he rail of the conning-tower, looked
down upon his victims.

"Crouched upon the thwarts in the sunlight, up to
their knees in water, which, stained crimson, was
flowing through the shell-holes in the planking,
soaked with blood, holding their wounds, staring
with hunted eyes, was the heap of stricken men.

"The German ordered the boat away. The shore was
fifteen miles distant. . . ."

He ordered the boat away! The shame of it! The abasing, dishonouring
shame of it!

Bitterly, tarnished--we realize our portion in the guilt, our share in
this black infamy--that seamen should do this thing!

What of the future? What will be the position of the German on the sea
when peace returns, let the settlement by catholic conclave be what it
may?

Sailorfolk have long memories! Living a life apart from their
land-fellows, they have but scant regard for the round of events that,
on the shore, would be canvassed and discussed, consented--and
forgotten. There is no busy competing commercial intrigue, no fickle
market, no grudging dalliance on the sea. We stand fast to our own old
sea-justice; we have no shades of mercy or condonation, no degrees of
tolerance for this bastard betrayer of our unwritten sea-laws. No
brotherhood of the sea can be conceived to which he may be re-admitted.
Not even the dethronement of the Hohenzollern can purge the deeds of his
marine Satraps, for their crimes are individual and personal and
professional.

In the League of Nations a purged and democratic Germany may have a
station, but there is no redemption for a Judas on the sea. There, by
every nation, every seafarer, he will remain a shunned and abhorred
Ishmael for all time.

PART III

[Illustration: A STANDARD SHIP AT SEA]

XVI

THE CONVOY SYSTEM

EARLY in 1917 the losses of the merchants' ships and men had assumed a
proportion that called for a radical revision of the systems of naval
protection. Concentrating their energies on but one specific form of sea
offence, the enemy had developed their submarine arm to a high point of
efficiency. Speed and power and lengthy sea-keeping qualities were
attained. To all intents and purposes the U-boats had become surface
destroyers with the added conveniency of being able to disappear at
sight. They conducted their operations at long distance from the land
and from their bases. The immense areas of the