Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/139

 could work at every part of the ship at the same time.

And they were indeed working at every part of this ship at once, for Henry now saw with even greater astonishment that the ship had been cut in two. The bow, which had been sheared off in a collision, and the after part of the boat were blocked in position, and these two parts were now being reunited. The vessel was a torpedo boat and had been in collision with a larger craft.

Henry was glad to see her, because he had never before seen a torpedo boat close at hand. She was long, low, rakish, and built much like a knife. Indeed, she had to be long and thin to attain the tremendous speed at which these boats are sometimes driven, for they travel as fast as express trains.

When he had satisfied his curiosity, Henry made a more general survey of his surroundings. He noticed the great coal bunkers, where naval vessels coaled. Little cars were traveling up an inclined railway, like a procession of elephants, and dropping loads of coal in the elevated bunkers, whence it could be shot downward to ships lying alongside. He saw great numbers of huge anchors and cables and chains, and other ship’s gear, lying on a pier. And there were several huge barges floating in a dock, each containing as many naval launches as its deck space would