a new entry
of officers were still limited and capricious--the _Hochsee Flotte_ had
not definitely retired behind the booms at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, to
weave a web of murder and assassination. For a short term we sailed on
our voyages, on a steady round, differing but little from our normal
peace-time trade.

A short term. The enemy did not leave us long secure in our faith in
civilized sea-usage. Our trust in International Law received a rude and
shattering shock from deadly floating mine and racing torpedo. Paralysed
and impotent to venture a fleet action, the German Navy was to be
matched not only against the commercial fleets of Britain and her
Allies, but against every merchant ship, belligerent or neutral. There
was to be no gigantic clash of sea-arms; action was to be taken on the
lines of Thuggery. The German chose his opponents as he chose his
weapons. Assassins' weapons! The knife in the dark--no warning, no
quarter, sink or swim! The 'sea-civilians' were to be driven from the
sea by exercise of the most appalling frightfulness and savagery that
the seas had ever known.

Under such a threat our sea-services were brought together on a rapid
sheer, a close boarding, in which there was a measure of confusion. It
could not have been otherwise. The only provision for co-operation, the
R.N.R. organization, was directed to augment the forces of the Navy:
there was no anticipation of a circumstance that would sound a recall.
Our machinery was built and constructed to revolve in one direction; it
could not instantly be reversed. Into an ordered service, ruled by the
most minute shades of seniority, the finest influences of precedence and
tradition, there came a need to fit the mixed alloy of the Merchants'
Service. Ready, eager, and willing, as both Services were, to devote
their energies to a joint endeavour, it took time and no small patience
to resolve the maze and puzzle of the jig-saw. Naval officers detailed
for our liaison were of varied moulds. Not many of the Active List could
be spared; our new administrators were mostly recalled from fishing and
farming to take up special duties for which they had few qualifications
other than the gold lace on their sleeves. Some were tactful and clever
in appreciation of other values than a mere readiness to salute, and
those drew our affection and a ready measure of confidence. Others set
up plumed Gessler bonnets, to which we were in no mood to bow. Only our
devotion