Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/171

1917] Not improbably several members of the crew might be killed when the torpedo struck, but that was all part of the game which they were playing. More important than the lives of the men was the fate of the ship; if this could remain afloat long enough to give the gunners a good chance at the submarine, everybody on board would be satisfied. There was, however, little danger that the mystery ship would go down immediately; for all available cargo space had been filled with wood, which gave the vessel sufficient buoyancy sometimes to survive many torpedoes.

Of course this, as well as all the other details of the vessel, was unknown to the skipper of the submerged submarine. Having struck his victim in a vital spot, he had every reason to believe that it would disappear beneath the waves within a reasonable period. The business of the disguised merchantman was to encourage this delusion in every possible way. From the time that the torpedo struck, the mystery ship behaved precisely as the everyday cargo carrier, caught in a similar predicament, would have done. A carefully drilled contingent of the crew, known as the "panic party," enacted the rôle of the men on a torpedoed vessel. They ran to and fro on the deck, apparently in a state of high consternation, now rushing below and emerging with some personal treasure, perhaps an old suit of clothes tucked under the arm, perhaps the ship's cat or parrot, or a small handbag hastily stuffed with odds and ends. Under the control of the navigating officer these men would make for a lifeboat, which they would lower in realistic fashion sometimes going so far, in their stage play, as to upset it, leaving the men puffing and scrambling in the water. One member of the crew, usually the navigator, dressed up as the "captain," did 'tis best to supervise these operations. Finally, after everybody had left, and the vessel was settling at bow or stern, the " captain " would come to the side, cast me final glance at his sinking ship, drop a roll of papers into a lifeboat—ostensibly the precious documents which were so coveted by the submarine as an evidence of success—lower himself with one or two companions, and row in the direction of the other lifeboats. Properly placing these lifeboats, after " abandoning ship," was itself one of the finest points in the plot. If the submarine rose