Q Ships and Their Story 27

Q Ships and Their Story 27

Although the submarine escaped, _Probus_ had succeeded in luring him

from the convoy, and had sent him right away. These sailing Q-ships

became, in fact, one of the best types of escort for other sailing

vessels in convoy, and thus allowed armed steam patrol vessels to

be employed elsewhere. Looking in no way different from the rest of

the convoy, but fitted with concealed wireless and, later, even with

howitzer armament, they had a much better chance than the armed trawler

or destroyer of enticing the submarine. Apart altogether from these

important considerations, the scheme of carrying freights was a big

financial success, and _Probus_ paid for herself over and over again.

It was nothing unusual for her to earn over £1,000 a month. Naturally

enough, then, we find other sailing ships being taken up for this dual

work. In November, 1917, the 900-ton three-masted fore-and-aft schooner

_Fresh Hope_, lying at Granton, was requisitioned. She had formerly

been the United States’ _Edith E. Cummins_, and in a fresh breeze could

log her 12 knots. Known also as the _Iroquois_, she was fitted out

and commissioned by the first week of April, 1918, and served until

the Armistice. Other sailing vessels were thus commissioned in 1918,

specially selected as being able to carry each at least one 4-inch and

two 12-pounders, and to be fitted with auxiliary engines. These were

the _Rentoul_, _Imogene_, _Viola_, _Cymric_, and _Elizabeth_. They were

actually armed with a 7·5-inch howitzer, in addition to the three guns

just mentioned. _Imogene_ was a barquentine, and had been carrying

china clay from Fowey to St. Malo. _Rentoul_ was also a barquentine,

_Viola_ was a schooner; _Cymric_ was a three-masted schooner.

 

By the end of September there were no fewer than nineteen decoy ships

which had been fitted out in the one port of Granton, and nine of

these were sailing ships. It will therefore be of interest to show how

in this month such vessels were being employed in their double capacity

of warship plus freighter. The barquentine _Merops_ was discharging a

cargo at Runcorn preparatory to loading coal for Cherbourg. The topsail

schooner _Dargle_ was discharging a cargo at Lerwick, and then loading

herrings for Farnborough. The _Fresh Hope_ was about to leave Liverpool

for Belfast, where she would load with cork ballast for Halifax, Nova

Scotia. The _Baron Rose_, another 900-ton schooner, was about to leave

Newcastle with cork ballast for Halifax also. The barquentine _Rentoul_

was on her way with coal to Cherbourg, the barquentine _Imogene_

was on her way with coal for Lerwick. The topsail schooner _Viola_

(alias _Vereker_) left Granton with coal for St. Valery-en-Caux. The

iron schooner _Cymric_ was taking coal from Granton to Cherbourg.

Another three-masted schooner was carrying coal from Granton to St.

Valery-en-Caux. In addition, there were a dozen steam craft from this

same port acting as Q-ships. In another part of the British Isles our

old friend _Helgoland_ had yet another fight with a submarine. This

was on July 11, 1917, in the neighbourhood of the Scillies, and this

was another occasion when two ships with sails shelled each other,

but unfortunately it was another of those calm days, and hazy. At the

outset the enemy’s shells passed over the _Helgoland’s_ fore-t’gallant

yard as the latter was just drifting with the tide. Then the motors

were started, and at 500 yards both guns and the Lewis guns gave the

submarine a warm time, so that she was seriously damaged and had to

escape by submerging.

 

[Illustration: Q-SAILING SHIP “RENTOUL”

 

This barquentine was commissioned as a Q-ship in March, 1918, was well

armed, but was also employed simultaneously in carrying coal to France.]

 

[Illustration: Q-SAILING SHIP “RENTOUL”

 

The crew of the 4-inch gun.

 

To face p. 190]

 

Thus, all round our coasts, in the North Sea, English Channel, Irish

Sea, and Atlantic: from as far north as the Orkneys and Shetlands to

as far south as the Bay of Biscay, and as far west as the coast of

North America, these Q-sailing-ships were doing their job of work. The

fitting out, the manning of these craft and of their guns, put a great

strain on our manhood, already greatly diminished by the demands of our

Armies abroad and munition makers at home. Nor could the Navy proper

and the Auxiliary Patrol Force afford to be weakened. On the contrary,

destroyers and light cruisers were being built and commissioned at

a rapid rate: whilst more minesweepers, more trawlers and drifters,

were daily consuming scores of men. Add to this the fact that other

men as gunners were required in great numbers—for practically every

British merchant ship became defensively armed—and one can see how

important to our island nation and the overseas Empire is the existence

of peace-time shipping, with all that it connotes—steamships, liners,

tramps, colliers, trawlers, drifters, yachts, fishing smacks, it does

not matter. From all these, and from the few full-rigged ships and

sailing coasters, we had to draw our supplies of personnel, and it

still takes longer to train a man into a sailor than into a military

unit.

 

Never before, not even in Armada days, and probably never again, could

such a call come from the fleet in being to the fleet of merchantmen.

The sailing ship has had many centuries of usefulness as a fighting

ship and a cargo carrier, and if she is being gradually killed by the

mechanical ship she is dying hard. Apparently in neither capacity has

she quite finished her fascinating and illustrious history.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIV

 

THE SUMMIT OF Q-SHIP SERVICE

 

 

It was on February 17, 1917, that Commander Gordon Campbell, still

in command of _Farnborough_, now named Q 5, again sank a submarine,

but in circumstances which, hid from publication at the time, sent a

thrill through the British Navy and especially among those who had the

good fortune to be serving in that area. The scene was again off the

south-west Irish coast, and the enemy at the beginning of the month

had commenced the unrestricted warfare portion of their submarine

campaign. The Germans, as we have since learned, possessed at this

date ninety-five submarines in addition to eight in the Baltic and

thirty-one in the Mediterranean. The orders to their submarine captains

were very drastic and left no uncertainty, and one of these commanding

officers informed one of my friends after the war that unless they were

successful in sinking plenty of shipping they soon were removed from

their command.

 

 

[Illustration: THE MASTER OF THE COLLIER “FARNBOROUGH”

 

Commander Gordon Campbell, V.C., D.S.O., R.N., taken on the bridge of

the “Farnborough” (Q-5), disguised as a master mariner.]

 

[Illustration: Q-SHIP “FARNBOROUGH”

 

The above picture shows her just as she appeared when she destroyed the

U-83. The position of the after gun’s crew can just be seen abaft of

where the sea is breaking over the stern.

 

To face p. 192]

 

Every Allied merchant ship was to be attacked without delay. ‘This form

of warfare is to force England to make peace and thereby to decide

the whole war. _Energetic_ action is required, but above all rapidity

of action.’ ‘Our object is to cut England off from traffic by sea,

and not to achieve occasional results at far-distant points. As far

as possible, therefore, stations must be taken up near the English

coast, where routes converge and where divergence becomes impossible.’

If ever there was a chance of attacking by night, this was to be done.

When a ship had been abandoned by her crew the submarine was to sink

her by gunfire, and approach the ship from aft. Owing to the activity

of the British Q-ships, every ship, even sailing vessels, should be

suspected, and both captain and engineer of merchant ships were to be

taken prisoners.

 

Of the above numbers of submarines available this month not less than

twenty-five and not more than forty-four could actually be at work on

any given date, for the reasons given in another chapter. The first

stages of this unrestricted warfare were most marked, for whereas

the number of merchant ships sunk by submarines in all waters during

December and January had been respectively thirty-six and thirty-five,

in February the total suddenly rose to eighty-six—these sinkings

occurring in the western approaches, especially off the south coast

of Ireland. On February 14 the sailing ship _Eudora_ (1,991 tons) had

been sunk 30 miles S.S.W. of the Fastnet, and three days later the

S.S. _Iolo_ 40 miles S. by W. of the Fastnet, so orders from Germany

were being carried out to the letter. The seventeenth of February was

the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, and Captain Campbell had taken

_Farnborough_ into the locality just mentioned, the exact position

being Lat. 51.34 N., Long. 11.23 W. It was a quarter to ten in the

forenoon and the steamer was steering an easterly course at 7 knots,

when a torpedo was seen approaching. And then occurred a supreme

instance of Q-ship bravery. In his Order Book Captain Campbell had laid

it down that ‘Should the Officer of the Watch see a torpedo coming, he

is to increase or decrease speed as necessary to ensure it hitting.’

This order was read and signed by all his officers, so that there could

be no misunderstanding. The intention was deliberate, premeditated

self-immolation for the greater object of fooling the submarine and

then sinking him. The Q-ship’s company had all been warned that the

intention would be thus, and every man was given an opportunity to

leave the ship before sailing. Not one man left. Therefore to-day, when

a long way off the torpedo was seen approaching, it could easily have

been avoided, but instead, the helm was put hard aport only at the last

minute, and only so that it should strike the ship elsewhere than in

the engine-room. On came the steel fish and struck the ship abreast

of No. 3 hold, wounding an Engineer Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., causing a

terrific explosion, and making a huge hole in the ship’s side.

 

[Illustration: Q-SHIP “FARNBOROUGH”

 

With White Ensign still flying, after her arrival at Berehaven in a

sinking condition.

 

To face p. 194]

 

In the meantime ‘Action’ had been sounded and all hands went to their

stations, the ship being abandoned by every available man with the

excep