Q Ships and Their Story 11

Q Ships and Their Story 11

CHAPTER VI

 

THE ‘MARY B. MITCHELL’

 

 

It was the activities and successes of the submarines in the western

end of the English Channel that had made these small Q-sailing-ships so

desirable. The first of these to be used in that area was the _Mary B.

Mitchell_. She was a three-masted topsail steel schooner owned by Lord

Penrhyn. Built at Carrickfergus in 1892 and registered at Beaumaris,

she was 129 feet in length, and of 210 tons gross. In the middle of

April, 1916, she happened to be lying in Falmouth with a cargo of china

clay, and it was decided to requisition her. The difficulty always was

to preserve secrecy during her fitting out, but in this case, luckily,

she had recently suffered some damage, and this afforded an excellent

excuse for paying off the mercantile crew. A new crew was selected for

her and was trained specially for the work while she was being got

ready for her special service. She was commissioned on May 5, and left

Falmouth for her first cruise on June 26, and then operated for a month

on end in the western approaches between Ushant, the Irish coast, and

Milford.

 

Her captain was Lieutenant M. Armstrong, R.N.R., and she was known

officially as the _Mitchell_ and Q 9. During her cruising she sailed

also under three different neutral flags, as convenient. Armed with

three guns, her 12-pounder was hidden in a dummy collapsible house on

the poop, and under each of the two hatches was a 6-pounder mounted on

a swinging pedestal. There were also a couple of Lewis guns, some small

arms and Mills hand-grenades. In spite of the thoroughness with which

the guns were concealed, the collapsible arrangements had been made

so ingeniously that all guns could be brought into action under three

seconds. Before leaving Falmouth she was painted black with a yellow

streak and bore the name

 

MARY Y. JOSE

VIGO

 

on her hull, so as to look like a neutral. But until she had got clear

of Falmouth this inscription was covered over with a plate bearing her

real name. In order to be able to pick up signals at sea she was fitted

with a small wireless receiving set, the wire being easily disguised in

the rigging. Rolling about in the swell of the Atlantic or the chops

of the English Channel for four weeks at a time is apt to get on the

nerves of a crew unable to have a stretch ashore: so in order to keep

everyone on board fit and cheery, boxing-gloves and gymnastic apparatus

were provided.

 

 

[Illustration:

 

[_Photo, Opie_

 

Q SAILING-SHIP “MITCHELL”

 

Notice the after gun disclosed on the poop.

 

To face p. 68]

 

No one could deny that she was an efficient ship. During her first

cruise she used to carry out gun-trials at night; hatches sliding

smoothly off, guns swinging splendidly into position, and a broadside

fired as soon as the bell for action sounded. Until that bell was

pressed, none of the crew was allowed to be visible on deck other than

the normal watch. One of the difficulties in these ships was that the

decks might be damaged with the shock of firing, but in the _Mitchell_

they had been so strengthened that not a seam was sprung nor so

much as a glass cracked. You may guess how perfect was her disguise

from the following incident. Pretending she was a Spaniard, she was

one day boarded at sea and examined by some of the Falmouth patrol

trawlers. These were completely deceived, for even though their crews

had watched her fitting out, yet she had painted herself a different

colour the night before leaving that port. Even in the Bay of Biscay

several British transports on sighting the ‘Spaniard’ altered course

and steamed away, evidently suspecting she was co-operating with a

submarine.

 

She was back from her first cruise on July 25 just before midnight

and left again at midnight on August 3-4. This time she impersonated

the French three-masted schooner _Jeannette_, a vessel of 226 tons,

registered at La Houle, for _Mitchell_ now made a cruise in the

neighbourhood of the Channel Islands and the western channel. During

the next few months she continued to sail about the last-mentioned

area, in the Bristol Channel near Lundy Island, and in the Bay of

Biscay, sometimes as _Jeannette_, sometimes as the _Brine_, of St.

Malo, and sometimes as the Russian _Neptun_, of Riga.

 

It was in January, 1917, that she had an experience which showed the

fine seamanship and sound judgment which were essential in the captain

of such a secret ship. His name was Lieutenant John Lawrie, R.N.R., a

man of strong personality, a real sailor, and possessed of valuable

initiative. On the evening of January 7, _Mitchell_ was off Berry Head,

just east of Dartmouth, when bad weather came on, and this developed

into a strong winter’s gale. There was every reason why a Q-ship

should not run into the nearest port for shelter, as her presence

would lead to awkward questions, whereas secrecy was the essence

of her existence. The gale blew its fiercest, and by the following

night _Mitchell_ was having an alarming time. Just after 9.30 p.m the

foremast and spars crashed over the side, carrying away her mainmast

too. She then lay-to under close-reefed mizzen. A jurymast was rigged

on the stump of the foremast, and the wind, having veered from W.

through N.W. to N.E., she was able to set a reefed stay-sail. It was

still blowing a strong gale, with what Lieutenant Lawrie described

as a ‘mountainous sea’ running, and she drifted before the gale in a

south-west direction towards Ushant.

 

In this predicament it was time to get assistance if possible, and

about 9.15 on the morning of the 9th she signalled a large cargo

steamer, who endeavoured to take _Mitchell_ in tow, but eventually had

to signal that this was impossible, and continued steaming on her way

up Channel. The schooner was now about ten miles north of Ushant, an

anxious position for any navigator going to leeward, but Lieutenant

Lawrie considered she would drift clear. The north-east gale showed

no sign of easing up during that evening. Signals of distress were

made, a gun being fired every few minutes as well as rocket distress

signals, and flares were kept burning; but no answering signal came

from the shore. By this time the schooner was getting dangerously

near to Ushant, and it could not be long before she and her crew

would inevitably perish. However, she never struck, and at 9.30 p.m.

the Norwegian S.S. _Sardinia_ spoke her and stood by throughout the

terrible night until 7 a.m. of the 10th. Then ensued a nice piece

of seamanship when the steamer lowered into the sea a buoy with a

small line attached. This _Mitchell_ managed to pick up, and the

tow-line was made fast. _Sardinia_ then went ahead and towed her from

a position 10 miles west (True) of Creach Point until 11.15 a.m. when

near Les Pierres Light. Here a French torpedo-boat came towards them,

so Lieutenant Lawrie hoisted the Red Ensign; but having done that he

was clever enough also to show the White Ensign over the stern and in

such a manner that the Norwegian was unable to see it. The captain of

the French torpedo-boat at once understood, signalled to the Norwegian

to cast off and that the torpedo-boat would take the schooner in tow.

This was done at noon, and the _Sardinia_ was informed that the name of

the ship was the _Mary B. Mitchell_ of Beaumaris, Falmouth to Bristol

Channel with general cargo. It was a clever, ready answer on the part

of the British captain. The torpedo-boat took the schooner into Brest,

and at length, after being remasted and refitted she went back to carry

on her work as a Q-ship. I submit that throughout the whole of that

gale it was a fine achievement, not merely to have brought her through

in safety, but without revealing her identity as a warship.

 

A different kind of adventure was now awaiting her. During June, 1917,

she cruised about first as the French _Marie Thérèse_, of Cette, then

as the French _Eider_, of St. Malo, her sphere of operation being,

as before, in the western end of the English Channel, the Bay of

Biscay, and near the Channel Islands. _Mitchell_ was now fitted with a

motor, but this was never used during daylight except when absolutely

necessary. It was on the twentieth of that month, at 11.30 a.m., that

she was in a position Lat. 47.13 N., Long. 7.23 W., when she sighted

the conning-tower of a submarine 3 miles away on the port bow. The

German began firing, so _Mitchell_ was run up into the wind, hove-to,

and ‘abandoned.’ By this time the enemy was on the starboard bow and

continued firing for some time after the schooner’s boat had left the

ship. Unsuspectingly the submarine came closer and closer, and more

and more on the beam. Then after a short delay he proceeded parallel

with the ship, and, altering course, made as if to go towards the

_Mitchell’s_ boat lying away on the port quarter. Suddenly he began

to fire again, and being now not more than 800 yards off and in a

suitable position, the schooner also opened fire, the first round from

the 12-pounder appearing to hit. Altogether seventeen rounds were

fired, seven seeming to be direct hits. The enemy did not reply, and

within three minutes of being hit disappeared. Fortunately none of his

score of rounds had struck the schooner, though they burst overhead in

unpleasant proximity.

 

A further engagement with what was probably the same enemy occurred

later on the same day. It was a favourite tactic for a submarine to

follow a ship after disappearing for a while, and then, having got her

hours later in a suitable position, to attack her again. I used to hear

commanding officers say that they had certainly noticed this in regard

to their own ships, and there are not lacking actual records of these

methods, especially in the case of the slow-moving sailing Q-ships who

could be seen across the sea for a long time; and it was part of these

tactics to carry out this second attack just before night came on. Thus

at 6.10 p.m., being now in Lat. 47.37 N., Long. 6.38 W., _Mitchell_

again sighted a submarine, this time 4 miles away on the port quarter.

The schooner kept her course, the submarine overtook her, and at 6.35

again shelled the ship. After the U-boat had fired half a dozen rapid

rounds, _Mitchell_ was hove-to and ‘abandoned,’ the enemy taking up a

position well out on the port beam and firing until the boat was quite

clear of the ship. Then the German stopped, exactly on the beam, 800

yards away, and waited for a long time before making any move. Suddenly

he turned end on, came full speed towards the ship, dived, and when 400

yards away showed his periscope on the port side. Having got to within

50 yards he went full speed ahead, starboarded his helm, and began to

rise quickly. As soon as the top of the conning-tower appeared and a

couple of feet of hull were showing _Mitchell_ cleared away and shelled

him with the after 6-pounder. This seemed to pierce the conning-tower,

a large blue flash and a volume o