fishermen,
by the way, eager to avenge their murdered brethren, were at first too
zealous, and had to be prevented from uncovering the concealed gun
which the trawler carried, so soon as an enemy was sighted, thus
giving away the game. The trawler used thus to wander about the sea
towing a submarine for about a fortnight at a spell; but the submarine
was relieved by another submarine, always under cover of the night,
every three or four days. The trawler, when she left port and when she
returned to it, went alone, the submarine joining her or leaving her
outside in the night. There was thus little chance of the Hun
receiving information of what was doing.

Whenever an enemy ship, attracted by the bait thus displayed for her
benefit, made for the apparently defenceless trawler with the object
of sinking her, the trawler, by means of the telephone wire which
connected her with the submerged submarine, communicated to the latter
the movements of the enemy. The submarine--which was enabled by a
device to slip the tow-line from within--when the right moment arrived
delivered her attack, and a torpedo, possibly backed up by a round or
two from the trawler's now disclosed gun, finished the enemy off.

I have before me quite a long list--and it is not a complete one--of
the enemy ships that were sunk in action by the Harwich Submarine
Flotilla, including cruisers, torpedo-boats, armed merchantmen, and
submarines, the latter being the most numerous. It is satisfactory to
know that, heavy though were the losses of the flotilla, the losses
that they inflicted on the enemy (in action alone, exclusive of the
terrible effect of the mines which they laid) were considerably
heavier. But the glory of the little flotilla lies not so much in the
material losses which it caused to the enemy as in the four years'
sleepless watch which it kept in the North Sea, in conjunction with
the other units of our Fleet--the watch that closed the oceans to
Germany while holding them open to ourselves and our Allies, the watch
that kept the great German Navy lying paralysed in its harbours, until
the day came when the battleships that had not fired a shot crawled
across the North Sea to surrender themselves ignominiously to our
Admirals.

CHAPTER X

GERMAN CRIMES

CHAPTER X

GERMAN CRIMES

Loss of the E13--Inhuman Hun methods--Stranding of the U.C.
5--German traps--Risky salvage work.

I will conclude this section of