A Sub and a Submarine: The Story of H.M. Submarine R19 in the Great War
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CHAPTER XV
Picking up the Pilot
"Sorry, sir," said Fordyce. "I didn't attach any particularimportance to the fellow's request at the time. I boomed him off,absolutely. Refused point-blank to touch his blessed diamonds."
"I am glad to hear that," said the Hon. Derek. "At the same time, itis a regrettable matter that you did not report the affair to acompetent naval or military authority. I'll briefly outline the factsconcerning these so-called diamonds. The stuff is actually asuper-powerful explosive, a secret compound of which one ingredientis known to be obtainable only in a few isolated districts inCornwall. Our Munitions Department has been attending to the matterfor months past. The analysts have discovered that the stuff--theycall it nitro-talcite--is capable of being detonated only at atemperature below -5? C. And the strange part of it is thatnobody in the department has yet been able to compound the explosive.All the data has been based upon the examination of a small quantitythat was seized on a vessel bound for Archangel--so Sir JosiahSticklewood, the Admiralty explosive expert, tells me. Who the makersof the stuff are and how they get it out of the country has been amystery."
"It's fortunate that in England the temperature rarely falls to muchbelow freezing-point," remarked Fordyce.
"Yes, and that accounts principally for the fact that the explosivehas not been used against us at home," continued theLieutenant-Commander. "Russia, on the other hand, offers plenty ofopportunities in that direction. The disaster at Archangel and theterrific explosion at Petrograd can be well attributed to the work ofExtremists or German Secret Service agents--practically the samething. What does surprise me is that Mindiggle went so far as toattempt to coerce you; only, of course, he hadn't the faintest ideathat we know as much concerning nitro-talcite as we do."
"Is it too late to lay him by the heels?" asked the Sub.
"I am doubtful whether it would be advisable until we make sure ofour ground," replied the Hon. Derek. "Do you happen to remember theaddress on the packet?"
"Rather!" said Fordyce emphatically. "And I jotted it down in mypocket-book."
"Good man! Now this is what I propose doing: to make up a dummypacket of broken glass--from all accounts broken glass is a commonobject in Petrograd just at present--and deliver it at VladimirKlostivitch's house in the Bobbinsky Prospekt. We'll have to do thebusiness entirely off our own bat. It's not the faintest use takingthe Russian Government officials into our confidence at the presentjuncture, for the simple reason that they don't know where they areand we don't either. If Klostivitch is merely an agent, we don't getmuch forrarder, unless he is injudiciously communicative. If he is aprincipal, then we'll do our level best to lay him by the heels. It'snot the first time I've done police duty ashore."
And the Hon. Derek smiled reminiscently as he recalled a certainincident in his naval career, when, with a mere handful ofbluejackets, he had nipped in the bud a revolution in an obscurelittle republic.
Then he rose from his chair and patted the Sub on the back.
"Fordyce," he exclaimed, "I have it! You'll have to assume thecharacter of a red-hot revolutionist, and to introduce me to thisrascal Klostivitch as Comrade So-and-so, a sympathetic Englishman,who, although unable to speak a word of Russian, has made his way toPetrograd for the express purpose of congratulating Klostivitch andhis friends upon their arduous work in the interests of liberty andequality."
"Isn't it a bit risky, sir?" asked Fordyce.
The Lieutenant-Commander raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.
"From a diplomatic point of view," continued the Sub.
"Not if we go to work in the right way," replied the Hon. Derek."After we've settled with Comrade Klostivitch, I'll report thecircumstances to the British Embassy--but not before. For the presentwe'll let the matter drop. It is yet too early to go into details."
In due course R19 arrived off the Gulf of Riga. During the run acrossthe Baltic she had studiously avoided craft of every description,although she had several chances of successfully attacking smallGerman vessels. Stockdale let them "carry on", not from choice but ofnecessity. A tremendous lot depended upon the secret arrival of aBritish submarine to help the Russian navy against that of the Huns.He acted upon the principle that a hunter stalking a lion will notwaste a shot upon a jackal, and thus prematurely alarm the mainobject of his efforts.
Just before midnight R19 rose to the surface and lay motionless uponthe tranquil water. She was now within sight and sound of the guns,for the German land force had thrown the Russians out of theimportant town of Riga, while their auxiliary vessels were busilyengaged in sweeping the mine-field across the mouth of the gulf, toenable the High Seas Fleet to find a secure anchorage beforeattempting to discover and overwhelm the New Republic's Baltic Fleet.
Away to the south-eastward, and faintly discernible against thecontinuous flashes of the guns, could be seen the Germanmine-sweepers and their covering vessels--light cruisers andtorpedo-boats. As yet the battleships and armoured cruisers had notleft Kiel.
For an hour R19 remained motionless; then the order was given to diveand rest on the sea bed. The reason no one on board knew except theHon. Derek and Lieutenant Macquare. The men could not form anysatisfactory opinion of the submarine's apparent inactivity. Theycould not understand why they did not go for everything afloat thatwas German, instead of "sounding" time after time.
For three successive nights R19 popped up for the space of sixtyminutes. Each time the officers carefully fixed the submarine'sposition by means of cross bearings and the use of position-finders.
At midnight on the fourth consecutive night of inaction Fordyce andthe Lieutenant-Commander were on deck when they heard the subdued humof an aerial propeller. It lacked the well-known sound of a Britishmachine, nor did it make a noise like a Gotha. The two men exchangedglances.
"That's it!" exclaimed the Hon. Derek. "Pass the word for the Very'slight."
It seemed a risky thing to do--to send up a couple of rockets from aBritish craft that was lying four or five miles only from the line ofGerman patrol-boats--but there was no option.
A red and a green rocket blazed overhead. From the hovering sea-planecame an answering flash. Her motors were then switched off, and, witha swift volplane, she alighted upon the surface at less than fiftyyards from the submarine.
Then "taxi-ing" cautiously, the sea-plane approached the lee'ard sideof R19, until one of the occupants dexterously caught a rope hurledfrom the submarine's deck.
A greatcoated, muffled figure made its way along one of theprojecting floats of the sea-plane and clambered up the bulging sideof R19.
"Welcome, gentlemen!" he exclaimed in Russian.
The officer deputed by the Russian Government to pilot the Britishsubmarine through the mine-fields guarding the approaches toCronstadt had arrived at a most opportune moment.