eable,
that she "was not making water aft of the damage," which meant
two-thirds of her were, more or less, in commission, and, best of all,
that three boilers were usable in spite of the cruiser's shells. So
she "shaped course and speed to make the least water and the most
progress towards land." On the way back the wind shifted eight points
without warning--it was this shift, if you remember, that so
embarrassed Cripple and Paralytic on their homeward crawl--and, what
with one thing and another, Eblis was unable to make port till the
scandalously late hour of noon on June 2, "the mutual ramming having
occurred about 11.40 P.M. on May 31." She says, this time without any
legal reservation whatever, "I cannot speak too highly of the courage,
discipline, and devotion of the officers and ship's company."
Her recommendations are a Compendium of Godly Deeds for the Use of
Mariners. They cover pretty much all that man may be expected to do.
There was, as there always is, a first lieutenant who, while his
commander was being extricated from the bridge wreckage, took charge
of affairs and steered the ship first from the engine-room, or what
remained of it, and later from aft, and otherwise manoeuvred as
requisite, among doubtful bulkheads. In his leisure he "improvised
means of signalling," and if there be not one joyous story behind that
smooth sentence I am a Hun!
THE ART OF IMPROVISING
They all improvised like the masters of craft they were. The chief
engine-room artificer, after he had helped to put out fires,
improvised stops to the gaps which were left by the carrying away of
the forward funnel and mast. He got and kept up steam "to a much
higher point than would have appeared at all possible," and when the
sea rose, as it always does if you are in trouble, he "improvised
pumping and drainage arrangements, thus allowing the ship to steam at
a good speed on the whole." There could not have been more than 40
feet of hole.
The surgeon--a probationer--performed an amputation single-handed in
the wreckage by the bridge, and by his "wonderful skill, resource, and
unceasing care and devotion undoubtedly saved the lives of the many
seriously wounded men." That no horror might be lacking, there was "a
short circuit among the bridge wreckage for a considerable time." The
searchlight and wireless were tangled up together, and the electricity
leaked into everything.
There were also three wise men who saved the ship who
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