st the
dirtiest thing to be seen in the North Sea, and quite the deadliest
thing in the whole world as regards gunnery.

This was Lord Fisher's superb service. He foresaw and he prepared. Not
merely the form of the Fleet was revolutionized under his hand, but its
spirit. The British Navy was baptized into a new birth with the pea-soup
of the North Sea.

When this great work was accomplished he ordered a ship to be built
which should put the Kiel Canal out of business for many years. That
done, and while the Germans were spending the marks which otherwise
would have built warships in widening and deepening this channel to the
North Sea, Lord Fisher wrote it down that war with Germany would come in
1914, and that Captain Jellicoe would be England's Nelson.

From that moment he lost something of the hard and almost brutal
expression which had given so formidable a character to his face. He
gave rein to his natural humour. He let himself go; quoted more freely
from the Bible, asserted more positively that the English people are the
lost tribes of Israel, and waited for Armageddon with a humorous eye on
the perturbed face of Admiral Tirpitz.

In July, 1914, he was out of office. A telegram came to him from Mr.
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, requesting to see him
urgently. Lord Fisher refused to see him, believing that Mr. Churchill
had jockeyed Mr. Reginald McKenna out of the Admiralty--Mr. McKenna who
had most bravely, nay heroically, stood by the naval estimates in face
of strong Cabinet opposition. On this ground he refused to meet Mr.
Churchill. But a telegram from Mr. McKenna followed, urging him to grant
this interview, and the meeting took place, a private meeting away from
London. Mr. Churchill informed Lord Fisher of the facts of the European
situation, and asked him for advice. The facts were sufficient to
convince Lord Fisher that the tug-o'-war between Germany and England had
begun. He told Mr. Churchill that he must do three things, and do them
all by telegram before he left that room: he must mobilize the Fleet, he
must buy the Dreadnoughts building for Turkey, and he must appoint
Admiral Jellicoe Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet. To do either of
the first two was a serious breach of Cabinet discipline; to do the last
was to offend a string of Admirals senior to Admiral Jellicoe. Mr.
Churchill hesitated. Lord Fisher insisted. "What does it matter," he
said, "whom you offend?--the fate