ter.

When the _sweepers_ arrived it was soon discovered that the harbour was
temporarily mined-in. Signals were exchanged with the "Senior Naval
Officer" of the base, and the night guard was ordered to assist in
preventing shipping from attempting to enter the harbour before the
approaches had been swept clear and the mines destroyed. Weary ships
with disappointed crews once more turned seawards, but the physical
discomforts of stinging spray and frequent snowstorms passed almost
unnoticed in the efforts of the flotilla to prevent the ceaseless stream
of ocean traffic from approaching the danger zone unnoticed in the
blinding white haze.

Tired limbs were forced to continued efforts and numbed faculties were
goaded afresh. Big ships loomed out of the mists around and were
informed of the dangers and directed into the pathways of safety.
Trawlers returning from the fishing-grounds of the far north had to be
intercepted, local craft piloted round the mine-field in the shallow
water close inshore, signals flashed to the outer patrols, and the hours
of daylight and activity passed quickly by.

By seven bells in the afternoon watch the dusk of the long winter night
began again to settle over the sea, blotting out one patrol from
another. On this as on many other similar nights spent in the bitter
frost, thick sea fog or flying spume, in waters infested with mines and
hostile submarines, certain senses became dulled, though the brain
remained alert and the limbs as active as cramp and cold would allow.
But the little incidents of those long hours are lost in blurred
memories of cries from the look-out, hulls towering out of the
blackness, the flashing of Morse lamps, the ceaseless and violent
pitching and rolling of a small ship, moments of tense excitement,
followed by hours of cold and an utter weariness of the soul.

When the first pale streaks of returning daylight had turned to the
fiery red of a frosty sunrise, dirty and unshaven men moved painfully
about the slippery decks. The sea had flattened in the night and the
snowing had ceased, but twenty degrees of frost had gripped the wet
decks and the soaked clothing. As the vessels stood towards the shore
weary eyes were turned anxiously on the signal station, but not yet was
the recall to be hoisted, for although the seas around had been swept
clear of mines, there was still a careful inspection to be made before
the area could be reported clear, so that ships might