Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/201

1918] causing great anxiety at that time. It comprehended that section of the Channel which reached from Start Point to Lizard Head, and included such important shipping ports as Plymouth, Devonport, and Falmouth. This was the region in which the convoys, after having been escorted through the submarine zone, were broken up, and from which the individual ships were obliged to find their way to their destinations with greatly diminished protection. It was one of the most important sections in which the Germans, forced to abandon their submarine campaign on the high seas, were now actively concentrating their efforts. Until the arrival of the subchasers sinkings had been taking place in these waters on a considerable scale. In company with a number of British hunting units, Captain Gotten' s detachment kept steadily at work from June 30th until the middle of August, when it became necessary to send it elsewhere. The historical fact is that not a single merchant ship was sunk between Lizard Head and Start Point as long as these subchasers were assisting in the operations. The one sinking which at first seemed to have broken this splendid record was that of the Stockforce; this merchantman was destroyed off Dartmouth; but it was presently announced that the Stockforce was in reality a "mystery" ship, sent out for the express purpose of being torpedoed, and that she "got" the submarine which had ended her own career. This happening therefore hardly detracted from our general satisfaction over the work done by our little vessels. Since many ships had been sunk in this area in the month before they arrived, and since the sinkings started in again after they had left, the immunity which this region enjoyed during July and August may properly be attributed largely to the American navy. Not only were no bona-fide merchant ships destroyed, but no mines were laid from Start Point to Lizard Head during the time that the American forces maintained their vigil there. That this again was probably not a mere coincidence was shown by the fact that, the very night after these chasers were withdrawn from Plymouth, five mines were laid in front of that harbour, in preparation for a large convoy scheduled to sail the next day.

By the time that Captain Cotten's squadron began work the hunting tactics which had been developed during