arted. So they tied Paralytic up rudely and effectively with a
cable round her after bollards and gun (presumably because of strained
forward bulkheads) and hauled her stern-first, through heavy seas, at
continually reduced speeds, doubtful of their position, unable to
sound because of the seas, and much pestered by a wind which backed
without warning, till, at last, they made land, and turned into the
hospital appointed for brave wounded ships. Everybody speaks well of
Cripple. Her name crops up in several reports, with such compliments
as the men of the sea use when they see good work. She herself speaks
well of her Lieutenant, who, as executive officer, "took charge of the
fire and towing arrangements in a very creditable manner," and also of
Tom Battye and Thomas Kerr, engine-room artificer and stoker petty
officer, who "were in the stokehold at the time of the shell striking,
and performed cool and prompt decisive action, although both suffering
from shock and slight injuries."

USEFUL EMPLOYMENT

Have you ever noticed that men who do Homeric deeds often describe
them in Homeric language? The sentence "I looked round for useful
employment" is worthy of Ulysses when "there was an evil sound at the
ships of men who perished and of the ships themselves broken at the
same time."

Roughly, very roughly, speaking, our destroyers enjoyed three phases
of "prompt decisive action"--the first, a period of daylight attacks
(from 4 to 6 P.M.) such as the one I have just described, while the
battle was young and the light fairly good on the afternoon of May 31;
the second, towards dark, when the light had lessened and the enemy
were more uneasy, and, I think, in more scattered formation; the
third, when darkness had fallen, and the destroyers had been strung
out astern with orders to help the enemy home, which they did all
night as opportunity offered. One cannot say whether the day or the
night work was the more desperate. From private advices, the young
gentlemen concerned seem to have functioned with efficiency either
way. As one of them said: "After a bit, you see, we were all pretty
much on our own, and you could really find out what your ship could
do."

I will tell you later of a piece of night work not without merit.

II

THE NIGHT HUNT

RAMMING AN ENEMY CRUISER

As I said, we will confine ourselves to something quite sane and
simple which does not involve more than half-a-dozen different
reports.