CHAPTER XXV
The Fall of the Island Fortress
AT a modest seven knots the battered _Royal Sovereign_ wallowed intow in the wake of the _Barham_. It seemed wonderful that she shouldhave survived the ordeal, for in places the massive armour plates hadbeen completely knocked away. Her bows were level with the water,while the whole of her quarter deck had been blown in by a bombdropped from a German seaplane.
Almost the last shot fired at her by her principal antagonist, thegigantic _Breslau_, had hit the chase of one of the fifteen-inch gunsin the second turret from the bows. The huge mass of metal hadfractured, while the muzzle, falling upon the barbette next ahead andslightly below, had prevented both barbettes from being trained. Thusone shot had practically put four fifteen-inch guns out of action.
Wherever a heavy shell had struck against armour the latter had beenmade nearly red-hot, and for an hour or more after the fight it wasalmost impossible to place a hand on the heated metal.
"A SEAPLANE CONTRIVED TO DROP A BOMB ON THE _ROYALSOVEREIGN'S_ DECK"]
The use of aerial craft above the fighting battleships was verylimited during the action. Thanks to the preponderance of seaplanes,the British were able to keep the German aircraft well at a distance.The only noteworthy exception was the seaplane which contrived todrop a bomb on the _Royal Sovereign's_ deck. She did not live torepeat the experiment, for a fragment of a German eleven-inch shell,ricochetting from the hood of the _Royal Sovereign's_ after barbette,flew vertically upward for a height of nearly three hundred feet,literally cutting the daring seaplane in halves.
Nor did the submarines prove their vaunted merits. Detected from theBritish aircraft, these sinister vessels stood very little chance.Even had they come within striking distance it is doubtful whetherthey would not have damaged friend as well as foe, for in thedisorder in the formation of the two fleets, and in the dense hazethat enveloped them in less than a minute after the first broadside,it was a difficult matter to distinguish one ship from another.
Had the action taken place at night the submarine would doubtlesshave played an important part in deciding the battle.
Superiority in numbers of light-armoured cruisers and destroyers,combined with the coolness and precision of the men at thequick-firers, enabled the British to make short work of the German"mosquito fleet", although the former did not come out of the actionwithout heavy loss. Nevertheless there was still the danger that someof the least-damaged German destroyers might again attempt a nightattack upon the East Coast. Great were the rejoicings in GreatBritain at the victory. They were not extravagant outbursts of joy,but heartfelt expressions of thankfulness that the great ordeal hadbeen successfully passed. The imminent danger, made apparent by thedamage done at South Shields, had taught a national lesson, while thegreat victory had been bought at a tremendous price in humanlives--the sacrifice at the altar of maritime supremacy.
Directly the _Royal Sovereign_ crept into the Nore she was orderedround to Portsmouth, since the dockyards of Chatham and Sheernesswere quite unable to cope with the work of refitting any but theleast-damaged ships. Towed by the _Barham_, and escorted by twodestroyers, the crippled vessel reached Spithead, and was taken intoharbour and docked without delay. The surviving officers and crewwere at once turned over to the obsolescent battleship _Collingwood_,the flagship of the Eighth Battle Squadron.
Five days later the combined Anglo-American fleet left the Nore. Offthe Texel the fleet was divided--the major portion to operate againstHeligoland and the remainder to destroy, if possible, the defences ofBorkum. All the United States' battleships were in the divisiondetailed for the bombardment of Heligoland, since officers and menwere actuated by the knowledge that an American citizen was still aprisoner in that island fortress.
It was a case of hasten slowly. The shallows around the mouths of theElbe and Weser were admirably suited to the use of submarine mines,while every "gat" between the extensive sandbanks could be used byGerman torpedo craft. Local knowledge was a great factor in favour ofthe Teutonic torpedo craft.
It was with curious feelings that Hamerton looked once more upon thered, white, and green island of Heligoland. Only a short time back hewas there a captive; now he was about to witness a demonstration ofnaval might and power against the heavily defended batteries that adiplomatic mistake on the part of Great Britain had raised intoexistence.
Admiral Maynebrace had done Hamerton the honour of asking hisopinion, and, thanks to the Sub's knowledge, he was able to arrangehis plans accordingly. The batteries on the south-western side of theisland were to be left severely alone. Sandinsel was the key of theposition. Once its guns were silenced the reduction of Heligolandwould be a matter of course. Sir George, therefore, ordered themine-creeping vessels--subsidized steam "drifters"--to advance undercover of the battle cruisers and clear away the mines to thenorth-east and south-east of Heligoland.
This was a hazardous duty, for the vessels engaged in the work wereopen to a torpedo attack from the destroyers either from theHeligoland base or from the mouths of the Elbe, Eider, Weser, andJade. In the wake of the mine-creepers came the battleships, withtorpedo nets out, so as to be prepared for an attack by thelong-range Schwartz-Kopff locomotive torpedoes.
To add to the difficulties, the Germans had already removed all buoysand navigation marks, so that the ships had to be continuously makinguse of the lead line.
Directly night fell the battleships and battle cruisers steamedwestwards with screened lights, so as to be safe from destroyer andsubmarine attack, leaving the British small craft to cope with anydemonstration from the numerous German torpedo bases. Thus thenerve-racking ordeal of momentarily expecting an unseen blow wasspared the already sorely taxed crews of the armoured fleet.
But what the battleships missed the destroyers had more than a fullshare of. Triple lines of these vessels patrolled the sea between theposition where the Weser lightship was formerly stationed and that ofthe Rittergat light buoy. The destroyers on the flank kept theirsearchlights trained outwards in a horizontal position well abeam,while those in the centre line used their searchlights for thepurpose of locating any hostile aircraft.
In spite of these precautions four of the British torpedo craft weresunk by German submarines without the former having a glimpse oftheir foes.
Before daybreak the battleships were back in their former stations,the American ships taking up a position to the north-east ofSandinsel, while the twenty-eight armoured British battleshipsdirected their fire upon the D?ne and East Kalbertan batteries of thesame island. The destroyers were grouped into three divisions--thefirst to be attached to the United States ships in case of a hostilemovement from North Haven; the second to lie three miles astern ofthe British battleships engaged in bombarding Sandinsel, so as toguard against a torpedo attack from South Haven; the third detailedto watch the mainland.
Exactly at eight in the morning the American flagship _Wyoming_opened the ball by planting a fifteen-inch shell fairly in the centreof the Krid Brunnen Battery. An enormous cloud of sand, smoke, anddust, mingled with heavier fragments, followed the explosion. Itlooked as if the magazine had been blown up, but a smart reply fromthe battery showed that this was not so.
The firing now became general, and the concentrated shells of thecombined fleet literally' rained upon the Sandinsel forts. It seemedas if nothing could survive the terrible explosions of the heavymissiles, but with commendable pluck the German gunners stood totheir task. Several of their shells struck the battleships, doingconsiderable damage, but the effect on board did not approach thecarnage of the battle of the Galloper Sands. Nor was it to bewondered at, since the enemy had to spread their fire over afive-mile line of warships, while the latter were able to concentratetheir guns upon a comparatively limited and immovable target.
In three hours from the time the _Wyoming_ first opened fire the EastKalbertan, Krid Brunnen, and D?ne batteries were silenced, and theBritish and American ships were able to direct their attention to theweaker We
st Kalbertan Battery and the torpedo flotillas shelteringbetween Heligoland and Sandinsel.
This they could do with comparative impunity, for with the exceptionof four fifteen-inch guns, mounted on the north-east side ofHeligoland, the defensive armament consisted of lighter guns intendedfor use against torpedo craft.
The large guns were soon out of action. The hail of heavy shellsknocked vast quantities of rock from the soft sandstone cliffs. Inhalf an hour the damage was greater than the erosion of half acentury. The emplacements, undermined by the fall of rock, were soonunmasked and rendered untenable.
But the German destroyers were not going to be sunk in harbour.Profiting by the haze of burnt cordite that enveloped the bombardingships, thirty of these swift craft slipped out of South Haven. It wasa forlorn hope, and nothing short of destruction awaited them, butbefore the end they meant to strike a heavy blow for the Fatherland.
Steaming at close on thirty-five knots, the devoted craft headedstraight for the nearest British battleships--a distance of fourmiles from the south-east of Heligoland.
More than half the intervening space was covered before thethreatened attack was noticed by the British flagship. A signal wasinstantly made for the light cruisers and destroyers in reserve tointercept the approaching hostile craft. Already it was too late.Only the light quick-firers of the British battleships could keep theenemy at bay.
In response to a general signal the huge warships turned eight pointsto starboard. That meant that instead of keeping broadside on to theforts they were steaming away from them. Hampered by their torpedonets the manoeuvre was slowly executed, but each warship nowpresented a much smaller target to the German torpedoes, while therewas more room between the battleships for the British destroyers tooperate.
Temporarily the big-gun fire ceased. The sharp barks of thequick-firers resounded on all sides. Through the maelstrom oftwelve-pounder shells the German destroyers tore. Several swung outof line, disabled and on the point of sinking; but the survivingvessels, admirably handled, avoided their stricken consorts andcontinued the headlong rush.
Then, acting smartly in response to a signal from the leading boat,the remaining destroyers ported helm sufficiently for the decktorpedo tubes to bear, and almost simultaneously thirty deadlySchwartz-Kopff weapons tore on their mission of destruction.
It was impossible for everyone to miss the mark. The sea was ruffledwith the foam of the swiftly-travelling weapons. Some, exploding thenets, tore great rents in the meshes and unshipped or shattered themassive steel booms supporting the best anti-torpedo device thatnaval architects could devise. Others, following in their wake,struck home underneath the armoured plating of the battleships.
Explosion after explosion, outvieing the crack of the quick-firers,rose in the air. Huge vessels, mortally stricken, rolled sluggishlyunder the impact. Mingled with the din came the cheers of theexultant Germans. It was a modernized form of the old gladiatorialshout: "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute thee"; for the cheerswere those of doomed men.
Tearing betwixt the battleships came the British destroyers likewolves upon a sheepfold. This phase of action became a m?l?e. Inseveral cases the British craft, charging their opponents at fullspeed, literally cut these latter in twain. It was but another ofthose instances when, in the heat of battle, men neither ask norexpect quarter. Only four German boats, badly damaged, were able toregain a temporary and insecure shelter under the lee of Sandinsel.
Nevertheless they had struck a hard blow. The _Bellerophon_, hitthrice in quick succession, had sunk; the _Ajax_ and _Agamemnon_ werelisting heavily, only their watertight bulkheads abaft theengine-rooms preventing them from going to the bottom. For offensivepurposes they were now utterly useless. The _Centurion_ and_Formidable_, having lost their rudders and propellers, had to betaken in tow, and sent, escorted by the battle cruisers _Impregnable_and _Inflexible_, to add to the congested state of the Britishdockyards.
Nothing daunted by these misfortunes the rest of the allied fleetmaintained a hot fire. By five in the afternoon the east of thebatteries of Sandinsel ceased to reply. The docks, factories andstores, and shipping on the east of Heligoland were either destroyedor in flames. The attack upon the island could now be pushed home.
Contrary to expectations the Zeppelins made no attempt to emerge fromtheir place of concealment. It afterwards transpired that, more byaccident than design, two heavy shells had simultaneously burst inthe great artificial crater into which the airship sheds opened. Theexplosions were sufficient to wreck completely the three Zeppelinslying in the lofty caves.
As night fell the battleships made for the offing, while the Britishdestroyers and light cruisers took the same precautions againstattack as before.
At daybreak the bombardment was resumed. The Sandinsel batteries,having effected temporary repairs during the hours of darkness,reopened fire, but so feebly that in less than twenty minutes therewas no reply to the British guns. The American warships, closing infrom the north-east, directed their attention to the lighterbatteries on the cliff side of Heligoland, and occasionally toshelling the barracks and searchlight station on the plateau. TheBritish devoted their energies to the Sathurn battery and thesouthern portion of the island, sparing as far as possible the housesof the Unterland.
At ten minutes past nine a tremendous explosion shook the air. One ofthe _Kentucky's_ shells had struck the principal magazine. Theconcussion and the fire that followed caused the vast oil reservoirsto ignite, and in a few moments the whole of the central portion ofthe rock seemed one mass of flames.
More feeble grew the reply of the German guns, and at noon the islandfortress of Heligoland capitulated, without one shot being fired fromthe more powerful batteries on the south-western side, to which novessel belonging to the allies had offered a chance for a singledischarge.
Heligoland, the mailed menace to Great Britain, had fallen.
* * * * *
As soon as the German flag was lowered from the captured island fivehundred British and American marines were landed to take possessionof the fire-swept rock that was but recently the pride of theTeutonic Empire.
Lieutenant Hamerton was one of the few naval officers to set footashore, but at his earnest request he was given permission to seekout his old comrade Detroit.
It was with feelings of elation that the young officer stood oncemore upon the stone jetty where but a few weeks previously he hadbeen ignominiously escorted by a file of German marines. Now he wasgiven a salute by a stalwart British marine who had been promptlyposted at the head of the steps.
On his way to the Oberland--Hamerton had to walk, since the lift hadbeen damaged during the bombardment--the Sub passed a party of Germanofficers who were about to put off to the British flagship to satisfythe terms of the capitulation. One of them he recognized as MajorKarl von Schloss.
Both men gravely saluted each other, then Hamerton advanced and heldout his hand. The major took it without hesitation. He was one ofmany who, however bitter the defeat, took in the situation withbecoming mien and grace. Hamerton bore him no ill feeling. True, VonSchloss had acted harshly to him when he was a prisoner, but themajor really believed that the Sub was a British spy.
"Where is my friend, Detroit?" asked Hamerton.
"He is safe," replied Von Schloss. "Before the firing commenced hewas taken to the church, since we knew that would not be a mark foryour guns."
"One more question, Herr Major; where is the commandant?"
"He is dead," replied Von Schloss, with evident emotion. "He fellduring the bombardment."
Gravely Hamerton raised his right hand to the salute. His formerenemy had given up his life on the altar of duty, a victim to hismisguided efforts to further the interests of the Fatherland.
"I am sorry," he said.
"There is no need," rejoined Major von Schloss. "General vonWittelsbach died as he wished, in the defence of a charge entrustedto him by the Kaiser. Believe me, he would never have survived thehumiliation. But now, Herr Hame
rton, I bid you farewell."
Both men shook hands and parted, the major hurrying after hiscompanions, while the Sub wended his way towards the old church.
A number of armed German marines stood without the weatherbeatenfane. They were stationed there to guard various prisoners who hadbeen hastily removed from the barrack prison at the commencement ofthe attack.
But before Hamerton could approach and make known the nature of hismission a well-known voice hailed him from one of the narrow windowsof the tower.
"Hallo, old man! So they've let you out? Guess it's about time Ithought about moving. I guess you weren't long in getting intouniform."
"Considering I haven't taken off my things for the last three days Icannot agree with you," replied the Sub, with a hearty laugh. "I'vecome to bring you out of this, Detroit, so the sooner you come downfrom your perch the better."
"I reckon I've had a rotten time," remarked Detroit, as the twofriends made their way to the shore. "But it's worth it," he addedenthusiastically. "To look out of that window and to see the Yankeeeagle and the British lion knocking spots off the German was thefinest sight in creation."
Hamerton shrugged his shoulders. He was thinking of the carnage thathad been wrought on both sides ere "the finest sight in creation" wascompleted.
"Yes," he said slowly, "I suppose it was. The onlookers always seethe best of the game."
* * * * *
That same day the articles of capitulation were drawn up and signed.The officers and some of the garrison of Heligoland, upon givingtheir parole, were permitted to withdraw with their private effects.The guns were either burst by means of guncotton or toppled over thecliffs, the defensive works that had escaped serious damage duringthe bombardment were blown up, and the captured war vessels eithersunk or sent across the North Sea.
Twenty-four hours later an armistice was declared between theAnglo-American allies and Germany. The humiliation of the GermanEmpire as a naval power was complete.
Peace was definitely declared in less than a fortnight from theunprovoked but abortive raid upon the east coast of Great Britain. Bythe terms of the treaty Germany was bound down not to maintain afleet of more than twenty small cruisers. A comparatively smallindemnity was demanded, while the fortifications of Borkum wereordered to be razed.
Heligoland was by mutual consent restored to its former masters, theDanes, and once and for all the menace to Great Britain ceased toexist.
The war, terrible while it lasted, brought good in its train. Theexhausting struggle for naval supremacy ceased. It was universallyconceded that the great English-speaking nations should rule the sea,and almost automatically the Great Powers were able to cut down theiralmost overwhelming expenses in naval armaments.
The victors had not been ungenerous or vindictive; they had laid noviolent restriction upon their former enemy. Germany could, and did,still expand her overseas trade without let or hindrance. Thesettlement of sea supremacy meant a new era of peace and prosperity.
After the termination of the war, Hamerton, now promoted to the rankof lieutenant, obtained a shore appointment in Portsmouth Dockyard.Every summer the ketch _Diomeda_ puts in an appearance in the Solent,and Hamerton, Detroit, Octavius Smith, and Stirling generally made apoint of having a month's cruise together in the stanch little craft.
Often, on some quiet evening, the _Diomeda_ will be found snuglymoored in some sheltered and secluded creek of the Solent, while downbelow in her cosy cabin the four men will be exchanging reminiscencesand recalling the events that led to the capture of the sea-girtfortress of Heligoland.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_
[Transcriber's Notes:
This book contains a number of misprints. The following misprints have been corrected:
[Any misculation] -> [Any miscalculation] [dull-back] -> [dull-black] [degree of enthusiam] -> [degree of enthusiasm] [overunning] -> [overrunning] [Barracading] -> [Barricading] [befel] -> [befell] [to give an explanaation] -> [to give an explanation]
A few cases of punctuation errors were corrected, but are not mentioned here. ]
The Sea-girt Fortress: A Story of Heligoland Page 25