aplanes buzzed overhead and a few minutes later the
dull reports of anti-aircraft guns echoed across the miles of still
water. Tiny bright flashes from white puffs of smoke appeared in the
central blue, and then having got the range the great guns of the
monitors roared away their charges and the scream of shells filled the
air. The calm of the morning vanished, and with it the oppressive
silence which precedes a battle.

It was some time before the German airmen could rise from the ground and
evade the British fighting formations. In the meantime a rain of heavy
projectiles from the fleet was destroying all that was destroyable of
the harbour and works of Zeebrugge. With the aid of glasses huge clouds
of smoke and sand could be seen rising into the air almost every second.
Objects discernible one minute had disappeared when the smoke cloud of
bursting shells had moved to another point of concentration a short time
later. When at last the enemy's planes, in isolated ones and twos,
succeeded in hovering over the fleet the surface of the sea was almost
instantly broken by great spouts of white water, at first far away,
then nearer, and the battle commenced in earnest.

A vast cloud of smoke now hung like a black curtain between the fleet
and the shore. The M.L.'s were emitting their smoke screen to cover the
bombarding ships. Shells splashed into the sea all around. The noise and
vibration of the air seemed to bruise the senses, and lurid flashes came
from the smoking monitors.

It was at this stage of the bombardment that the curious and unexpected
happened. A white wave raced along the surface towards a monitor. It was
too big for the wake of a torpedo and quite unlike the periscope of a
submarine. The small, quick-firing guns of all the ships within range
were trained on it and the sea around was ploughed up with shell. The
white wave swerved to avoid the tornado of shot, but continued to make
direct for the hull of the great floating fort at a considerable speed.
Then, as it drew _very_ near to its objective, a shell went home and the
sea was rent by the force of a gigantic explosion, eclipsing that of any
known weapon of sea warfare.

It was, however, soon discovered that the mysterious wave came from a
fast torpedo-shaped boat which was evidently being controlled by
electric impulses from a shore wireless station some twelve to fourteen
miles distant, the necessary information regarding direction of attack
being