cooking, an
engine-room, magazine for the ammunition, chart-room, and ample
forecastle accommodation for the crew of nine men. All parts of the ship
were connected with the bridge by speaking-tubes and electric bells, and
the aft deck accommodated a steel life-boat.

The duties of these craft varied considerably. For over three years they
maintained a constant patrol in the North Sea, Atlantic, English
Channel, Irish Sea, Mediterranean, Adriatic, Suez Canal, Straits of
Gibraltar, and in West Indian waters. Only one who knows by experience
can fully appreciate what work in these northern seas, with their winter
snows and Arctic winds, and their chilly summer fogs, really means to a
mere thirty tons of nautical humanity in as many square leagues of
storm-swept sea infested with mines and hostile submarines. But when
this book has been finished the reader will be in a position to judge
for himself.

The losses of motor launches were not heavy considering the dangerous
nature of their cargoes (3000 gallons of petrol within a few feet of
1500 lb. of high explosive in a wooden hull) and the duties they were
called upon to perform in all weathers short of heavy gales. Several
were blown up with terrible results to those aboard. Others caught fire
and were burned--allowing only just sufficient time to sink the
explosives aboard. A few were smashed to pieces on exposed coasts after
struggling for hours amid heavy seas. One struck a mine off Ostend.
Another was destroyed by shell-fire in the Mediterranean, and the part
they played in the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, in which two were lost
and a V.C. gained, is now world famous.

COASTAL MOTOR BOATS

There was, besides M.L.'s, another smaller but faster type of submarine
chaser. These little vessels, of which there were about 80 actually in
commission, possessed no cabin or other accommodation for long cruises.
They were simply thin grey hulls with powerful high-speed engines. They
were known as C.M.B.'s, or, to give them their full title, Coastal Motor
Boats. The purpose for which they were constructed was to operate from
coastal bases, and to be launched from ocean-going ships to chase a
hostile submarine which had been located by seaplanes and reported by
wireless in a given locality. This, however, was what they were
_intended_ for, but bore little relation to the work they actually
accomplished. Their nickname was "Scooters," and they certainly did
"scoot" over the s