Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/277

1917-18] their paravanes—those under-water outrigger affairs which protected the ships from mines; for it was not at all unlikely that the Germans would place some of their own mines in this field, for the benefit of the barrage builders. This operation took only a few minutes ; then another flash, and the squadron again increased its speed. It steamed the distance across the North Sea to Udsire Light, then turned west again and headed for that mathematical spot on the ocean which was known as the “start point”,—the place, that is, where the mine-laying was to begin. In carrying out all these manoeuvres—sighting the light on the Norwegian coast—the commander was thinking, not only of the present, but of the future; for the time would come, after the war had ended, when it would be necessary to remove all these mines, and it was therefore wise to “fix them as accurately as possible in reference to landmarks, so as to know where to look for them. All this time the men were at their stations, examining the mines to see that everything was ready, testing the laying mechanisms, and mentally rehearsing their duties. At about four o'clock an important signal came from the flagship:

“Have everything ready, for the squadron will reach 'start point' in an hour and mine-laying will begin.”

Up to this time the ships were sailing in two columns; when they came within seven miles of start point,” another signal was broken out; the ships all wheeled like a company of soldiers, each turning sharply to the right, so that in a few minutes, instead of two columns, we had eight ships in line abreast, with the remaining two, also in line abreast, sailing ahead of them. This splendid array, keeping perfect position, approached the starting point like a line of racehorses passing under the wire. Not a ship was off this line by so much as a quarter length; the whole atmosphere was one of eagerness; the officers all had their eyes fixed upon the stern of the flagship, for the glimpse of the red flag which would be the signal to begin. Suddenly the flag was hauled down, indicating:

“First mine over.”

If you had been following one of these ships, you would probably have been surprised at the apparent simplicity of the task. The vessel was going at its full speed; at intervals of a few seconds a huge black object, about five