foam.  There,  then,  was  the 
submarine  and  there  was  the  track  of  her 
torpedo,  ending  in  a  spreading  inky  patch 
of  water  about  the  ship,  where  the  sea 
was  washing  the  coal  out  of  the  bunkers. 
Even  as  the  master  ordered  the  boats  to 
be  manned,  the  periscope  of  the  submarine 
disappeared.  At  the  same  time  the  wire- 
less operator,  shut  up  in  his  room,  was 
making  the  S.O.S.  signal,  and  the  French 
trawler  in  the  distance  began  to  steam  at 
full  speed  towards  the  ship. 

'  Owing  to  the  list  of  the  vessel  the  falls 
of  the  boats  jammed.     The  crew  cut  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE       49 

ropes,  hammered  away  the  chocks,  and 
stood  by  quietly  awaiting  the  order  to 
launch.  They  were  all  wet  through,  for 
those  on  deck  had  been  smothered  in  the 
falling  water,  and  those  below  had  strug- 
gled up  the  ladders,  against  descending 
torrents.  There  they  stood,  the  deck 
dropping  by  inches  beneath  their  feet,  and 
tilting  towards  the  bows,  until  the  sea 
was  washing  over  the  forecastle  head,  when 
the  master  ordered  them  into  the  boats. 
The  master  was  the  last  to  leave  the  ship. 
His  cabin  being  full  of  water,  he  was  unable 
to  save  the  ship's  papers  and  money. 
Sixty-two  pounds  belonging  to  the  owners, 
and  about  seventeen  pounds  belonging  to 
the  master  himself,  were  lost. 

'  By  this  time  the  French  trawler  had 
come  up,  and  the  officers  and  men,  fifty- 
eight  all  told,  were  taken  on  board.  The 
trawler  stood  by,  while  a  flotilla  of  French 
torpedo-boats,  arriving  from  Havre  with 
several  trawlers,  steamed  swiftly  in  circles 
round  the  sinking  ship,  in  order  to  guard 
against  a  renewed  attack. 

D 


50   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'  At  half- past  ten,  about  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  she  was  torpedoed,  the  Toko- 
maru,  with  her  cargo  of  general  goods  and 
fruit,  went  down  in  a  great  swirl  of  water. 
When  it  had  subsided,  the  trawler  moored 
a  buoy  over  the  spot,  and  took  the  Toko- 
maru's  people  into  Havre.' 

'  The  little  steamship  Downshire  was 
small  game,  but  the  Germans  are  nothing 
if  not  thorough.  The  case  illustrates  to 
what  extent,  in  these  early  stages  of  the 
war,  the  master  felt  he  could  act  on  his 
own  responsibility.  He  went  as  far  as  he 
could.  The  German  officer,  although,  in 
sinking  the  Downshire,  he  was  committing 
an  act  of  piracy,  behaved  with  courtesy 
and  consideration,  and  spoke  "  in  perfect 
EngHsh." 

'  The  Downshire  left  an  Irish  port  early 
in  the  afternoon  of  February  20th,  1915, 
and  by  half-past  five,  in  a  clear  and  calm 
twilight,  she  was  eight  or  ten  miles  from 
the  English  coast,  steaming  at  about  nine 
knots,  when  the  master  perceived  a  sub- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   51 

marine.  The  enemy  vessel  was  running 
on  the  surface,  nearly  two  miles  away  on 
the  starboard  bow,  and  heading  for  the 
Downshire. 

'  The  master  instantly  altered  course  to 
bring  the  submarine  astern  of  the  Down- 
shire, ordered  full  speed,  and  roused  out 
all  the  men,  ten  in  number.  The  sub- 
marine also  altered  course  and  began  to 
chase,  rapidly  overhauling  the  Downshire. 
At  a  range  of  about  four  hundred  yards 
the  submarine  opened  fire  from  the 
machine-gun  mounted  on  her  deck. 

'  Here  was  a  pretty  situation  for  the 
peaceful  master  of  a  little  trading  coaster. 
He  kept  his  wits  about  him,  and  his  eyes 
on  the  enemy ;  and,  continuing  to  man- 
oeuvre his  ship  to  put  the  submarine  astern, 
swiftly  reckoned  his  chances.  People 
think,  not  in  words,  but  in  pictures,  dim 
or  clear.  The  sharper  the  emergency,  the 
more  vivid  the  picture.  The  master, 
never  shifting  his  steady  seaman's  gaze 
from  the  submarine  gaining  hand  over 
hand  astern,  beheld  with  his  inward  eye 


52   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  pieces  of  his  problem  shding  together 
and  shpping  apart  again  as  he  bent  his 
mind  to  fit  tiiem  to  a  pattern. 

'  He  foresaw  the  submarine,  with  her 
turn  of  speed,  drawing  so  close  alongside 
that,  as  the  machine-gun  crackled  and 
spat,  his  men  would  be  struck  down ;  he 
foresaw  the  long  fifteen  miles  to  the  nearest 
port,  partly  as  measured  on  the  thumb- 
stained  chart,  partly  as  a  seascape  of  deep 
water,  in  which  the  submarine  could 
venture  all  the  way,  knowing  that  she 
could  safely  submerge  at  any  moment ; 
he  foresaw  his  ship,  shoving  for  safety 
under  continuous  fire  for  an  hour  and  a 
half,  splinters  flying,  men  rolled  on  the 
deck ;  he  may  even  have  seen  himself, 
crumpled  up  beside  the  wheel,  and  a  dart- 
ing vision  of  the  ship  being  taken  after  all ; 
he  imagined  the  coiling  track  of  a  torpedo 
whitening  towards  him,  and  foretasted 
the  ultimate  explosion ;  and  at  the  same 
moment  he  reckoned  the  chance  of  the 
torpedo  striking  a  hull  drawing  four  feet 
six  inches  forward  and  ten  feet  six  inches 


THE  PARAVANE  ADATENTURE       53 

aft,  and  perceived  that  the  torpedo  might 
pass  under  the  keel,  and  also  that  it  might 
not.  .  .  . 

'  In  the  meantime  the  submarine  was 
still  gaining  on  the  Downshire.  She  fired 
a  second  shot.  The  master,  with  his  prob- 
lem now  resolved  into  a  grim  pattern 
whose  significance  was  imperative  and 
inexorable,  may  or  may  not  have  con- 
sidered the  possibility  of  ramming  the 
submarine.  He  had  no  instructions  on 
the  subject.  But  if  he  did  consider  that 
possibility,  he  must  also  have  foreseen 
that  if  he  failed  in  the  attempt,  the 
submarine  would  certainly  try  to  torpedo 
him.  If  the  torpedo  hit,  all  was  over. 
If  it  missed  the  enemy  would  give  no 
quarter. 

'  The  submarine  fired  a  third  shot  at 
close  range.  That  settled  it.  The  master 
had  held  on  as  long  as  he  could.  Utterly 
defenceless  as  he  was,  he  had  not  yielded 
at  the  first  shot,  nor  the  second,  nor  until 
he  saw  that  the  submarine  had  the  speed 
of  him.     He   stopped   the   engines.     The 


54   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Downshire  drifted  on,  losing  speed,  and  lay 
rolling  slightly,  while  the  submarine,  draw- 
ing up  to  within  fifty  yards  of  the  port 
quarter,  stopped  also. 

'  The  Downshire' s  firemen,  who  had 
been  furiously  heaving  coal,  momently 
expecting  the  next  shot  to  crash  into 
the  engine-room  and  very  likely  cut  the 
main  steampipe,  came  on  deck,  black, 
sweating  and  sullen. 

'  The  German  submarine  officer,  ad- 
dressing the  Downshire  "  in  perfect  Eng- 
lish "  from  his  conning-tower,  courteously 
issued  his  orders.  The  crew  of  the  Down- 
shire were  to  take  to  their  boats,  and  the 
master  was  to  bring  the  ship's  papers  to 
the  submarine.  (They  could  have  given 
small  satisfaction  to  the  German,  for  the 
Downshire's  sole  cargo  was  five  tons  of 
empty  cement  bags.) 

'  Even  at  this  period  of  the  war  British 
seamen  knew  enough  of  the  German  officer 
to  know  that  his  temper  was  about  as 
calculable  as  the  temper  of  a  tiger.  The 
crew  of  the  Downshire  launched  their  two 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   55 

lifeboats,  pulled  towards  the  submarine, 
and  stared,  composed  and  curious,  at  the 
strange  vessel  and  the  foreign  officer. 
That  personage  was  decisive  but  urbane. 
He  regretted  the  necessity  of  his  action, 
which,  he  said,  was  due  to  the  exigencies 
of  war.  One  boat  he  ordered  to  pull  to 
windward.  The  other  boat,  in  which  was 
the  master,  was  ordered  alongside  the 
submarine.  The  master  and  the  boat's 
crew  were  taken  on  board,  where  they 
scrutinised  the  white  faces  and  the  stiff, 
over-trained  figures  of  the  German  blue- 
jackets. Then  the  submarine  officer 
ordered  the  second  officer  and  the  steward 
of  the  Downshire  back  into  their  boat, 
telling  them  to  get  provisions  for  the 
Downshire\s  men.  Five  men  of  the  sub- 
marine's crew  pulled  the  boat  to  the  Down- 
shire, and  while  the  second  officer  and  the 
steward  were  fetching  provisions  from 
below  and  placing  them  in  the  boat,  the 
Germans  were  occupied  in  fixing  a  bomb 
under  the  Downshire. 

'  These  proceedings  were  watched  in  an 


5G   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

absorbed  silence  by  the  master  and  the 
Downshire's  men  in  the  submarine,  and  by 
the  men  in  the  second  hfeboat,  standing 
off  at  a  little  distance.  It  was  the  execu- 
tion of  their  ship  they  were  contemplating. 
By  this  time  it  was  evident  that  no  harm 
to  themselves  was  intended. 

'  The  first  lifeboat,  stocked  with  gear 
and  provisions,  returned  to  the  submarine. 
Tlie  Germans  went  on  board,  the  master 
and  the  rest  of  his  men  embarked  again, 
shoved  off,  and  pulled  away  to  join  the 
second  lifeboat,  while  the  submarine  got 
under  way,  drew  further  from  the  ship, 
stopped  again,  and  waited. 

'  The  men  of  the  Downshire  rowed  away 
into  the  gathering  darkness,  and  the  sub- 
marine faded  out  of  sight,  and  the  form 
of  the  lonely  ship  grew  blurred  and  dim. 
There  was  a  flash  of  fire,  the  sound  of  a 
dull  explosion  rolled  across  the  water,  the 
distant  ship  plunged  bows  under  and 
vanished. 

'  It  was  then  six  o'clock.  The  whole 
episode  had  lasted  half  an  hour.     Within 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   57 

the  next  half-hour  the  Downshires  were 
picked  up  by  two  steam  drifters. 

'  The  treatment  by  the  German  officer 
of  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Downshire 
shines  by  contrast  with  the  conduct  of 
some  of  his  colleagues.  That  circumstance 
does  not  alter  the  fact  that,  in  destroying 
the  ship  and  in  setting  her  people  adrift, 
he  violated  the  law  of  the  sea.' 

'  It  was  tea-time  on  board  the  steamship 
Harpalion  proceeding  down  the  Channel, 
bound  for  the  United  States.  The  third 
officer  went  to  the  bridge,  the  master  and 
the  Trinity  House  pilot  went  down  to  the 
master's  cabin  to  tea.  The  second  officer 
sat  at  tea  with  the  engineers,  and  here 
follows  his  account  of  what  happened. 

'  "  We  had  just  sat  down  to  tea  at  the 
engineers'  table,  and  the  chief  engineer 
was  saying  grace.  He  had  just  uttered 
the  words  '  For  what  we  are  about  to 
receive  may  the  Lord  make  us  truly  thank- 
ful,' when  there  came  an  awful  crash.  I 
never  saw  such  a  smash  as  it  caused.     Cups 


58   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

and  dishes  were  shattered  to  pieces,  every- 
thing in  the  pantry  was  broken,  and  photo- 
graphs screwed  into  the  walls  fell  off." 

'  So  the  second  officer  told  The  TiJJies, 
from  whose  issue  of  February  25tli,  1915, 
the  passage  is  quoted.  Such  was  the  event 
inside  the  ship.  Now  let  us  look  at  it 
from  outside,  from  the  bridge  of  a  distant 
man-of-war.  Her  commanding  officer, 
watching  the  Harpalion  afar  off,  saw  a 
column  of  water  leap  alongside  her,  then 
another,  and  heard  the  dull  boom  of  an 
explosion,  like  the  slamming  of  a  heavy 
door  in  a  vault,  instantly  followed  by  a 
second  boom.  He  ordered  full  speed  and 
steamed  towards  the  Harpalion. 

'  On  board  her,  master,  pilot,  officers 
and  crew  had  all  tumbled  up  on  deck, 
where,  in  a  fog  of  steam  and  smoke,  they 
were  just  in  time  to  receive  the  descending 
fountain  of  the  second  explosion.  The 
ship  listed  to  port  and  began  to  settle  by 
the  head  ;  it  was  reported  to  the  master 
that  three  firemen  had  been  killed  below ; 
and  he  saw  to  seaward  the  periscope  of 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   59 

a  submarine.  He  also  beheld  the  com- 
fortable spectacle  of  a  King's  ship  tearing 
towards  him  with  a  bone  in  her  mouth. 

'  The  master  ordered  the  boats  to  be 
got  away.  One  was  already  in  the  water 
filled  with  men,  by  the  time  the  man-of- 
war  drew  close  alongside.  Her  command- 
ing officer  hailed  the  master,  who  instantly 
informed  the  naval  officer  of  the  presence 
of  an  enemy  submarine.  The  naval  officer 
assumed  the  conduct  of  affairs.  He 
ordered  the  boat's  crew  then  afloat  to 
stand  by  to  help  save  the  rest  of  the  crew  ; 
and  immediately  started  in  pursuit  of  the 
submarine,  cruising  at  high  speed  about 
the  Harpalion  while  her  people  were  getting 
into  the  boats.  Failing  to  find  the  sub- 
marine, the  man-of-war  returned,  em- 
barked the  master,  the  pilot,  the  rest  of 
the  officers  and  the  crew,  thirty-nine  all 
told,  and  three  dead  men,  and  let  the 
boats  drift. 

*  The  naval  officer  and  the  master  then 
took  counsel  together.  The  master  thought 
the  ship  was  sinking.     The  naval  officer 


60   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

thought  she  was  hkely  to  keep  afloat,  but 
that,  as  the  enemy  submarine  was  probably 
hanging  about,  it  would  be  unsafe  to  leave 
the  crew  in  the  Harpalion.  It  was  there- 
fore decided  to  land  the  crew.  The  naval 
officer  signalled  to  the  nearest  naval  station 
asking  that  a  tug  should  be  sent,  and 
proposed  that  the  Harpalion  should  be 
left  anchored  with  lights  burning,  an 
arrangement  which  was  not,  in  fact,  carried 
into  execution. 

*  The  man-of-war  went  on  to  the  nearest 
naval  station,  and  landed  the  living  and 
the  dead.  She  then  reported  events  to 
her  own  naval  station.  The  ship  was 
torpedoed  at  a  little  after  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  February 
24th,  1915.  By  a  quarter  to  six  she  was 
abandoned.  For  nearly  twelve  hours 
afterwards  the  Harpalion  was  lost.  The 
naval  officer  was  right ;  she  was  not  sink- 
ing. If  a  tug  was  sent  out  that  evening 
in  response  to  the  signal,  she  failed  to  find 
the  Harpalion. 

'  But  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   61 

Admiralty  allows  a  ship  to  disappear 
without  explanation.  That  evening  and 
the  next  day,  Thursday,  the  Admiralty 
was  asking  every  naval  station  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  loss,  "  Where  is  Harpalion  ?  " 
Station  A  reported  trying  to  find  Har- 
palion, incidentally  reporting  at  the  same 
time  that  three  other  vessels  had  been  put 
down.  Station  B  reported  Harpalion  dere- 
lict, anchored,  lights  burning,  and  later, 
"  Cannot  find,  but  searching."  Station 
C  replied,  "  Not  in  my  district." 

'  Where  was  Harpalion  ?  She  was 
simply  drifting  about,  masterless  and 
miserable.  She  drifted  from  5.45  p.m.  on 
Wednesday  to  4  p.m.  on  Thursday.  Then 
she  was  sighted  by  the  steamship  Ariel, 
whose  master  promptly  sent  four  men  on 
board  to  investigate  matters.  It  was 
clearly  a  salvage  case ;  but  in  their  de- 
position the  four  gallant  seamen  say 
simply,  "  We  four  men  got  on  board  as 
prize  crew." 

'  To  be  precise,  a  prize  crew  is  a  crew 
placed  by  the  captor  on  board  a  vessel 


62   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

captured  by  an  act  of  war.  Salvage  is 
another  affair.  Any  ship  succouring 
another  vessel,  derelict  or  wrecked,  is 
entitled  to  claim  reward  from  the  owners. 
In  the  case  of  the  Ariel  and  Harpalion,  it 
would  seem  that  the  men  of  the  Ariel, 
considering  their  help  to  be  in  the  nature 
of  war  service  rather  than  a  commercial 
transaction,  preferred  to  call  themselves 
a  prize  crew.  But  this  is  conjecture, 
for  the  four  deponents,  appearing  for  a 
moment  in  the  light  of  history,  have  gone 
again.  They  were  the  first  officer  of  the 
Ariel,  two  able  seamen  and  one  apprentice. 
'  They  boarded  the  deserted  Harpalion 
on  Thursday  afternoon,  and  their  own 
ship,  the  Ariel,  went  on  her  way  short- 
handed.  What  they  did  next  is  not  re- 
vealed, except  that  they  tried  to  take  her 
to  Cardiff.  Their  situation  was  dangerous 
enough.  The  ship  was  full  of  water  for- 
ward, and  listing  to  port.  At  any  moment 
a  questing  submarine  might  have  sent  her 
to  the  bottom  without  warning.  Presum- 
ably the  prize  crew  tried  to  get  steam  on 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   63 

her,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
they  were  successful.  If  they  failed,  the 
ship  was  not  under  control.  If  they 
succeeded,  their  progress  must  have  been 
very  slow.  In  any  case,  there  were  only 
four  men,  instead  of  forty- one,  to  work 
a  ship  of  3669  tons  register.  The  chief 
officer  would  be  on  the  bridge,  steering 
and  conning  the  ship,  one  able  seaman 
in  the  stokehold,  one  in  the  engine-room, 
leaving  the  apprentice  for  services  as 
requisite,  such  as  getting  meals,  carrying 
messages  and  doing  odd  jobs. 

'  The  full  story  of  that  night  on  board 
the  Harpalion  spent  by  the  prize  crew 
adrift  in  a  ship  which  they  believed  to 
be  sinking,  remains  to  be  told.  Perhaps 
it  will  never  be  told,  like  many  another 
deed  of  the  sea. 

'  Early  on  the  Friday  morning  wind  and 
sea  began  to  rise.  The  Harpalion  was 
then  within  about  twenty  miles  of  the  spot 
upon  which  she  had  been  torpedoed.  The 
ship  was  heavily  water-logged  ;  the  water 
was  washing  in  and  out  of  her,  and  the 


64       THE  PARAVANE  AD\^NTURE 

chief  officer  was  unable  to  keep  her  head 
to  the  sea.  They  drifted  helplessly  before 
the  gale  in  that  dark  and  bitter  February 
morning  until  eight  o'clock,  the  hour  at 
which  all  over  the  world  the  white  ensign 
is  hoisted  on  the  quarterdeck  of  His 
Majesty's  ships.  And  at  that  hour  the 
men  of  the  Harpalion  descried  three  men- 
of-war  surging  towards  them  through  the 
smothering  sea.  Two  flew  the  tricolour 
and  one  the  white  ensign. 

'  The  British  torpedo-boat  drew  near 
and  hove  a  line  on  board  the  Harpalion. 
The  prize  crew  hauled  it  in,  hauled  in  a 
grass  rope,  hauled  in  a  hawser  and  made 
it  fast,  and  the  little  torpedo-boat  began 
to  tow  the  dead  weight  of  the  big  cargo- 
boat.  The  weather  grew  worse,  and  the 
torpedo-boat,  unable  to  make  any  way, 
was  obliged  to  cast  off.  "  We  still  stuck 
to  the  Harpalion,^^  the  prize  crew  deposed. 
They  stuck  to  her  all  that  day,  in  wind 
and  sea.  A  tug  came,  but  so  heavy  was 
the  weather  she  could  not  get  the  Har- 
palion in  tow,  and  so  stood  by  her.     Night 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   65 

came,  and  still  the  prize  crew  stuck  to 
their  prize.  Towards  midnight  the  ship 
was  settling  dangerously,  and  the  prize 
crew  were  forced  to  conclude  that  they 
could  do  no  more.  At  half-past  eleven 
on  that  Friday  night  they  went  over  the 
side  into  their  boat,  left  the  Harpalion 
and  went  on  board  the  tug.  They  were 
not  much  too  soon.  Thirty-five  minutes 
afterwards  the  Harpalion  went  down. 

'  The  tug  landed  the  prize  crew  at 
Havre,  where,  before  the  Vice-Consul,  they 
made  a  deposition  of  the  shortest  recording 
their  adventure,  and  so  went  their  ways. 

'  All  that  Friday  the  unseen  eye  of  the 
Admiralty  had  been  bent  upon  the  Har- 
palion. Naval  station  D  having  reported, 
"  Cannot  find  Harpalion,^''  naval  station 
B  reported  "  Harpalion  picked  up  by 
Ariel,' ^  and  later  "  Abandoned  by  Ariel.' ^ 
Naval  station  A  reported  "  Harpalion 
being  towed." 

'  Finally,  on  Saturday,  Lloyd's  reported 
"  Harpalion  sunk."  But  she  had  floated 
for  fifty-five  hours  after  having  been  torpe- 


66       THE  PARAVANE  AD\^NTURE 

doed.  So  the  naval  officer  was  right  in 
his  estimate.  Of  that  period,  she  was 
twenty-three  hours  derehct,  thirty-one 
and  a  half  hours  in  charge  of  the  prize 
crew,  and  a  final  half-hour  again  derelict 
in  the  storm.' 

Such  losses  as  these  were  being  inflicted 
while  Burney  was  toiling  day  and  night 
to  produce  the  Paravane.  During  this 
period,  the  losses  among  the  British  steam- 
ships of  1600  tons  gross  and  uj) wards  were 
as  follows  : — 

In  September,  1914,  23  vessels ;  in 
October,  16  ;  in  November,  4  ;  in  Decem- 
ber, 4  ;  in  January  1915,  7 ;  in  February, 
when  the  German  blockade  was  proclaimed, 
8 ;  then,  in  March,  a  swift  rise  to  18 ;  a 
drop  in  April  to  6,  much  to  the  public 
relief ;  a  rise  again  in  May  to  13  :  in  all, 
99  ships,  not  including  sailing  ships  and 
small   craft. 

The  theory  that  these  losses  were  not 
worth  serious  consideration,  was  still 
maintained.     The  Admiralty   had   organ- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   67 

ised  a  great  fleet  of  patrols,  mine-sweepers 
and  small  craft,  and  continued  to  increase 
it.  But  there  was  no  effective  weapon 
either  for  destroying  submarines,  or  for 
protecting  ships  under  way  against  mines. 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Lord  Jellicoe  de- 
scribed in  his  book  how  the  Grand  Fleet 
was  constantly  hunted  by  submarines ; 
how  destroyers  were  perpetually  being 
despatched  at  full  speed  to  the  place 
where  a  submarine  had  been  sighted  ;  how, 
not  unnaturally,  they  failed  to  find  it ; 
and  how  the  movements  of  the  Fleet  were 
circumscribed  by  minefields. 

In  June  1915,  the  Admiralty  approved 
of  the  ordering  of  a  number  of  sets  of 
Burney's  new  gear,  and  of  the  use  of  a 
destroyer  for  experimental  purposes.  At 
the  same  time  Lieutenant  Burney  was 
appointed  to  H.M.S.  Vernon  to  supervise 
the  construction  and  the  issue  of  the  new 
gear. 

At  this  point  it  will  be  convenient  to 
describe  the  Paravane  itself.  As  yet  it 
had  no  name  ;  not  until  the  3rd  December 


68   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

1915,  when  Commander  E.  L.  W.  con- 
ceived the  name,  was  the  gear  christened 
nor  was  it  until  the  following  January 
that  the  name  received  official  approval. 
From  the  first  it  was,  of  course,  kept 
secret,  so  far  as  possible ;  indeed,  the 
initials  P.  V.  were  commonly  used ;  few 
of  the  public  ever  heard  either  of  P.  V.  or 
of  Paravane,  and  fewer  knew  what  it  was. 
The  secrecy  maintained  was  remarkable. 
But  the  name  is  no  longer  a  secret,  and 
may  here  be  employed  without  indiscretion. 


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VI 

The  Paravane  is  essentially  an  aeroplane. 
It  consists  of  a  buoyant  torpedo-shaped 
body,  across  the  nose  of  which  is  fitted  a 
plane.  It  is  so  constructed  that,  when  it 
is  towed  from  a  ship,  it  may  be  set  to  a 
certain  depth  below  the  surface,  where  it 
remains  at  a  distance  from  the  ship's 
side,  so  long  as  the  ship  is  under  way,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  course  and  speed 
of  the  ship.  The  Paravane  was  at  first 
designed  to  attack  and  to  destroy  sub- 
marines. It  therefore  contained  an  ex- 
plosive charge,  which  could  be  fired  either 
by  impact  or  by  other  methods.  The 
whole  set  of  gear  employing  this  form  of 
Paravane  is  known  as  the  High  Speed 
Submarine  Sweep. 

Two  Paravanes  are  towed  from  the 
stern  of  a  destroyer  or  other  vessel,  one 
on   either    quarter,   attached    to   winches 

69 


70   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

by  specially  designed  towing  wires.  When 
the  towing  wire  fouls  a  submerged  sub- 
marine it  slips  along  the  surface  of  the 
submarine  until  it  brings  the  Paravane 
into  contact  with  the  submarine,  when 
the  explosive  charge  contained  in  the 
Paravane  is  fired  automatically.  Such  is 
the  general  outline  of  the  Paravane,  the 
details  of  whose  construction  are  secret. 

The  second  form  of  Paravane  was 
designed  for  cutting  the  mooring  wires 
of  mines,  thus  enabling  a  ship  to  pass 
safely  through  a  minefield.  The  shape  of 
the  mine-cutting,  or  protector  Paravane, 
is  the  same,  but  it  contains  no  explosive 
charge,  and  the  head  is  fitted  with  steel- 
toothed  jaws,  making  the  cutter  which 
severs  the  mooring  wire  of  a  mine.  A  pro- 
tector Paravane  is  towed  one  on  either  side 
of  a  ship,  either  man-of-war  or  merchant 
vessel,  the  towing  wire  being  attached  to 
the  bows  at  the  level  of  the  keel.  The 
Paravane  is  set  at  a  depth  several  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  keel,  and,  like  the 
High  Speed  Submarine  Sweep,  tows  out  at 


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THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   71 

a  distance  from  the  side  of  the  ship.  Thus 
the  towing  wires  make  a  wedge  shape,  the 
apex  being  at  the  bow  of  the  ship.  Within 
the  Hmits  of  the  wedge,  the  towing  wire 
catches  the  mooring  wire  of  a  mine,  the 
mine  is  deflected  away  from  the  ship,  and 
the  mooring  wire  sUdes  into  the  jaws  of 
the  cutter,  by  which  it  is  severed.  Then 
the  mine  comes  to  the  surface.  Thus  the 
only  point  of  the  vessel  unprotected  is  the 
bow  itself,  but  in  practice  the  chance  of 
the  bow  of  a  vessel  striking  directly  upon 
a  mine  is  negligible.  As  to  the  mines  set 
adrift  on  the  surface,  they  can  be  exploded 
by  fire,  or  otherwise  destroyed.  Should  a 
drifting  mine  lie  in  the  path  of  a  vessel, 
the  bow- wave  usually  washes  the  drifting 
mine  outwards  from  the  side. 

The  towing  wire  of  a  Paravane  takes  a 
definite  curve,  which  is  shown  in  the  illus- 
trations. It  is  this  catenary-like  curve, 
the  result  of  the  inter-action  of  the 
various  intricate  stresses  involved,  which 
limits  the  length  of  the  towing  wire. 
A    spread    of   about    110    feet    on    either 


72   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

side  of  the  vessel,  or  of  about  220  feet  in 
all,  can  be  obtained.  The  protector  Para- 
vane thus  sweeps  a  broad  path,  cutting 
loose  any  moored  mine  within  that  path. 
If  the  mine  be  moored  so  deep  that  the 
Paravane  wire  passes  over  it,  the  ship  also 
will  pass  over  it,  except  in  a  very  rough 
sea,  when  the  ship  is  pitching  heavily,  in 
which  case  the  Paravane  wire  ceases  to 
be  an  absolute  protection. 

The  necessity  of  towing  the  protector 
Paravane  from  the  lowest  point  of  the 
bows,  which  occurs  at  the  intersection 
of  the  vertical  line  of  the  stem  and  the 
horizontal  line  of  the  keel,  made  it 
necessary  to  make  a  special  fitting  for 
that  point,  which  is  riveted  to  the  bow 
and  to  which  the  towing  wires  are  attached. 
By  means  of  an  arrangement  of  double 
chains  running  up  and  down  on  either 
side  of  the  bow,  the  towing  wires  are 
lowered  to  this  point  when  the  Paravanes 
are  hoisted  overboard,  and  are  hauled  up 
to  the  forecastle  deck  when  the  Paravanes 
are  taken  inboard.     The  Paravanes  them- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   73 

selves  are  hoisted  out  by  means  of  davits 
and  derricks  fitted  on  deck.  This  brief 
general  description  may  serve  to  indicate 
something  of  the  nature  and  the  com- 
plexity of  the  gear  required,  and  that  a 
certain  amount  of  training  is  required  to 
enable  officers  and  men  to  use  it. 

As  the  designs  of  both  men-of-war  and 
of  merchant  ships  vary,  it  was  necessary 
to  design  various  types  of  Paravane, 
various  sizes  of  wire,  and  various  modi- 
fications of  gear  to  fit  the  ships.  Ships 
under  construction  could  be  adapted  to 
the  gear ;  but  the  gear  must  be  adapted 
to  existing  ships. 

Another  application  of  the  Paravane, 
the  High  Speed  Mine  Sweep,  is  worked 
on  the  principle  of  the  High  Speed  Sub- 
marine Sweep.  The  Paravane,  instead  of 
containing  an  explosive  charge,  is  fitted 
with  cutters,  and  is  towed  from  either 
quarter  of  a  destroyer.  In  this  case  the 
wedge  made  by  the  towing  wires  spreads 
upon  a  much  wider  path  than  the  wedge 
of  the  protector  Paravane.     The  two  Para- 


74   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

vane  wires  pass  through  blocks  attached  to 
either  end  of  a  short  span  of  wire.  From 
the  centre  of  the  short  span  of  wire  is  towed 
a  depressor  Paravane,  called  by  reason  of 
its  shape  a  tadpole,  the  span  of  wire  and 
the  tadpole  being  secured  to  the  ship  by 
a  separate  wire.  The  use  of  the  tadpole  is 
to  keep  the  two  Paravane  wires  down  to  a 
depth  as  near  as  possible  to  the  depth  of 
the  Paravanes  themselves,  thus  preventing 
a  mine  from  passing  uncaught  between  the 
Paravanes.  Paravane  and  tadpole  wires 
make  a  complete  crinoline. 

The  High  Speed  Mine  Sweep  does  not 
affect  the  manoeuvring  powers  of  the  ship  ; 
it  can  be  used  at  a  much  higher  speed  than 
any  other  form  of  sweep,  cutting  up  a 
minefield  and  bringing  the  mines  to  the 
surface,  where  they  can  be  destroyed.  In 
a  double  ship  sweep  of  the  old  type,  the 
mines  arc  collected  in  the  bight  of  the 
wire  and  are  towed  along. 

The  gear  required  for  the  High  Speed 
Mine  Sweep  includes  two  rotary  dropping 
davits,  two   steam  winches,  and  various 


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THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   75 

accessories  fitted  on  the  deck  of  the 
destroyer. 

The  Paravane  fitted  to  merchant  vessels 
was  called  the  Otter,  for  convenience  in 
distinction. 

The  Paravane  looks  like  a  model  of  an 
antediluvian  fish,  with  its  corpulent  body, 
six  to  twelve  feet  long,  its  plane  fitted 
across  its  formidable  snout,  which  is  armed 
with  steel  teeth,  like  the  jaws  of  a  shark, 
and  its  stiff  tail-fins.  Or  it  looks  as  if  a 
torpedo  had  been  trying  to  fly. 

This  grotesque  and  amazing  creature, 
half-fish,  half-bird,  gropes  for  the  sub- 
marine in  the  still  deeps  of  the  sea,  clings 
to  it  and  blows  it  and  itself  to  atoms.  Or, 
swimming  steadily  speed  for  speed  with 
its  ship,  it  bites  through  the  wires  of  a 
minefield,  and  the  ship  goes  free. 


VII 

When,  in  June  1915,  the  Admiralty  sanc- 
tioned the  ordering  of  a  certain  number 
of  sets  of  the  explosive  Paravane  gear,  it 
became  evident  that  the  business  of  manu- 
facturing the  Paravane  and  accessory- 
gear,  which,  if  it  was  required  at  all  was 
required  immediately,  must  be  extended 
from  the  Government  yards  to  private 
firms.  H.M.S.  Vernon,  Torpedo  School, 
was  therefore  authorised  by  the  Admiralty 
to  deal  directly  with  private  firms  in  re- 
spect of  design.  But  any  modification  of 
design,  such  as  experiment  constantly  sug- 
gested, and  all  financial  arrangements  were 
still  to  be  submitted  to  the  Admiralty  and 
were  subject  to  the  customary  depart- 
mental procedure. 

(To  those  unfamiliar  with  these  matters, 
it  should  here  be  explained  that  according 
to  Service  regulations  for  all  transactions 

76 


fcL*Wrf'«<iiii  r'm,  "aA 


STERN    OF    A    DESTROYER    UNDER   WAY 

Showing  the  tovving-wire  (electric)  of  the  High  Speed  Submarine 
Sweep  standing  out  from  the  fore-andraft  hue  of  the  ship  as  the 
Paravane  tows.     Looking  aft  over  the  Destroyer's  starboard  quarter. 

Photo.  Coiiiniander  C.  S.  Bowles 


HIGH    SPEED    SUBMARINE    SWEEP    PARAVANE    BEING   HOISTED   IN   TO 
THE    DROPPING-GEAR    AFTER   A    RUN    AT    SIMTHEAD  IN  A  DESTROYER 

Photo.  Cojmnaiider  G.  S.  Bowies 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   77 

in  H.M.  ships  the  captain  is  responsible  ; 
so  that  while  Lieutenant  Burney  was  on 
the  staff  of  H.M. S.  Vernon,  all  his  business 
was  officially  described  as  Vernon's  busi- 
ness.) 

If  Burney  was  immersed  in  work  before, 
he  was  now  plunged  neck-deep  into  a  task 
big  enough  to  occupy  a  whole  Government 
department.  There  were  experimental 
trials  to  be  conducted  at  sea,  improve- 
ments in  design  to  devise,  drawings  to  be 
made,  specifications  to  be  written,  business 
with  private  firms  to  be  transacted,  offi- 
cial reports  to  be  written,  and  his  inven- 
tions to  be  patented.  He  had,  in  fact, 
to  start  and  to  conduct  a  vast  technical 
and  industrial  enterprise,  which  was 
eventually  to  cost  millions,  in  a  cabin  in 
the  Vernon,  destitute  of  modern  business 
appliances,  and  with  such  scant  clerical 
assistance  as  the  Vernon  could  provide. 
Moreover,  the  urgency  of  the  affair,  at 
least  in  Burney's  view,  was  extreme,  for 
he  had  long  foreseen  what  might  be  the 
effect  of  the  steadily  increasing  submarine 


78   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

destruction  of  commerce,  and  he  knew, 
of  course,  what  the  whole  Navy  knew, 
but  of  which  the  pubHc  were  ignorant, 
the  hmitations  imposed  upon  the  action 
of  the  Fleet  by  the  enemy's  minefields. 

It  was  at  this  critical  moment,  when 
Burney  was  fighting  with  his  back  to  the 
wall,  that  the  Admiralty  began  to  give 
him  some  reinforcement.  The  number 
of  officers  needed  in  every  branch  of  the 
Service  was  insufficient,  but  it  was  fortun- 
ately possible  to  appoint  Commander  E. 
L.  W.  to  take  over  the  duties  of  First 
Lieutenant  of  Vernon,  a  post  he  had  occu- 
pied before  the  war.  In  1914,  Commander, 
then  Lieutenant- Commander,  W.  was  ap- 
pointed First  Lieutenant  of  H.M.S.  Kent, 
Captain  John  D.  Allen.  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander W.  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
the  Falkland  Islands,  of  8th  December 
1914,  in  which  the  Kent  did  notable 
service,  taking  part  in  the  chase  and 
sinking  of  the  light  cruiser  Nurnberg, 
and  subsequently,  with  H.M.S.  Glasgow, 
hunting  for  four  months  the  light  cruiser 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   79 

Dresden,  which  was  finally  sunk  on  14th 
March  1915,  off  Juan  Fernandez,  the 
Germans  escaping  to  Robinson  Crusoe's 
island  in  their  birthday  suits. 

In  January,  Lieutenant- Commander  W. 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Commander, 
and  was  re-appointed  to  the  staff  of 
Vernon.  As  Commander  W.  was  then  in 
the  Pacific,  six  months  elapsed  ere  the 
officer  who  was  to  relieve  him  could  arrive, 
so  that  it  was  not  till  July  that  W.  re- 
joined H.M.S.  Vernon,  Captain  F.  L.  Field. 

In  the  Pacific,  W.  had  sailed  and 
fought  in  the  fashion  of  the  Old  Navy, 
untroubled  by  submarines,  chasing  and 
cruising  in  uncharted  waters,  and  con- 
ducting cutting-out  expeditions  in  the 
solitary,  ice-walled  antres  of  Magellan's 
Strait.  He  returned  to  the  Vernon  to 
deal  directly  with  the  New  Navy  of  de- 
structive inventions,  of  which  he  had  had 
a  foretaste,  for  upon  the  day  before  he 
left  Vernon,  Lieutenant  Burney  had 
shown  to  him  the  Burney  scheme  for 
dealing    with    submarines.       But    Com- 


80       TPIE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

mandcr  V^.,  rejoining  Vernon,  little  knew 
what  lay  ahead  of  him.  He  was  instructed 
to  fulfil  the  duties  of  First  Lieutenant, 
which  involved  the  supervision  of  ex- 
perimental work,  and  a  member  of  that 
section  was  Lieutenant  C.  Dennis  Burney. 
It  speedily  became  evident  to  W.  that 
his  whole  time  and  his  utmost  energy 
would  be  required  to  deal  with  Burney's 
affairs  ;  and  he  obtained  permission  from 
Captain  Field  to  be  relieved  from  all 
other  duties. 

Li  the  same  month,  July  1915,  a 
brilliant  young  officer,  Lieutenant  G.  C.  B., 
completing  his  torpedo  course  in  Vernon^ 
came  out  first  amongst  the  officers  taking 
the  long  course  qualifying  for  torpedo 
officers;  and  at  Commander  W.'s  suggestion 
Lieutenant  B.  was  appointed  to  W.'s  de- 
partment. Lieutenant  B.  assisted  Burney 
in  fitting  and  testing  the  new  gear  in  the 
destroyer  supplied  by  the  Admiralty  for 
the  purpose,  and  eventually  he  took  over 
the  whole  of  that  part  of  the  work. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  what  was 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   81 

to  develop  into  a  complete  department. 
Throughout  that  development,  Burney 
was  the  defiant  irresistible  force,  W.  the 
patient,  tactful  and  sagacious  smoother  of 
difficulties.  If  Burney  tore  up  the  road 
in  his  progress,  W.,  following,  made  the 
rough  places  plain.  Burney  had  but  one 
idea  :  to  achieve  his  end  ;  W.'s  business 
was  to  make  it  possible.     And  he  did. 

A  little  later,  in  the  early  autumn.  Com- 
mander W.  was  joined  by  Lieutenant 
George  S.  Bowles.  Mr.  Bowles,  an  ex- 
naval  officer,  had  rejoined  the  Service  at 
the  declaration  of  war  with  the  rank 
of  lieutenant.  Being  an  ex-naval  officer, 
sometime  a  member  of  Parliament,  and 
being  by  profession  a  barrister,  the  Ad- 
miralty considered  that  an  appropriate 
sphere  for  him  would  be  mine-sweeping. 
Burney,  meeting  Mr.  Bowles  at  dinner, 
judged  his  man,  asked  him  to  join  the 
Burney  enterprise,  walked  into  the  Admir- 
alty, and  obtained  their  Lordships'  ap- 
proval of  the  appointment  of  Lieutenant 
G.  S.  Bowles  to  H.M.S.   Vernon,    Lieu- 


82   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

tenant  Bowles  may  perhaps  be  described 
without  irreverence  as  the  diplomatist  of 
the  party.  Together  with  a  legal  (and  a 
naval)  training,  he  owned  a  knowledge  of 
men  and  of  affairs  rarely  possessed  by  a 
naval  officer,  and  a  literary  accomplish- 
ment of  a  high  order.  As  Mr.  Bowles  has 
now  left  the  Service,  it  will  not  injure  his 
career  to  observe  that  he  is  gifted  with  a 
cheerful  independence  of  mind  and  a 
genial  scorn  of  convention,  as  such,  which 
were  of  quite  inestimable  value  in  the 
achievement  of  the  work  to  which  he 
gave  himself.  To  Lieutenant  (now  Com- 
mander) Bowles  fell  the  framing  of  the 
innumerable  official  reports  required,  the 
writing  of  much  correspondence  and  the 
conduct  of  many  delicate  interviews. 

At  this  time,  the  Paravane  department 
(though  it  had  as  yet  no  official  name) 
was  concentrated  in  the  cabin  of  the  First 
Lieutenant  in  the  Vernon.  In  that  narrow 
chamber  lived  and  worked  Commander 
W^.,  Lieutenant  Burney  and  Lieutenant 
Bowles,  Lieutenant  B.  when  he  was  not  at 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   83 

sea  conducting  experimental  work,  one 
warrant  officer,  two  petty  officers,  two  men 
and  one  shorthand  writer.  The  warrant 
officer  had  been  Burney's  gunner  in  Velox^ 
and  he  was  therefore  acquainted  with  the 
experimental  side  of  the  work.  One  of  the 
petty  officers  was  a  torpedo-gunner's  mate 
of  Vernon,  the  other  was  the  petty  officer 
in  charge  of  the  motor-boat  in  which  the 
Paravane  officers  went  to  and  from  the 
shore. 

In  that  stifling  cabin  (called  the  Oven), 
then,  W.  and  Bowles  wrote  and  directed 
affairs,  Burney  dictated  letters  to  the  short- 
hand writer,  typewriters  were  clattering, 
and  some  one  was  continually  bellowing 
into  a  long-distance  telephone. 

As  the  volume  of  business  to  be  trans- 
acted swiftly  enlarged,  it  became  necessary 
to  discover  some  one  who  could  take  charge 
of  the  financial  side  of  the  dealings  with 
private  firms,  which  were  now  manu- 
facturing the  new  gear  in  large  quantities. 
He  must  be  a  man  of  position,  owning  a 
professional  knowledge  of  commerce  and 


84   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

knowing  something  of  engineering.  Clearly 
not  a  person  easily  found,  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time,  when  men  of  military 
age  were  serving  and  men  over  military 
age  were  wholly  occupied  with  Govern- 
ment work.  The  Paravane  party  were 
at  a  stand,  when  Lieutenant  B.  suddenly 
announced  that '  he  had  an  uncle.'  Where- 
upon he  was  told  to  produce  his  uncle, 
instantly. 

And  presently  appeared  Mr.  William 
H.  McConnel,  who  was  a  director  of  coal 
and  iron  companies.  Mr.  McConncl's  two 
sons  were  serving  in  the  Army  ;  he  himself 
had  done  Government  work  in  connection 
with  the  hydrophone,  and  had  returned 
to  civil  life.  With  an  admirable  public 
spirit,  Mr.  McConnel  agreed  to  join  the 
Paravane  department,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly appointed  to  Vernon,  with  the  rank 
of  Lieutenant,  Royal  Naval  Volunteer 
Reserve. 

At  this  time,  Burney  was  so  largely 
occupied  with  organisation,  that  he  re- 
quired an  assistant  in  his  technical  and 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   85 

experimental  work  ;  and  on  a  day,  there 
came  to  Vernon  Lieutenant  V.  H.  D.,  to 
pay  a  polite  call  upon  his  old  shipmates. 
Lieutenant  D.  had  passed  through  H.M.S. 
Excellent  with  Burney ;  he  had  been  for  a 
year  with  E.  L.  W.  in  H.M.S.  Kent,  whose 
gunnery  officer  he  was,  and  had  fought 
her  through  the  Falkland  Islands  engage- 
ment. Lieutenant  D.  was  known  to  be  an 
exceedingly  capable  naval  officer  and  a 
brilliant  mathematician.  When  he  came 
to  visit  Vernon,  he  was  on  sick  leave  ;  and 
he  was  persuaded  to  apply  to  join  the 
Paravane  department.  Being  unfit  for 
sea  service,  Lieutenant  D.  succeeded  in 
obtaining  his  appointment  to  Vernon  '  for 
gunnery  duties  '  (of  which  there  was  none) 
and  so  became  Burney's  assistant  on  the 
theoretical  side. 

Thus  by  good  fortune,  or  the  hand  of 
destiny,  was  assembled  the  group  of  offi- 
cers, which,  gradually  adding  to  its  number, 
presently  achieved  so  great  an  enterprise. 
Their  very  existence  was  utterly  unknown 
to  the  public.     Officially,   they  were  re- 


86   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

garde d  merely  as  a  department  of  H.M.S. 
Vernon,  the  experimental  school  of  the 
Navy.  Vernon  herself,  the  home  of  science 
in  the  Navy,  was  (and  is)  an  old  wooden 
line-of-battle  ship  roofed  in  atop.  There 
she  lay,  islanded  high  up  the  stream  in 
Portsmouth  Harbour,  a  black  and  vener- 
able monument  to  the  official  idea  of  the 
place  of  science  in  naval  warfare. 


VIII 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1915, 
the  Paravane  department  in  Vernon  were 
intensely  at  work  providing  the  experi- 
mental sets  of  gear  and  the  sets  of  gear 
to  be  fitted  to  H.M.  ships  at  sea.  By 
October,  according  to  the  available  evi- 
dence, several  enemy  submarines  had  been 
sunk  or  damaged  by  Paravanes.  Experi- 
mental work  was  carried  on  continuously 
in  Vernon^  while  the  actual  manufacture 
of  the  gear  by  private  firms  was  proceeding 
and  the  gear  was  being  fitted  to  ships  in 
the  Fleet  for  submarine  destruction. 

The  destruction  of  submarines  was  the 
original  purpose  of  the  Paravane ;  but  the 
mine  was  nearly  as  formidable  a  weapon 
as  the  submarine,  and  early  in  1915  Burney 
perceived  that  the  Paravane  could  be 
employed  both  for  mine  and  submarine 
destruction ;    and,  as  the  submarine  was 

87 


88   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

used  to  lay  mines,  to  destroy  mines  would 
be  partially  to  defeat  the  submarine. 
Burney  therefore  framed  a  report  in  which 
he  explained  that  ships  fitted  with  the 
Paravane  could  be  effectively  protected 
against  moored  mines.  Burney  was,  how- 
ever, directed  to  confine  his  investigations 
to  the  anti-submarine  Paravane  for  the 
time  being.  His  report  dealing  with  the 
anti-mine  variation  was  forwarded  by  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  Portsmouth  to  the 
Admiralty,  and  nothing  more  was  heard 
of  it. 

As  already  described,  from  September 
1914,  and  including  May  1915,  99  British 
merchant  ships  of  1600  tons  gross  and 
upwards  had  been  lost,  not  including  sail- 
ing ships  and  small  craft.  In  June  1915, 
the  losses  were  18  vessels  ;  in  July,  13  ; 
in  August,  33 ;  in  September,  19 ;  in 
October,  15  ;  or  98  ships  in  five  months, 
besides  a  number  of  neutral  vessels.  These 
losses  were  still  considered  to  be  negligible. 

In  October  1915,  the  anti-submarine 
Paravane  being  in  working  order,  and  its 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   89 

manufacture  progressing,  Burney  again 
discussed  the  anti-mine  application  of  the 
Paravane  with  the  Captain  of  Vernon,  who 
thereupon  sent  Burney  to  consult  with  the 
Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Grand  Fleet.  Burney 
informed  the  Chief  of  Staff  that  if  the 
necessary  provision  could  be  made  to 
shorten  the  customary  official  routine  in 
making  arrangements  for  manufacture 
with  private  firms,  and  if  a  sufficient  staff 
of  designers  and  draughtsmen  was  fur- 
nished, it  would  be  possible  quickly  to 
supply  the  Paravane  mine-protection  gear. 
The  fulfilment  of  these  two  conditions, 
simple  as  it  may  appear,  presented  ob- 
stacles so  formidable  that  only  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief could  hope  to  surmount 
them.  And  accordingly  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Grand  Fleet  straightway 
requested  the  Admiralty  to  instruct  the 
Captain  of  Vernon  to  enable  Burney  to 
conduct  experiments  with  the  anti-mine 
Paravane. 

Burney  at  once  returned  to  Portsmouth  ; 
in  a  few  days  the  new  anti-mine  Paravane 


90   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

was  fitted  to  the  experimental  destroyer, 
H.M.S.  Melampus  ;  and  on  4th  November, 
at  Spithead,  moored  mines  were  cut  for 
the  first  time  by  the  Paravane.  Burney 
had  succeeded  in  devising  a  weapon  which 
made  the  mine  innocuous  and  which  would 
restore  to  the  Fleet  its  freedom  of  move- 
ment. All  that  now  remained  was  to 
manufacture  enough  Paravanes  to  fit  all 
vessels,  both  men-of-war  and  merchant 
ships. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  necessary  to 
continue  the  manufacture  of  the  anti- 
submarine Paravane.  It  was  clear  that 
the  exigencies  of  war  demanded  that  the 
work  should  be  begun  and  completed  with 
the  utmost  speed.  It  was  also  clear  that 
no  organisation  existed  for  the  purpose. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  extraordinary 
difficulty  of  the  position,  it  is  necessary  to 
understand  the  elements  of  official  pro- 
cedure. 


IX 

The  principle  upon  which  Admiralty  pro- 
cedure is  based,  is  the  theory  that  all 
initiative  proceeds  from  the  top  down- 
wards through  the  official  departmental 
machine.  One  of  the  Sea  Lords  (let  us 
say)  gives  an  order,  or  issues  instructions 
that  (for  instance)  a  new  gun  moimting  is 
to  be  made  and  supplied.  The  requisite 
instruction  goes  from  department  to  de- 
partment, and  is  eventually  carried  into 
execution.     Perfect. 

But  now  let  us  suppose  that  there  is 
initiative  at  the  bottom  instead  of  the  top. 
The  proposal  must  be  forced  backwards 
and  upwards  to  the  top  against  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  machine.  Say  that  the  pro- 
posal is  made  by  a  member  of  the  staff  of 
the  Vernon.  It  is  forwarded  in  writing 
by  the  Captain  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Admiralty.     That  official  marks  the  docu- 

91 


92   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

ment  for  their  consideration  to  the  various 
departments  concerned  :  three,  four,  seven, 
eight  departments,  more  or  less.  The 
paper  is  officially  known  as  a  Docket.  It 
is  placed  in  an  official  cover  designed  for 
the  purpose,  and  on  that  cover  are  written 
the  various  names  of  the  departments  to 
which  it  must  go,  in  turn.  Be  it  observed 
that  there  is  only  one  original  paper.  It 
is  not  duplicated.  If  it  were  duplicated, 
a  copy  could  be  sent  to  each  department, 
so  that  all  should  receive  it  at  the  same 
time.     But  that  is  not  done. 

The  Admiralty  is  the  size  of  a  town. 
Its  population,  male  and  female,  dwelling 
in  gloomy  chambers,  great  and  small, 
ranges  in  condition  from  My  Lords,  in- 
habiting an  upper  wing  whose  corridors 
are  paved  with  indiarubber,  lest  the 
slightest  sound  should  interrupt  their 
meditations,  to  the  messenger-boys  fidget- 
ing in  the  entrance  hall,  surveyed  by  the 
melancholy  single  eye  of  the  statue  of  the 
late  Lord  Nelson.  In  a  back  room  of 
every  department  live  the  Admiralty  mes- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   93 

sengers,  trusty  old  veterans  in  uniform, 
perpetually  making  tea  on  a  sea-coal  fire. 
The  Admiralty  messengers  are  charged 
with  the  duty  of  keeping  thousands  of 
Dockets  steadily  circulating  through  Ad- 
miralty Town.  Many  leagues  of  lightless 
corridors  do  they  traverse  daily.  Every 
official  in  every  department  has  on  his 
massive  table  a  long  tray,  or  trough, 
divided  by  partitions  into  compartments, 
each  of  which  is  duly  lettered,  and  each 
of  which  holds  a  pile  of  Dockets.  These 
are  brought  by  messengers  and  taken  away 
by  messengers.  The  official  struggles 
breast-high  through  a  jungle  of  Dockets 
all  day  and  most  of  the  night,  and  ever 
the  messenger  brings  more  Dockets.  The 
only  sign  in  the  Admiralty  that  the  Armis- 
tice had  been  signed  was  that  in  some 
rooms  the  tray,  or  trough,  was  empty. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Fleet  is  but  a  small  part  of 
the  duties  of  the  Admiralty.  My  Lords 
administer  docks,  naval  stations,  and 
establishments    in    every   quarter   of  the 


94   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

globe.  They  conduct  vast  manufacturing 
concerns  in  the  dockyards.  They  deal  in 
huge  commercial  transactions  with  private 
contractors.  They  spend  in  peace  time 
some  fifty  millions  sterling  of  public  money, 
every  penny  of  which  must  be  accounted 
for.  They  own  enormous  quantities  of 
stores,  every  item  of  which  is  tabulated. 
If  a  Royal  Marine  loses  the  pull-through 
of  his  rifle,  value  three-halfpence,  the 
Admiralty  will  spend  three-and-sevenpence 
in  discovering  how  he  lost  it,  and  why. 
If  an  officer  spends  two-and-ninepence 
on  Service,  his  account  is  challenged  by 
officials  who  are  paid  salaries  to  tell  the 
officer  he  ought  not  to  have  spent  more 
than  two-and-sixpence.  The  point  is  to 
have  the  thing  right. 

So,  if  a  Docket  contains  a  proposal  of 
the  utmost  military  urgency,  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  a  little  thing  like  a  war 
shakes  the  Admiralty  ?  As  well  might 
the  Pyramids  tremble  in  a  sandstorm. 
And  so,  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Admir- 
alty marks  (say)  a  Vernon  Docket  to  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   95 

three,  four,  seven,  eight  departments  con- 
cerned, it  goes  to  each  of  those  depart- 
ments in  turn  with  the  passionless  in- 
faUibiHty  of  a  law  of  nature. 

But  it  does  not  go  directly  to  the  official 
who  deals  with  it.  Oh,  no.  There  is  a  much 
better  system  than  that.  It  goes  to  the 
departmental  registry,  and  from  there  it 
goes  to  the  right  official.  He  may  be  a  Tor- 
pedo authority.  He  considers  the  Docket 
and  writes  on  it  his  opinion.  The  mes- 
senger presently  enters  and  carries  away  the 
Docket  to,  let  us  say,  the  Mining  depart- 
ment registry,  whence  it  goes  to  the  right 
Mining  authority.  Thence,  perhaps,  by 
the  same  process,  to  the  Electrical  people. 
And  so  on.  In  each  stage,  the  Docket  is 
enriched  by  an  opinion,  a  suggestion,  a 
remark,  a  query.  Eventually,  now  much 
swollen  in  bulk  with  these  accretions  of 
wisdom,  the  Docket  comes  to  port  in  the 
tray  of  the  Sea  Lord  who  commands  all 
the  aforesaid  departments.  Two  or  three 
weeks  or  more  have  now  elapsed.  But  we 
have  made  a  beginning.    The  point  is  to 


96   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

have  the  thing  right;  and  so  far,  it  is 
right. 

Now  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Sea  Lord  to 
make  a  decision.  He  makes  it  on  the 
accumulated  evidence  before  him.  If  he 
decides  the  original  proposal  to  be  what 
is  officially  called  inadvisable,  there  is  an 
end.  The  Docket  is  removed  to  the  ar- 
chives and  is  there  interred  with  an  epitaph. 

But  if  the  Sea  Lord  approves  the  pro- 
posal or  project,  what  then  ?  So  far  as 
the  Sea  Lord  is  concerned,  the  thing  is 
simple.  The  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty 
is  instructed  to  take  the  necessary  steps 
(official  phrase)  to  carry  the  proposal  into 
execution.  So,  in  the  case  under  con- 
sideration, the  Secretary  causes  to  be 
written  a  letter  to  Captain  of  Vernon. 
That  officer  instructs  the  officers  of  the 
department  in  question. 

If,  now,  the  proposal  is  that  Paravane 
gear  should  be  made  and  fitted,  it  is 
necessary  (1)  to  make  the  design,  (2)  to 
make  the  drawings,  (3)  to  write  the  speci- 
fication.    It  is  now   perhaps   five   or  six 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   97 

weeks  since  the  proposal  was  submitted, 
and  so  far  nothing,  that  is  to  say  nothing 
practical,  has  been  done.  However,  that 
is  the  result  of  the  system,  which  can  no 
more  be  altered  than  the  solar  system. 

Design,  drawings,  and  specification  are 
now  submitted  to  the  Admiralty  for 
approval.  They  go  through  exactly  the 
same  departmental  process  as  the  original 
Docket  underwent,  finally  fetching  up  on 
the  table  of  the  same  Sea  Lord,  after 
another  two  or  three  weeks  or  more.  The 
Sea  Lord  approves  them.  Still,  nothing 
practical  has  been  done.  But  it  is  just 
going  to  be  done. 

The  drawings  and  specification  now 
travel  to  the  Contracts  department,  whose 
business  it  is  to  make  contracts  with 
private  firms.  The  firms  on  the  Admiralty 
list  then  receive  copies  of  the  drawings 
and  specification,  and  they  are  asked  to 
submit  their  prices  for  making  the  article 
therein  described.  The  private  firms,  in 
time  of  war,  have  a  deal  of  work,  and  they 
may  take  a  month  or  more  framing  their 

G 


98   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

estimate.  They  then  send  their  tenders 
to  the  Admiralty,  and  upon  a  day  ap- 
pointed the  Contracts  department  sol- 
emnly opens  the  sealed  envelopes,  com- 
pares the  prices  one  with  another  and, 
according  to  rule,  accepts  the  lowest 
tender. 

A  period  of  three  to  five  months, 
probably  six  or  seven  months,  has  now 
elapsed.  But  now  the  contractor  is 
ordered  to  proceed  with  the  actual  manu- 
facture. If  it  is  a  strange  and  complicated 
engine  such  as  the  Paravane,  the  manu- 
facturer must  obtain  special  plant  and 
make  special  tools.  That  process  will 
occupy  at  least  another  month.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  will  the  manufacture 
begin. 

It  should  here  be  observed  that  if  the 
designer  should  desire  to  alter  his  design 
in  accordance  with  the  requirements  dis- 
covered by  further  experiment,  he  must 
start  the  whole  business  again  from  the 
very  beginning  :  proposal,  design,  drawing, 
specification,    contract.      So    that    either 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   99 

there  is  no  improvement,  or  another  eight 
or  nine  months  are  expended  in  making 
that  improvement. 

In  the  case  of  the  Paravane,  it  was 
wanted  so  much  sooner  than  immediately, 
that  words  could  not  describe  its  urgency. 
The  Grand  Fleet  wanted  mine  protection  ; 
every  merchant  vessel  in  the  world  also 
wanted  mine  protection ;  the  submarine 
hunters  wanted  the  High  Speed  Sweep  ; 
and  the  Germans  were  sinking  a  ship 
nearly  every  day. 


X 

It  was  evident  that  the  Admiralty  system, 
how  excellent  soever,  could  not  possibly 
fulfil  the  conditions  demanded  in  the 
production  of  the  Paravane.  In  these 
circumstances,  Burney  had  represented  to 
the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Grand  Fleet  the 
necessity  for  a  new  procedure  and  a 
technical  staff.  The  intervention  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Grand  Fleet 
had  then  enabled  Burney  in  Vernon  rapidly 
to  construct  the  experimental  anti-mine 
Paravane.  The  Admiralty  also  permitted 
Vernon  to  deal  directly  with  private  firms 
in  respect  of  any  small  quantities  of  gear 
required  for  experimental  purposes.  But 
all  drawings  must  still  be  made  in  Ports- 
mouth Dockyard  by  draughtsmen  already 
occupied  with  other  work,  and  all  large 
quantities  of  gear  must  be  ordered  through 

100 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  101 

the  Dockyard  authorities  and  through  the 
Admiralty. 

In  December  1915,  experience  of  these 
methods  showed  that  if  some  ten  months 
were  required  in  which  to  produce  the 
Paravane,  five  of  these  months  were  ex- 
pended in  correspondence  and  procedure. 
The  Paravane  officers  in  Vernon  proposed 
a  new  system,  which  was  submitted  to  the 
Admiralty,  but  upon  whose  adoption  the 
Admiralty  came  to  no  decision.  In  Jan- 
uary 1916,  the  Paravane  officers  were  still 
working  in  the  Oven  in  Vernon ;  were 
still  unable  to  obtain  their  own  staff  of 
draughtsmen ;  and  were  still  obliged  to 
order  gear  through  the  Dockyard  and  the 
Admiralty. 

In  the  meantime,  how  went  the  war  ? 
By  December,  when  the  Allies  were 
compelled  to  withdraw  from  Gallipoli, 
they  had  lost  seven  battleships  by  mine 
and  submarine  in  that  disastrous  cam- 
paign. 

In  October  1915,  15  merchant  steam- 
ships were  put  down  ;  in  November,  23  ; 


102     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

in  December,  16.  The  total  losses  among 
British  ocean-going  steamships  of  1600 
tons  gross  and  upwards  for  the  year  1915 
were  189.  These  losses  were  still  con- 
sidered by  the  authorities  to  be  negligible. 
Writers  on  the  subject  compared  them 
with  the  losses  inflicted  upon  merchant 
shipping  during  the  Napoleonic  wars, 
showing  that  the  percentage  of  loss  was 
then  greater.  As  every  one  knew  that 
England  won  the  old  French  war  at  sea, 
in  spite  of  losses,  the  conclusion  was 
satisfactory.  That  the  Admiralty  had 
taken  over  a  large  number  of  merchant 
ships,  so  that  they  were  no  longer  available 
for  the  carrying  trade ;  that  German 
merchant  ships  were  kept  in  port ;  that, 
with  a  greatly  reduced  service,  the  demand 
upon  that  service  had  doubled ;  that 
neutral  as  well  as  Allied  ships  were  being 
put  down  :  these  things  were  tactfully 
waved  aside  as  better  forgotten.  There 
was  a  pleasant  impression  that  it  was 
unpatriotic  to  think  about  them.  There 
was  a  less  pleasant  feeling,  also,  that  if 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  103 

you   thought   about   them   too   carefully, 
you  would  lose  your  appetite. 

The  Annual  Report,  1919,  of  the  Liver- 
pool Steam  Ship  Owners'  Association  con- 
tains the  following  instructive  remarks 
upon  the  conditions  of  the  time. 

'  As  the  war  demands  increased,  until 
nearly  one-fourth  of  our  total  ship  carrying 
power  had  to  be  given  up  to  the  fighting 
services,  it  became  impossible  even  for  the 
British  Mercantile  Marine,  which  had  been 
built  to  carry  one-half  of  the  oversea  trade 
of  the  world,  to  go  on  importing  into  the 
country  the  same  quantities  of  both 
necessaries  and  luxuries  as  had  been 
brought  in  under  conditions  of  peace. 
As  prices  advanced,  forced  up  by  com- 
petition between  consumers  all  over  the 
world,  and  as  ship  carrying  power  became 
impossible  to  procure,  whatever  freights 
were  offered,  the  Nation  became  distrustful 
of  its  traders  and  shipowners  and  for  a 
time  concentrated  its  attention  on  keeping 
down  prices  and  guarding  against  "  pro- 


104     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

fiteering  "  while  ignoring  the  real  difficulty, 
which  was  the  securing  of  its  oversea 
supplies.  But  when  it  came  to  the  sugges- 
tion of  remedies,  it  was  apparent  that  the 
Nation,  which  had  for  generations  trusted 
absolutely  to  individual  enterprise  to 
satisfy  its  needs,  was  profoundly  ignorant 
of  the  manner  in  which  our  oversea  supplies 
were  purchased,  carried,  stored  and  dis- 
tributed. When  war  came,  the  Admiralty 
and  War  Office  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
the  vessels  forming  the  Mercantile  Marine, 
and  of  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
employed.  There  were  from  18,000  to 
20,000  vessels  on  the  British  Register,  and 
it  was  apparently  assumed  that  therefore 
the  supply  of  merchant  ships  for  war 
purposes  was  practically  inexhaustible. 
The  real  facts  in  regard  to  the  limited 
number  of  vessels  available  for  the  ocean 
trades,  and  the  average  number  of  the 
voyages  that  could  be  made  by  those 
vessels  in  the  course  of  the  year,  had  been 
placed  in  detail  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Association  before  the  Committee  on  Im- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  105 

perial  Defence  in  1913,  and  the  War  Risk 
Insurance  scheme  had  been  framed  on 
the  information  so  given.  From  the  day 
upon  which  war  was  declared  the  working 
of  the  Insurance  scheme  verified,  day  by 
day,  the  accuracy  of  that  information, 
but  the  fact  that  we  had  only  about 
3600  British  ocean-going  steamships  at 
our  disposal  and  that  the  withdrawal  for 
war  services  of  every  30  of  these  vessels 
involved  of  necessity  a  decrease  of  1  per 
cent,  in  the  volume  of  our  oversea  supplies, 
was  apparently  only  recognised  after  two 
years  of  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Associa- 
tion. The  weekly  returns  published  by 
the  Admiralty,  in  which  were  recorded  the 
total  number  of  entrances  and  clearances 
at  all  our  ports,  were  accurate  as  figures, 
but  entirely  misleading,  as  they  enormously 
magnified  the  apparent  number  of  the 
ships  to  be  protected  on  the  ocean  routes. 
They  showed  the  repeated  entrances  and 
clearances  on  every  Coasting  and  Home 
Trade  voyage.  The  total  figures  were  in 
thousands,  whilst  the  ocean  oversea  voyages 


106     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

could  be  reckoned  in  tens.  It  was  this 
failure  to  understand  the  conditions  under 
which  our  ocean  oversea  supplies  were 
obtained,  and  therefore  the  limited  number 
of  voyages  for  which  convoy  protection 
had  to  be  provided,  that  contributed  in 
no  small  measure  to  the  initial  difficulty 
in  protecting  those  supplies  against  the 
unrestricted  submarine  campaign. 

'  Upon  another  point  there  was  complete 
want  of  appreciation  by  the  Nation,  and 
that  was  as  to  the  part  played  by  foreign 
tonnage  in  bringing  in  our  oversea  supplies. 
Under  peace  conditions  about  one-third 
of  our  total  oversea  supplies  were  brought 
to  this  country  in  foreign  ships.  The 
carrying  of  the  other  two-thirds  found 
employment  for  about  only  60  per  cent, 
of  the  British  ships,  and  therefore,  we 
had  sufficient  of  our  own  tonnage  to  satisfy 
the  whole  of  our  needs  ;  but  ocean  tonnage 
commands  its  price  all  over  the  world,  and 
as  the  total  available  supply  diminished, 
we  could  not  both  call  in  the  British  ton- 
nage from  other  trades  and  continue  to 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  107 

retain  the  services  of  the  foreign  tonnage 
on   the    old   terms.     The    foreign   freight 
markets  bid  to  replace  the  want  created 
by  every  withdrawal  of  British  tonnage, 
and   the    foreign   tonnage    we    had    been 
using  responded  to  these  bids.     The  State 
could  replace  foreign  with  British  tonnage, 
but  unless  we  were  ready  to  pay  the  best 
rates  anywhere  obtainable,  we  could  not 
retain  the  carrying  power  of  the  foreign 
ships.    These  facts  the  Association  brought 
before  the  Government,  and  during  1915 
and  1916  it  co-operated  with  the  Govern- 
ment, through  the  Ship  Licensing  Com- 
mittee, in  bringing  the  maximum  number 
of  British  ships  into  the  United  Kingdom 
trade  with  the  least  possible  loss  of  the 
carrying  power  of  the  foreign  vessels.     To 
obtain  reasonable  protection  for  the  trad- 
ing ships  on  their  voyages  was  one  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  in  which  the  As- 
sociation   has    been    privileged   to    assist. 
On  the  declaration  of  war  the  Navy  was 
fully  occupied  in  holding  the  Battle  Fleet 
of  the  enemy,  and  the  shipowners  and  the 


108     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

merchant  seamen  recognised  that  they 
had  to  take  their  chances  of  capture  and 
the  destruction  of  their  ships.  But  when 
the  submarine  campaign  was  opened  in 
February  1915,  and  when  the  enemy  took 
to  organised  piracy  and  murder,  pro- 
tection for  the  individual  trading  ships 
became  an  absolute  necessity.  The  first 
effort  of  the  Association  was  to  press  for 
the  arming  of  the  merchant  ships  for  self- 
defence.  This  took  time,  and  the  work 
was  delayed  by  the  demands  made  by  the 
country  for  guns  for  protection  against 
air  raids.  Concurrently  with  the  arming 
for  self-defence,  the  Association  pressed 
for  an  immediate  increase  in  the  pro- 
tective force.  No  information  has  yet 
been  published  as  to  what  vessels  have 
been  built  by  the  Admiralty  during  the 
war,  but  it  is  the  fact  that  when  the  un- 
restricted submarine  campaign  was  opened 
in  February  1917,  the  necessary  force  of 
fast,  light  ships  was  still  not  in  existence, 
although  the  Admiralty  had  had  at  its 
disposal    the     shipbuilding     facilities     of 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  109 

the     country    since    the    day    war    was 
declared.' 

The  progress  of  the  war  at  sea  waged 
under  the  conditions  so  lucidly  indicated 
by  the  Liverpool  Steam  Ship  Owners,  may 
be  again  illustrated  by  another  instance 
quoted  from  The  Merchant  Seaman  in 
War.  By  this  time,  some  merchant  vessels 
were  equipped  with  guns.  The  affairs  to 
be  narrated  were  not  unusual  events.  The 
same  sort  of  thing  happened  almost  daily. 

'  The  master  of  the  steamship  Head- 
lands, which  was  entering  the  western 
approaches  of  the  Channel,  descried  a 
burning  ship.  She  lay  about  five  miles 
distant  to  the  eastward,  and  a  thick  smoke 
ascended  from  the  forward  part  of  her. 
The  master,  obeying  the  custom  of  the 
sea,  despite  of  peril  of  mine  and  submarine, 
altered  course  to  go  to  the  assistance  of 
the  ship  overtaken  by  disaster. 

'  It  was  then  nine  o'clock  of  a  fine  clear 
day,    Friday,    March    12th,    1915.      Ere 


110     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

twenty  minutes  had  gone  by,  the  master 
saw  the  conning-tower  and  masts  of  a 
submarine,  which  was  then  some  three 
miles  away,  and  which  was  heading  south, 
towards  the  Headlands.  And  then  he  saw, 
further  away,  a  httle  patrol  boat  heading 
for  the  submarine,  saw  the  flash  of  guns, 
and  heard  the  distant  clap  of  their  ex- 
plosion, as  the  patrol  boat  fired  at  long 
range  on  the  submarine. 

'  The  master  immediately  perceived 
several  things  at  once.  He  perceived  that 
in  all  probability  the  burning  vessel  had 
been  set  on  fire  by  the  submarine  ;  that 
the  patrol  boat  was  attending  to  the  sub- 
marine, and  that  the  Headlands  had  run 
into  an  affair  from  which  the  sooner  she 
departed  the  better.  So  the  master  put 
his  helm  hard-a-starboard  and  steered  for 
the  majestic  lighthouse  which  towers,  a 
white  policeman  with  a  lantern,  at  the 
sea-turning  to  the  port. 

'  The  Headlands  was  shoving  along  as 
fast  as  she  could  go,  when  the  master  saw 
that  the  submarine  was  slashing  along  on 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  111 

the  surface  so  fast  that  the  patrol  boat 
was  being  left  far  astern,  and  also  that 
the  submarine  was  catching  up  the  Head- 
lands. The  master,  like  other  masters 
since,  had  occasion  to  reflect  what  happens 
when  you  leave  your  course  to  help  a 
friend  in  trouble.  Also  he  had  time  to 
frame  his  plan  of  action. 

'  He  decided  to  run  for  it,  to  hold  on, 
and  to  force  the  submarine  to  expend  a 
torpedo  before  he  surrendered.  It  might 
miss  him.  If  it  hit,  that  could  not  be 
helped.  He  wished  the  ship's  bottom  had 
been  clean,  when  he  could  have  got  another 
two  knots  out  of  her.  The  submarine 
continued  to  gain  on  the  Headlands. 

'  The  master  went  below,  unlocked  all 
his  confidential  papers,  and  burned  them 
in  the  cabin  stove,  took  his  hand  camera, 
and  returned  to  the  bridge. 

'  The  chase  had  begun  at  about  twenty 
minutes  to  ten,  and  after  about  half  an 
hour  the  submarine  was  within  speaking 
distance  astern,  and  her  commanding 
officer  was  hailing  the  Headlands  to  stop. 


112     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

The  master  made  no  reply.  He  read  the 
number  of  the  submarine—"  U  29  " — and 
then  he  knew  he  was  being  chased  by  the 
notorious  Captain  Otto  Weddingen,  who 
(it  was  beheved)  had  sunk  the  armoured 
cruisers  Aboukir,  Cressy  and  Hogue,  The 
master  took  a  photograph  of  U  29,  which 
vessel,  he  afterwards  reported,  was  "  of  the 
latest  type." 

'  Captain  Otto  VS^cddingen  told  the 
master  that  he  would  sink  him  in  five 
minutes.  The  master,  still  disdaining  to 
reply,  ordered  the  crew  to  get  their  gear 
together,  and  held  on  his  course. 

'  At  10.25  the  submarine  fired  a  torpedo. 
It  struck  the  Headlands  abaft  the  engine- 
room,  and  she  began  to  settle  down.  The 
submarine  instantly  went  about  and  made 
off  at  full  speed.  The  people  of  the  Head- 
lands took  to  their  boats,  whence  they 
perceived,  far  away,  patrol  vessels  which 
were  apparently  hunting  the  U  29.  Half 
an  hour  later  the  boats  were  taken  in  tow 
by  patrols,  which  landed  them  in  port  at 
two  o'clock  that  afternoon. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  113 

'  In  the  meantime  the  submarine  had 
sped  over  twenty  miles  to  the  westward 
and  had  sunk  another  ship.  Tlie  vessel 
to  whose  assistance  the  master  of  the 
Headlands  had  been  going  was  still  burning. 
She  was  the  Indian  City,  and  she  sank 
during  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day.  The 
Headlands  was  still  settling  down.  A 
steamer  from  the  port  went  out  to  her, 
and  had  towed  her  to  within  a  mile  of  the 
lighthouse  she  had  failed  to  reach  when, 
at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  down  she 
went. 

'Here  is  the  master's  (unofficial)  com- 
ment, which  I  am  permitted  to  quote  : 

'  "  I  am  naturally  sorry  that  the  old 
Headlands  has  gone,  the  more  so  as  I 
have  lost  something  like  £150  in  stores 
and  personal  effects.  Still,  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  to  the  last 
minute  we  did  all  possible  to  avoid  capture 
by  carrying  out  the  stipulated  Admiralty 
instructions." 

'  As  for  the  U  29,  a  fortnight  later  she 


114  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

was  reported  by  the  British  Admiralty  as 
having  been  sunk  with  all  hands. 

'  Had  the  master  of  the  Headlands  been 
provided  with  a  gun,  he  would  have  had 
another  story  to  tell ;  such  a  story,  for 
instance,  as  the  record  of  the  little  steam- 
ship Atalanta. 

'  On  a  wild  autumn  morning  in  the 
following  year  the  Atalanta  was  pounding 
down  Channel  against  a  full  north- 
westerly gale,  when  the  master  descried 
a  boat,  now  swung  to  the  crest  of  a  wave, 
the  crew  pulling  steadily,  now  swallowed 
up  from  view.  The  master  altered  course 
to  pick  up  the  castaways,  and  manoeuvred 
the  steamship  to  put  the  boat  under  her 
lee.  A  rope  was  flung  to  the  men,  and 
they  climbed  on  board,  eleven  French 
seamen  from  the  sailing  ship  Marechal  de 
Villars,  which  had  been  sunk  by  an  enemy 
submarine. 

'  The  Frenchmen  were  rescued  at  about 
ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September 
11th,  1916.  Three-quarters  of  an  hour 
later  the  master  sighted  a  German  sub- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  115 

marine.  Her  square,  slate-coloured  con- 
ning-tower,  rounded  at  the  fore-end,  was 
forging  through  the  breaking  sea,  off  the 
starboard  bow  of  the  Atalanta,  between 
two  and  three  miles  distant  from  her. 

'  The  master  of  the  Atalanta  altered 
course  to  put  the  submarine  astern,  ordered 
full  speed  and  posted  the  gun's  crew  at 
the  gun,  mounted  on  the  quarter. 

'  The  submarine  fired.  The  range  was 
about  5000  yards,  and  the  shot  struck  the 
sea  short  of  the  Atalanta.  The  submarine 
fired  again,  and  again  the  projectile  fell 
short.  Tlie  range  had  decreased  to  about 
4000  yards,  and  the  Atalanta  fired  at  the 
submarine,  the  shot  falling  short  of  her. 
After  an  interval  of  five  minutes  the  enemy 
fired  again,  and  the  Atalanta  courteously 
replied.  There  was  a  third  exchange,  and 
then  the  submarine,  with  a  parting  shot, 
went  about  and  headed  for  a  steamer 
then  visible  on  the  horizon.  The  Atalanta 
went  on  her  way.  On  this  occasion  three 
rounds  sufficed  to  discourage  the  enemy.' 


XI 

In  the  meantime,  during  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1915,  the  Paravane  officers  in 
the  Oven,  armed  with  the  permission  of 
the  Admiralty  to  obtain  tlie  new  gear, 
did  actually  obtain  it,  and  obtained  it 
without  incurring  the  lavish  expenditure 
of  time  demanded  by  the  official  procedure 
imposed  upon  Vernon.  That  such  per- 
mission should  have  been  granted  at  all, 
involved  so  courageous  a  departure  from 
precedent,  that  great  credit  is  due  to  the 
Admiralty ;  and  in  this  connection,  the 
present  writer  is  informed  that  the  Assis- 
tant-Director of  Contracts,  Mr.  Percy 
Minter,  was  most  courteous  and  helpful. 
The  Admiralty,  by  allowing  the  Para- 
vane officers  to  negotiate  directly  with 
private  firms  for  small  quantities  for 
experimental  purposes,  opened  a  postern 
door  of  escape  from  the  castle  of  official- 

116 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE     117 

dom .  Through  that  Kttle  door  the  Paravane 
officers  went  out  into  the  strange  land  of 
industry,  unvisited  by  the  Admiralty. 
Under  the  Admiralty  system,  the  private 
firm  is  scheduled  as  an  object  of  suspicion, 
and  labelled  dangerous.  The  assumption 
is  that  the  private  firm  will,  if  possible, 
get  the  better  of  the  Admiralty ;  from 
which  assumption  follows  this  further 
assumption,  that  the  Admiralty  in  the 
public  interests  must  try  to  outwit  the 
private  firm — a  contest  in  which  the 
Admiralty  almost  invariably  lose. 

When  therefore  an  amiable  Paravane 
officer  walked  into  the  firm's  private  room, 
addressed  the  firm  as  one  of  God's  creatures 
like  himself,  and  manifested  an  acquaint- 
ance with  real  business,  the  firm  was  at 
first  astonished  out  of  measure  and  then 
highly  gratified. 

Under  these  new  and  happy  conditions, 
the  proposal  laid  before  private  firms  up 
and  down  the  country  was  that  (it  being 
war-time  and  all)  they  should  accept 
orders  in  advance  of  actual  official  author- 


118  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

isation ;  that  as  to  price,  it  should  be 
fair ;  and  that  (in  a  word)  the  whole  busi- 
ness should  be  transacted  as  between  one 
honest  man  and  another.  Is  it  necessary 
to  say  that  the  innovation,  which  would 
have  shaken  the  Admiralty  (in  those  days) 
to  its  foundations,  was  wholly  justified  ? 
Hardly.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  no 
denying  that  the  Paravane  officers  were 
taking  a  risk.  But  so  was  the  Admiralty 
system,  which  was  all  unawares  risking  the 
defeat  of  this  country,  not  to  mention  the 
defeat  of  other  countries.  Burney  and 
the  other  Paravane  officers  were  quite 
consciously  risking  their  heads.  But  a 
system  is  seldom  actively  malevolent. 
It  does  not  consciously  desire  to  impede, 
hinder  or  paralyse.  It  does  not  desire 
anything  at  all.  It  is  simply  a  machine 
kept  in  motion  by  thousands  of  persons, 
most  of  whom  hate  it.  And  in  the  event, 
orders  given  in  advance  by  Vernon  were 
in  fact  ratified  by  the  system.  If  the 
system  occasionally  demanded  an  ex- 
planation of  strange  manifestations  which 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  119 

it  vaguely  apprehended,  and  which  it 
dimly  suspected  of  being  not  quite  right, 
that  explanation  was  promptly  furnished, 
according  to  official  procedure. 

But  during  this  period,  the  lack  of 
proper  clerical  and  drawing  staffs  both 
prevented  progress  and  imposed  immense 
labour  upon  the  Paravane  officers.  Early 
in  the  morning  they  went  by  boat  to 
Vernon,  there  to  toil  in  the  Oven.  Burney 
and  Lieutenant  McConnel  journeyed  about 
the  country  visiting  private  firms.  Lieu- 
tenant D.  in  the  austere  regions  of  the 
higher  mathematics  worked  on  design. 
Commander  W.  and  Lieutenant  Bowles 
strove  incessantly  with  correspondence  and 
reports.  Lieutenant  B.  went  daily  to  sea 
experimenting  in  a  destroyer.  Work  was 
continued  far  into  the  night. 

One  of  the  Paravane  officers,  who  has 
retired  from  active  service,  thus  described 
the  day's  work. 

'  We  sat  all  day  in  the  Oven,  in  that 
narrow    oak-beamed    cabin,    all    crowded 


120  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

together,  from  about  nine,  when  the  first 
boat  came  from  the  Dockyard,  to  half- 
past  eleven  at  night,  when  the  last  boat 
left  for  the  shore.  Burney  and  I  lived 
in  the  Dockyard.  When  we  came  back  at 
night,  Burney  went  on  writing  as  though 
he  had  done  nothing  all  day,  until  long 
after  midnight,  when  I  turned  in,  if  I  could. 
Breakfast  must  be  finished,  and  we  must 
be  on  board  Vernon  by  8.50,  but  Burney 
was  out  long  before  that,  going  round  the 
shops  in  the  Dockyard,  and  stirring  up 
the  draughtsmen  lent  by  the  Director  of 
Construction.  The  draughtsmen  of  course 
hated  being  taken  off  other  work  for 
Burney,  who  hustled  them  perpetually. 
Every  now  and  again  they  would  "  re- 
fuse to  work  for  Lieutenant  Burney." 
Then  it  fell  to  W.  to  compose  matters. 
There  can  be  no  praise  too  high  for 
W.  As  Commander,  he  was  responsible 
for  all  the  Paravane  business,  and  if  that 
business  was  to  be  done  at  all,  W.  was 
obliged  constantly  to  accept  responsibili- 
ties w^hich  might  seriously  have  prejudiced 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  121 

his  prospects  in  the  Service.  Burney  was 
taking  responsibihties  too,  but  Burney  was 
always  perfectly  confident  that  whatever 
obligation  he  incurred,  he  could  make  good 
as  indeed  he  did.  Burney,  moreover,  had 
the  excitement  of  an  adventure. 

'  But  W.  had  to  trust  to  Burney ;  he 
worked  always  in  the  shadow  of  uncer- 
tainty ;  and  in  the  meanwhile  he  must 
make  war  exigencies  square  with  the 
authorities,  and  perpetually  decide  what 
to  do  in  new  emergencies.  He  had  to 
deal  with  reams  of  official  correspondence, 
the  voluminous  correspondence  with  pri- 
vate firms,  draw  up  reports,  formulate 
requirements,  pacify  bewildered  officials, 
decide  what  to  do  with  the  pieces  of  gear 
continually  arriving  by  train  for  inspection, 
generally  to  organise  everything  and  keep 
every  one  in  a  good  temper.  Perpetually 
harassed  and  heavily  tried  as  he  was,  I 
never  saw  W.  shaken.  He  lived  in  Ver- 
non, and  except  for  an  occasional  walk 
on  Sunday  afternoons,  he  never  left  the 
ship  for  weeks  on  end.     Often  he  did  not 


122  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

knock  off  for  meals,  a  tray  of  sandwiches 
or  biscuits  or  something  was  shoved  on 
his  desk.  .  .  . 

'  One  emergency  occurred  when  W.  and 
Burney  were  away  at  Scapa.  The  Grand 
Fleet  wanted  a  new  kind  of  practice 
mine  which,  if  it  was  drawn  inwards  by 
the  ship  cutting  the  mooring  wire,  would 
not  damage  the  propeller.  We  designed 
a  soft-shell  mine,  had  it  made  in  a  balloon 
factory  in  London,  tested  it  at  sea,  found 
it  could  keep  its  depth,  all  as  calculated, 
and  sent  twenty  mines  to  the  Grand  Fleet 
inside  three  weeks.  They  were  delighted. 
Reckoning  on  the  usual  procedure  they 
hadn't  expected  a  supply  for  nine  months 
or  so.  .  .  .' 

And  all  the  time,  amid  a  thousand 
preoccupations,  Burney  was  inventing 
improvements  and  pondering  the  needs 
of  the  war.  The  solution  of  a  problem 
would  come  to  him  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  by  nine,  a  dishevelled  officer, 
a   slide   rule   sticking   out   of  his   jacket, 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  123 

would  be  going  up  the  side  of  Vernon 
musing  upon  a  half  sheet  of  paper  scrawled 
upon  with  priceless  hieroglyphics. 

During  this  period,  besides  his  designs 
for  the  High  Speed  Submarine  Sweep,  and 
for  the  use  of  the  Paravane  as  a  mine- 
deflector,  Burney  framed  a  design  for 
developing  the  long-distance  hydrophone, 
and  for  a  special  type  of  mine. 

Then,  in  February  1916,  came  that 
visit  of  Commander  V^.  and  Lieutenant 
Burney  to  the  Grand  Fleet,  briefly  re- 
counted at  the  beginning  of  this  narra- 
tive, as  the  critical  moment  of  the  whole 
enterprise.  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Lord 
Jellicoe  describes  in  his  book  how  the 
freedom  of  movement  of  the  Grand 
Fleet  was  impeded  by  mines,  and  in  his 
judgment  the  most  urgent  need  of  the 
moment  was  the  application  of  some  new 
weapon  which  would  restore  to  the  Fleet 
that  mobility  in  default  of  which  the 
command  of  the  sea  could  not  be  made 
good. 

The  great  danger,  then  and  subsequently, 


124  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

was  lest  a  command  of  the  sea  able  to  deny 
the  sea  to  the  trade  of  its  enemy,  might  be 
increasingly  unable  to  secure  the  safety  of 
the  sea  for  its  own. 

So  W.  and  Burney,  in  February  1916, 
went  up  to  Scapa  Flow  to  demonstrate 
to  the  Grand  Fleet  the  use  of  the  mine- 
protector  Paravane.  Experimental  trials 
were  made  daily  in  a  destroyer  for  a 
fortnight ;  lectures  were  delivered ;  and 
the  authorities  then  decided  that  the  new 
device  would  work.  Burney,  however, 
knew  that  there  was  one  thing  lacking 
to  make  the  mine-protector  Paravane 
absolutely  efficient,  which  had  still  to 
be  invented;  but  he  also  knew  that  ere 
the  gear  was  actually  manufactured,  he 
would  have  invented  it.  As,  in  fact,  he 
did.  Lieutenant  Bowles  was  present  at 
the  moment,  which  was  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Burney,  reclining  in  a  chair, 
apparently  dozing,  sat  up,  and  said,  '  I  've 
got  it  !  '  He  drew  IT  on  a  half  sheet  of 
paper,  then  and  there.  But  this  is  to 
anticipate. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  125 

The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Grand 
Fleet  reported  to  the  Admiralty  that  the 
Paravane  was  demonstrated  to  be  suitable 
for  the  protection  of  H.M.  ships  against 
moored  mines,  and  proposed  that  the 
manufacture  of  the  mine-protector  Para- 
vane should  be  begun.  The  proposal  was 
approved  by  the  Admiralty.  This,  then, 
was  the  crisis  in  the  development  of  the 
Paravane.  It  had  been  tested  before  Sir 
John  Jellicoe  and  was  approved  by  him. 
And  thenceforward  the  Paravane  officers 
had  his  powerful  support. 

Immediately  the  enterprise  swelled  to 
formidable  proportions.  The  Fleet  alone 
required  six  or  seven  hundred  sets  of  the 
new  gear  at  once.  The  Oven  had  achieved 
miracles ;  but  without  a  staff,  without 
draughtsmen,  without  executive  powers, 
how  could  it  equip  the  British  Fleet,  not 
to  mention  other  navies  and  the  merchant 
ships  of  the  world  ? 


XII 

In  order  to  deal  with  the  vast  operations 
required,  it  was  obviously  necessary  to 
prepare  an  organisation  for  the  purpose. 
Sir  John  Jellicoe  therefore  directed  Lieu- 
tenant Burney  to  devise  a  scheme.  There 
and  then,  Burney  formulated  the  scheme 
for  the  constitution  of  the  Paravane  de- 
partment, which  in  outline  was  as 
follows  : 

The  new  department  should  be  formed 
at  the  Admiralty  and  placed  under  the 
Admiral  of  Mine- sweeping  ;  it  should  take 
charge  of  all  anti-Mine  and  anti-Submarine 
devices  ;  it  should  be  empowered  to  design, 
develop,  purchase  and  install  all  such 
devices ;  it  should  be  divided  into  two 
sides,  the  one  under  Lieutenant  Burney, 
charged  with  the  design,  development  and 
manufacture    of    apparatus ;    the    other, 

126 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  127 

under  Commander  W.,  for  the  trial,  alloca- 
tion and  installation  of  apparatus,  and  for 
the  instruction  of  personnel  in  every  ship 
fitted  ;  a  factory  should  be  built,  and  a 
proper  staff  of  officers,  designers,  draughts- 
men and  clerks  should  be  provided. 

Sir  John  Jellicoe  himself  submitted  the 
draft  scheme  to  the  Admiralty.  The 
Admiral  of  Mine-sweeping,  Rear-Admiral 
the  Hon.  Edward  S.  Fitzherbert,  being 
directed  to  formulate  the  scheme  in  detail, 
sent  for  Commander  W.,  and,  by  the  end 
of  February  1916,  was  formed  the  new 
Paravane  Department  under  the  Admiral 
of  Mine-sweeping.  Early  in  March  the 
department  was  working. 

During  the  whole  tenure  of  his  com- 
mand. Rear- Admiral  Fitzherbert  took  the 
utmost  pains  to  ensure  that  the  original 
organisation  of  the  department  was  main- 
tained and  to  smooth  and  expedite  its 
work. 

A  part  of  the  War  College  building  in 
Portsmouth  Dockyard  was  then  allocated 
to  the  use  of  the  Paravane  department. 


128  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

The  War  College  was  inhabited  by  the 
Dockyard  police.  These  estimable  mem- 
bers of  the  Metropolitan  Police  Force  were 
not  sorry  to  turn  out,  because  if  they  were 
billeted  in  the  town,  they  received  lodging 
allowance.  But  the  Dockyard  authorities 
had  no  such  motive  for  repairing,  cleaning 
and  furnishing  the  War  College  to  lodge  a 
strange  department  of  which  they  knew 
little  more  than  the  name. 

They  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the 
Paravane  officers,  hitherto  huddled  into 
the  Oven  in  Vernon,  required  as  well 
as  other  accommodation  the  large  room 
on  the  ground  floor.  Whereupon  the 
Paravane  officers  demonstrated  that  the 
room  was  needed,  by  equipping  it  as 
a  Museum.  When  the  inspecting  officer 
arrived  he  perceived  an  array  of  Paravane 
gear,  pieces  of  machinery,  bits  of  iron, 
coils  of  wire,  and  the  like,  all  neatly 
labelled,  and  he  was  met  at  the  door  by 
a  working  party  of  seamen  bearing  a  Para- 
vane into  the  Museum.  At  every  door 
he  met  likewise  a  working  party  of  seamen 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  129 

bowed  beneath  a  Paravane.  Probably 
the  inspecting  officer  concluded  that  there 
were  several  Paravanes  arriving  ;  although 
in  fact  there  was  only  one.  In  any  case, 
he  was  convinced  that  the  room  was 
required.  Soon  afterwards,  the  Paravane 
officers  discovered  that  what  they  really 
wanted  was,  not  a  museum  but,  a  central 
clearing  office. 

It  was  now  necessary  to  equip  the  new 
department  with  drawing  desks,  boards, 
instruments,  and  all  the  requirements  of 
a  large  staff  of  draughtsmen.  Lieutenant 
Simpson,  Royal  Naval  Volunteer  Reserve, 
was  appointed  to  purchase  the  equipment, 
and  to  engage  draughtsmen.  Mr.  Simpson, 
by  profession  a  civil  engineer,  had  been 
employed  on  hydrophone  work  in  Vernon. 
An  officer  owning  high  technical  ability 
and  some  experience  in  dealing  with 
private  firms  was  found  in  Lieutenant- 
Commander  (now  Commander)  G.  W.  P. 
(E),  Royal  Navy,  who  was  then  assistant- 
engineer-manager  of  Chatham  Dockyard. 
Lieutenant-Commander     P.    had     served 


130     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

with  Burney  in  the  anti- Submarine  Com- 
mittee appointed  in  1910,  and  had  worked 
with  Burney  at  Sir  George  White's  ex- 
perimental aeroplane  establishment  at 
Bristol,  for  a  year,  on  half-pay.  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander P.  was  charged  with 
the  technical  side  of  the  production  in 
dealing  with  private  firms,  while  Lieu- 
tenant (now  Lieutenant- Commander) 
McConnel,  who  had  already  worked  for 
some  time  in  Vernon,  continued  to  conduct 
the  commercial  side. 

Later,  Mr.  Huskisson,  chief  designer  at 
Crossley's  gas-engine  works,  entered  the 
Paravane  department  as  chief  designer. 

Burney  visited  Professor  Lewis  at  the 
Royal  Naval  College,  Greenwich,  and 
Professor  Lewis,  taking  great  interest  in 
the  work,  very  kindly  enabled  Dr.  Haigh 
to  come  regularly  to  Portsmouth  to  help 
in  the  recondite  experimental  physics  and 
chemistry  required  to  ascertain  the  pre- 
cise constituents  and  strength  of  materials. 
Thus  Dr.  Haigh,  in  the  Service  phrase, 
was  lent  by  the  Royal  Na\al  College,  in 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  131 

whose  laboratory  he  was  able  to  conduct 
tests  and  analyses. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  problems  to 
be  solved  by  the  Paravane  officers  was 
the  constitution  of  the  towing  wire.  At 
first  every  wire  broke  after  a  few  hours 
in  the  water.  The  fracture  was  not  due 
to  strain  but  to  the  tremendous  vibration, 
which  destroyed  the  fibre  of  the  steel. 
Wire  manufactured  to  withstand  a  break- 
ing strain  of  ten  tons  would  break  in  three 
hours  at  a  strain  of  three  tons.  Experi- 
ment after  experiment  was  tried  to  lengthen 
the  life  of  the  wire.  Dr.  Haigh's  work  in 
this  research  was  invaluable.  He  visited 
nearly  all  the  wire-making  firms  in  the 
country;  conducted  experiments  at  Green- 
wich ;  worked  out  the  mathematics  of  the 
curve  assumed  by  the  towing  wire ;  and 
in  three  months  produced  a  wire  with  a 
life  of  a  hundred  hours. 

At  this  time,  too,  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander (T)  F.  R.,  Royal  Navy,  joined  the 
Paravane  department  for  theoretical  work 
and  design,  as  Burney's  assistant.     Lieu- 


132     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

tenant-Commander  R.  had  been  on  the 
staff  of  Vernon,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment  to  the  Paravane  depart- 
ment, he  had  returned  from  service  in 
the  Dardanelles. 

Lieutenant- Commander  R.  relieved  Lieu- 
tenant V.  H.  D.,  who  was  appointed  Para- 
vane officer  to  the  Grand  Fleet,  and  who  was 
attached  to  the  staff  of  the  Rear- Admiral, 
First    Battle     Squadron,     Rear  -  Admiral 
William  C.  M.  Nicholson,  who  had  been 
captain  of  H.M.S.  Vernon  before  the  war, 
and  who  was  President  of  the  Paravane 
Committee  of  the  Grand  Fleet.     When  the 
fitting  of  the  Grand  Fleet  with  Paravanes 
began,    Rear-Admiral     Nicholson     estab- 
lished the  organisation  of  Paravanes  for 
and  in  the  Grand  Fleet.     That  organisa- 
tion was  in  direct  communication  with  the 
Paravane    department      at    Portsmouth. 
When  the  Paravane,  on  the  way  to  the 
Grand   Fleet,    appeared   on   the    horizon, 
Rear-Admiral  Nicholson  took  charge  of  it. 
Rear-Admiral  Nicholson  was  thus  able  to 
ensure  the  standardised  fitting  of  ships. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  183 

which  was  essential.  The  present  writer 
trusts  that  Admiral  Nicholson  will  forgive 
him  for  mentioning  his  name  in  connection 
with  services  to  whose  value  the  present 
writer  has  received  much  grateful  testi- 
mony. 

Thus,  in  the  spring  of  1916,  the  Paravane 
department  was  fairly  under  way  in  the 
War  College,  the  square  and  sombre  build- 
ing secluded  in  a  corner  of  the  Dockyard, 
beside  the  lagoon  in  which  disused  man- 
of-war  boats  rot  at  ease,  and  looking  upon 
the  shaven  lawn  spread  before  the  house 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  Its  green- 
painted  chambers  were  speedily  filled 
with  officers,  designers,  draughtsmen, 
tracers  and  clerical  staff,  both  men  and 
women,  all  under  the  command  of  Com- 
mander W.,  now  officially  designated 
Paravane  Commander.  W.  was  respon- 
sible for  the  organisation  of  the  whole 
department ;  Lieutenant  Burney  was  re- 
sponsible for  experiment  and  design ; 
Lieutenant -Commander  G.  W.  P.  was 
responsible    for   technical    dealings    with 


134     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

private  firms ;  Lieutenant  McConnel  was 
responsible  for  the  financial  and  business 
dealings  with  private  firms. 

By  the  time  the  Paravane  department 
was  established  in  the  War  College,  it  was 
dealing  directly  with  about  a  hundred 
private  firms,  and  was  receiving  about  four 
hundred  letters  a  day. 

The  department  was  enlarged  by  the 
erection  of  an  extensive  hut  adjoining  the 
main  building.  Altogether,  there  were 
more  than  forty  offices,  a  lecture  theatre, 
and  a  workshop  for  experimental  purposes. 
Attached  were  two  destroyers,  a  torpedo- 
boat  and  several  small  craft  for  experi- 
mental work  and  for  testing  Paravanes  at 
high  speed.  Every  Paravane  was  thus 
tested  before  it  was  issued  to  the 
Fleet. 

The  staff  ultimately  numbered  more 
than  three  hundred  :  naval  officers,  civil 
engineers  and  assistants,  draughtsmen, 
clerks  and  messengers. 

The  Paravane  department,  thus  consti- 
tuted, conducted  the  following  operations : 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  135 

Experiment  and  Design.  Entirely  con- 
trolled by  Paravane  department. 

Manufacture  and  Progress.  Almost 
entirely  controlled  by  Paravane  depart- 
ment. 

Testing.  Entirely  controlled  by  Para- 
vane department,  which  tested  every 
Paravane  at  Portsmouth. 

Distribution.  Entirely  controlled  by 
the  Paravane  department  for  a  long-time, 
except  as  regards  packing  and  despatch, 
which  were  done  by  the  Naval  Store 
department,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Paravane  department. 

Installation  in  ships.  All  drawings  were 
made  by  the  Paravane  department,  whose 
officers  visited  each  ship  and  arranged  the 
fitting  with  the  ship's  officers. 

Instruction.  Entirely  controlled  by  the 
Paravane  department. 

The  Paravane  department  was  in  con- 
stant communication  with  officers  using 
the  gear  at  sea,  and  was  thus  able  to 
benefit  by  their  experience.  The  Paravane 
officers  of  the  Fleet  and  of  the  destroyer 


136  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

flotillas  were  all  trained  by  the  Paravane 
department  at  Portsmouth.  W^hen  an 
alteration  in  the  gear  was  required,  Experi- 
ment and  Design  devised  it,  and  then  each 
sub- department  carried  it  forward  to 
completion. 


XIII 

Behold  the  Paravane  department  now 
a  department  within  a  department,  sub- 
ject to  the  Admiral  of  Mine-sweeping,  or 
A.M.S.  (afterward  D.T.M.)  at  the  Admiralty. 
In  March  1916,  Lieutenant-Commander 
B.  V,,  Royal  Navy,  from  H.M.S.  Shannon, 
was  appointed  Paravane  officer  under 
Rear- Admiral  the  Hon.  Edward  S. 
Fitzherbert,  A.M.S.  Thus  A.M.S.  had  a 
Paravane  department  at  the  Admiralty, 
through  which  went  all  transactions  con- 
ducted with  the  Admiralty  by  the  Para- 
vane department  at  Portsmouth. 

But  it  is  one  thing  to  constitute  a 
department  and  quite  another  to  endow 
it  with  full  discretionary  powers.  Under 
the  new  arrangement,  the  system  of  order- 
ing gear  through  the  Dockyard  authorities 
had  disappeared.  But  the  perpetual 
difficulty  of  the  expenditure  of  time  in- 

137 


138     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

volved  in  the  official  procedure  remained. 
And  time  was  of  indescribable  value. 
Every  day's  delay  in  the  equipment  with 
Paravanes  of  the  Fleet  was  a  day's  advan- 
tage to  the  enemy.  Every  day's  delay  in 
the  equipment  of  merchant  ships  with  the 
Otter  (the  merchant  service  variety  of 
the  Paravane)  cost  loss  of  ships  and 
cargoes  and  very  often  lives  of  men. 

The  Admiralty  procedure  was  designed 
to  exercise  a  strict  and  a  necessary  con- 
trol over  expenditure.  But  the  exercise 
of  that  control  in  time  of  war  disas- 
trously hindered  the  conduct  of  the  war 
at  sea.  In  the  case  of  the  Ministry  of 
Munitions,  not  to  mention  other  depart- 
ments, financial  control,  under  the  stress 
of  war,  was  virtually  renounced.  In  the 
case  of  the  Admiralty,  an  expenditure  of 
millions  was  involved.  Was  that  ex- 
penditure to  be  confided  to  the  sole 
discretion  of  a  new  sub- department  at 
Portsmouth  ?  But  if  not,  there  would  be 
disastrous  delay.  The  dilemma  was  com- 
plete. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  139 

In  these  circumstances,  the  Paravane 
department  was  authorised  by  the  Admir- 
alty to  place  orders  with  private  firms  for 
experimental  purposes  up  to  a  small 
specified  amount.  The  Paravane  depart- 
ment, in  order  to  save  time,  had  already 
instituted  the  practices  of  ordering  gear 
in  advance  of  official  authorisation,  and 
of  dealing  directly  with  private  firms,  of 
which  they  now  had  about  a  hundred  on 
their  list.  Under  the  new  arrangement, 
they  continued  these  practices,  incurring 
a  considerable  expenditure.  What  else 
could  they  do  ? 

The  Paravane  officers  were  risking  their 
careers.  The  private  firms  were  risking 
their  money.  For,  understanding  the 
extreme  urgency  of  the  case,  private  firms 
agreed  in  almost  every  instance  to  prepare 
their  plant  in  advance  for  the  execution  of 
orders.  That  preparation  involved  the 
costly  process  of  making  what  are  called 
jigs,  of  making  special  gauges,  and  of 
erecting  special  plant. 

In  1916,  the  fortunes  of  the  war  were 


140     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

dubious  enough.  The  Germans  were 
attacking  Verdun.  The  British  victory 
of  the  Battle  of  Jutland  had  not  served 
to  abate  the  violence  of  the  submarine 
war  on  commerce.  Earl  Kitchener,  on 
5th  June,  was  lost  in  H.M.S.  Hampshire, 
mined  or  torpedoed.  On  1st  July  began 
the  great  battle  of  the  Somme.  The  losses 
of  ships  steadily  increased.  The  war 
losses  among  British  steamships  of  1600 
tons  gross  and  upwards  were  :  in  January, 
13 ;  in  February,  14 ;  in  March,  16 ;  in 
April,  32,  or  a  ship  a  day  ;  in  May,  15,  a 
ship  every  two  days  ;  in  June,  a  drop  to 
9  ;  in  July,  a  rise  to  21  ;  in  August,  14  ;  in 
September,  25  ;  in  October,  32,  again  a 
ship  a  day ;  in  November,  26 ;  and  in 
December,  the  largest  monthly  loss  hither- 
to on  record,  39.  Total  for  the  year, 
256  aliips. 

The  number  of  foreign  ships  was  nearly 
as  great.  In  gross  tons,  during  1916, 
foreign  countries  lost  1,300,018 ;  Great 
Britain,  1,497,848  ;  in  all,  2,797,866  gross 
tons.     In  the  fourth  quarter  of  1916,  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  141 

total  loss  of  gross  tonnage,  British  and 
foreign,  doubled  any  previous  quarter,  the 
amount  being  1,159,343  gross  tons.  This 
loss  was  inflicted  after  the  victory  of 
Jutland,  which  drove  the  main  battle  fleet 
of  the  enemy  finally  from  the  sea. 

Numbers  and  tonnage  are  highly  abstract 
statements.  Let  us  once  more  study  the 
progress  and  the  development  of  that  war 
on  commerce  to  defeat  which  the  Paravane 
officers  were  furiously  toiling,  while  the 
newspapers  were  loyally  exhorting  the 
public  to  trust  in  the  Navy.  They  were 
right,  but  they  did  not  know  they  were 
right,  for  they  knew  nothing  of  the  Para- 
vane department.  Even  the  Navy  knew 
hardly  anything  of  it.  When  the  Para- 
vane department  began  its  independent 
existence  in  the  War  College,  it  was  re- 
garded as  an  unamiable  eccentricity  likely 
to  give  trouble  to  the  orthodox  industrious 
officer. 

But  what  was  happening  at  sea  ?  Here 
follow  some  brief  examples  from  The 
Merchant  Seaman  in  War,    The  case  of 


142     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  Cahotia  illustrates  at  once  the  daring 
and  the  cruelty  of  the  German  submarine 
officers. 

'  Tlie  submarine  prefers  to  attack  in 
fine  weather.  It  is  pleasanter  for  all 
parties  concerned,  and  much  easier.  The 
reports  usually  record  weather  fine  and 
clear,  light  airs,  slight  swell.  But  the 
Cahotia  was  attacked  and  chased  in  a 
North  Atlantic  autumn  gale. 

'  She  left  the  United  States  on  October 
9th,  1916,  carrying  some  5000  tons  of 
cargo,  consisting  of  wood  pulp  and  300 
horses,  and  steamed  at  once  into  a  gale. 
It  blew  hard,  with  a  heavy  sea,  almost 
without  cessation,  and  after  eleven  days 
blew  harder.  On  the  20th,  a  full  gale  was 
blowing  from  the  south-west.  The  Cahotia, 
steaming  east,  was  holding  a  zig-zag 
course  at  ten  knots,  pitching  and  rolling, 
the  sea  continually  washing  over  the  decks. 
Tlie  master,  the  chief  officer,  and  the 
second  officer  were  in  the  chart-house, 
working  out  the  position  of  the  ship  taken 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  143 

by  observation  at  noon.  They  made  out 
that  she  was  120  miles  from  the  nearest 
land,  or  twelve  hours'  steaming.  These 
were  the  dangerous  hours.  If  nothing 
happened  during  the  day,  by  midnight 
the  ship  would  be  safe. 

'The  third  officer  was  on  watch  on 
the  bridge,  where  an  able  seaman  was  at 
the  wheel.  An  able  seaman  was  looking 
out  on  the  forecastle  head,  scanning  the 
broken  hills  of  water  rising  and  falling 
away  to  the  grey  horizon. 

'  Suddenly,  across  the  smother,  the 
lookout  saw  a  dark  and  glistening  object 
emerge.  It  was  about  three  miles  away 
on  the  starboard  bow.  The  officers  left 
the  chart-house  ;  the  master  went  on  the 
bridge ;  and  all  deck-hands  were  sum- 
moned on  deck.  The  master  put  the  ship 
right  about,  bringing  the  submarine  astern. 
The  submarine  fired,  and  continued  to 
fire  at  intervals  of  about  five  minutes, 
while  she  manoeuvred  to  get  on  the  Cabo- 
tid's  quarter.  But  the  master  of  the 
Cabotia  kept  a  zig-zag  course,  and  man- 


144  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

oeuvred  quicker  than  the  submarine,  so 
that  the  chief  officer  presently  said  that 
he  thought  the  Cabotia  could  escape.  She 
was  unarmed. 

'  The  movement  of  the  ship,  turning 
swiftly  to  port  and  starboard  alternately 
in  a  beam  sea,  was  very  violent.  The 
sufferings  of  the  horses  penned  below  are 
not  described,  but  they  may  be  imagined. 
The  engineers  and  firemen,  as  usual,  stuck 
to  their  work  and  kept  the  ship  at  her 
full  speed  of  ten  knots.  It  is  uncertain 
whether  or  not  the  ship  was  hit  during  a 
chase  which  thus  furiously  proceeded  for 
an  hour  and  a  half.  But  the  officers  of 
the  Cabotia  clustered  on  the  oscillating 
bridge  were  staring  aft  at  the  shape  astern. 
It  was  now  buried  in  flying  water,  the 
gunner  at  his  gun  plunged  up  to  his  neck 
in  the  sea,  now  emerging  and  firing  with 
a  sullen  flash  and  a  detonation  torn  by  the 
wind  ;  and  the  people  in  the  Cabotia  per- 
ceived that  in  spite  of  her  difficult  man- 
oeuvring, the  submarine  had  three  knots  the 
better  in  speed,  and  was  overhauling  them. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  145 

'  The  master  ordered  the  boats  to  be 
swung  out,  and  dropped  his  confidential 
papers  overboard.  No  one  thought  the 
boats  could  live  in  the  sea  then  running ; 
but  they  were  the  only  chance.  The  wire- 
less operator  had  been  constantly  making 
the  distress  call,  and  a  little  before  two 
o'clock  he  received  an  answer. 

'  But  by  that  time  the  submarine  was 
close  under  the  stern  of  the  Cabotia,  and 
she  put  a  shell  through  the  Cabotia's 
funnel.  Then  the  master  stopped  engines, 
hoisted  the  signal  that  he  was  abandon- 
ing ship,  and  ordered  the  crew  into  the 
boats. 

'  Here  was  another  test  of  discipline  and 
seamanship,  to  get  the  boats  away  from 
the  rolling  vessel,  in  that  frightful  sea, 
under  the  continual  fire  of  the  submarine. 
Among  the  seventy-four  men  of  the  crew, 
besides  British,  were  Greeks,  Italians, 
Portuguese,  Americans,  Danes  and  Nor- 
wegians ;  and  all  "  behaved  splendidly." 

'  There  were  four  boats,  each  having  a 
week's  provisions  on  board,  and  all  were 

K 


146     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

safely  launched.  The  boats  were  in  charge 
of  the  master,  chief,  second  and  third 
officers  respectively.  In  that  sea  it  was 
all  they  could  do  to  keep  their  boats  afloat, 
and  they  were  immediately  separated 
each  from  the  other. 

'  The  second  officer,  who  with  his  men 
expected  every  instant  to  be  drowned, 
kept  his  boat  before  the  sea,  the  men 
pulling  to  keep  steerage  way  on  her,  and 
so  waited  for  orders  from  the  master.  He 
saw  the  submarine  go  alongside  the  third 
officer's  boat,  and  speak  to  the  third 
officer.  Then  the  submarine  went  close 
to  the  Cabotia  and  fired  twelve  shots  into 
her.  The  Cabotia  settled  slowly  down, 
and  about  half  an  hour  afterwards  she  was 
gone. 

'  About  the  same  time  the  second  officer 
sighted  a  steamer.  He  hoisted  a  shirt 
on  the  mast,  and  pulled  hard  towards  her. 
The  steamer  stopped,  but  made  no  reply 
to  the  signal  of  distress  ;  and  the  second 
officer,  tossing  desperately  within  a  few 
hundred    yards,    saw    the    submarine    go 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  147 

alongside  the  strange  vessel.  She  carried 
neutral  colours  painted  on  her  side,  and  a 
black  funnel  with  a  deep  white  band. 

'  Without  taking  the  slightest  notice 
of  the  boats,  the  steamer  got  under  way, 
saluted  the  submarine  with  a  blast  on  her 
whistle,  and  departed.  No  explanation 
of  these  circumstances  is  available.  That 
was  what  happened. 

'  The  second  officer,  abandoned  to  his 

fate,  kept  the  boat  before  the  sea,  and 

looked  for  the  other  boats,  but  he  could 

not  see  them.     It  was  then  about  three 

o'clock   in  the   afternoon.     Four  terrible 

hours  later  heavy  rain  began  to  fall,  and 

the  sea  moderated  a  little.     The  second 

officer  then  steered  for  land,   about  120 

miles  distant,  the  men  pulling  steadily  all 

night.     When  the  ragged  daylight  dawned 

on  the  desolate  sea,  the  second  officer  set 

sail,  and  made  good  way  in  comparative 

ease.     At  nine  o'clock  that  morning  the 

second  officer  sighted  a  patrol  boat  right 

ahead.     A  few  minutes  later  the  second 

officer  and  his  sturdy  crew  were  safe  on 


148  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

board  the  patrol  boat,  and  the  drenched, 
cold  and  exhausted  men  were  sitting  down 
to  a  hot  breakfast. 

'  In  the  meantime  the  chief  officer's 
boat  had  gone  through  much  the  same 
ordeal.  When  the  second  officer  pulled 
towards  the  strange  steamer  the  chief 
officer  was  astern  of  him  and  further 
away  from  the  vessel.  The  chief  officer 
also  made  signals  of  distress,  hoisting  an 
apron.  Like  the  second  officer,  he  saw 
the  steamer  stop,  noted  her  neutral  colours 
and  the  white  band  on  her  funnel,  saw  the 
submarine  draw  alongside  and  converse 
with  her,  saw  her  depart. 

'  At  that  time  the  master's  boat  and 
the  third  officer's  boat  were  within  sight 
of  the  other  two,  and  all  remained  in 
company,  though  widely  separated,  drift- 
ing northwards,  stern  to  sea,  until  dark. 

'  When  daylight  came  the  chief  officer's 
boat  was  alone.  The  chief  officer  hoisted 
sail  and  laid  his  course  for  the  land. 

'  The  second  officer,  on  coming  on  board 
the   patrol   boat,   of  course   reported  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  149 

situation  to  her  captain,  who  immediately 
steamed  in  search  of  the  other  three  boats. 
Within  twenty  minutes  the  chief  officer's 
boat  was  sighted,  a  Httle  and  sohtary  sail 
cleaving  the  wandering  waters  ;  and  pres- 
ently he  and  his  party  were  safe  on  board 
the  patrol. 

'  All  that  day,  all  the  night  and  all  the 
following  day  the  patrol  vessel  cruised 
in  search  of  the  master's  and  the  third 
officer's  boats.  They  were  not  found. 
The  second  officer  still  held  to  a  hope  that 
they  had  been  driven  far  to  the  north  and 
would  be  rescued  or  make  a  landfall.  But 
they  were  never  seen  again. 

'  Thirty-two  officers  and  men  went  down 
on  that  night  of  storm ;  thirty-two  out 
of  seventy-four.  In  such  a  sea,  a  small 
boat  with  little  steerage  way  might  be 
pooped  at  any  moment ;  that  is,  being 
continually  followed  and  overhung  by 
huge  seas,  she  might  fail  to  rise  to  the 
next  sea  in  time,  when  the  following  wave 
would  fall  upon  her,  sending  her  to  the 
bottom  like  a  stone.' 


150     THE  PARAVANE  AD\^NTURE 

The  next  record,  containing  the  adven- 
tures of  the  master  of  the  Seatonia,  who 
was  taken  prisoner  by  a  German  sub- 
marine, illustrates  the  methodical  and 
uninterrupted  working  of  the  submarine 
system. 

'  Morning  of  November  1st,  1916. — A 
steamship  rolling  in  the  long  swell  of  the 
North  Atlantic,  pursued  by  shots  fired 
from  astern  by  an  invisible  enemy.  The 
Seatonia  slipped  this  way  and  that  like  a 
hunted  animal,  the  master  scanning  the 
hills  of  water  rising  and  falling,  until  he 
saw  the  submarine.  She  was  then  some 
seven  miles  distant.  Smoke,  shot  with 
flame,  continually  burst  from  her  guns, 
and  shells  sang  about  the  Seatonia,  falling 
nearer  and  nearer.  So,  for  nearly  three 
hours.  Then  the  submarine,  running 
close  on  the  steamer's  beam,  signalled 
"  Abandon  ship." 

*  Tlie  master  stopped  engines  and 
ordered  the  two  boats  away.  Fourteen 
people  went  in  the  port  lifeboat,  seventeen 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  151 

in  the   starboard   lifeboat,    including  the 
master,  who  was  the  last  to  leave  the  ship. 

'  The  port  lifeboat  was  in  charge  of  the 
chief  officer  and  was  first  away.  The 
submarine  then  hoisted  the  German  ensign, 
and  two  small  flags  ;  and  as  the  master's 
boat  was  launched,  the  submarine  officer 
ordered  her  to  come  alongside.  The  chief 
officer,  standing  off,  saw  the  master  and 
the  rest  of  the  people  in  the  starboard 
lifeboat  taken  on  board  the  submarine, 
and  the  lifeboat  cast  adrift.  Whereupon 
the  chief  officer  got  under  way,  steered 
east  by  north,  and  (to  make  an  end  of  his 
adventures)  was  picked  up  two  or  three 
hours  afterwards  by  a  neutral  steamer, 
and  subsequently  landed  in  a  neutral 
port,  whence,  with  the  thirteen  men  under 
his  command,  he  came  home  in  due  time. 

'  The  master  and  the  sixteen  others  of 
the  crew  of  the  starboard  lifeboat  were 
sent  below  in  the  submarine,  so  that  the 
master  did  not  see  his  ship  sink ;  but  he 
heard  the  "  cough  "  of  the  discharge  of 
the  two  torpedoes  which  sank  her.     The 


152     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

chief  engineer  of  the  Seatonia,  who  was 
also  below,  says  he  saw  the  torpedoes 
fired.  The  submarine  then  submerged 
and  the  English  and  the  other  nationalities 
of  the  Seatonia's  people  were  alone  with 
the  Germans  in  that  narrow  cylinder, 
intricate  and  glittering  with  pipes,  wheels, 
valves  and  every  kind  of  mechanism. 

'  The  commanding  officer  of  the  sub- 
marine was  of  sallow  complexion  and 
sharp  of  feature,  looking  about  forty  years 
of  age.  The  first  lieutenant  was  about 
thirty,  a  fair  man  of  middle  size.  The 
second  lieutenant,  a  dark,  clean-shaven 
young  officer,  had  (he  said)  lived  for  some 
years  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  spoke  good 
English. 

'  The  crew  numbered  forty-six.  They 
wore  thick  felt-lined  brown  coats  and 
trousers,  made  of  i-ubber  or  waterproofed 
leather.  The  internal  fittings  of  the  vessel 
were  stamped  V  49.  Externally  she 
carried  no  number,  and  was  painted  the 
usual  grey. 

'  The  master  said  no  word,  bad  or  good. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  153 

of  his  experience  on  board  the  enemy 
submarine.  It  is  certain  that  he  must 
have  suffered  a  good  deal  of  discomfort, 
for  there  is  no  accommodation  for  pas- 
sengers in  a  submarine,  and  little  enough 
for  the  crew.  The  commanding  officer 
and  first  lieutenant  may  have  had  fitted 
bed-places  ;  the  other  officer  and  the  men 
slept  on  the  floor.  On  that  night  of 
November  1st,  the  people  of  the  Seatonia 
must  have  been  packed  like  herrings,  and 
the  air  must  have  become  very  dense. 
It  seems  that  they  were  hospitably  treated. 
The  commanding  officer  asked  many  ques- 
tions of  the  master,  who,  if  he  were  like 
other  masters,  did  not  illuminatingly 
respond.  The  lieutenant  who  had  dwelt 
in  Nova  Scotia  appears  to  have  been 
socially  disposed. 

'  At  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
November  2nd,  the  submarine  captain 
invited  the  master  to  come  up  on  deck. 
There,  in  the  keen  air  and  sudden  daylight, 
the  master  beheld  three  British  steam 
trawlers  tossing  on  a  heavy  run  of  sea. 


154     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

These  were  the  Caswell,  Kyoto,  and  Harfat 
Castle.  But  the  master  had  not  been 
asked  on  deck  to  admire  the  view.  The 
submarine  officer  had  ah'eady  made  his 
arrangements,  and  the  master  was  part 
of  them.  Tlie  men  of  the  Caswell  were 
ordered  to  bring  their  boat  alongside,  and 
the  submarine  officer  ordered  the  master 
to  visit  each  of  the  three  trawlers,  to  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  coal  in  their  bunkers, 
and  to  open  the  sea-cocks,  in  the  two 
which  had  least  coal,  and  so  to  sink  them. 
Such,  at  least,  was  what  the  master  under- 
stood he  was  to  do. 

'  The  master  had  no  choice  but  to  obey. 
So  he  went  away  in  the  CaswelVs  boat. 
The  crews  of  the  other  two  trawlers  were 
getting  away  in  their  boats.  No  sooner 
was  the  crew  of  the  Kyoto  clear  of  her  than 
the  master  was  startled  by  the  report  of 
a  gun,  and  saw  a  shell  strike  the  Kyoto. 
The  submarine  fired  into  her  till  she  sank. 
Apparently  the  German  officer  decided 
to  hasten  the  good  work. 

'  Then    the    master    perceived    another 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  155 

steam  trawler  coming  up.  She  looked 
like  an  Icelandic  boat,  was  named  Bragi, 
and  was  flying  Danish  colours.  He  after- 
wards discovered  that  the  Dane  had  been 
captured  by  the  submarine  four  days 
previously,  and  was  then  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  German  lieutenant,  with  an 
armed  guard  of  three  men.  The  Bragi 
was  acting  as  consort  to  the  submarine. 
She  lay  to,  and  the  submarine  officer  set 
the  crews  of  all  three  trawlers  and  some 
of  the  Seatonia's  crew  to  shifting  coal  from 
the  two  remaining  British  trawlers,  Caswell 
and  Harfat  Castle,  to  the  Bragi. 

'  There  was  a  considerable  sea  running, 
and  the  forced  working  party  must  hoist 
the  coal  from  the  bunkers,  lower  it  into 
the  boats,  pull  the  boats  across  to  the 
Bragi,  hoist  the  coal  on  board  her,  return 
and  do  it  all  over  again — a  hard  and  heavy 
job.     The  Germans  looked  on. 

'  The  master  makes  no  remark  upon 
this  procedure.  The  work  went  on  for 
about  six  hours,  and  was  finished  at  half- 
past   four   in   the    afternoon.     Then   the 


156  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

black,  wet  and  weary  men  were  ordered 
on  board  the  Bragi,  which  thus  received 
the  crew  of  the  Seatonia  and  the  crews  of 
the  three  trawlers.  The  master  of  the 
Seatonia  was  kept  on  board  the  submarine. 

'  The  submarine  officer  ordered  the 
master  of  the  Bragi  to  come  on  board, 
gave  him  his  instructions,  and  sent  him 
back  to  his  ship.  The  trawlers'  boats 
were  hoisted  on  board  the  Bragi,  and  the 
two  remaining  trawlers,  now  gutted  of 
coal  and  supplies,  were  sunk  by  gunfire. 
The  Bragi  got  under  way  and  departed. 

'  The  master  of  the  Seatonia  was  left 
alone  with  his  German  captors  in  the 
submarine. 

'  The  master  was  allowed  on  deck  when 
there  was  no  ship  in  sight,  and  he  admired 
the  seaworthy  qualities  of  the  submarine. 
She  was  much  on  the  surface,  both  by  day 
and  night ;  during  the  whole  time  the 
master  was  on  board  it  was  blowing  hard 
with  a  heavy  sea  ;  and  he  considered  that 
the  submarine  "  worked  on  the  surface 
in  a  most  weatherly  way." 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  157 

'  When  a  vessel  which  might  have  been 
an  enemy  was  sighted  the  submarine  dived, 
somewhat,  it  must  be  supposed,  to  the 
master's  rehef ;  for  if  she  was  hit  and  sunk 
he  would  infallibly  go  down  with  her, 
and  it  would  have  been  a  pity  to  be 
drowned  by  one's  own  people. 

'  Twice,  during  the  night  of  November 
3rd,  the  master's  third  night  on  board, 
firing  went  on  over  his  head  on  deck. 
Two  ships  were  attacked,  and  so  far  as 
the  master  could  discover,  unsuccessfully. 
In  preparing  to  attack,  the  submarine 
always  submerged  so  soon  as  the  ship 
was  sighted,  then  rose  again  to  fire  at  her. 

'  The  next  night,  the  4th,  another  vessel 
was  attacked.  Nothing  more  seems  to 
have  happened  till  the  night  of  the  7th, 
when  the  master  understood  that  the 
submarine  was  firing  on  the  U.S.A.  steam- 
ship Columbian. 

'  Next  day,  November  8th,  the  sub- 
marine forced  a  Norwegian  steamer,  the 
Balto,  to  stop  and  wait  for  orders.  Then 
the   submarine   once   more   attacked   the 


158     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Columbian,  compelled  the  crew  to  abandon 
her,  sent  them  on  board  the  Norwegian, 
and  then  torpedoed  the  Columbian. 

'  That  was  an  interesting  day  for  the 
British  master.  In  her,  but  not  of  her, 
he  watched  a  first-class  pirate  at  work. 
The  next  day,  the  9th,  was  also  variously 
destructive.  The  submarine  stopped  a 
Swedish  steamer,  the  Varing,  and  to  her 
transferred  the  crews  of  the  sunk  Colum- 
bian and  of  the  Balto.  Thus  it  became 
feasible  to  sink  the  Balto  ;  and  accordingly 
bombs  were  exploded  on  board  her,  and 
she  sank  about  noon. 

'  The  master  of  the  Seatonia  was  now 
released  from  captivity  and  sent  on  board 
the  Varing,  where  there  were  already 
134  people,  in  addition  to  the  crew.  The 
master  made  the  135th.  The  same  after- 
noon 25  more  persons  joined  the  party, 
making  160  captives  in  all.  For  the  sub- 
marine had  forced  the  crew  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Fordelen  to  abandon  her,  sent  them 
to  the  Varing,  and  sunk  the  Fordelen. 

'  The  submarine  officer  sent  a  prize  crew 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  159 

on  board  the  Varing,  and  at  midnight  the 
German  officer  in  command  of  the  Faring 
suddenly  sighted  a  British  vessel  of  war, 
and  at  once  cleared  the  upper  deck  of  all 
passengers. 

'  During  the  nine  days  of  the  master^s 
captivity  the  submarine  sank  the  Seatonia, 
the  three  trawlers  Caswell,  Kyoto  and 
Harfat  Castle,  the  neutral  vessels  Colum- 
bian, Balto  and  Fordelen,  seven  in  all,  and 
captured  the  Varing.  She  had  already 
captured  the  Danish  trawler  Bragi,  which 
was  acting  as  consort.  The  disposition 
of  the  captured  crews  was  ingenious.  The 
Seatonia's  people  went  to  the  submarine 
herself,  thence  to  the  Danish  consort. 
The  Columbian  was  not  put  down  until 
provision  was  made  for  her  crew  in  the 
Balto,  The  crews  of  Columbian  and  Balto 
were  both  transferred  from  the  Balto  to 
the  Varing,  and  then  the  Balto  was  sunk. 
The  crew  of  the  Fordelen  also  went  to  the 
Varing,  and  then  the  Fordelen  was  sunk. 

'  The  commanding  officer  of  the  sub- 
marine  thus   preserved  the   lives   of  the 


160  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

people  whose  ships  he  destroyed,  making 
no  distinction  whatever  between  beUi- 
gerent  and  neutral  ships.  The  master 
of  the  Seatonia  was  treated,  not  as  a 
prisoner  of  war  but,  as  a  civilian  prisoner. 
As  he  had  not  fired  upon  the  submarine — 
having  indeed  no  gun — he  did  in  fact  retain 
his  civilian  rights,  which  were  respected. 

'  The  next  morning,  November  10th, 
the  master,  with  one  of  the  captive  crews, 
was  landed  in  a  neutral  port. 

'  In  the  meantime  the  Bragi,  according 
to  her  instructions,  arrived  on  November 
5th,  off  a  neutral  port,  which  was  her 
rendezvous.  Tlie  next  day  the  sub- 
marine fetched  up  with  the  Faring  in 
company.  The  master  of  the  Bragi  was 
again  summoned  on  board  the  submarine, 
where  he  received  his  dismissal  from  the 
German  service.  He  afterwards  landed 
his  passengers  in  a  neutral  port,  and  so 
departed  on  his  own  affairs,  carrying  in 
his  mind  a  powerful  objection,  mentioned 
by  the  submarine  officer,  against  carrying 
fish  for  England. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  161 

'  The  use  made  by  the  Germans  of 
neutral  ships  and  neutral  ports  would 
seem  to  add  a  new  meaning  to  the  accepted 
notion  of  neutrality.' 

By  this  time  too,  the  Mediterranean, 
once  the  proudest  station  of  the  British 
Fleet,  was  being  ravaged. 

'  The  master  of  the  City  of  Birmingham, 
left  alone  on  board  his  ship,  which  was 
sinking  under  him,  collected  his  confiden- 
tial books  and  papers,  stowed  them  in  a 
weighted  bag,  went  on  the  bridge  and 
hove  them  overboard. 

'  Pulling  away  from  the  ship  over  the 
smooth  swell  were  seven  boats  laden  with 
passengers.  Across  the  water  floated  the 
pleasant  sound  of  women's  voices,  sing- 
ing. .  .  . 

'  The  sound  was  a  gracious,  unconscious 
testimony  to  the  master's  forethought, 
skill  and  hardihood.  A  little  more  than 
ten  minutes  ago  all  the  people  in  the  boats 
had   been   snug  in  the   ship,   which   was 


162  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

steaming  peacefully  at  thirteen  knots  : 
all  men  on  duty  at  their  stations,  every- 
thing correct,  no  sign  of  an  enemy.  There 
were  a  crew  of  145,  of  whom  29  were 
British  and  116  were  Lascars,  and  pas- 
sengers numbering  170,  of  whom  about 
90  were  women  and  children.  There  was 
no  warning  ere  the  torpedo  struck  the 
vessel. 

'  The  master  on  the  bridge  perceived 
that  the  after  half  of  the  ship  was  under 
water.  He  had  stayed  by  his  ship  to  the 
last,  and  now  it  was  time  for  him  to  go. 
He  swung  himself  from  the  bridge  and 
ran  to  the  forecastle  head,  and  as  he 
reached  it  the  ship  went  down,  taking  the 
master  with  her.  He  came  to  the  surface, 
struck  out,  swam  to  a  couple  of  floating 
planks,  and  clung  to  them.  It  was  Nov- 
ember 27th,  1916,  and  the  water  of  the 
Mediterranean  was  very  cold. 

'  To  the  master,  adrift  on  the  last 
remnant  of  his  fine  ship,  still  came  the 
sound  of  women's  voices,  singing ;  but 
they    seemed    very    far    off.     Rising    and 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  163 

falling  on  the  long  slopes  of  the  swell,  the 
master  could  see  the  boats  no  longer.  It 
occurred  to  him  that  they  could  not  see 
him,  either.  Would  they  conclude  he  was 
drowned  with  his  ship  ?  Would  each 
boat  think  the  other  had  him  on  board  ? 
Would  he  be  left  to  perish,  alone  among 
the  people  in  the  ship,  the  people  whom 
he  had  saved  ? 

'  Swinging  drenched  on  his  wreckage, 
the  master  saw  again  the  white  decks, 
the  lookouts  at  their  stations,  the  gunners 
standing  by  their  gun,  and  felt  again  the 
tremendous  blow  of  the  torpedo,  striking 
fifteen  feet  under  water,  and  the  trembling 
of  the  wounded  vessel.  Then  began  the 
test  of  his  drill  and  organisation.  Every 
officer  and  man  went  to  his  boat  station  ; 
all  passengers,  lifebelts  slung  upon  them, 
went  as  steadily  to  their  boats  as  the  crew. 
The  engineer  reversed  engines  and  stopped 
the  way  of  the  ship,  though  the  steam 
was  pouring  out  of  the  saloon  windows  ; 
the  wireless  operator  sent  out  calls  and 
received  a  reply ;  the  boats  were  swung 


164     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

out  and  safely  launched.     And  all  inside 
ten  minutes. 

'  No  master  could  have  achieved  more. 
And  there  he  was  adrift.  Where  were 
the  boats  ?  Minute  by  minute  passed 
and  no  boat  came.  "  He  saved  others. ..." 
But  still  the  sound  of  women's  voices, 
singing,  hung  in  the  air.  So  soon  as  they 
were  in  the  boats,  they  struck  up  that 
brave  chant,  to  show  that  all  was  well, 
and  that  nothing  dismayed  them. 

'  The  master,  after  the  manner  of  the 
British  seaman,  continued  to  hang  on, 
let  come  what  would  come.  Half  an  hour 
may  be  as  half  a  year  to  a  drowning  man. 
And  the  remorseless  interminable  minutes 
lagged  one  after  another  to  nearly  thirty 
ere  the  master  caught  the  beat  of  oars, 
and  beheld  the  prow  of  a  boat  cleaving 
the  crest  of  the  swell  above  him. 

'  Once  on  board  the  boat  the  master 
instantly  took  command  again.  He  sig- 
nalled to  the  other  boats  to  come  together, 
and  ordered  them  to  pull  eastwards,  where 
a  plume  of  smoke  blurred  the  horizon. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  165 

'  The  steamer  was  presently  observed 
to  be  approaching,  and  by  four  o'clock 
the  whole  of  the  shipwrecked  people  were 
on  board  the  hospital  ship  Letitia.  The 
City  of  Birmingham  had  been  torpedoed 
at  11.15  ;  every  soul  on  board  except  the 
master  was  clear  of  her  ten  minutes  later  ; 
at  11.45  she  sank,  and  by  four  o'clock  all 
were  rescued. 

'  So  soon  as  the  people  were  on  board 
the  Letitia,  the  master  called  the  roll  of 
the  passengers  and  mustered  the  crew. 
He  found  that  four  lives  in  all  had  been 
lost  between  the  time  of  the  explosion 
and  the  pulling  away  of  the  boats.  The 
ship's  doctor,  who  was  an  old  man ;  the 
barman,  who  seems  to  have  been  of  an 
unstable  temperament,  and  who  fell  into 
the  water ;  and  two  Lascars  :  these  were 
drowned. 

'  Neither  the  submarine  nor  the  torpedo 
was  seen. 

'  The  master  in  his  report  stated  that 
*'  the  women  especially  showed  a  good 
example  by  the  way  in  which  they  took 


166  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

their  places  in  the  boats,  as  calmly  as 
if  they  were  going  down  to  their  meals, 
and  when  in  the  boats  they  began 
singing. 

*  So  might  Andromeda  have  lifted  her 
golden  voice  in  praise  to  the  immortal 
gods,  what  time  the  hero  slew  the  sea- 
beast  that  would  have  devoured  her.' 

'  Three  hundred  miles  from  land,  in  the 
Mediterranean,  a  merchant  service  officer 
crouched  on  a  raft  of  wreckage,  staring  at 
a  German  submarine,  which  lay  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  him.  An  English  ship's 
boat,  crammed  with  men,  at  some  distance 
from  him,  was  pulling  towards  him.  The 
smooth  sea  was  strewn  with  broken  pieces 
of  the  ship,  to  some  of  which  men  were 
clinging  ;  and  a  second  boat  was  pulling 
to  and  fro,  picking  the  men  from  the 
water.  It  was  about  half-past  five  in  the 
afternoon  of  November  4th,  1916. 

'  The  chief  officer,  contemplating  the 
enemy  with  a  curious  eye,  beheld  the  long 
yellow  hull  awash,  the  circular  conning- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  167 

tower  rising  amidships,  painted  a  light 
straw  colour,  bearing  a  black  number, 
indecipherable,  and  surmounted  by  a 
canvas  screen,  enclosing  the  rail.  Five 
or  six  men,  clad  in  brown,  except  one 
who  wore  a  white  sweater,  lined  the  rail 
of  the  conning-tower,  gazing  at  the  de- 
struction they  had  wrought.  Forward, 
on  the  deck,  beside  the  gun,  two  German 
officers  were  leisurely  pointing  cameras 
upon  the  ship-wrecked  men.  When  they 
had  taken  such  photographs  as  they 
desired,  they  departed.  The  submarine 
got  under  way  and  steered  to  a  position 
where  she  lay  in  the  track  of  steamers 
shortly  due  to  pass. 

'  The  chief  officer  and  the  rest  of  the 
men  were  taken  into  the  two  boats.  By 
that  time  darkness  was  gathering.  The 
chief  officer,  knowing  that  two  steamers 
were  coming  up  astern,  burned  red  flares 
to  warn  them  of  their  danger.  In  so 
doing  he  risked  the  vengeance  of  the 
submarine,  which  must  have  seen  the 
flares,  and  which  could  have  overhauled 


168     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  boats  in  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
sent  them  to  the  bottom. 

*  The  two  boats,  overladen  with  the 
soaked  and  shivering  crew,  pulled  and 
drifted  in  the  dark  for  some  nine  hours. 
Early  the  next  morning  they  were  rescued 
by  the  hospital  ship  Voldavia. 

'  It  was  at  5.25  upon  the  previous  after- 
noon that  their  ship,  the  Huntsvale,  had 
been  struck  by  a  torpedo  fired  from  an 
unseen  submarine.  Her  stern  was  blown 
clean  off,  and  she  sank  in  two  minutes. 
The  master  sounded  the  whistle,  and  the 
wireless  operator  had  just  time  and  no 
more  to  send  out  one  call  of  distress  ere 
his  dynamo  collapsed.  The  master  and 
six  men  lost  their  lives,  seven  killed  out 
of  forty-nine. 

'  Immediately  after  the  explosion  the 
submarine  rose  to  the  surface  and  steered 
towards  the  scene  of  wreckage,  while  the 
German  officers  prepared  their  photo- 
graphic apparatus.  Doubtless  the  prints 
were  designed  for  publication  in  Germany 
to  illustrate  the  freedom  of  the  seas.' 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  169 

The  appalling  story  of  the  Conch  is  an 
instance  of  the  frightful  perils  to  which 
the  oil-ships  were  exposed,  and  in  spite  of 
which  they  continued  to  ply  without  in- 
termission. The  incident  also  illustrates 
the  valour  and  seamanship  of  the  naval 
officer.  It  was  no  fault  of  the  destroyer 
captains  that  they  could  not  avert  dis- 
aster. The  Paravane  officers  were  doing 
all  that  men  could  do  to  give  their  com- 
rades at  sea  the  power  of  prevention. 

'  On  the  night  of  December  7tli,  1916, 
in  a  broad  moonlight,  a  big  oil-ship,  the 
Conch,  was  steaming  up  Channel.  She 
was  bringing  7000  tons  of  benzine  from 
a  far  Eastern  port. 

'  Eight  miles  away,  nearer  the  coast,  a 
patrol  boat  was  cruising.  Her  captain 
was  startled  by  a  bright  flame  towering 
upon  the  night,  and  writhing  momently 
higher  amid  a  vast  rolling  canopy  of 
smoke,  blotting  out  the  stars.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  patrol  boat  steered  for  the  fire 
at  full  speed.     At  eight  knots  it  was  an 


170     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

hour  or  more  ere  the  captain  came  in  full 
sight  of  a  large  ship,  wrapped  in  a  roaring 
flame,  spouting  burning  oil  from  a  rent 
in  her  port  side,  and  steaming  faster  than 
the  patrol  boat.  From  the  forecastle  aft 
she  was  all  one  flame  of  fire ;  wildly  steering 
herself,  she  was  yawing  now  to  this  side, 
now  to  the  other ;  and  as  she  sped,  her 
wavering  track  blazed  and  smoked  upon 
the  heaving  water. 

'  The  heat  smote  upon  the  faces  of  the 
men  in  the  patrol  boat  as  they  stared 
upon  the  burning  ship.  The  captain 
steered  nearer  to  her,  and  at  the  same 
moment  she  turned  suddenly  towards  him, 
her  whole  bulk  of  fire  bearing  down  upon 
the  patrol  boat.  The  captain  put  his 
helm  hard  over  and  turned  away ;  and 
still  she  came  on,  dreadfully  lighting  the 
men's  scared  faces,  revealing  every  detail 
of  rope  and  block  and  guardrail ;  and 
then  the  patrol  boat  just  cleared  her. 

'  The  captain  stood  off  to  a  safe  distance 
and  steamed  parallel  to  the  course  of  the 
burning  ship,  scanning  her  for  any  sight 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  171 

of  a  living  creature,  but  he  could  see  none, 
nor  did  it  seem  possible  that  so  much  as 
a  rat  could  be  left  alive  in  that  furnace. 

'  After  cruising  thus  for  about  an  hour, 
and  perceiving  the  approach  of  two 
trawlers,  also  on  patrol  duty,  the  first 
patrol  boat  went  about  her  business,  her 
captain  having  made  up  his  mind  that 
there  were  no  men  left  alive  in  the  burning 
ship. 

'  But  there  were. 

'  When  the  watch  was  changed  on 
board  the  Conch  at  eight  o'clock  on  the 
evening  before,  the  master  and  the  third 
officer  went  on  the  bridge.  During  that 
watch  there  were  two  quartermasters  at 
the  wheel ;  a  wireless  operator  and  a 
gunner  were  posted  at  the  gun,  aft,  and 
there  was  a  lookout  man  stationed  on 
the  forecastle  head.  Below,  the  fourth 
engineer  was  on  watch,  and  the  chief 
engineer  was  in  charge.  Two  China  boys 
were  stoking.  The  rest  of  the  officers 
were  either  in  their  cabins  or  on  deck, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  crew  were  in 


172  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  forecastle,  where  they  had  their 
quarters. 

'  About  half-past  ten  the  chief  engineer 
was  in  his  cabin,  whence  he  had  been 
going  to  the  engine-room  from  time  to 
time,  when  he  heard  the  dull  report  of  an 
explosion,  and  simultaneously  felt  a  heavy 
shock.  He  ran  to  the  engine-room. 
Nothing  had  happened  there  ;  the  revolu- 
tions still  marked  ten  knots,  and  the 
needle  of  the  telegraph  dial  still  pointed 
to  full  speed. 

'  The  fourth  engineer  ran  to  call  the 
second  and  third  engineers.  Swiftly  as 
he  went,  the  fire  caught  him  as  he  dashed 
into  the  alley-way,  and  he  must  burst 
his  way  through  flame  and  smoke.  He 
was  shockingly  burned  about  the  hands 
and  arms,  but  he  roused  the  two  other 
engineers,  and  all  three  hurried  down  to 
the  engine-room,  the  whole  after  part  of 
the  ship  blazing  behind  them.  None  of 
the  other  officers  were  ever  seen  again. 

'  In  the  engine-room,  imprisoned  by 
fire,  were  the  eight  people  of  the  engine- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  173 

room  staff ;  the  chief  engineer,  the  second, 
third  and  fourth  engineers  and  four  China- 
men ;  eight  of  the  fifty-six  persons  in  the 
ship,  of  whom  twelve  were  British  and  the 
rest  Chinese. 

'  From  time  to  time  one  of  the  engineers 
tried  to  force  his  way  on  deck,  and  at 
each  attempt  he  was  beaten  back  by  the 
flames.  Thus  they  tried  for  an  hour ; 
and  all  the  while  the  telegraph  dial  pointed 
to  full  speed  and  the  ship  was  steaming  at 
ten  knots. 

'  It  was  about  midnight  when  the  second 
engineer  succeeded  in  reaching  the  deck. 
He  sounded  the  whistle.  The  others 
joined  him.  The  bridge  was  a  burning 
ruin  ;  flame  and  smoke  streamed  up  from 
the  forward  tanks ;  burning  oil  poured  from 
the  hull  on  the  port  side,  where  mine  or 
torpedo  had  torn  a  great  hole  ;  of  the 
four  lifeboats  no  sign  was  left  except  the 
blackened  and  twisted  davits.  To  the 
eight  men  it  appeared  that  they  must 
either  be  burned  alive  or  go  over  the  side 
and  end  the  business  that  way. 


174  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'  Then  they  remarked  the  dinghy  se- 
cured on  chocks  on  the  well  deck.  Amid 
the  heat  and  flame,  they  hoisted  her  out 
and  lowered  her  into  the  sea,  where  she 
was  immediately  filled  with  water.  All 
the  time  the  ship  was  steaming  ahead  and 
yawing.  The  engineers  tried  to  get  back 
to  the  engine-room  to  stop  the  engines 
and  so  stop  the  ship  ;  for  with  way  on  the 
ship  the  dinghy  was  towing  astern,  and  it 
was  most  difficult  to  embark  in  her.  But 
the  fire  now  barred  the  engineers  from  the 
engine-room. 

'  What  followed  is  a  little  obscure.  But 
it  is  clear  that  the  four  Chinamen  reached 
the  boat  by  sliding  down  the  falls,  and 
that  the  fourth  engineer,  attempting  to 
follow  them,  could  not  travel  along  the 
ropes  with  his  wounded  hands,  so  hung 
midway,  unable  to  go  forward  or  back, 
and  then  dropped  into  the  sea,  whence  he 
never  rose  again.  The  fourth  engineer 
had  come  by  his  hurt  when  he  went  to 
call  the  other  two  engineer  officers.  So  he 
lost  his  life. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  175 

'  The  chief  engineer  did  not  see  what 
happened  to  the  fourth  engineer.  The 
Chinamen  in  the  boat  told  him  of  it. 
Somehow  the  chief  engineer  got  into  the 
boat,  and  before  the  second  and  third 
engineers  could  board  her  she  came  adrift 
from  the  ship. 

*  The  chief  engineer  and  the  four  China- 
men were  in  the  water-logged  boat,  and 
the  second  and  third  engineers  were  left 
on  board  the  burning  ship. 

'  The  people  in  the  dinghy  were  not 
seen  by  the  patrol  boat,  which  was  keeping 
pace  with  the  Conch  some  distance  away 
from  her.  Tlie  dinghy,  obscured  by  smoke 
and  flame,  dropped  swiftly  astern.  The 
chief  engineer  and  the  Chinamen  kept  her 
afloat  by  incessant  baling ;  and  after 
about  an  hour  they  sighted  a  steamer, 
rowed  desperately,  hailed  her,  and  were 
presently  taken  on  board. 

'  The  steamer  pursued  the  burning  ship 
with  the  intention  of  taking  off  the  second 
and  third  engineers,  but  she  could  not 
approach    near    enough.     By    that    time 


176     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  flames  had  subsided  upon  the  after 
part  of  the  Conch,  but  she  was  still  blazing 
from  the  bridge  forward. 

'  What    happened   to   the    second    and 
third  engineers  left  on  board  the  Conch, 
their    last    hope    drifting    away    astern? 
At   some   time   between   about   half-past 
one   in  the   night   of  December   7th-8th, 
when  the  dinghy  went  adrift,  and  three 
o'clock,   one  of  the  trawlers,  which  had 
been  observed  by  the  first  patrol  boat  to 
be    approaching,    manoeuvred    under   the 
stern  of  the  Conch,  which  was  still  steaming 
ahead,    and    the    commanding    officer    of 
the  trawler  told  the  two  engineers  to  jump 
into  the  water,  whence  he  hauled  them 
on  board. 

'  Thus,  with  the  sad  exception  of  the 
fourth  engineer,  the  engineering  staff  was 
saved.  So  far  as  they  knew,  when  they 
quitted  the  burning  ship  there  were  no 
men  left  on  board. 

'  But  there  were. 

'  At  a  quarter  to  four  on  that  Friday 
morning,    December    8th,   the   lieutenant 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  177 

in  command  of  one  of  His  Majesty's 
torpedo-boat  destroyers  sighted  what  he 
described  as  "  a  very  large  conflagration." 
Upon  approaching  the  fire  he  perceived 
a  great  vessel  burning  fiercely  from  fore- 
castle to  stern,  steaming  at  about  eight 
knots,  and  yawing  through  some  seven 
points  ;  and  huddled  upon  the  fore-peak, 
like  the  eyes  of  a  toi-tured  creature,  a 
crowd  of  Chinamen. 

'  The  lieutenant  considered  that  to  run 
his  destroyer  alongside  a  burning  ship 
under  way  and  out  of  control  was  im- 
practicable. Let  us  now  regard  the  sea- 
manship of  the  Royal  Navy. 

'  The  lieutenant  lowered  all  his  boats 
and  ran  past  the  stern  of  the  Conch. 
throwing  overboard  life-saving  rafts,  life- 
belts and  lifebuoys,  and  shouting  to  the 
men  to  jump  into  the  water.  He  turned, 
ran  past  the  stern  again,  turned,  and 
repeated  his  action.  The  Chinamen  leaped 
into  the  water  and  were  picked  up,  all 
except  nine. 

'  Nine    paralysed    Chinamen    remained 

M 


178     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

invisibly  fettered  to  the  ship,  where  during 
some  five  hours  they  had  watched  the 
fire  steadily  eating  its  way  towards  them. 
It  is  probable  that  they  had  taken  opium. 
The  flames,  which  had  slackened  on  the 
after  part  of  the  ship,  were  now  again 
blazing,  the  fire  having  ignited  the  bunkers, 
and  the  Chinamen  had  but  a  few  minutes 
between  them  and  death. 

'  "  I  therefore  decided,"  says  the  young 
naval   officer   who    performed   the    deed, 

"  that  it  was  necessary  to  place  the 

alongside  the  ship,  and  take  off  the  re- 
mainder of  the  crew." 

'  Then  followed  a  feat  of  consummate 
seamanship  and  indomitable  courage. 

'  A  more  hazardous  evolution  could 
hardly  be  devised.  As  the  burning  ship 
was  unmanageable  and  swerving  suddenly 
from  side  to  side,  a  collision  was. almost 
inevitable,  while  to  go  alongside  a  pyramid 
of  burning  oil  was  to  risk  catching  fire 
and  exploding  ammunition. 

'  The  lieutenant,  steaming  eight  knots, 
keeping  pace  with  the   Conchy  ran  right 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  179 

alongside  her  windward  bow,  grappled  the 
riven,  red-hot  hull,  now  burned  almost 
down  to  the  water-line.  For  a  desperate 
ten  minutes  the  destroyer  was  locked  to 
the  burning  overhanging  mass,  in  the 
reek  and  the  fierce  heat  and  the  dropping 
flakes  of  fire,  while  the  nine  wretched 
Chinamen,  roused  from  the  Chinese  leth- 
argy, lowered  themselves  one  by  one  from 
the  peak  of  the  tall  vessel  to  the  deck  of 
the  destroyer. 

'  Then  the  lieutenant  cast  off  his  de- 
stroyer, "  which  sustained  slight  super- 
ficial damage  to  guardrails  and  upper  deck 
fittings."  He  makes  no  other  remark  of 
any  kind.     He  was  none  too  soon,  for  "  ten 

minutes  after  the cleared  the  steamer, 

the  latter  was  burnt  to  the  water-line  and 
disappeared  ...  at  7.23  a.m." 

'  In  the  meantime,  ere  the  destroyer 
arrived,  the  steamer  which  had  rescued 
the  chief  engineer  and  the  four  Chinamen 
had  picked  out  of  the  water  five  more 
Chinamen,  while,  as  already  narrated,  the 
patrol  trawler  had  taken  on  board  the 


180     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

second  and  third  engineers.  In  addition, 
the  other  patrol  trawler  had  picked  up 
two  Chinamen.  Three  British  out  of 
twelve,  and  twenty-five  Chinamen  out  of 
forty-four  were  saved ;  thus,  out  of  the 
whole  crew  of  the  Conch,  twenty-eight 
were  saved  and  twenty-eight  were  lost. 
The  lieutenant  in  command  of  the  de- 
stroyer rescued  fourteen  Chinamen,  nine 
of  them  at  the  imminent  hazard  of  his  ship 
and  all  on  board,  by  an  act  of  skill  and 
daring  which  ranks  among  the  finest 
exploits  of  the  Royal  Navy.' 

These  histories  are  selected  from  among 
many  hundreds  of  similar  records.  There 
was  a  staff  of  officers  at  the  Admiralty 
engaged  in  docketing,  classifying  and  sum- 
marising these  documents.  A  room  in 
the  Admiralty  was  entirely  lined  with 
green  boxes,  arranged  in  alphabetical 
order,  containing  the  dockets  of  lost  ships. 
As  the  dockets  increased,  they  were  moved 
into  a  larger  room.  A  Law  Officer  of  the 
Crown,  Sir  Frederick  Smith,   K.C.   (after- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  181 

wards  Lord  Birkenhead),  wrote  a  book  in 
which  he  proved  by  the  most  masterly 
arguments  that  the  Germans  were  breaking 
the  law. 

Nevertheless,  the  fact  remained  that 
the  great  danger,  then  and  subsequently, 
was  lest  a  command  of  the  sea,  able  to  deny 
the  sea  to  the  trade  of  its  enemy,  might  he 
increasingly  unable  to  secure  the  safety  of 
the  sea  for  its  own  trade.  ...  It  was  unable. 

Now  the  Paravane  was  designed  both 
to  destroy  the  submarine,  and  by  pro- 
tecting ships  from  moored  mines  laid  by 
the  submarine,  to  deprive  it  of  a  part  of 
its  power  to  injure.  The  urgency  of  the 
need  is  obvious  enough.  It  now  becomes 
clear  why  the  Paravane  officers  felt  it  to 
be  their  duty  to  use  every  means,  official 
or  unofficial,  to  hasten  the  manufacture 
and  the  supply  of  the  new  gear. 

The  permission  obtained  from  the  Ad- 
miralty by  the  Paravane  department  to 
place  orders  for  experimental  purposes 
with  private  firms,  was  considerably 
stretched  in  practice.     What  else  could  be 


182     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

done  ?  The  situation  was  very  serious  ; 
the  urgency  instant ;  and  to  their  credit 
be  it  recorded,  the  private  firms  mani- 
fested the  right  spirit. 

The  Paravane  department  gave  ex- 
tensive orders,  which  the  Admiralty  were 
asked  to  confirm,  and  which  they  did  con- 
firm. 

It  should  here  be  explained  that  under 
the  Admiralty  procedure  of  that  time,  to 
deal  with  experimental  weapons  was  a  part 
of  the  duties  of  the  Third  Sea  Lord,  and 
afterwards  of  the  Controller.  Weapons, 
or  improvements  in  weapons,  desired  by 
Vernon  or  Ordnance  or  other  technical 
departments,  were  ordered  of  private 
firms  by  the  Director  of  Contracts.  The 
result  was  that  the  men  who  made  the 
design  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
placing  the  order  for  its  manufacture,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  either  that  they 
should  explain  the  design  to  the  con- 
tractor or  that  they  should  superintend 
its  manufacture  in  the  shops. 

But  in  the  case  of  the  Paravane,  it  was 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  183 

absolutely  essential  that  the  designer 
should  be  in  constant  personal  communica- 
tion with  the  contractor,  and  also  that 
he  should  superintend  the  process  of  manu- 
facture, in  order  to  solve  difficulties  as 
they  arose.  For  when  invention  and  pro- 
duction are  conducted  simultaneously,  and 
there  is  no  time  adequately  to  test  every 
improvement,  the  design  of  the  gear  must 
be  constantly  altered  during  its  manu- 
facture. Once  more  let  it  be  recorded 
that  the  private  firms  employed  did  their 
utmost  to  help. 

Thus  Lieutenant-Commander  P.  and 
Lieutenant  McConnel  dealt  directly  with 
private  firms ;  and  Commander  W.  or- 
ganised a  special  staff  of  some  twenty 
officers,  civilian  engineers  entered  in  the 
Royal  Naval  Volunteer  Reserve,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  superintend  manufacture 
and  to  hasten  its  progress  in  the  shops. 
Hence  these  officers  were  known  as  the 
Progress  Party.  The  Admiralty  not  only 
approved  of  the  arrangement  but  in  course 
of  time  requested  the  Paravane  Progress 


184  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Party  to  superintend  and  to  hasten  the 
manufacture  of  other  devices. 

W^hen,  in  1917,  the  office  of  Controller 
(unaccountably  abolished  before  the  war) 
was  revived  at  the  Admiralty,  the  bulk  of 
the  orders  for  Paravanes  had  been  placed 
by  the  Paravane  department.  Lieutenant 
McConnel  was  then  transferred  to  the 
Controller's  department  at  the  Admir- 
alty to  act  as  Paravane  officer.  By  that 
time  the  Paravane  department  was  spend- 
ing millions. 


XIV 

When  Lieutenant  Burney  invented  the 
Paravane,  he  invented  what  was  com- 
mercially a  very  valuable  property.  But 
its  commercial  value  depended  upon  its 
protection  by  patents.  Here  it  should  be 
explained  that  naval  officers  are  encour- 
aged to  devise  inventions  by  article  415 
of  the  King's  Regulations,  under  which 
all  inventions  made  by  a  naval  officer 
become  the  property  of  the  Lords  Com- 
missioners of  the  Admiralty,  who,  in  their 
discretion  and  as  an  act  of  grace,  may 
grant  a  reward  to  the  inventor,  but  who 
are  not  bound  to  award  him  anything. 

In  February  1915,  Lieutenant  Burney 
advised  the  Admiralty  that  the  Paravane 
inventions  should  be  protected  by  patents. 
Accordingly,  the  Admiralty  Patent  Agent 
obtained  secret  patents  in  Lieutenant 
Burney 's   name.     These   were   lodged    in 

186 


186  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

June  1915.  In  accordance  with  the  King's 
Regulations,  Burney  assigned  the  patents 
to  the  Admiralty,  under  a  deed  of  assign- 
ment, so  that  the  Paravane  patents  be- 
came the  property  of  the  Admiralty,  and 
the  granting  of  an  award  to  the  inventor 
rested  in  the  discretion  of  their  Lordships. 
Lieutenant  Burney  then  laid  before 
the  Admiralty,  in  writing,  his  view  of  the 
position.  Foreseeing  the  necessity  of 
forming  an  immense  commercial  organisa- 
tion for  the  manufacture  and  fitting  of 
the  Paravane,  which  would  be  furnished 
to  H.M.  ships,  the  ships  of  the  Allied 
Navies  and  the  merchant  shipping  of 
Great  Britain  and  of  the  Allies,  Burney 
submitted  that  two  courses  were  open  to 
H.M.  Government :  (1)  That  H.M.  Gov- 
ernment should  take  out  patents  in  Allied 
countries,  and  should  use  the  royalties 
thereby  accruing  as  appropriations  in 
aid  of  the  Navy  Estimates;  (2)  If  that 
course  was  rejected,  that  Lieutenant  Bur- 
ney should  be  allowed  to  take  out  patents 
in  Allied  countries  or  to  sell  to  them  out- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  187 

right  the  drawings  of  the  invention. 
Neither  then  nor  at  any  subsequent  time 
did  Burney  ask  for  an  award  to  be  granted 
to  him  by  the  Admiralty  in  respect  of  the 
fitting  with  the  Paravane  of  H.M.  ships  ; 
and  subsequently  Burney  informed  the 
Admiralty  that  he  would  accept  nothing 
on  that  account. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  first  pro- 
posal was  that  the  Government  should 
work  the  patents  and  take  what  profit 
resulted  therefrom ;  and  that  the  second 
and  alternative  proposal  was  that  Lieu- 
tenant Burney  should  conduct  the  whole 
enterprise  in  terms  to  be  decided  by  the 
Admiralty. 

Their  Lordships  elected  to  choose  the 
alternative.  In  a  letter  dated  May  17th, 
1916,  the  Admiralty  authorised  Lieutenant 
Burney  to  take  out  patents  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  at  his  own  expense  and  for 
his  own  benefit,  or  to  sell  the  drawings 
outright ;  with  regard  to  Paravanes  and 
gear  manufactured  at  the  expense  of  the 
Admiralty  and  supplied  by  them  to  foreign 


188  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Governments,  the  Admiralty  were  to 
charge  a  royalty,  a  proportion  of  which 
would  be  paid  to  Lieutenant  Burney ; 
and  with  regard  to  the  use  of  the  apparatus 
by  the  British  Navy,  the  Admiralty  were 
to  consider  the  granting  of  an  award  to 
Lieutenant  Burney. 

In  that  letter,  therefore,  the  Admiralty 
instructed  Burney,  a  lieutenant  whose 
pay  was  about  £250  a  year,  and  who  was 
already  charged  with  as  much  work  as 
he  could  well  perform,  to  organise  a  system 
of  international  manufacture  upon  a  scale 
requiring  an  initial  capital  expenditure 
of  at  least  a  million  sterling. 

Burney  accepted  the  enterprise  and  at 
once  began  to  execute  their  Lordships' 
instructions.  He  concluded  the  agree- 
ments with  France  and  Russia,  during 
June  and  July  1916.  All  this  time  he 
was  also  engaged  in  his  work  at  the  Para- 
vane department  at  Portsmouth. 

In  August  1916,  Burney  proposed  to 
Sir  George  White,  of  Bristol,  that  Sir 
George  White  should  take  over  the  whole 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  189 

financial  and  commercial  side  of  the  enter- 
prise. Sir  George  White  had  helped  Bur- 
ney  to  conduct  his  experiments  with  aero- 
planes, during  which  Burney  had  acquired 
the  knowledge  and  experience  enabling 
him  to  devise  the  Paravane,  and  upon 
which  Sir  George  White  had  expended 
some  £10,000.  Sir  George  White  accepted 
Burney's  proposal,  and  concluded  an 
agreement  with  Burney  under  which  Sir 
George  White  was  to  recover  his  initial 
expenditure  of  some  £10,000  from  the 
first  payments  received  from  foreign 
countries,  and  was  to  pay  Burney  a  pro- 
portion of  the  subsequent  profits  received. 
On  30th  August,  Burney  received  a 
letter  from  the  Admiralty  in  which  their 
Lordships,  altering  the  arrangements  they 
had  authorised  Burney  to  make  with 
foreign  countries,  precluded  the  charging 
of  royalties.  As  Sir  George  White  was 
now  in  possession  of  Burney's  rights  in 
the  matter,  Burney  referred  the  Admiralty 
to  Sir  George  White.  The  immediate 
effect  of  the  Admiralty  letter  was  of  course 


190     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

to  prevent  Sir  George  White  from  pro- 
ceeding with  the  business.  After  an 
interval,  on  October  30th,  1916,  Burney 
received  a  letter  from  the  Admiralty 
which,  in  fact,  cancelled  their  letter  of 
May  17th,  1916,  in  which  Bm^ney  was  in- 
structed to  conduct  the  whole  enterprise 
at  his  own  expense  and  (excepting  in 
respect  of  the  British  Navy)  for  his  own 
profit.  The  Admiralty  forbade  the  charg- 
ing of  royalties  to  foreign  countries  as 
regards  the  fitting  of  naval  vessels,  and 
the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  fitting 
of  merchant  ships  were  to  be  submitted 
to  the  Admiralty  for  approval. 

Sir  George  Wliite  represented  to  the 
Admiralty  that  if  he  was  forbidden  either 
to  charge  royalties  or  to  receive  a  fixed 
sum  in  payment,  he  would  be  deprived  of 
the  means  of  raising  the  capital  upon 
which  he  relied  both  to  make  up  his 
initial  expenditure  already  incurred,  and 
to  start  the  business  of  manufacture. 
These  representations  were  made  in  vain. 
On    November    22nd,   1916,    Sir    George 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  191 

White  died  suddenly,  and  his  son,  Sir 
G.  Stanley  White,  continued  the  negotia- 
tions with  the  Admiralty.  Sir  G.  S.  White 
offered  to  begin  the  work  of  manufacture 
upon  condition  that  he  received  a  sum 
in  compensation  for  the  rights  withdrawn 
by  the  Admiralty.  Their  Lordships  delay- 
ing their  reply,  Sir  G.  S.  White,  unable  for 
lack  of  capital  to  build  and  to  equip  a 
factory,  decided  to  transfer  his  rights  to 
a  firm  possessing  the  requisite  resources. 
He  therefore  assigned  his  rights  to  Messrs. 
Vickers,  Ltd.  Sir  G.  S.  White  had  con- 
cluded his  agreement  with  Messrs.  Vickers, 
when  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Admir- 
alty, omitting  any  suggestion  as  to  finance, 
but  urging  him  to  arrange  to  equip  mer- 
chant vessels  with  the  utmost  despatch. 

It  was  now  the  end  of  December  1916. 
So  far,  the  commercial  side  of  the  enter- 
prise had  been  entrusted  to  Burney  upon 
conditions  which,  with  the  help  of  a 
private  firm,  made  the  enterprise  possible  ; 
the  conditions  were  then  so  altered  as 
to  make  the  enterprise  impossible ;    and 


192  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Messrs.  Vickcrs  had  replaced  Sir  G.  S. 
White. 

Messrs.  Vickers,  soon  afterwards,  at  the 
end  of  January  1917,  received  from  the 
Admiralty  a  definite  order  for  the  suppl}^ 
of  4000  Otters.  It  thus  became  possible, 
for  the  first  time  since  May  1916,  after 
the  lapse  of  eight  months,  to  begin  the 
manufacture  and  supply  of  protector 
Paravanes  on  a  large  scale. 

Here  it  should  be  stated  that,  by  reason 
of  the  alteration  by  the  Admiralty  of  the 
original  terms  laid  down  by  the  Admiralty, 
both  Lieutenant  Burney  and  Sir  G.  S. 
W^hite  were  deprived  of  the  monetary 
profits  which  would  have  accrued  to  them 
under  the  terms  originally  formulated  by 
the  Admiralty. 

In  a  letter,  dated  February  23rd,  1917, 
the  Admiralty  requested  Lieutenant  Bur- 
ney to  furnish  their  Lordships  with  in- 
formation as  to  the  amounts  privately 
expended  on  experimental  work,  such 
information  being  required  in  connection 
with   the    question    of   an    award   to    be 


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THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  198 

granted  for  the  use  of  the  Paravane  in 
H.M.  Naval  Service.  Lieutenant  Burney, 
under  date  February  27th,  1917,  repHed 
that  he  desired  to  state  that  he  had  never 
asked  for,  and  did  not  wish  to  receive, 
any  monetary  awacd  whatever  for  the 
use  of  any  of  his  inventions  by  the  British 
Naval  Service. 

The  statements  which  appeared  in  the 
Press,  that  Lieutenant  Burney  had  re- 
ceived an  award  of  £30,000,  were  false. 
Lieutenant  Burney  received  nothing  from 
the  Admiralty. 

And  in  a  clause  of  the  agreement  con- 
cluded by  Lieutenant  Burney  with  Messrs. 
Vickers,  it  was  stipulated  that  Burney 
should  receive  no  portion  whatever  of  any 
profits,  direct  or  indirect,  which  Messrs. 
Vickers  might  make  out  of  the  manu- 
facture or  supply  of  any  of  the  Paravane 
apparatus  ordered  by  the  British  Admir- 
alty for  the  use  of  H.M.  ships. 

The  expenditure  upon  Paravanes  supplied 
or  approved  to  be  supplied  to  H.M.  ships 
and  the  ships  of  the  United  States  Navy 

N 


194  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

in  Home  waters,  was  over  four  millions 
sterling.  If  the  usual  royalty  of  ten  per 
cent,  was  charged  on  that  sum,  and  if  on 
that  royalty  the  inventor  received  twenty- 
five  per  cent.,  he  would  receive  £100,000. 


XV 

In  February  1917,  at  the  moment  when 
Messrs.  Vickers  made  their  arrangements 
with  the  Admiralty,  the  Germans  began 
what  is  known  as  their  unrestricted  sub- 
marine campaign.  The  Grand  Fleet  was 
keeping  the  sea,  so  that  the  German  Fleet 
did  not  venture  forth ;  and  yet  the 
losses  of  British  merchant  ships,  from  256 
in  1916,  ran  up  in  1917  to  834.  In  the 
second  quarter  of  1917,  the  British  losses 
in  gross  tons  were  1,361,870  ;  the  foreign 
losses  were  875,064,  a  total  of  nearly  two 
and  a  half  million  tons.  In  April,  there 
were  lost  120  British  ocean-going  steam- 
ships. During  1917,  the  average  British 
loss  was  17  vessels  a  week. 

Before  the  war,  the  tonnage  of  steam- 
ships over  500  tons  gross  owned  by  the 
British  Empire  was  18j  million  tons.  On 
1st  January  1917,  it  was  17f  million  tons. 

195 


196     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

But  during  1917,  it  had  dropped  to  15j 
million  tons,  including  new  construction 
and  purchases.  Of  this  tonnage,  after 
deducting  naval  and  military  require- 
ments, the  available  tonnage  for  imports 
to  this  country  was  no  more  than  7J 
million  tons,  as  compared  with  12  million 
tons  before  the  war.  Tlie  total  imports 
carried  on  British  ships  in  1913  was  35 
million  tons  ;  nevertheless,  when  in  1917 
the  available  tonnage  of  ships  had  been 
reduced  to  7J  millions,  31  million  tons  of 
imports  were  brought  into  this  country. 

But,  in  1917,  the  bread  turned  a  re- 
pulsive grey  colour  ;  trains  of  angry  people 
ominously  blackened  the  pavements  out- 
side provision  shops  ;  many  a  well-to-do 
citizen  began  to  wear  again  clothes  dis- 
carded as  too  tight ;  and  the  very  poor, 
accustomed  to  want,  feared  starvation. 
It  was,  indeed,  not  so  much  actual  de- 
privation as  the  dread  of  what  might  come 
that  was  the  affliction.  But  the  harrying 
of  the  haughty  mistress  of  the  seas  by  the 
unsportsmanlike  boor  Germany  was  telling. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  197 

It  was  not  until  February  25th,  1918,  that 
the  compulsory  rationing  of  food  was 
introduced. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Paravane  depart- 
ment, installed  in  the  War  College  in  Ports- 
mouth Dockyard  early  in  1916,  was  forging 
ahead  at  full  speed  under  Commander 
E.  L.  W.'s  sure  and  steady  guidance.  The 
British  Fleet  and  other  navies  were  being 
rapidly  fitted  with  the  mine-protector 
Paravane.  In  the  big  green-painted 
lecture  theatre  of  the  War  College,  officers 
and  ratings  from  the  Fleet  contemplated 
the  strange,  antediluvian  fish-bird  on  the 
platform,  and  studied  the  illustrations  of 
its  anatomy  on  the  blackboard.  They 
took  a  five  days'  special  course  in  the 
Paravane  and  returned  thus  illuminated 
to  the  Fleet.  Some  six  hundred  officers 
and  some  two  thousand  men  went  through 
the  Paravane  course.  Officers  were  speci- 
ally trained  for  Paravane  work  and  were 
sent  to  sea  for  instructional  purposes. 

A  great  difficulty,  now  and  always,  was 
to  release  officers  from  specialist  duties 


198     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

at  sea  to  take  up  technical  work  on  shore. 
Another  of  the  Paravane  Commander's 
innumerable  troubles  was  the  enlistment  of 
a  sufficient  staff  to  deal  with  the  immense 
volumes  of  clerical  work.  He  had,  in  fact, 
to  organise  the  business  of  a  huge  indus- 
trial concern  without  the  resources  open  to 
a  large  private  firm,  and  without  the  private 
firm's  freedom  of  choice,  and  at  this  time 
even  private  firms  were  hard  put  to  it  to 
get  labour.  Destiny,  as  usual,  knocked 
at  the  Paravane  door,  and  Lieutenant 
McConnel,  who  had  served  the  Govern- 
ment in  India,  was  able  to  secure  for  his 
department  a  body  of  patriotic  Indian 
Civil  or  cx-Indian  Civil  servants,  who 
volunteered  their  services  at  the  exiguous 
naval  remuneration.  This  admirable 
party  were  known  as  The  Rajahs  ;  and 
The  Rajahs,  let  it  be  recorded  in  the  fine 
French  phrase,  deserve  well  of  their 
country.  By  degrees  the  Paravane  staff 
came  to  muster  over  three  hundred :  officers, 
engineers,  designers,  draughtsmen,  clerks 
and   others.     But   at    no   time    did   the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  199 

department  enjoy  in  any  degree  the 
splendid  licence  of  the  Ministry  of  Muni- 
tions, in  which  sublime  department,  to 
have  it  was  not  even  necessary  to  ask. 
It  had  but  to  order.  Buildings,  offices, 
staff,  thousands  of  staff,  millions  of  tons 
of  materials,  everything,  sprang  into  being, 
and  money  was  nothing  accounted.  But 
the  Paravane  department  must  advance 
against  the  hydraulic  pressure  of  a  system 
whose  pipes  and  conduits  had  for  centuries 
been  laid  and  multiplied  to  retard  action 
until  it  was  quite  certain  that  the  action 
was  quite  right.  Throughout,  the  Para- 
vane officers  must  devise  expedients  to 
counter  the  continually  developing  enemy 
submarine,  which  increased  its  diving 
capacity  and  strengthened  its  construction, 
so  that  the  Paravane  officers  were  perpetu- 
ally striving  to  increase  the  depth  at  which 
the  Paravane  would  run  and  to  make 
stronger  its  explosive  charge. 

The  trouble  was  that  the  German  would 
not  wait.  He  knew  that  a  command  of 
the  sea  able  to  deny  the  sea  to  the  trade  of 


200  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

its  enemy,  the  German,  might  be  increasingly 
unable  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  sea  for  its 
own,  the  English  and  Allied  trade. 

The  German  submarine  of  high  speed 
and  long  sea  endurance  appeared.  She 
mounted  guns  as  well  as  torpedo  tubes. 
Other  German  submarines  laid  minefields, 
working  invisible. 

Burney  did  not  wait,  either.  He  had 
urged  the  arming  of  merchant  ships,  and 
had  devised  a  special  gun  for  the  purpose. 
He  had  invented  the  anti-submarine  and 
the  anti-mine  Paravane.  He  was  occupied 
day  and  night  with  improving  and  adapt- 
ing the  apparatus.  He  travelled  about  the 
country  supervising  fitting  and  manu- 
facture. About  eighty  per  cent,  of  his 
time  was  actually  spent  in  administration 
and  supervision,  leaving  the  balance  for 
the  experimental  work  in  which  he  was 
supreme.  And  Burney  also  found  time 
to  frame  strategical  schemes  based  upon 
the  tactical  employment  of  the  new 
weapons. 

The  Germans,  it  is  pleasant  to  remember, 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  201 

knew  less  of  Burney  than  even  his  fellow- 
countrymen  knew.  They  knew  that  the 
Admiralty  had  created  a  new  Navy  of  some 
ten  thousand  small  craft,  mine-sweepers, 
patrol  boats,  motor  boats  and  the  like  ; 
and  that  in  spite  of  all,  Germany  was 
sinking  two  or  three  ships  a  day. 


XVI 

What  exactly  the  Germans  meant  by 
unrestricted  submarine  warfare,  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  following  instances 
quoted  from  The  Merchant  Seaman  in  War. 

'  On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  February 
4th,  1917,  the  steamship  Dauntless  was  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
outward  bound  with  a  cargo  of  coal.  At 
six  o'clock  the  master  and  the  second 
officer  were  on  the  bridge,  keeping  a 
vigilant  watch  in  the  clear  darkness, 
whitened  by  the  foam  of  a  heaving  sea. 
There  was  nothing  in  sight,  when  there 
came  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  a  shell  sang 
over  the  bridge,  and  then  another.  One 
passed  through  the  funnel,  the  other 
smashed  the  steering-gear,  so  that  when 
the  master  tried  to  put  the  helm  over  it 
jammed,  and  the  Dauntless  went  straight 
on.     The  man  at  the  wheel  was  wounded 

201 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  208 

in  the  leg.  The  master  was  wounded 
in  the  right  shoulder  and  left  arm. 
Projectiles  whistled  from  out  the  darkness. 
The  ship  was  hit  and  a  fireman  was  killed. 
The  master  stopped  the  ship  and  blew 
four  blasts  on  the  whistle,  signifying  that 
the  ship  was  being  abandoned.  The 
invisible  submarine  continued  to  fire. 
The  two  lifeboats  were  got  away  under 
shell  fire  and  rifle  fire.  Two  men,  one  on 
either  side  the  second  officer,  were  wounded 
as  they  were  embarking  in  the  starboard 
lifeboat.  The  chief  officer  seems  to  have 
been  in  command  of  the  port  lifeboat, 
but  there  is  a  doubt  on  this  point.  For 
the  moment  the  port  lifeboat  disappears, 
for  her  crew  rowed  away  and  were  no 
more  seen  by  the  people  in  the  master's 
boat.  It  is  necessary  to  be  particular 
about  the  boats,  as  will  appear.  We  have 
now  to  do  with  the  starboard  lifeboat,  in 
which  were  the  master  and  seventeen 
others.  One  dead  man  was  left  in  the 
ship.  The  master  and  three  men  were 
wounded. 


204     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'  It  was  then  about  half-past  six.  The 
submarine  hove  into  view  and  drew  along- 
side the  master's  boat.  She  bore  the 
marks  of  usage  and  her  guns  were  rusty. 
Officers  and  men  wore  blue  uniform.  The 
commanding  officer  ordered  the  master 
and  the  crew  on  board  the  submarine. 
Then  the  submarine  officer  asked  the 
master  if  there  was  any  one  left  in  the 
Dauntless,  Upon  being  told  that  the 
ship  was  deserted,  save  for  one  dead  man, 
the  German  officer  ordered  some  of  his 
men  to  go  on  board  her  in  the  master's 
boat.  He  presented  a  revolver  at  the 
master's  head,  telhng  him  that  if  any  one 
was  found  alive  in  the  Dauntless  the 
master  would  immediately  be  shot. 

'  What  the  Germans  were  after  was 
plunder.  The  men  of  the  Dauntless, 
sullenly  grouped  upon  the  deck  of  the 
submarine,  during  an  hour  or  so,  con- 
templated the  pirates  bringing  loot  from 
the  Dauntless  to  the  submarine  in  the 
Dauntless^ s  jolly-boat,  which  had  been 
left  on  board,  and  the  starboard  lifeboat. 


J 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE     205 

The  second  officer  saw  tinned  provisions, 
enamel  paint  and  turpentine,  among  other 
things,  handed  up  from  the  boats. 

'  At  about  eight  o'clock,  when  the  boats 
were  emptied,  the  msn  of  the  Dauntless 
gazing  at  the  dim  ship  looming  in  the 
dark,  saw  a  red  flash  leap  from  her,  and 
heard  a  dull  explosion,  and  the  dim  ship 
disappeared. 

'  The  submarine  officer  ordered  the 
master  and  the  crew  of  the  Dauntless  into 
the  starboard  lifeboat.  But  when  the 
master  represented  that  the  lifeboat  had 
been  damaged  by  gunfire  and  was  leaking, 
the  German  kindly  allowed  the  master 
to  take  the  jolly-boat  also.  The  master 
divided  the  crew  between  the  two  boats. 
In  the  jolly-boat  were  the  master,  the 
second  officer,  the  chief,  second  and  third 
engineers,  the  steward  and  a  fireman, 
seven  persons  in  all.  The  rest  went  away 
in  the  leaking  starboard  lifeboat,  which 
soon  afterwards  parted  from  the  master's 
boat,  and  was  never  seen  again. 

'  Already   the   port   lifeboat   had   gone 


206  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

away  ;  but  her  story  is  to  come.  With 
the  starboard  lifeboat  we  have  no  more 
to  do.     There  remains  the  jolly-boat. 

'  As  she  parted  from  the  submarine  the 
master  asked  a  German  if  the  land  was 
five  miles  away,  and  the  German  replied 
"  More."  There  is  indeed  some  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  exact  position  from  which 
the  boats  started,  as  there  was  an  increas- 
ingly easterly  wind,  and  also  there  was  the 
drift  of  the  current  in  those  waters. 

'  It  is  not  known  if  there  were  pro- 
visions in  the  starboard  lifeboat  which 
went  away  and  was  no  more  seen.  But 
it  is  quite  certain  that  the  Germans, 
having  stolen  all  the  provisions  they  could 
find  in  the  Dauntless,  sent  the  seven  people 
adrift  in  the  jolly-boat  without  food  or 
water,  in  rough  weather,  and  one  of  them, 
the  master,  badly  wounded. 

'  The  master,  despite  his  wounded  arm 
and  shoulder,  steered  ;  the  other  six  men 
rowed,  and  went  on  rowing.  The  wind 
and  sea  had  risen,  and  were  dead  against 
the  easterly  course  steered  by  the  master ; 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  207 

the  cold  was  extreme,  with  occasional 
storms  of  snow.  They  rowed  all  that 
night.  At  about  six  o'clock  the  next 
morning  the  steward  fell  forward,  dead. 

'  They  went  on  rowing  all  that  day, 
Monday,  without  bite  or  sup  ;  cold,  wet, 
tormented  by  thirst,  their  tongues  swelling, 
their  lips  black,  their  skins  cracking  with 
the  salt  spray  and  the  bitter  wind  ;  still 
the  five  men  rowed,  and  the  dead  man  lay 
in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  the  master 
steered. 

'  In  the  evening  they  committed  the 
body  of  the  steward  to  the  deep.  Then 
they  sighted  land.  It  was  near  nightfall ; 
a  thick  shower  of  snow  drove  down  and 
they  lost  the  lie  of  the  land,  though  it 
was  no  more  than  three  or  four  miles 
away. 

'  They  rowed  all  that  night.  At  day- 
light, next  morning,  Tuesday,  February 
6th,  they  sighted  land  again,  and  so  they 
went  on  rowing.  They  saw  the  breakers 
bursting  all  along  the  beach  ;  but,  wholly 
spent,  they  could  do  no  more  than  keep 


208  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  boat  just  moving ;  and  as  her  nose 
touched  ground  a  wave  capsized  her,  and 
the  six  men  were  flung  into  the  surf. 

'  They  struggled  up  on  the  beach  and 
fell  down.  Two  of  them,  the  second 
engineer  and  the  fireman,  then  and  there 
died  on  the  wet  sand,  where  they  lay. 

'  About  half-past  ten  on  that  Tuesday 
morning  a  French  coastguardsman,  fully 
armed,  was  marching  his  lonely  beat  along 
the  shore,  when  he  saw  four  bowed  figures 
stumbling  towards  him  in  the  distance. 
A  little  beyond  them  a  capsized  boat  was 
tossing  in  the  surf. 

'  The  Frenchman,  with  admirable  pre- 
sence of  mind,  immediately  decided  that 
four  German  sailors  had  landed.  He  drew 
his  revolver,  and,  swiftly  approaching  the 
strangers,  commanded  them  to  put  up 
their  hands.  Three  of  them  stiffly  lifted 
swollen  hands ;  the  fourth  tried  to  lift 
his  arms  a  little.  They  stared  upon  him 
with  faces  like  the  faces  of  men  in  torment, 
and  one  began  to  speak,  uttering  strange 
sounds,  thickly  and  slowly,  framing  the 


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THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  209 

same  words  over  and  over  again,  with  a 
kind  of  pitiful  desperation. 

'  And  presently  the  French  coastguards- 
man  saw  light.  Ah,  what  a  change  !  And 
there  w^as  his  little  house,  where  the  English 
could  rest  until  they  were  taken  away  by 
the  authorities  to  hospital. 

'  Ten  days  later,  the  master  had  so  far 
recovered  that  he  was  able  to  leave  his 
bed,  and  the  second  officer,  the  chief 
engineer  and  the  third  engineer  were  at 
home  in  England. 

'  When  the  six  men  in  the  jolly-boat 
reached  land  they  had  been  adrift  during 
nearly  forty  hours.  That  was  on  Tuesday, 
February  6th.  Where,  during  that  time, 
was  the  port  lifeboat  ?  No  one  knew. 
All  that  the  survivors  in  the  jolly-boat 
knew  was  that  when  the  boats  were 
lowered  from  the  Dauntless,  the  port  life- 
boat had  gone  away  with  four  (or  five) 
men  in  her. 

'  The  Dauntless  was  abandoned  on  Sun- 
day evening,  February  4th.  On  the 
following    Friday,    the    9th,    a    Spanish 

o 


210     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

trawler,  cruising  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
sighted  a  boat  tossing  in  the  distance. 
There  were  men  in  her,  but  whether 
dead  or  aHve  the  Spaniard  could  not 
discern. 

'  Coming  alongside,  the  Spanish  sailors 
looked  down  upon  four  men  huddled 
together.  Their  eyes  moved.  Otherwise 
they  were  dead. 

'  During  five  days  and  five  nights  they 
had  been  adrift  on  the  winter  sea.  They 
had  a  little  biscuit.  They  had  no  water. 
There  were  the  two  seaman  gunners,  the 
cook  and  a  negro.  The  Spaniards  landed 
them  and  they  were  placed  in  hospital. 

'  After  three  months  in  hospital  one  of 
the  gunners  came  home  and  made  his 
report,  which  begins  :  "  I  was  the  gun's 
crew  of  the  Dauntless,^''  and  goes  on  to 
describe  his  experiences  in  the  boat  in  two 
sentences  :  "  VV^e  drifted  about  in  the  Bay 
for  five  days.  We  had  biscuits  but  no 
water." 

'These  four  men  in  the  port  lifeboat, 
and  the  master  and  the  three  officers  in 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  211 

the  jolly-boat,  survived  out  of  the  twenty- 
three  people  of  the  Dauntless,^ 

'  Said  the  third  officer  to  the  quarter- 
master, who  was  at  the  wheel,  "  James  " 
— but  that  was  not  his  name — "  James," 
said  the  third  officer,  "  I  think  there  is  a 
submarine  on  our  starboard  bow." 

'  The  quartermaster's  subsequent  im- 
pressions were  extremely  crowded.  The 
dusk  of  the  late  afternoon  was  thickening 
the  easterly  haze ;  and,  staring  across 
the  long  smooth  swell,  the  quartermaster 
discerned  the  dark  conning-tower  and 
lighter  hull  of  a  submarine  some  two  and 
a  half  miles  away,  and  the  indistinct 
figures  of  two  officers  on  the  conning- 
tower,  and  three  or  four  men  grouped  on 
the  deck.  At  the  same  time  he  was  aware 
that  the  third  officer  was  speaking  to  the 
captain  down  the  voice-tube.  Then  a 
gun  spoke  on  the  submarine  and  a  shell 
went  by  in  the  air.  The  master  arrived 
on  the  bridge.  So  did  the  chief  officer. 
The  master  turned  the  engine-room  tele- 


212     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

graph  to  stop,  blew  on  the  whistle  the  four 
short  blasts  signifying  "  Abandon  ship," 
and  ordered  the  boats  to  be  swung  out 
and  manned.  All  these  things  happened 
very  quickly.  The  quartermaster  having 
run  to  his  boat,  saw  a  shell  burst  in  the 
wheel-house  which  he  had  just  quitted. 

'  In  the  meantime  the  master  on  the 
bridge  saw  the  submarine  sink  and  dis- 
appear. Watching,  he  saw  her  emerge 
again  on  the  port  side.  She  opened  fire 
again.  The  master  went  to  his  cabin, 
possibly  to  fetch  his  confidential  papers. 
The  starboard  lifeboat,  which  was  the 
master's  boat,  had  pulled  clear  of  the 
ship. 

*  The  port  lifeboat  was  being  lowered. 
The  submarine  continued  deliberately  to 
fire.  It  is  one  of  the  clearest  cases  on 
record  of  a  German  submarine  officer 
continuing  to  fire  upon  a  ship  after  she 
had  surrendered  and  while  the  crew  were 
getting  away  the  boats.  The  boatswain 
and  three  men  were  severely  wounded  by 
shell  splinters.      A  shell  exploded  in  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  213 

fiddley  (or  deck-house),  setting  the  bunkers 
on  fire.  Paraffin  oil  was  pouring  from  the 
stricken  ship,  slowly  spreading  a  viscous 
surface  upon  the  heaving  waters. 

'  The  master  came  on  deck  to  find  his 
own  boat  gone,  and  the  chief  officer's  boat 
waiting  for  him,  blood  all  about,  five  men 
huddled  and  helpless,  splinters  flying,  and 
standing  off  in  the  twilight,  the  sea-wolves 
at  their  murderous  work. 

'  That  night  the  boatswain  died  of  his 
wounds  and  was  buried  at  sea.' 

'  It  was  February  7th,  1917,  when  the 
steamship  Saxonian  was  attacked,  and 
the  crew  sent  adrift  in  open  boats  in  the 
North  Atlantic.  (Further  south,  the  port 
lifeboat  of  the  Dauntless  was  even  then 
drifting  with  four  starving  wretches  in  her.) 

'  The  chief  officer's  boat  was  picked  up 
the  next  morning  by  a  patrol  vessel.  The 
second  officer's  boat  drifted  for  three  days 
and  three  nights,  when  she  was  picked  up 
by  one  of  His  Majesty's  ships.  (That  was 
on  the  10th,  the  day  after  the  Dauntless^s 


214  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

survivors  had  been  rescued  by  the  Spanish 
fishermen.) 

'  The  patrol  boat  which  found  the  chief 
officer  and  his  people  steamed  to  the  scene 
of  the  capture,  and  there  beheld  a  sullenly 
undulating  field  of  oil,  strewn  with  floating 
wreckage,  the  remains  of  the  Sacconian.^ 

'  The  North  Atlantic  (that  arena  of 
disaster),  a  confused  swell,  noon  of  Tuesday 
March  6th,  1917.  The  steamship  Fenay 
Lodge  heading  towards  France,  a  ring  of 
haze,  about  ten  miles  in  diameter,  closing 
her  in. 

'  A  torpedo  struck  her  on  the  starboard 
side  ;  the  master  ordered  the  crew  into 
the  boats,  and  away  they  went.  They 
pulled  for  about  half  an  hour,  the  water 
breaking  over  them,  when,  half  hidden 
in  the  mist,  the  submarine  emerged  into 
view  and  opened  fire  on  the  deserted  ship. 
Presently  both  ship  and  submarine  were 
lost  to  sight. 

'  There  were  twenty-seven  persons  in 
the  Fenay  Lodge,  all  British  except  one 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  215 

Dutchman  and  one  Russian.  In  two 
boats  they  drifted  head  to  sea  in  the  bitter 
weather,  the  rest  of  that  day,  Tuesday,  and 
all  that  night,  and  the  morning  of  Wednes- 
day. Then,  towards  noon,  they  sighted 
a  steamship  ;  pulled  towards  her,  making 
signals  of  distress,  and  were  taken  on 
board.     She  was  a  French  ship,  the  Ohio, 

'  The  castaways  had  scarce  shifted  into 
dry  clothing  and  eaten  and  drunk,  when 
the  Ohio  was  struck  by  a  torpedo.  She 
went  down  in  three  minutes.  No  other 
details  are  available. 

'  Half  an  hour  after  the  people  of  the 
Fenay  Lodge  had  been  picked  up  they 
were  again  adrift.  But  five  of  them  had 
been  drowned  in  the  sinking  of  the  Ohio. 

'  The  three  boats,  containing  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  Fenay  Lodge  and  the  French- 
men, drifted  head  to  sea  in  the  bitter 
weather  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  About 
six  in  the  evening  they  sighted  a  steamer. 
She  bore  down  upon  them.  She  was  a 
British  ship,  the  Winnebago,  and,  stopping 
alongside   the   tossing   boats,   the   master 


216  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

offered  to  take  them  on  board.  He  was 
answered  by  so  confused  a  shouting  in 
French  and  English  that  at  first  he  could 
make  nothing  of  it.  But  presently  he 
understood  that  the  men  were  warning 
him  that  there  were  three  enemy  sub- 
marines about,  and  that  they  refused  to 
be  taken  on  board. 

'  They  were  some  two  hundred  miles 
from  land,  and  they  refused  to  be  taken 
on  board.  The  master  of  the  Winnebago 
had  done  all  he  could  ;  if  the  castaways 
thought  open  boats  preferable  to  a  stout 
ship,  it  was  their  affair,  and  he  went  on. 

'  The  men  of  the  Fenay  Lodge  and  the 
men  of  the  Ohio  drifted  head  to  sea  in 
the  bitter  weather  all  that  Wednesday 
night,  and  all  Thursday  morning.  At 
three  o'clock  in  the  ajjternoon  a  patrol 
boat  ran  up  alongside  and  took  on  board 
twenty-two  men  of  the  Fenay  Lodge  and 
five  officers  and  twenty-seven  men  of  the 
French  ship  Ohio.'' 

'  Very  early  on  Sunday  morning,  July 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  217 

15,  1917,  the  steamship  Mariston,  home- 
ward bound  in  the  North  Atlantic,  was 
within  about  a  hundred  miles  of  land. 
The  evidence  of  the  manner  of  her  loss 
and  the  sequel  is  the  disposition  of  the 
only  survivor,  who  was  the  cook. 

'  When  the  torpedo  struck  the  ship  the 
cook  was  asleep  in  his  bunk,  in  the  house 
on  the  main  deck.  He  was  awakened  by 
being  hurled  upwards  against  the  ceiling, 
with  the  crash  of  an  explosion  in  his  ears. 
The  mess-room  steward,  who  was  asleep 
in  the  bunk  below  the  cook,  continued  to 
slumber,  nor  did  he  wake  when  the  cook 
shook  him.  Already  the  water  was  surg- 
ing about  the  cook's  ankles,  and  dripping 
through  the  seams  of  the  deck  above  ;  and 
the  cook  ran  out  upon  the  main  deck, 
which  was  awash.  He  seems  to  remember 
seeing  the  apprentice  following  him  as  he 
doubled  to  the  midship  cabin  to  rouse  the 
steward.  He  never  reached  the  steward, 
because  a  second  explosion,  catching  him 
on  the  way,  blew  the  midship  cabin  to 
pieces. 


218  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

'  Amid  the  tumult,  the  black  smoke 
and  the  pieces  of  the  ship  falling  about 
his  ears,  the  cook,  as  he  ran  aft,  was  aware 
of  the  chief  gunner.  The  ship  was  sinking 
rapidly  ;  the  main  deck  was  level  with  the 
breaking  sea,  and  the  cook  caught  up  a 
hatch  and  plunged  overboard,  followed 
by  the  chief  gunner.  Both  men  clung 
to  the  hatch  ;  the  ship  went  down  boldly, 
stern  first ;  and  there  came  a  mighty 
rush  of  water.  When  it  had  passed  the 
cook  was  alone  on  his  hatch.  He  never 
saw  the  gunner  again. 

'  In  the  colourless  light  of  an  overcast 
sunrise  the  cook  beheld  the  long,  confused 
rollers  strewn  with  wreckage,  and  counted 
seventeen  men  clinging  to  the  pieces  of 
the  ship. 

'  Then  up  from  the  troubled  waters  pro- 
jected two  periscopes,  like  two  horns,  then 
the  two  conning-towers  of  the  submarine, 
and  then  her  long  hull,  shiny  and  black 
as  coal,  hove  dripping  upon  the  swell.  To 
the  cook  she  loomed  as  great  as  the  five- 
thousand-ton   ship   she   had  just  sent  to 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  219 

the  bottom.  All  along  her  side,  revealed 
in  curves  of  the  moving  sea,  waved  festoons 
of  green  weed  and  slimy  barnacles.  She 
carried  a  gun  forward  and  a  gun  aft. 

'  The  hatch  on  the  conning  tower  lifted, 
and  there  emerged  a  German  officer.  The 
men  in  the  water  were  crying  and  shouting 
for  help.  The  German  officer  surveyed 
the  field  of  destruction  through  his  glasses. 
Presently  he  dropped  them,  leisurely  dis- 
appeared down  the  hatch,  which  shut,  and 
the  submarine  began  to  sink.  She  settled 
steadily  down,  amid  the  cries  of  rage  of 
the  drowning  men,  until  the  periscopes 
alone  were  visible.  Then  they  glided 
away,  cutting  through  the  seas,  each 
square-hooded  pole  flirting  a  feather  of 
foam.  .  .  . 

'  The  cook,  tossing  on  his  little  raft,  kept 
counting  the  men  in  sight ;  and  every  time 
he  counted  he  made  the  total  less.  Then 
he  heard  a  man  scream,  and  saw  him 
throw  up  his  hands  ;  and  he  saw  the  black 
fin  of  a  shark  cleaving  the  lop  of  sea,  and 
the  flash  of  white  as  the  great  fish  turned 


220  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

over  to  snatch  its  prey.  The  cook  saw 
(he  says)  "  a  crowd  of  sharks,"  and  heard 
man  after  man  screaming  as  he  was  dragged 
under. 

'  That  is  all  he  says.  It  is  perhaps 
enough.  A  theory  may  here  be  hazarded 
that  the  sharks  followed  the  submarines. 
.  .  .  They  could  make  their  profit  of  the 
voyage. 

*  As  the  sun  rose,  the  wind  and  the  sea 
went  down  on  that  desolation  ;  and  still 
the  cook  tossed  on  his  hatch,  until  he  was 
the  last  alive.  He  thinks  it  was  about 
ten  o'clock  when  he  found  himself  utterly 
alone,  except  for  the  sharks.  By  that 
time  he  had  been  some  six  hours  in  the 
water. 

'  At  about  five  o'clock  that  evening, 
the  master  of  a  British  steamship  sighted 
a  space  of  sea  dotted  all  over  with  drifting 
wreckage.  He  steered  towards  it,  and 
passed  through  a  field  of  floating  timbers 
and  fittings  and  packing-cases ;  and  on 
its  further  fringe  he  espied  the  figure  of 
a  man  floating  on  a  hatch. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  221 

'  It  was  half- past  six  when  the  cook 
was  hauled  into  the  steamer's  boat  and 
brought  aboard,  and  revived  and  com- 
forted. So  he  lived  to  tell  his  tale,  alone 
of  all  the  people  in  the  Mariston,' 

The  case  of  the  Belgian  Prince,  the 
concluding  example  of  unrestricted  sub- 
marine warfare,  is  peculiarly  flagrant. 
From  this  instance  alone,  not  to  mention 
a  thousand  others,  it  is  evident  that  after 
two  thousand  years  of  the  teaching  of 
Christian  ethics,  the  educated  man  retains 
his  capacity  for  immitigable  cruelty.  It 
may  be  argued,  with  some  reason,  that 
the  object  of  war  is  to  destroy  the  enemy, 
and  that  drowning  is  an  easier  death  than 
burning  or  poisoning  with  gas.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  the  fact  that  war  may  be  con- 
ducted with  the  humane  modifications 
imposed  by  the  law  of  chivalry.  These 
were  regarded  as  illogical  by  the  Germans, 
as  indeed  they  are.  The  code  of  chivalry 
is  the  saving  grace  of  the  iniquity  of  war. 
But  the  German  creed  was  that  war  is, 


222  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

not  an  evil  but,  a  good  in  itself,  and  they 
brought  their  doctrine  to  the  test.  The 
case  of  the  Belgian  Prince  is  one  of  the 
tests.     Judge,  therefore,  of  the  result. 

'  Forty-three  seamen  of  the  steamship 
Belgian  Prince  were  crowded  on  the  deck 
of  a  German  submarine,  in  the  steely 
twilight  of  a  summer  night,  and  one,  the 
master,  was  below,  a  prisoner.  The  sub- 
marine was  running  awash.  Astern,  the 
abandoned  ship  loomed  momently  more 
dim.  In  the  minds  of  every  one  of  those 
forty-three  seamen  there  dwelt  a  terrible 
apprehension. 

'  The  attack  on  the  Belgian  Prince 
followed  the  usual  routine.  She  was 
stinick,  without  warning,  by  a  torpedo. 
It  was  then  about  eight  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  July  31st,  1917,  and  the  ship 
was  two  hundred  miles  from  the  north 
coast  of  Ireland.  The  master  called  away 
the  boats,  and  the  crew  embarked,  leaving 
the  master  on  board  to  clear  up  his  affairs. 
The  port  lifeboat  put  back  and  took  him 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  223 

off.  The  German  submarine  emerged  and 
opened  fire  from  her  machine-gun  upon 
the  ship's  aerials,  which  she  destroyed. 
Then  the  commanding  officer  of  the  sub- 
marine ordered  the  two  boats  alongside, 
took  the  master  on  board,  and  sent  him 
below,  ordering  all  the  crew  on  board. 
They  were  received  with  furious  abuse 
by  the  Germans,  who  searched  their 
captives,  taking  from  them  all  their  pos- 
sessions. Money  and  other  articles  of 
value  the  pirates  pocketed  ;  other  things 
they  hove  overboard.  In  the  meantime 
a  working  party  took  everything  out  of 
the  boats.  The  compasses  and  provisions 
were  put  into  the  submarine.  Oars, 
gratings,  bailers,  and  all  loose  gear  were 
thrown  overboard.  The  two  lifeboats 
were  damaged  by  axes.  The  plugs  were 
removed,  and  they  were  left  to  sink.  The 
master's  dinghy  was  retained.  Several 
Germans  pulled  her  over  to  the  ship,  in 
which  they  remained. 

'  These  things  the  crew  of  the  Belgian 
Prince  beheld,  contemplating,  while  they 


224  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

were  being  violently  robbed,  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  last  hope  of  escape. 

'  The  commanding  officer  of  the  sub- 
marine, a  fair,  bearded  man  of  thirty-five 
or  so,  ordered  the  seamen  to  take  off  their 
lifebelts  and  place  them  on  the  deck. 
Then  he  strode  along  the  deck,  among  the 
men,  whom  he  cursed,  kicking  the  life- 
belts overboard.  But  four  men,  at  least, 
contrived  to  hide  their  lifebelts  under 
their  coats. 

'  From  the  Belgian  Prince,  in  which 
were  the  Germans  who  had  gone  to  her 
in  the  dinghy,  a  signal  flashed.  The  sub- 
marine got  under  way  ;  the  captives,  as 
already  described,  were  crowded  on  her 
deck,  as  her  engines  slowly  ground  her 
through  the  water.     So,  for  about  half  an 

hour. 

'  Then  there  came  another  signal  flashed 
from  the  place  where  the  ship  lay  shrouded 
in  the  thickening  dark.  Instantly  the 
German  officer  on  the  conning-tower  dis- 
appeared, and  the  steel  hatch  clanged-to 
over  his  head. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  225 

'  The  submarine  began  to  sink. 

'  The  doubt  haunting  the  forty-three 
seamen  suddenly  took  shape  in  a  certainty — 
the  certainty  of  death.  The  water  hpped 
upon  the  deck,  the  water  covered  their 
feet.     Then  they  leaped  into  the  sea. 

'  The  chief  engineer,  the  cook,  a  Russian 
seaman,  and  the  little  apprentice,  who  had 
contrived  to  keep  their  lifebelts,  struck 
out  for  the  distant  ship.  The  little  ap- 
prentice held  on  to  the  chief  engineer. 
The  cook  and  the  Russian  were  separated 
from  the  chief  engineer  and  the  apprentice, 
and  from  one  another,  though  all  were 
steering  for  where  they  thought  the  ship 
lay.  The  thirty-nine  men  they  left  were 
never  seen  again. 

'  The  chief  engineer,  holding  up  the 
apprentice,  swam  steadily  on,  resting  at 
intervals.  The  boy  grew  heavier  and 
heavier,  his  strokes  weaker  and  weaker, 
and  by  the  time  the  grey  dawn  lightened 
the  desolate  sea,  he  was  unconscious. 
The  ice-cold  water  killed  him.  The  chief 
engineer  went  on  alone. 

p 


226     THE  PARAVANE  AD\^NTURE 

'  He  saw  the  Belgian  Prince,  listing 
over  to  port,  when,  as  he  reckoned,  he 
was  still  a  mile  and  a  half  away  from  her. 
It  was  then  about  half-past  five  on  the 
morning  of  August  1st,  1917.  The  chief 
engineer  saw  a  bright  flame  leap  from  the 
after  part  of  the  ship,  saw  her  go  down 
stern  first. 

'  The  chief  engineer,  who  makes  no 
remark  concerning  his  emotions  at  that 
moment,  continued  to  swim ;  and  pre- 
sently he  saw  smoke  on  the  horizon,  and 
swam  desperately  towards  it. 

'  The  cook,  following  his  own  course, 
also  came  in  sight  of  the  Belgian  Prince 
about  the  same  time  as  the  chief  engineer 
sighted  her.  He  also  saw  the  ship  sink  ; 
and  then  he  perceived  the  submarine,  and 
swam  away.  He  was  picked  up  by  the 
patrol  boat. 

'  The  Russian  seaman  swam  faster  than 
the  other  two  men,  and  actually  reached 
the  Belgian  Prince  at  about  five  o'clock, 
after  about  eight  hours  in  the  water.  For 
the  moment,  at  least,  he  was  saved  ;  but 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  227 

he  was  still  haunted  by  a  doubt.  Numbed 
and  exhausted,  he  struggled  on  board, 
shifted  into  dry  clothing,  and  ate  and 
drank.  And  then  he  saw  the  submarine 
again.     She  was  coming  alongside. 

'  The  Russian  ran  aft,  and  hiding  himself 
watched  the  submarine  stop  and  lie  along- 
side, saw  three  or  four  Germans  climb  on 
board.  There  was  nothing  else  for  it — 
the  Russian  lowered  himself  into  the  water 
again,  and  hung  on  beside  the  rudder. 
For  all  he  knew  the  Germans  might  be 
about  sinking  the  ship. 

'  But  for  the  moment  they  were  looting 
her,  passing  stores,  clothing  and  pro- 
visions into  the  submarine.  The  Russian 
watched  them  for  about  twenty  minutes. 
Then  the  submarine  stood  off  and  fired 
two  shells  into  the  ship.  She  broke  in 
two  and  sank.  The  submarine  dived  and 
so  departed. 

'  The  Russian,  fighting  for  his  life,  in 
the  swirl  of  water  and  driving  wreckage, 
saw  the  master's  dinghy,  which  had  been 
left  adrift  by  the  submarine.     He  swam 


228     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

to  it,  climbed  in,  and  lay  there  until  the 
patrol  boat  picked  him  up. 

'  There  were  forty-four  people  in  the 
Belgian  Prince.  The  crew  numbered 
forty-two,  including  the  master,  and  there 
were  two  negro  stowaways.  The  master 
was  taken  prisoner ;  three  were  saved 
because  they  outwitted  the  German  mur- 
derers ;  forty  were  drowned.  Deprived 
of  their  boats,  robbed  of  their  possessions, 
stripped  of  their  lifebelts,  they  were 
mustered  on  board  the  German  submarine 
and  drawn  down  to  certain  death. 

'  Then  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
submarine,  having  as  he  thought,  slain 
all  witnesses  of  his  crime,  returned  to 
plunder  his  prey,  the  deserted  ship.  He 
did  not  know  the  sturdy  Russian  seaman 
was  watching  him  from  behind  the  rudder. 
Or  that  two  more  witnesses  were  within 
gunshot. 

'  Whether  he  knew  it  or  not,  that  sub- 
marine officer  achieved  the  lowest  deep  of 
iniquity  until  then  touched  even  by  Ger- 
mans on  the  sea.     There  may,  of  course, 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  229 

be  worse  to  come  ;  the  civilised  nations 
are  hardly  competent  to  estimate  the 
possibilities ;  but,  even  now,  the  Germans 
at  sea  have  done  that  which  shall  not  be 
forgotten  till  the  sea  runs  dry.' 


XVII 

Had  the  Navy  possessed  enough  destroy- 
ers, the  unrestricted  submarine  warfare,  of 
which  a  few  out  of  very  many  examples 
have  been  quoted,  would  speedily  have  been 
defeated.  And  for  this  reason  :  a  hundred 
or  two  hundred  destroyers  fitted  with  the 
Paravane  High  Speed  Submarine  Sweep 
would  have  effectively  countered  the 
enemy.  But  in  order  properly  to  use 
the  anti-submarine  Paravane,  flotillas  of 
destroyers  must  be  charged  with  that 
business  alone,  and  must  work  in  concert. 
But  at  no  time  during  the  war  were  there 
enough  destroyers  to  spare  from  the  Grand 
Fleet,  or  from  patrol  and  escort  duties,  to 
be  allocated  to  submarine  hunting.  De- 
stroyers working  singly  did  much  execu- 
tion with  depth  charges  ;  but  investigation 
seems   to   show  that,  compared  with  the 

230 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  231 

systematic  use  of  the  explosive  Paravane, 
depth  charges  are  less  certain  in  their 
operation. 

It  was  therefore  decided  that  the  most 
urgent  need  was  to  equip  vessels  with 
the  mine-protecting  Paravane,  which,  by 
making  harmless  the  mine,  would  defeat 
a  great  part  of  the  submarine  campaign, 
and  which,  by  restoring  its  freedom  of 
movement  to  the  Fleet,  would  prepare 
for  the  defeat  of  the  rest. 

Early  in  1917,  then,  while  the  Paravane 
department  at  Portsmouth  was  supplying 
vessels  of  war  with  the  mine-protector 
Paravane  gear,  Messrs.  Vickers  in  London 
began  to  equip  the  merchant  ships  of  the 
world  with  the  Otter. 

What  must  now  be  done  was  to  manufac- 
ture the  Otter  and  its  elaborate  gear,  and 
to  equip  with  it  the  British  and  Allied 
merchant  services.  As  ships  could  not  be 
withdrawn  from  the  sea  for  the  purpose,  it 
was  necessary  to  fit  them  when  they  were 
under  repair  or  during  their  stay  in  port 
between    voyages.      In    order    that    the 


232  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

towing  wire  should  be  attached  to  the  fore- 
foot of  the  vessel,  at  the  point  where  the 
bow  joins  the  keel,  it  was  necessary  to  fit 
every  ship  with  a  shoe,  or  a  saddle-plate  or 
a  clump,  to  which  were  attached  the  towing 
wires  of  the  two  Otters.  The  requisite 
fitting  varied  with  the  particular  build 
of  the  ship.  The  type  of  Otter-fitting  re- 
quired also  varied  with  the  particular  type 
of  ship,  and  the  variation  was  practically 
covered  within  seven  or  eight  standard 
types.  Ships  under  construction  were,  of 
course,  adapted  to  the  Otter  as  they  were 
built. 

In  some  ships  it  was  necessary  to  extend 
the  stem  itself  to  take  the  saddle-plate 
or  sliding  shoe  ;  to  others,  in  which  the 
stem  was  much  cut  away,  a  clump  was 
fitted ;  to  others,  a  large  saddle  -  plate 
was  fitted.  Three-strand  towing  wire  of 
special  design  was  provided.  For  drop- 
ping and  weigliing  the  Otter,  the  fittings 
again  varied  according  to  the  type  of 
ship.  If  she  had  no  suitable  derrick  or 
davit    a   gallows    crane    was    fitted.      An 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  233 

inhaul  wire,  an  easing-out  wire,  a  trip- 
ping wire  and  a  tripping  hook  were 
provided. 

It  was  clearly  necessary  to  catch  each 
vessel  as  she  entered  port  and  to  fit  her 
there  and  then.  For  that  purpose.  Otters 
and  gear  must  be  ready  in  the  port,  with 
a  skilled  staff  to  fit  them. 

When  the  Otter  was  fitted  to  the  ship 
it  was  necessary  to  teach  the  crew  how  to 
use  it. 

There  were  two  sides  to  the  organisation 
for  fitting  merchant  ships  with  the  Otter : 
the  Admiralty  and  Paravane  department 
side,  and  the  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial side,  which  belonged  to  Messrs. 
Vickers.  Under  the  Defence  of  the  Realm 
Act,  the  Admiralty  made  compulsory  the 
fitting  of  merchant  ships  with  the  Otter, 
the  cost  of  which  was  defrayed  by  the 
State  ;  so  that  the  Admiralty  were  clearly 
responsible  for  ensuring  that  the  gear  was 
rightly  fitted.  Lieutenant  -  Commander 
(now  Commander)  E.  A.  D.,  Royal  Navy, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  Paravane  Com- 


234  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

mander,  was  therefore  appointed  to  super- 
vise the  whole  business.  Commander 
E.  A.  D.  had  previously  relieved  Lieu- 
tenant V.  H.  D.  of  the  charge  of  super- 
vising the  fitting  of  His  Majesty's  ships, 
and  from  the  end  of  1916,  Commander 
E.  A.  D.  was  assisted  in  that  duty  by 
Lieutenant  Y.  H.  F.  G.  W.,  Royal  Navy, 
who,  his  eyesight  having  been  affected  by 
continuous  strain  at  sea  in  command  of  a 
destroyer,  had  come  on  shore.  In  March 
1917,  when  Messrs.  Vickers  had  received 
orders  to  fit  merchant  ships,  Commander 
E.  A.  D.,  by  degrees  leaving  the  naval 
fitting  to  Lieutenant  Y.  H.  F.  G.  W.,  be- 
gan to  organise  the  fitting  of  the  merchant 
service. 

Commander  E.  A.  D.  represented  that 
first  of  all  Messrs.  Vickers  must  be  enabled 
to  examine  the  way  in  which  ships  were 
fitted  with  the  gear,  and  it  was  therefore 
arranged  that  Messrs.  Vickers'  men  should 
receive  the  requisite  instruction  from  the 
Paravane  department  at  Portsmouth, 
without    charge.     It    was    also    arranged 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  235 

that  all  Messrs.  Vickers'  designs  for  fitting 
the  gear  should  be  submitted  to  the  Para- 
vane department  to  ensure  that  the  work- 
ing of  the  gear  should  be  efficient.  Com- 
mander E.  A.  D.  also  represented  that  it 
was  necessary  to  train  a  number  of  officers 
who  should  superintend  the  actual  fitting 
of  each  vessel,  who  should  conduct  trials 
of  the  gear  when  it  was  fitted,  and  who 
should  instruct  officers  and  men  in  the 
handling  of  the  Otter.  For  this  purpose. 
Royal  Naval  Reserve  officers  were  very 
wisely  selected,  as  being  at  once  con- 
versant with  both  the  Royal  Navy  and  the 
Mercantile  Marine.  Six  R.N.R.  officers 
were  at  once  appointed  for  these  duties, 
and  the  number  of  R.N.R.  officers  eventu- 
ally increased  to  about  fifty.  Commander 
E.  A.  D.  organised  the  whole  of  this 
branch,  found  suitable  offices  for  the 
R.N.R.  officers,  and  distributed  them 
among  the  ports. 

These  inspecting  officers,  working  with 
Messrs.  Vickers,  inspected  every  ship  on 
her  arrival  in  port,  supervised  her  fitting, 


236  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

conducted  trials,  instructed  her  officers 
and  men,  made  arrangements  that  at  least 
one  officer  in  each  ship  should  go  to  Ports- 
mouth to  attend  a  demonstration  of  the 
working  of  the  Otter,  went  to  sea  with  the 
ship  when  she  left  port,  helped  in  getting 
out  the  Otter,  and  then  returned  (usually 
coming  back  with  the  pilot)  to  begin 
again.  The  R.N.R.  officers  also  kept  in 
communication  with  ships  fitted  with  the 
Otter  which  came  into  port,  collecting  the 
opinions  of  their  officers  as  to  the  practical 
working  of  the  gear.  Between  sea  and 
office,  these  officers  worked  day  and  night, 
very  often  without  going  to  bed  for  several 
nights  in  succession. 

At  Portsmouth,  the  merchant  service 
officers  sent  down  by  the  R.N.R.  in- 
specting officers  at  the  ports,  received  a 
one-day's  course  of  instruction  in  the 
training  steamship  Accrington.  In  the 
morning  they  attended  lectures  on  the 
Otter,  and  in  the  afternoon  they  witnessed 
the  actual  cutting  of  dummy  mines  by  the 
Otter.     Sometimes  the  day's  party  would 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  237 

number  fifty  masters  and  mates.  In  all, 
some  six  thousand  merchant  service  offi- 
cers took  the  course.  Apart  from  the 
valuable  instruction  they  gained,  the 
demonstration  served  to  convince  the  con- 
servative British  seamen,  as  nothing  else 
would  have  convinced  them,  that  the 
Otter  was  really  a  practical  weapon. 

In  organising  a  system  of  intelligence 
under  which  the  arrival  of  ships  in  port 
could  instantly  be  ascertained.  Commander 
E.  A.  D.  received  every  help  from  the 
Naval  Transport  Officers,  under  the 
Director  of  Transport,  which  official  acted 
as  liaison  officer  with  the  Ministry  of 
Shipping.  Commander  E.  A.  D.'s  de- 
partment was  thus  enabled  to  inform 
Messrs.  Vickers,  who  also  had  their  own 
system  of  intelligence,  of  the  movements 

of  ships. 

The  Admiralty  and  Paravane  depart- 
ment side  of  the  fitting  of  merchant  ships 
was  thus  complete.  After  some  months, 
when  about  a  thousand  ships  had  been 
fitted,   the   organisation   had   become   so 


238  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

extensive  that  the  Paravane  Commander 
at  Portsmouth  proposed  that  the  Otter 
section  should  be  separated  from  the  Para- 
vane department,  and  should  become  a 
branch  of  the  Trade  Division  at  the  Ad- 
miralty, or  of  the  Ministry  of  Shipping. 
The  suggestion  was  approved  ;  the  Otter 
department  was  duly  constituted ;  and 
early  in  1918  it  occupied  offices  overlook- 
ing St.  James'  Park ;  though  under  what 
department  of  the  Admiralty  the  Otter 
department  was  placed,  seemed  a  trifle 
uncertain.  But  the  Otter  department 
remained  under  the  conduct  of  Commander 
E.  A.  D.,  who,  in  making  it,  had  performed 
services  so  inestimable. 

Lieutenant  Y.  H.  F.  G.  W.,  who  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  fitting  of  naval  ships, 
came  from  Portsmouth  and  joined  the 
staff  of  Commander  E.  A.  D.  as  his  senior 
assistant. 

Subsequently,  Commander  E.  A.  D.,  his 
health  having  been  affected  by  the  im- 
mense and  continuous  strain  of  his  work, 
was    compelled    to    retire.      Commander 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  239 

E.  A.  D.  had  first  joined  the  Paravane 
department  in  the  summer  of  1916.  An 
ex-naval  officer  and  a  barrister,  he  had 
rejoined  the  Service  with  the  rank  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander. He  was  immediately 
plunged  into  the  new,  complicated  and 
difficult  enterprise  of  fitting  naval  ships, 
under  the  Paravane  Commander ;  and 
then  he  tackled  the  whole  business  of 
organising  and  supervising  the  fitting  of 
the  merchant  service  of  Great  Britain  with 
the  Otter.  These  vessels  were  voyaging 
on  every  sea,  touching  port,  unloading  and 
loading  again  and  departing  under  the 
utmost  stress  of  urgency.  The  ships  were 
of  various  types,  and  for  each  type  a 
special  fitting  must  be  designed,  made,  and 
fitted.  Officers  and  men  must  be  per- 
suaded of  the  necessity  of  the  Otter,  and 
there  and  then  trained  in  its  use.  It  was 
a  tremendous  task  :  it  was  triumphantly 
achieved. 

Upon  the  financial  side.  Commander 
E.  A.  D.  was  admirably  assisted  by  Mr. 
E.  P.  Burke,  who  came  from  Lieutenant- 


240     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Commander  McConnel's  branch,  and  who 
was  an  ex-Indian  Civil  Servant.  On  the 
technical  side,  Lieutenant-Commander  P. 
(E)  of  the  Paravane  department  gave 
invaluable  help. 

The  present  writer  has  not  the  privilege 
of  the  acquaintance  of  these  gentlemen ; 
so  that  it  may  not  be  improper  to  set  down 
the  reflection,  how  little  the  country,  and 
how  little  the  Government,  know  of  their 
best  servants. 

The  manufacturing  and  commercial  side 
of  the  Otter  department  was  conducted  by 
Messrs.  Vickers,  who  have  very  kindly 
given  the  present  writer  a  description  of 
its  organisation  and  operation. 

Be  it  remembered  that  at  this  period 
of  the  war  every  private  firm  was  choked 
with  Government  work,  and  that  skilled 
men  were  hard  to  find.  Messrs.  Vickers 
began  by  appointing  a  local  agent  in 
each  port.  They  made  arrangements  with 
various  other  firms  to  manufacture  and 
supply  the  parts  and  gear  of  the  Otter. 
They  devised  a  system  under  which  the 


TAKEN    FROM    THE    FORECASTLE   OF    S.S.    '  ACCKINGTON 
LOOKING    AFT    ALONG    HER    STARBOARD    SIDE 

The  ship  is  under  way  and  her  starboard  Otter  has  just  cut  the  mooring 
of  a  submerged  dummy  mine  at  which  the  ship  was  directly  steered. 
The  mine  has  been  fiuiig  away  from  the  ship,  its  moorings  liave  then 
reached  the  cutter  on  the  Otter  and  have  been  cut,  and  the  mine  is  here 
seen  leaping  to  the  surface  well  clear  of  the  ship's  side. 

Photo.  Commander  G.  S.  Bowles 


AN    OTTKR    liEING    HDlSTED   OUT   OVER    PORT   SIDE   OF 
S.S.    '  ACCKINGTON  ' 

Photo.  CoiiniianderC  S.  Bmvles 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE     241 

parts  should  be  assembled,  the  Otter 
completed,  and  sent  down  to  the  testing 
stations  at  Weymouth  and  Milford  Haven. 
Every  Otter  was  tested  at  sea  before  being 
fitted.  When  it  had  been  tested  and 
passed,  it  was  despatched  by  rail  whither 
it  was  wanted. 

Conceive  the  organisation  required.  It 
was  necessary  to  know  at  all  times  the 
stage  of  the  process  to  which  each  type 
of  Otter  had  been  brought,  to  allocate  the 
various  types  to  the  various  ships  as  the 
ships  came  in,  and  to  get  the  particular 
Otter  required  to  the  particular  ship  re- 
quiring it  at  the  right  moment. 

Therefore,  together  with  the  organisation 
of  the  manufacture  and  supply  of  Otters, 
it  was  necessary  to  devise  a  system  of 
intelligence  under  which  Vickers'  head 
office  learned  what  ships  were  due  at  each 
port,  when  they  were  due  and  how  long 
they  would  remain  in  port.  For  this 
purpose,  a  large  clerical  staff  was  engaged 
and  was  trained  in  the  use  of  an  ingenious 
card  index  system.     At  one  time,  news  of 

Q 


242  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

the  arrival  of  a  ship  was  received  every 
quarter  of  an  hour,  day  and  night ;  and 
as  the  news  came  in,  it  was  recorded  in 
the  card  index,  and  every  movement  of 
the  ship  and  each  process  of  fitting  was 
followed  in  the  card  index,  so  that  at  any 
moment  the  condition  of  any  given  ship 
was  known.  It  was  thus  possible  to  begin 
to  fit  a  ship  at  one  port  and  to  finish  her 
at  the  next. 

As  the  organisation  grew,  Messrs.  Vickers 
installed  their  own  staff  at  each  port. 
The  country  was  divided  into  districts 
and  each  was  placed  in  charge  of  an  official, 
who  was  responsible  for  the  work  in  his 
district.  Stations  were  established  on  the 
Continent  and  in  the  United  States. 

At  first,  the  work  was  a  perpetual  con- 
flict with  every  sort  of  obstacle  :  deficiency 
of  labour,  difficulties  of  transport,  diffi- 
culties in  communication  ;  and  throughout 
the  business  must  be  carried  through  at 
high  speed.  The  staff  at  Vickers'  head- 
quarters worked  day  and  night.  Wholly 
unknown  to  fame,  they  were  one  with  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  243 

fighting  services  in  tlieir  single  aim  to  win 
the  war.  All  depended  on  the  sea;  it 
was  the  business  of  Vickers'  staff  to  do 
their  part  to  prevent  that  great  danger, 
lest  a  command  of  the  sea  able  to  deny  the 
sea  to  the  trade  of  its  enemy  might  be  increas- 
ingly unable  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  sea 
for  its  own  trade. 

Combining  this  enterprise  with  his  work 
in  the  Paravane  department,  the  inde- 
fatigable Burney  was  everywhere,  invent- 
ing, supervising  and  organising  as  requisite. 

Some  fifty  firms  were  employed  in 
manufacturing  Otters  and  gear  under 
Messrs.  Vickers.  At  Messrs.  Vickers'  head 
office,  the  Otter  staff  numbered  about  180  ; 
about  60  men  were  employed  in  fitting, 
about  50  men  in  testing,  and  about  40 
men  in  inspection  work.  Ships  were  fitted 
at  32  ports  in  Great  Britain  :  Blackwall, 
King's  Lynn,  Newhaven,  Southampton, 
Plymouth,  Falmouth,  Cardiff,  Barry,  New- 
port, Avonmouth,  Swansea,  Milf ord  Haven, 
Liverpool,  Manchester,  Barrow,  Working- 
ton, Belfast,  Dublin,  Queenstown,  Govan, 


244     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Dundee,  Aberdeen,  Leith,  Bo'ness,  New- 
castle, Blyth,  Middlesboro',  Sunderland, 
West  Hartlepool,  Hull,  Goole  and  Grimsby. 
There  were  four  stations  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean :  Marseilles,  Malta,  Alexandria  and 
Port  Said. 

Messrs.  Vickers'  representatives  assisted 
the  United  States  Government  and  the 
United  States  Shipping  Board  to  fit  Ameri- 
can and  British  vessels  at  the  following 
ports,  among  others  :  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Providence,  Norfolk,  New  Orleans, 
Baltimore,  Newport  News,  Boston,  Seattle, 
Cleveland. 

The  average  number  of  ships  fitted  per 
week  for  the  six  months  preceding  the 
Armistice  was  50.  The  average  number 
of  ships  per  week  repaired  was  120,  and 
inspected,  280.  The  number  of  Otters 
manufactured  was  over  17,000. 

The  first  merchant  vessel  was  equipped 
with  the  Otter  in  April  1917.  When 
the  Armistice  was  concluded,  about  3000 
ships  had  been  fitted  with  the  Otter. 

The    secrecy    maintained    was    extra- 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  245 

ordinary.  Outside  the  sea  services  and 
those  engaged  in  the  work,  very  few 
persons,  during  the  war  and  even  after- 
wards, had  ever  heard  of  Paravane  or  of 
Otter.  Which  circumstance  indicates  that 
what  is  omitted  from  the  newspapers  is 
not  known.  On  one  occasion  at  least,  an 
Otter  was  washed  up  on  the  beach  in  this 
country ;  Otters  were  lying  about  at  rail- 
way stations ;  hundreds  of  men  and 
women  were  employed  in  making  parts  of 
Otters  and  their  gear,  packing,  despatching 
and  fitting  them ;  yet  the  Otter  was  kept 
secret. 


XVIII 

The  result  of  fitting  the  protector  Para- 
vane to  H.M.  ships  was  that  sixty-eight 
men-of-war  cut  mines:  seven  battleships, 
two  battle  cruisers,  two  cruisers,  fifty-three 
light  cruisers,  three  armed  auxiliary  cruisers 
and  one  minelayer ;  the  most  of  which,  it 
is  reasonable  to  assume,  would  in  default 
of  the  Paravane  have  been  lost. 

Before  the  Otter  was  fitted  to  merchant 
ships  eighteen  vessels  a  month  were  being 
lost  by  mine.  After  the  Otter  was  fitted 
the  losses  dropped  to  three  or  four,  and  in 
some  months  none,  and  no  merchant  ship 
fitted  with  the  Otter  was  lost  by  mine.  Thirty- 
four  British  merchant  ships  were  known 
to  have  been  saved,  and  thirteen  not 
certainly  known,  forty-seven  in  all,  to 
which  must  be  added  a  large  number  not 
reported  by  the  master.  Foreign  mer- 
chant ships  arc  not  included. 

240 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  247 

The  total  tonnage  of  H.M.  ships  saved 
is  525,833  tons  of  an  estimated  value  of 
£52,533,300. 

The  total  tonnage  of  merchant  ships 
known  to  have  been  saved  is  240,078  tons, 
of  an  estimated  value  of  £9,603,120,  to 
which  must  be  added  the  estimated  value 
of  cargoes,  £13,000,000.  To  these  figures 
must  be  added  a  large  margin  for  cases  of 
mines  cut  and  not  reported,  and  all  cases 
of  mines  cut  by  Allied  vessels. 

The  immense  saving  of  life  also  accom- 
plished is  not  to  be  expressed  in  terms  of 
money. 

The  following  official  record  has  been 
furnished  by  the  courtesy  of  the  Board  of 
Admiralty. 

The  following  statistics  have  been  com- 
piled with  a  view  to  showing  the  successes 
of  the  Paravanes  (both  explosive  and 
protector  types)  and  Otters,  fitted  to 
H.M.  ships  and  to  the  merchant  service 
respectively.  The  returns  are  the  official 
Admiralty  records. 


248     THE  PAT^AVANE  ADVENTURE 

No  detailed  information  has  yet  been 
obtained  as  to  the  results  of  the  apparatus 
fitted  to  foreign  vessels  of  war  and  mer- 
chant ships,  although  it  is  known  by  verbal 
reports  that  three  American  ships  of  war 
were  saved,  including  the  South  Carolina^ 
one  of  the  latest  Dreadnoughts. 

There  are  instances  also,  like  the  attack 
on  Durazzo,  which  are  not  included.  At 
Durazzo  a  very  considerable  number  of 
mines  were  cut,  and  the  attacking 
forces  came  unscathed  through  two  mine- 
fields. 

As  the  resources  of  the  Allies  in  shipping 
were  pooled,  the  amount  of  tonnage  saved 
by  the  Allies  was  of  vital  importance,  and 
it  is  therefore  considered  that  in  estimating 
the  total  cost  of  shipping  saved,  the  cost 
of  foreign  tonnage  saved  should  be  com- 
puted. 

Cases  have  occurred  of  masters  refusing 
to  sail  until  the  Otter  gear  was  in  perfect 
working  condition,  thus  causing  valuable 
time  to  be  wasted,  and  it  can  be  safely 
recorded   that   captains    of   H.M.   service 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  249 

and  masters  of  the  merchant  service  have 
rehed  upon  the  gear  to  protect  them  from 
mine  attack.  The  moral  value  of  a  sense 
of  security  should  be  added  to  the  com- 
mercial value. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  stat- 
istics that  the  total  tonnage  saved  by  the 
protector  Paravanes  and  Otters  respec- 
tively is  : — 

tons. 

Paravanes  (H.M.  ships)        .         .     525,333 
Otters  (merchant  ships)        .         .     240,078 

If  the  average  value  per  ton  for  H.M. 
ships  be  taken  at  £100  and  a  low  average 
value  for  merchant  ships,  the  following 
figures  are  obtained  : — 

Value  of  H.M.  ships  saved  .  .  £52,533,300 
Value  of  merchant  ships  saved      .         9,603,120 

Total     .     £62,136,420 


In  this  figure  of  £62,136,420  no  amount 
has  been  included  for  the  cost  of  the  cargo 
carried  by   merchant  ships,   so  that  the 


250     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

saving  to  the  Allied  countries  of  food- 
stuffs and  material  at  a  time  when  they 
were  practically  irreplaceable,  is  not 
shown.  ^ 

Ships  which  have  been  saved  more  than 
once  have  been  counted  in  value  more 
than  once,  as  they  would  have  been  re- 
placed by  some  other  vessel.  It  cannot 
be  taken  that  upon  every  occasion  when  a 
mine  is  cut,  the  ship  was  necessarily  saved, 
but  as  it  is  only  during  the  daytime  that 
the  mines  when  cut  are  seen,  it  may  be 
safely  assumed  that  the  mines  which  are 
cut  at  night  and  which  are  not  reported, 
compensate  for  the  uncertain  factor.  It 
should  also  be  considered  that  masters 
often  do  not  report  a  cut. 

The  extent  of  their  omissions  may  be 
estimated  by  noting  that  where  report- 
ing is  accurate,  as  in  the  British  Navy, 
out  of  approximately  180  ships  fitted  with 
the   gear,  reports  of  55  cuts   have   been 

*  Owing  to  the  large  number  of  cases  of  mine  cutting 
unreported,  as  already  explained,  the  figure  is  far  from  the 
real  total. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  251 

obtained,  whereas,  out  of  2720  merchant 
ships  fitted  with  Otter  gear,  only  44  reports 
have  been  received. 

The  results  of  the  use  of  the  explosive 
Paravane  are  in  part  doubtful,  for  it  is 
only  in  exceptional  cases  that  definite 
proof  can  be  obtained,  and  the  submarine 
logged  as  '  Known  Sunk.' 

In  estimating  the  value  of  the  Submarine 
Sweep,  the  '  Known  Sunk  '  cases  only  have 
been  taken  into  consideration. 

The  number  of  submarines  which  have 
been  classified  as  '  Known  Sunk '  is  205, 
and  it  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
statistics  that  the  Paravane  accounted  for 
five  of  this  number,  or  approximately  two 
and  a  half  per  cent. 

The  total  damage  done  by  enemy  sub- 
marines has  been  estimated  at  approxi- 
mately £1,000,000,000 ;  so  that  the  value 
of  the  tonnage  sunk  by  one  submarine  is 
approximately  £5,000,000.  The  value  of 
the  Paravane  service  was,  therefore,  ap- 
proximately £25,000,000. 

The  total  value  of  the  whole  Paravane 


252     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

service  may,  therefore,  be  summarised  as 
follows  : — 

Submarine  Sweep  .  .  £25,000,000 
Protectors  ....  52,533,300 
Otters 9,603,120 


Total    .         .     £87,130,420 


and  to  this  figure  must  be  added  the  cost 
of  the  cargo  saved  by  Otters  which  may 
be  reckoned  as  £13,000,000.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  Paravane  Service  has 
saved  the  British  Empire  approximately 
£100,000,000.  If  full  reports  were  avail- 
able, that  amount,  as  already  explained, 
would  be  greatly  increased. 

This  is  a  purely  financial  estimate, 
taking  no  account  of  the  many  hundreds 
of  lives  saved. 


XIX 

The  results  of  the  use  of  the  Paravane  and 
Otter  completely  justified  the  Paravane 
officers.  They  had  achieved  their  long, 
difficult  and  incredibly  arduous  enterprise. 
They  had  matched  their  wits  against  the 
craft  of  the  enemy  and  had  won.  The 
submarine  was  defeated,  both  actually  and 
potentially.  The  occupation  of  the  mine- 
laying  submarine  was  gone.  By  reason 
of  the  lack  of  destroyers,  the  High  Speed 
Submarine  Sweep  had  not  been  used  on  a 
great  scale ;  but  its  efficiency  had  been 
demonstrated.  The  Paravane  officers  had 
done  their  part  in  saving  the  British  Fleet 
and  the  British  Mercantile  Marine. 

In  1917,  Lieutenant  Burney  received 
from  His  Majesty  the  King  the  honour  of 
Companion  of  the  Most  Distinguished 
Order  of  Saint  Michael  and  Saint  George, 
and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Acting- 
Commander.     Lieutenant  Bowles  was  pro- 

253 


254     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

moted  to  the  rank  of  Commander  (Emer- 
gency). Another  officer  received  the 
Order  of  the  British  Empire.  So  far  as 
the  present  writer  has  been  able  to  as- 
certain, the  services  of  the  other  Paravane 
officers  have  not  received  the  expression 
of  official  approval. 

But  during  their  long  months  of  toil  and 
anxiety,  they  had  no  thought  of  reward. 
The  officers  of  the  Regular  Navy  among 
them,  in  the  circumstances,  were  indeed 
conceivably  hazarding  their  career  in  the 
Service.  The  temporary  officers  were 
simply  working  for  their  country.  When 
the  work  was  done,  when  the  adventure 
had  been  triumphantly  accomplished,  they 
dropped  back  into  civil  life,  contented  that 
they  had  done  well  what  they  took  in  hand 
to  do.  If  Burncy  was  the  moving  spirit, 
the  other  Paravane  officers  were  the  cheer- 
ful and  indefatigable  pioneers  of  the 
adventure,  who  made  possible  its  success. 

In  this  business,  as  in  others,  the  ex- 
perience of  the  war  demonstrated  that  the 
Navy,  regarded  as  a  system,  was  governed 


TIIE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE     255 

by  a  tradition  which  both  prevents  the 
recognition  of  modern  conditions  of  war- 
fare and  hinders  action  in  emergency. 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Viscount  Jellicoe's 
history  of  the  Grand  Fleet  during  the  first 
two  years  of  the  war  illustrates,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  appalling  defects  of  the  system, 
and  on  the  other,  the  superb  conduct  of 
the  naval  officer  within  the  limits  to  which 
the  system  restricted  him. 

To  be  quite  plain,  the  system  let  the 
country  down,  down  to  the  very  edge  of 
disaster.  What  saved  the  country  ?  The 
heroic  labours  of  officers  and  men,  of  which 
Lord  Jellicoe  tells,  and,  among  other  enter- 
prises, the  Paravane  adventure.  But  is 
the  country  to  rely  in  the  future  upon  for- 
lorn hopes  led  by  gallant  individuals,  in 
despite  of  the  system  ? 

^The  Navy  has  become  a  profession  of 
many  highly  specialised  branches,  each  of 
which  owes  its  development  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  science  on  shore.     Side  by  side 

1  The  substance  of  what  follows  appeared  in  The  National 
Review,  June  1919. 


256  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

with  that  development,  the  old  tradition 
under  which  the  Navy  of  masts  and  sails 
was  independent  of  the  shore,  except  (in 
the  old  phrase)  for  victuals,  wood,  and 
water,  survives.  There  were  instances  dur- 
ing the  war  of  extremely  capable  naval 
officers  who,  taken  from  the  sea  to  organise 
the  invention  and  application  of  some 
particular  device  urgently  required,  were  as 
totally  ignorant  of  the  persons  from  whom 
to  seek  advice  and  assistance,  and  of  the 
existing  state  of  things  in  relation  to  his  re- 
quirement, as  if  they  had  landed  in  another 
planet.  While  naval  warfare,  like  land 
warfare,  had  become  an  affair  of  applied 
science,  the  Navy  had  remained  aloof  from 
civilian  enterprise  and  unconscious  of  the 
march  of  events.  There  existed  no  de- 
partment at  the  Admiralty  whose  business 
it  was  to  study  the  invention  and  the  ap- 
plication of  modern  weapons  in  collabora- 
tion with  civilian  investigators.  The  Navy 
had  its  own  experimental  establishments, 
and  these  (it  considered)  should  suffice. 
There  was  H.M.S.  Excellent,  the  gunnery 


^f-     tfk 


TAKEN    FROM    THE    FORECASTLE-HEAD   OF   S.S.     'ACCRINGTON 
AT   SPITHEAD,  LOOKING    AFT    ALONG    HER    STARBOARD    SIDE 

Showing  the  gallows  fitted  for  hoisting  and  lowering  an  Otter  ;  and  the 
inhaul  wire  leading  from  it  to  the  Otter  running  below  the  water. 

photo.  Cotiniiander  G.  S.  Boivlfs 


TAKEN    FROM     THE    FORECASTLE-HEAD   OF    S.S.    '  ACCRINGTON  ' 
AT    SPITHEAD,    LOOKING    AFT    ALONG    HER    PORT    SIDE 

Showing  the  gallows-'fitted  for  hoisting  and  lowering  an  Otter  ;  and  the 
inhaul  wire  leading  from  it  to  the  Otter  running  below  the  water. 

Photo.  Commander  G.  S.  Bow/es 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  257 

school  on  Whale  Island  ;  there  was  H.M.S. 
Vernon,  torpedo  school,  an  old  wooden 
ship-of-the-line ;  there  were  the  Actaeon 
torpedo  school  ships,  a  group  of  old  hulks, 
lying  between  Sheerness  and  Chatham ; 
and  so  on.  V^ithin  the  limits  to  which  they 
were  restricted,  the  officers  of  these  estab- 
lishments did  admirably. 

But  the  naval  experimental  establish- 
ments, compared  with  the  great  installa- 
tions of  private  firms,  were  insignificant. 
A  proportion  of  the  most  talented  naval 
officers,  whose  advancement  in  the  Service, 
after  attaining  the  rank  of  commander, 
depended  upon  seniority,  commonly  leave 
the  Navy  to  enter  private  firms.  Were 
they  to  remain  in  the  Service  and  to  obtain 
promotion,  they  would  be  charged  with  the 
sea  and  administrative  duties  of  a  senior 
officer,  and  their  particular  ability  would 
be  wasted.  Hence  it  is  that  the  senior 
officers  of  the  Navy,  to  whom  is  confided 
its  direction,  are  but  dimly  aware  of  any 
developments  in  gunnery,  torpedo,  mining, 
wireless,  and  the  like,  occurring  since  they 

B 


258     THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

were  promoted,  while  the  authority  of  the 
young  officers  who  know  what  the  Service 
can  teach  of  these  things,  and  how  to  use 
them,  is  strictly  limited  by  their  rank. 
Officially,  the  ability,  like  the  authority, 
of  an  officer  is  estimated  by  the  number 
of  gold  rings  on  his  sleeve. 

Moreover,  in  whatever  the  ability  of  an 
officer  consists,  the  Service  ordains  that  a 
condition  of  his  promotion  is  that  he  puts 
in  a  certain  proportion  of  sea-time,  as  it  is 
called.  Here  is  another  survival  of  custom 
which  has  lost  its  reason  ;  for  in  the  sailing 
days  the  main  qualification  for  command 
was,  naturally,  experience  in  seamanship. 
Now  that  many  other  qualifications  are 
equally  essential,  an  officer  must  spend 
at  sea  time  in  which  he  seldom  acquires 
any  additional  knowledge  of  seamanship 
whatever.  There  are,  of  course,  many 
officers  who  are  seamen  and  nothing  else, 
and  who  are  quite  content  with  that  noble 
branch  of  their  profession.  But  even  for 
the  salt-horse,  it  is  not  necessary  that  he 
should   be   sent   to   a   naval   preparatory 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   259 

school  on  shore  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and 
that  he  should  thenceforth  regard  the 
beach  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  as  hav- 
ing been  created  by  the  Almighty  in  a  fit 
of  absence  of  mind,  and  therefore  to  be 
regarded  with  pity  and  treated  with  kind- 
ness by  the  naval  officer. 

The  theory  that  the  Navy  is  still  con- 
stantly at  sea  and  cruising,  as  it  used  to 
cruise  fifty  years  ago,  for  three  years  or 
more  at  a  stretch,  is  still  entertained  by  the 
authorities.  In  accordance  with  that  tradi- 
tion, officers  obtained  a  very  scant  allowance 
of  leave. ^  Although  conditions  have  totally 
changed,  the  idea  is  that  in  a  ship  in  full 
commission,  perpetually  cruising,  an  officer 
cannot  possibly  be  spared  for  longer  than 
ten  days  or  a  fortnight  without  grave 
injury  to  His  Majesty's  Service.  Hence 
it  is  that  if  an  officer  desires  to  improve 
his  knowledge  generally  or  in  particular, 
he  must  apply  to  go  on  half-pay,  thereby 
both  injuring  his  chances  of  promotion 
and  making  it  almost  impossible  for  him 
to  pay  his  way. 

^  Since  extended. 


260  THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

Civilians  who  encounter  the  naval  officer 
during  his  brief  sojourns  on  shore  regard 
him  with  the  slightly  nervous  admiration 
due  to  one  who  deals  familiarly  with 
formidable  mysteries,  and  who  is  generally 
reputed  to  be  able  triumphantly  to  handle 
any  emergency,  ashore  or  afloat.  But  if 
the  civilian  ever  dared  to  interrogate  his 
hero  in  what  examiners  call  general  know- 
ledge, he  would  be  surprised  at  the  ensuing 
vacuity. 

So  long  as  the  Navy  was  a  cruising 
Service,  in  whose  ships  guns  were  mounted 
as  a  matter  of  form — delightful  conditions 
under  which  the  senior  admirals  of  to-day 
entered  the  Navy — the  quaint  monasticism 
of  the  seaman  was  merely  charming.  To- 
day, when  the  Navy  is  a  complex  of  applied 
sciences,  when  the  ships  are  floating  towns 
crammed  with  engines  of  destruction  and 
are  driven  by  fuel  which  must  be  replen- 
ished every  week  or  so,  when  they  are 
longer  in  port  than  at  sea,  the  extra- 
ordinary isolation  of  the  naval  officer  is 
simply  foolish.     Its  result,  during  the  war, 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  261 

was  to  bring  this  country  into  a  danger 
which  the  public  have  not  yet  understood. 

Surely  it  is  time  that  the  naval  officer 
were  treated  like  a  reasonable  being  ?  If 
we  take  the  analogy  of  the  Army,  we 
observe  during  the  war  civilians  becoming 
generals  and  commanding  armies  with 
notable  success.  In  the  Navy  itself  we 
perceive  thousands  of  '  hostilities  only ' 
men,  civilians  entered  straight  from  the 
shore,  performing  admirable  service.  It 
almost  seems  as  if  there  was  something  in 
the  civilian,  after  all.  Nevertheless  the 
public  are  still  solemnly  impressed  with 
the  notion  that  the  Navy  is  a  great  and  a 
holy  mystery,  only  to  be  apprehended  by 
initiation  in  childhood,  and  that  the  prac- 
tice of  its  craft  demands  the  unremitting 
devotion  of  the  ascetic. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  all  nonsense. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  naval  officer 
should  become  so  exclusive  a  specialist 
that  he  knows  nothing  outside  his  own 
profession,  and  very  often  nothings  outside 
his  own  particular  branch  of  it.     The  Navy 


262   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

owns  an  unexpressed  sense  of  injury  be- 
cause the  public  do  not  appreciate  it.  How 
in  the  world  can  the  public  appreciate  what 
they  are  not  allowed  to  know  ?  You  do  not 
find  the  recluses  of  a  monastery  annoyed 
because  they  are  forgotten  by  a  godless 
civilisation.  Doctors,  lawyers  and  soldiers, 
simply  because  they  are  a  part  of  society, 
do  not  consider  that  they  are  misunder- 
stood by  society.  And  why  should  not 
the  naval  officer  be  a  part  of  society  ? 
That  is  really  the  question  the  present 
writer  ventures  to  ask.  After  many  years' 
observation  of  naval  affairs  he  is  drawn  to 
the  conclusion  that  a  very  much  happier 
and  a  very  much  more  satisfactory  state  of 
things  might  be  created  by  a  few  simple 
changes. 

All  naval  cadets  should  be  entered  from 
the  public  schools  and  grammar  schools. 
Osborne  could  then  be  abolished,  to  the 
saving  of  much  money,  not  to  mention 
anxiety.  As  for  Dartmouth,  that  institu- 
tion could  become  the  first  stage  of  the 
cadet,  before  he  goes  to  sea.     A  certain 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE  263 

number,  if  not  all,  but  preferably  all, 
sub-lieutenants  and  lieutenants  should  be 
sent  to  the  Universities  for  at  least  a 
year. 

The  officers  specialising  in  engineering 
could  then  go  to  Keyham  College  for  a 
three  or  five  years'  course.  At  the  same 
time,  qualified  civilian  engineers  should 
be  invited  to  enter  the  Navy  direct.  Why 
not  ?  Engineer-officers  are  always  wanted, 
and  there  they  are.  Nothing  but  the 
mystery  theory  bars  them  from  the  Ser- 
vice, with  the  result  that  the  Navy  never 
has  enough  engineer-officers. 

Royal  Naval  Reserve  officers  entering 
the  Navy  should  be  eligible  for  promotion 
above  the  rank  of  commander.  Royal 
Naval  Volunteer  Reserve  officers,  many 
of  whom  did  excellent  service  in  the  war, 
should  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Regular 
Navy. 

The  Royal  Naval  College  at  Greenwich, 
in  which  noble  establishment  certain 
courses  for  young  officers  are  now  provided, 
should  be  made  the  headquarters  of  naval 


264   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

education  proper.  Greenwich,  in  the 
phrase  of  one  among  its  presidents,  who 
effected  many  excellent  reforms  there,  the 
late  Admiral  Sir  John  Durnford,  should 
become  the  University  of  the  Sea.  In  the 
great  chambers  of  that  palace  there  is 
room  enough  for  an  ample  establishment 
for  every  branch.  What  is  lacking  is  the 
initiative  of  the  authorities.  And  so  little 
is  the  potential  value  of  the  Royal  Naval 
College  understood  that  the  other  day  a 
Member  of  Parliament  actually  suggested 
its  abolition. 

The  traditional  system  of  promotion 
in  the  Service  should  be  reformed  from 
top  to  bottom.  Many  years  ago  Lord 
Beresford  suggested  that  the  tremendous 
responsibilities  of  an  admiral  could  seldom 
be  properly  discharged  by  old  men. 
But  apart  from  the  matter  of  age,  under 
the  present;  system  the  senior  officers 
speedily  lose  knowledge  of  current  de- 
velopments, and  are  removed  from  the 
practice  of  the  special  branch  in  which 
they  are  most  competent.     Moreover,  the 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   265 

greater  proportion  of  naval  officers  are 
debarred  from  promotion  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  are  many  more  junior 
than  senior  officers  required  at  any  given 
moment.  The  path  to  the  top  narrows 
as  it  ascends.  Many  lieutenant-com- 
manders must  retire  with  the  rank  of 
commander  and  disappear  into  civil  life, 
of  which  they  know  hardly  anything,  with 
no  provision  save  a  small  pension.  Some 
of  them  own  technical  knowledge  which 
gains  them  a  lucrative  post,  but  these  are 
the  few.  Among  them  are  officers  whom 
the  Navy  cannot  afford  to  lose,  but  whose 
services,  owing  to  its  ridiculous  system, 
it  is  obliged  to  forfeit.  For  the  rest,  it  is 
merely  the  duty  of  the  State  to  give  every 
officer  and  man  in  its  service  full  oppor- 
tunity for  fitting  himself  to  earn  a  com- 
petent livelihood  in  the  civil  life  to  which, 
except  in  the  minority  of  cases,  he  must 
presently  return.  That  opportunity  can 
never  be  given  so  long  as  the  dissociation 
of  the  Navy  from  civil  life  is  jealously 
maintained.     The   alternative  is  to  grant 


266   THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

a  handsome  pension,  like  the  Indian  Civil 
Service. 

The  entrance  of  a  selected  number  of 
naval  officers  into  the  Universities  has 
given  to  them  their  first  acquaintance 
since  childhood  with  the  men  and  affairs 
of  the  shore.  One  result  will  be  that  if 
the  Navy  fails  to  offer  advantages  equiv- 
alent to  the  advantages  of  a  civil  career, 
the  supply  of  competent  naval  officers  in 
the  future  will  diminish. 

The  experience  of  the  War  dissipated  the 
pleasant  delusion  that  the  Navy  was  wholly 
self-sufficing  and  completely  organised  to 
deal  with  any  emergency.  For  when  the 
emergency  arrived,  the  first  thing  the  Navy 
was  compelled  to  do  was  to  create  a  new 
Navy  out  of  civilian  material.  The  civil- 
ians pulled  it  out  of  the  ditch.  The  same 
thing  happened  to  the  Army,  with  this 
difference,  that  nobody  of  any  intelligence 
imagined  that  the  little  Regular  Army  could 
fight  a  European  war.  What  the  Regular 
Army  did  was  to  sacrifice  itself  to  gain  time 
while  the  civilian  army  was  a-preparing. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   267 

Had  the  enemy  fought  the  war  at  sea  with 
any  spirit,  the  Navy  would  have  been 
obhged  to  consummate  the  same  sacrifice. 

If  preparation  for  war  be  in  question, 
the  association  and  interchange  of  naval 
and  civilian  affairs  would  still  be  essential. 
But  the  immediate  need  is  to  establish  a 
reasonable  relation  between  the  two  which 
shall  benefit  both.  It  is  sometimes  said 
(with  an  accent  of  despair)  that  reform  will 
come,  if  it  ever  comes,  from  below — that 
is,  from  the  Labour  people.  The  event  is 
highly  improbable,  for  the  more  notorious 
demagogues  manifest  not  the  smallest 
interest  in  the  matter,  of  which  indeed 
they  are  profoundly  ignorant.  Nor  is 
there  any  reason  to  imagine  that  an  in- 
dustrial and  a  mechanical  civilisation, 
which  corrodes  intellect,  is  likely  to  emit 
from  its  lower  layers  any  light  other  than 
the  angry  glow  of  discontent. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  a  melancholy 
reflection  that  the  series  of  statesmen  who 
have  occupied  the  position  of  First  Lord 
have  never  even  been  aware  that  any  need 


268      THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

for  reform  existed.  It  is  true  that  the  Sea 
Lords  would  hardly  enlighten  them.  In 
the  presence  of  these  tremendous  silences 
the  present  writer  is  conscious  of  what 
will  probably  be  regarded  as  unforgivable 
audacity.  But,  after  all,  he  did  not  set 
the  yeast  in  the  dough.  It  is  there,  and 
it  is  working. 

This  is  a  matter  in  which  the  country  as 
a  whole  is  concerned,  for  its  security  and 
its  prosperity  alike  must  still  depend  upon 
the  sea  services,  and  until  a  common  under- 
standing prevails  between  seamen  and 
landsmen  there  can  be  no  unity  of  purpose. 
Imperceptibly,  the  days  of  the  exclusive 
service  have  gone  by,  and  the  sooner  the 
change  is  brought  into  the  region  of 
consciousness  the  better. 

Nothing  can  correct  the  impression  pro- 
duced upon  the  mind  of  the  landsmen  by 
some  of  the  recent  literature  dealing  with 
the  life  of  the  Navy,  except  personal 
acquaintance  with  that  Service,  nor  can 
aught  persuade  the  naval  officer  that  life 
on    shore    has    its    own    intrinsic    values. 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE   269 

except  becoming  for  a  time  a  part  of  that 
life.  The  naval  officer  is  not  really  the 
kind  of  person  depicted  in  those  stories 
about  the  Navy  in  which  he  is  represented 
as  a  compound  of  profound  sentimentality 
and  romantic  heroism,  speaking  a  strange 
dialect,  invariably  addressing  his  friends 
by  curious  nicknames,  and  romping  like 
a  child  at  every  opportunity.  This  sing- 
ular conception  is  like  to  misfeature  the 
Navy,  as  Ouida's  Guardsmen,  in  the 
sumptuous  Victorian  Age,  misrepresented 
the  British  Army.  Those  great  creatures 
did  high  credit  to  Ouida,  and  as  heroes 
of  fiction  they  demand  homage,  but  they 
did  not  in  fact  embody  the  type  of  the 
British  Army. 

The  Navy  enlists  every  variety  of  char- 
acter, ability  and  temperament,  and  it 
needs  them  all.  But  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, it  appears  that  the  Service  itself 
prevents  itself  from  giving  due  scope  and 
verge  to  the  talents  with  which  it  is 
endowed.  In  the  old  sailing-ship  days  a 
ferocious  discipline  was,  fortunately,  diver- 


270      THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 

sified  by  a  startling  indulgence.  As  the 
ships  changed  from  creatures  whose  life 
was  the  wind  of  God  and  the  will  of  man, 
to  monstrous  mechanisms  of  steel,  so  the 
administration  of  the  Service  became  more 
and  more  mechanical.  From  a  free  com- 
pany the  Navy  became  a  factory.  When 
the  man  becomes  the  servant  of  the 
machine  he  is  on  the  way  to  death.  A 
mechanical  system  of  administration  kills 
by  degrees,  and  presently  there  is  nothing 
left  but  the  system.     And  then  .  .  .  ? 


APPENDIX 


PROTECTOR  PARAVANES 

The  following  is  a  chronological  list  of  occasions  officially 
reported  to  the  Admiralty  upon  which  a  mine  mooring 
is  known  or  believed  to  have  been  cut  on  service  by  the 
Paravane  Gear  of  H.M.  Ships. 


DATE. 


1917 

16  Mar. 

1  June 
30  Jtily 
19  Sep. 

19  Sep. 
11  Nov. 
16/19 

Nov. 

20  Dec. 
22  Dec. 
1918 
26  Jan. 

2  Feb. 
16/17 

Feb. 
26  Feb. 


SHIP  AND  CLASS. 


Cambrian,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Shannon,  Crsr. 
Galatea,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Alsatian,  A.M.  Crsr. 
Alsatian,  A.M.  Crsr. 
Undaunted,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Empebor  of  India, 

Battleship 
Cardiff,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Minotaur,  Crsr. 

Royalist,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Valiant,  Battleship 
Princess  Royal, 

B.  Crsr. 
Erin,  Battleship 

Carry  forward  . 


Tonnage. 


CHARACTER  OF  i   CHARACTER  OF  CUT. 

MINE.      1 


German.     British.     Certain.   Probable.  Doubtful. 


3,750  I 
14,600 

3,500 
18,481 
18,481 

3,500 

25,000 

4,190 

14,600 

3,500 
27,500 

26,350 
23,000 


1 
1 

1 
1 
1 

1 
1 
1 


1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 


11 


1 
1 

1 
1 


271 


272 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


Character  of 
Mine. 

CHARACTER  OF  CUT. 

DATE. 

SHIP  AND  CLASS. 

TONNAGE. 

German. 

British. 

Certain. 

Problble 

Doubtful. 

Brought  forward  . 

11 

2 

9 

•  • 

4 

1918 

4  Mar. 

Patuoa,  A.M.  Crsr. 

6,103 

,    , 

1 

.  , 

,    . 

23  Mar. 

Angora,  Minelayer 

4,293 

.     . 

1 

.  . 

.    . 

26  Mar. 

Skirmisher,  Lt.  Crsr. 

2,895 

,    , 

1 

,  . 

.    , 

31  Mar. 

Forward,  Lt.  Crsr. 

2,850 

.    , 

,  , 

1 

8/11 

Malaya,  Battleship 

27,500 

1 

Apr. 

8/11 
Apr. 
14  Apr. 

Malaya,  Battleship 

27,500 

•• 

1 

Valiant,  Battleship 

27,500 

,    , 

,    , 

1 

27  Apr. 

Centaur,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.    . 

.    . 

13  May 

Canterbury,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

13  May 

Canterbury,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,760 

,    , 

.    . 

.  . 

13  May 

Cleopatra,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.    • 

.    . 

13  May 

Cleopatra,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.    • 

13  MaV 

Cleopatra,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.    . 

.    . 

.  . 

13  May 

Coventry,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.    . 

.    , 

13  May 

Curaooa,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

1 

.    • 

.  . 

13  May 

CuRACOA,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

1 

.    , 

24  May 

Cardiff,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

28  May 

Furious,  Lt.  Crsr. 

19,100 

1 

29  May 

Furious,  Lt.  Crar. 

19,100 

■*■ 

1 

29  May 

Cleopatra,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

31  May 

CuRAcoA,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

31  May 

Concord,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

31  May 

Centaur,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.  . 

31  May 

Coventry,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

31  May 

Coventry,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

31  May 

Coventry,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

.  • 

1  June 

Curlew,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

.  • 

1  June 

1/2 
June 

Cardiff,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

•• 

•• 

•• 

Furious,  Lt.  Crsr. 

19,100 

.. 

,  ^ 

1 

,  , 

6  June 

Birkenhead,  Lt.  Crsr. 

5,235 

6  June 

Birkenhead,  Lt.  Crsr. 

5,235 

.  . 

.  • 

6  June 

Birkenhead,  Lt.  Crsr. 

5,235 

12  June 

Coventry,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

.  . 

•  . 

.  . 

12  June 

Concord,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

13  June 

Galatea,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,500 

13  June 

Centaur,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

.  . 

13  June 

Centaur,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,760 

1 

.  • 

14  June 

Canterbury,  Lt.  Crsr. 
Carry  forward  . 

3,750 

1 

.  . 

39 

5 

40 

3            8 

APPENDIX 


273 


! 
CHARACTER  OF          CHARACTER  OF  CUT.       | 

Date. 

SHIP  AND  CLASS. 

Tonnage. 

■       i 

German.     British,  i  Certain. 

Probable. 

Doubtful. 

Brought  forward  . 

39           5          40 

3 

8 

1918 

14  Jvine 

Cantebbuey,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

1            ..           1 

14  June 

Cantebbuby,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

....           1 

26  June 

CouEAGEOUS,  Lt.  Crsr. 

18,600 

1           ..           1 

28  June 

Phaeton,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,500 

1           ..           1 

28  June 

Undaunted,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,500 

1           ..           1 

29  June 

CuEAcoA,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

..     i      ..      !       1 

, 

8  JiUv 

Cleopatea,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

1             ..             1 

9  July 

Repulse,  B.  Crsr. 

26,500 

1             ..             1 

9  July 

Phaeton,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,300 

1             ..             1 

1  Aug. 

Cleopatea,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,750 

1             ..             1 

4  Aug. 

Glasoow,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,800 

1       ,      ..             1 

19  Aug. 

Cebes,  Lt.  Crsr. 

4,190 

1       1      ..             1 

22/24 

Empebob  of  India, 

Aug. 

Battleship 

26,000 

1             .... 

1 

28  Aug. 

S0UTHAMPT0N,Lt.Crsr. 

5,400 

1              ..1 

•  • 

1  Oct. 

Southampton, Lt. Crsr. 

5,400 

1             ..      '       1 

19  Oct. 

Phaeton,  Lt.  Crsr. 

3,500 

1             ..1 

•  • 

6  Deo. 

Cabdifp,  Lt.  Crsr. 

Total  .      . 

4,190 

1             ..             1 

•  • 

583,713 

54     !      5           56 

4 

8 

1          :          !          1 

274 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


OTTERS 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  occasions  on  which  mines 
have  been  cut  by  merchant  ships  fitted  with  Otter  gear, 
and  the  fact  has  been  reported  officially.  Definite 
evidence  of  the  mine  having  been  cut  existed  except  in 
the  cases  where  marked  with  an  asterisk. 


Date. 

SHIP. 

Tonnage. 

POSITION. 

REMARKS. 

1917 

16  July 

HUNSWOBTH 

2,991 

Off     St.     Albans 
Head 

Mine  came  to  sur- 
face 

11  Sep. 

HUNSWORTH 

2,991 

Off  The  Shambles 

July 

♦Granttjlly 
Castle 

7,612 

' 

Wire  presumed 
cut  from  state  of 
blades 

13  Sep. 

HuNSWOBTH 

2,991 

Off  Trevose  Head 

Led  to  discovery  of 
new  minefield 

13  Sep. 

GORSEMOOR 

3,079 

Off         Kirkenek, 

Mediterranean 

In  company  with 
H.M.S.  Harrier 

15  Sep. 

♦HUNTSCRAFT 

5.113 

Between      Havre 
and  Cowes 

Night.  Presumed 
cut  from  state  of 
blades 

13  Sep. 

William 

MiDDLETOK 

2.543 

Off  Pendeen 

Known  minefield 

24  Sep. 

Unknown 

4.000  (?) 

Off  Trevose  Head 

Reported   by  drifter 

Livelihood 
Cut     Gorman     mine 

27  Sep. 

Febnandina 

1.851 

3  mUea  S.S.W.  of 

The  Shambles 

Type  IV. 

8  Oct. 

Brodliffe 

5,893 

Between     the 
Smalls      and 
Grass  holme. 
Pembroke  Bay 

Discovered  new 
minefield 

9  Oct. 

Thistlemoob 

6,506 

31"    W.    by     W. 
Beachy  Head 

Mine  came  to  sur- 
face 100  ft.  from 
ship 

Wire        presumed 

13  Oct. 

♦Meltonian 

6.306 

Off  Lamlash 

cut  from  state    of 

blades 

19  Got. 

POPLAB  BbANOH 

5.391 

51°  30'  N.,   4"  21'   Cast    off     her    gear. 
W.                             Mine  in  tow 

APPENDIX 


275 


Date. 

Ship. 

Tonnage. 

POSITION. 

REMARKS. 

1917 

22  Oct. 

♦Merchant 

3,918 

Between      Liver- 
pool  and   Glas- 
gow 

Wire  presumed  cut 
from  state  of  blades 

25  Oct. 

Lake  Manitoba 

9,674 

Between     Belfast 
and  Liverpool 

Night-mine  moor- 
ing found  foul  of 
Otter 

11  Nov. 

Gregynoq 

1,701 

Off  Trevose  Head 

12  Nov. 

USKMOOK 

3,189 

4  miles  N.  by  E. 
Bardsley 

9  a.m.  cut  mine 
adrift.  Otter 
brought  in  mine 
moorings  and  fit- 
tings 

14  Nov. 

♦Glenaet 
Castle 

4,000  (?) 

Outside  Mersey 

Wire  presumed 
cut  from  state  of 
blades 

4  Dec. 

Manchester 
Mariner 

4,106 

50°  04'  N.,  4°  49' 
W. 

Otter  exploded  mine 

13  Dec. 

*ClTY  OF  ORAN 

7,784 

Between  N.W.  of 
Ireland          and 
Mersey  Bar 

Wire  presumed  cut 
from  state  of  blades 

21  Dec. 

Wardog 

3,046 

Between        Nash 
Point  and  Sear- 

Chain  and  deton- 
ator of  newly-laid 

1918 
24  Jan. 

weather 

mine  brought  in 

Htjntsland 

2,871 

4       miles       from 

Cut  mine 

Owers.     50°  33' 

N.,    0°    41'   W. 

bearing  S.W.   J 

W.  Mag. 

24  Jan. 

Httntsland 

2,871 

Do. 

Cut  mine 

24  Jan. 

*Justitia 

32,234 

Between        The 
Maidens        and 
Mersey  Bar 

Wire  presumed  cut 
from  state  of  blades 

24  Jan. 

*Carmania 

19,524 

Between       Over- 
say  and  Mersey 
Bar 

Do. 

25  Jan. 

Ariadne 

1,986 

50°   05'  N.,  4°  47' 

Cut  a  mine  and  sunk 

Alexandra 

W. 

it  by  rifle  fire 

30  Jan. 

Teesbridge 

3,898 

Off  Syra,  Grecian 
Archipelago 

Cut  during  night. 
Patrol  picked  up 
mine  in  morning  on 
vessel's  track 

1  Mar. 

♦HONORIUS 

3,476 

Between     Mersey 
Bar    and    Nash 
Point 

Wire  presumed  cut 
from  state  of  blade 

9  Mar. 

Olympia 

6,138 

In      vicinity      of 
Royal  Sovereign 

Light  Vessel 

276 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


Date. 

SHIP. 

TONNAGK. 

POSITION. 

REMARKS. 

1918 

15  Mar. 

KOEA 

817 

5  miles  S.E.  New- 
haven       Light- 
house 

Cut  a  mine :  sunk 
by  gunfire  from 
T.B.  5 

22  Mar. 

Teakol 

4,000  (?) 

56"  35'  N„   2°  23' 
W. 

Off      St.      Cathe- 

Mine sunk   by  gun- 
fire 
Wire            presumed 

14  Apr. 

*MOKENQO 

4,000  (?) 

rine's  Road 

out  from  state  of 
blades 

.3  May 

SWAINBY 

5,811 

52°   55'  N.,  4°  40' 

W. 
50°    45'    20'    N., 

8  May 

Qtjilotta 

3,692 

Mine    rose    to    sur- 

Newhaven Pier, 

face  :       discovered 

0°    03'    50"   E., 

new  minefield 

Hope  Point 

10  May 

Badagri 

2,952 

Off  Sierra  Leone 

12  May 

Benlawebs 

3,949 

52°  55'  N.,   4°   2' 
W.  (Approx.) 

3  July 

*EXM00R 

4,329 

In  Schipino  Chan- 
nel,        Grecian 
Archipelago 

Wire  presumed 
cut  from  .state  of 
blades.  Teeth 
broken 

24  Sep. 

♦Nirvana 

6,021 

Approaches        to 
Havre,  49°44'N., 
0°  29'  W. 

Otter  came  into 
ship's  side.  Teeth 
of  cutter  blades 
broken 

29  Sep. 

Plassy 

7,346 

Off  Long  Island, 
New  York.  Lat. 
40"  48' N.,  Long. 
70=  33'  W. 

Mine  sighted  pass- 
ing the  stern.  Cut- 
ter blades  marked 

6  Oct. 

•DOQRA 

6,138 

On      passage      to 
Bizerta 

At  night  mine  not 
seen,  but  condition 
of  blades  and  be- 
haviour of  Otter 
indicated  mine  cut 

8  Nov. 

Goohkha 

(5,335 

Off  Kavale 

Cut  mme  in  day- 
light. Mine  seen  on 
surface  alongside 

14  Nov. 

GOORKHA 

6,335 

Dardanelles 

Cut  mine  and  passed 
through  minefield 

14  Nov. 

GOORKHA 

6,335 

Dardanelles 

Do. 

14  Nov. 

GoORKHA 

6,335 

Dardanelles 

Do. 

APPENDIX 


277 


EXPLOSIVE  PARAVANES 

The  following  is  a  chronological  list  of  occasions 
officially  reported  to  the  Admiralty  upon  which  Explosive 
Paravanes  have  fired  on  service ;  showing  also,  for  each 
such  occasion,  the  official  classification  of  its  result. 


DATE. 

Ship  .and  Class. 

Official  Classification. 

Possibly 

Slightly 

Damaged. 

Probably 
Seriously 
Damaged. 

Probably 
Sunk. 

Known 
Sunk. 

1916 
18  Mar. 

27  May 

18  July 

26  July 
13  Aug. 

9  Sep. 

11  Sep. 

28  Nov. 

28  Nov. 
6  Dec. 

16  Dec. 

30  Dec. 

1917 

27  Feb. 
9  Mar. 

12  Mar. 

13  Mar. 
23  Mar. 

29  Mar. 
13  Apr. 

16  Apr. 

17  Apr. 

19  Apr. 
26  Apr. 

2  May 
16  May 
25  May 

Medusa,  T.B.D, 
Matchless,  T.B.D. 
Acheron,  T.B.D. 
Ftredrake,  T.B.D. 
Laverock,  T.B.D. 
Lucifer,  T.B.D. 
Patriot,  T.B.D. 
Laverock,  T.B.D. 
Linnet,  T.B.D. 
Ariel,  T.B.D. 
Achates,  T.B.D. 
Patrician,  T.B.D. 

ExE,  T.B.D. 
Marvel,  T.B.D. 
MEDEii,  T.B.D. 

FiBEDRAKE,  T.B.D. 

Hind,  T.B.D. 
MUNSTER,  T.B.D. 
Peregrine,  T.B.D. 
Rosalind,  T.B.D. 
Relentless,  T.B.D. 
Surprise,  T.B.D. 
Hind,  T.B.D. 
Murray,  T.B.D. 
Napier,  T.B.D. 
Acasta,  T.B.D. 

Carry  forward  . 

• 

1 
i 

1 

1 
I 
l" 

1 

•• 

1 
1 

•    • 

* 

* 

I 

6         1          3 

•  • 

1 

278 


THE  PARAVANE  ADVENTURE 


Date. 

SHIP  AND  CLASS. 

Ofkicial  Classification. 

Possibly 

Slightly 

'"■'-'v     "-^"T^ 

Known 

Damaged. 

Damaged.            *""''• 

ounK. 

Brought  forward   . 

5 

3 

1 

1917 

1 

3  June 

Achates,  T.B.D. 

1 

:        .. 

10  June 

Lookout,  T.B.D. 

,  , 

, 

15  June 

Motor  Launch  143 

1 

. 

18  July 

Ophelia,  T.B.D. 

, 

28  July 

Taubus,  T.B.D. 

>   •                   1                  • 

5  Aug. 

Owl,  T.B.D. 

,    , 

19  Aug. 

Ready,  T.B.D. 

1 

20  Aug, 

Torrent,  T.B.D. 

,    , 

17  Sep. 

Acasta,  T.B.D. 

1 

23  Oct. 

MELAirpus,  T.B.D. 

1 

13  Nov. 

Flredrake,  T.B.D. 

1 

15  Nov. 

Oriole,  T.B.D. 

.   , 

17  Nov. 

Lance,  T.B.D. 

30  Nov. 

Retriever,  T.B.D. 

,   , 

l 

,  , 

1918 

8  Jan. 

Cyclamen,  Sloop 

■    •                   '                  •   • 

1 

4  Feb. 

Sheldrake,  T.B.D. 

1       ! 

. . 

26  Feb. 

Acheron,  T.B.D. 

•  •                         ■  • 

' 

.     1 

12  Mar. 

Defender,  T.B.D. 

1 

1  Apr. 

Linnet,  T.B.D. 

•  •             1             ■  ■ 

22  Apr. 

T.B.  81 

24  Apr. 

Oeeron,  T.B.D. 

i 

2  May 

Motor  Launch  486 

;;        '.'.    1    .. 

17  May 

Throster,  T.B.D. 

1        ..    i    .. 

1 

27  May 

Motor  Launch  213 

1 

1 

19  July 

SuGi,  Japanese  T.B.D. 

. .    {    *  •       . . 

20  Sep. 

Dee,  T.B.D. 

1 
1 

4  Oct. 

P.  33 

Totals 

..    1    ..        1 

11                  4         1          1                   5 

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