Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/298

 that brought them in sight of the French coast. A U-boat appeared quite brazenly a mile northward and it fell to the lot of the Gyandotte's gunners to fire the first shot. Tip stood by on that occasion while Number Four gun crew got into action and while Nelson, now pointer, landed two five-inch shells on the patch of water that a moment before had held a sinking conning tower. That the shells did any damage is doubtful, nor were the three destroyers that raced to the spot any more successful with depth bombs. But the submarine didn't discharge any torpedoes, or, if she did, they went wild, and while the escort combed the sea the eighteen big transports, filled with Canadian troops, fled zig-zagging to safety.

The next morning the transports were safe within the nets and the convoys scattered to their bases, the Gyandotte following four of the destroyers up the coast by Penmarch Point, across the Channel entrance and past the Sally Islands and so home to the green-rimmed waters of Queenstown.

Nelson found promotion awaiting him, as did four others, as a result of the Gyandotte's North Sea engagement. It was no longer Seaman Gunner Troy, but Third Class Gunner's Mate Troy, and he was soon wearing his single chevron and the crossed cannons on his sleeve and trying to 273