Karl Spindler

“ The ship's pendant was already waving from the main-mast, and next moment the German naval ensign was run up, bidding defiance to the English and all their works. Jackets and greatcoats flew overboard. Three cheers for our supreme War Lord! Then there was a muffled explosion. The Aud shivered from stem to stern, beams and splinters flew up in the air, followed by a cloud of dirty-gray smoke, and flames burst forth from the saloon, the charthouse, the ventilators, and the forecastle. That was all we had time to notice. ”

“ Empty Norwegian preserved-meat tins and old Christiania newspapers were strewn about in the cabins. In short, we spared no effort to give our ship and ourselves an appearance corresponding to our assumed character; and enjoyed ourselves mightily in the process. Now that the tense expectation and uncertainty of the last few days had relaxed, and that the men knew what was at stake, and how many thousands of people were eagerly and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Libau, they were almost wild with delight. No one thought about the dangers that lay before us. A single desire animated us all. ”

“ A sub-lieutenant is standing, megaphone in hand, on the bridge of the pitching craft, whose funnels are only just on a level with our upper deck. Close as she is to us, all the officers of the watch are scanning us curiously through their glasses, while the men standing about the deck stare at us open-eyed. As it is just as well that we should not be recognised, I give my men a sign to go below, and myself, take my stand at the rail, shaking my head, to convey to the sub-lieutenant that the German language is not one of my accomplishments. ”

“ Dully, as if it was all a matter of course, we take an occasional glance ahead through our glasses, tooting every couple of minutes, like the simple merchantman we are, with our hoarse steam siren, in dutiful obedience to the rules laid down for warning-signals during fog. To the unwelcome stranger we scarcely give a glance. The crew of a tramp are apt to be indifferent. ”

“ The lines of a torpedo-boat show up to port; the rays of a pair of searchlights dart through the air and disappear again. Then another flash sweeps upward, the cone growing larger and larger. Now he has us; on the decks of the Aud it is light as day, our eyes are blinded for the moment. A few seconds of this and the cone disappears again as quickly as it came.
The Danish torpedo-boat that guards the entrance of the sound, to protect Danish neutrality, has held us for a moment under the magnifying glass, so to speak, to examine our distinctive markings—and has passed us as a harmless neutral. ”

“ The great difference in the height of the masts left no doubt that we had here to do with one of the very newest and fastest English cruisers. If she had sighted us, any attempt at flight was useless. But we counted on the English look-out not being as sharp as ours. It is natural that on monotonous outpost duty, cruising to and fro day after day in the same waters and hardly ever seeing anything but the same sea and sky, sky and sea, one's watchfulness should in the end get blunted. ”

“ Hour after hour passed, and as morning approached my hope that the Irish would manage to communicate with us during the night gradually faded away. When at last day dawned, I gave up the game for lost. Useless to run boldly alongside Fenit Pier, for who could suppose we should be allowed to unload our munitions unmolested; useless to pretend an accident to the machinery, for at once we should have a swarm of officials on board; impracticable to send men ashore in a boat at some outlying spot to make inquiries, for I could not spare a man, in view of future eventualities. ”

“ Shortly after one o'clock the first signs of land appeared; long, low-lying, bluish cloud-banks on the horizon, which little by little assumed a definite form—the Irish coast!
There was not a ship in sight. I called up my men and gave them the last explanations. Hitherto they had known nothing definite, though, of course, they had long guessed that they were not bound for Libau. It was good to see their grim but well-pleased smiles when I told them that now it was up to us to make good, and every man must do his best. ”

“ Towards ten o'clock the wind jumped round to the south-west, and freshened. Light wisps of vapour began to drift down on our port bow, and sometimes from right ahead. Half an hour later the horizon was so dim that it was impossible to take an altitude.
'What about it?' asked Düsselmann, who was taking the watch, giving me, as he spoke, a keen, sidelong glance, his right hand already on the lever of the engine-room telegraph.
I thought a moment, then: 'Carry on,' I said. 'Half speed! Course, south-west!'
The telegraph rang. In engine-room and stokehold things got lively. ”

“ As I read to-day the English papers of those days, I come upon the most incredible reports in regard to our little Aud. 'The Mystery Ship,' 'The Flying Dutchman,' and other scare headlines followed by the most fantastic accounts prove what excitement the Aud caused in England, and, above all, among the vessels of the coast-patrol.
The other cruisers had meanwhile formed a ring round us. On some the guns were manned and ready to fire at us. At the slightest hostile move on our part we should have been riddled like a sieve. ”

“ During this time the chief engineer was busy forward repairing a steam winch, and in order to see if it was working again he let it run for a moment. It may have been because of this noise, or because the English mistook some empty tin or other floating object for a periscope—at any rate immediately the winch started we heard shouts all round us mingled with the ringing of engine-room telegraphs, and next moment the whole flotilla scattered as if struck by lightning. ”

“ Whenever we looked towards the English we could see on each ship a couple of dark figures with glasses to their eyes keeping us steadily under observation. Thus we proceeded, mile after mile. Northwards, a long, dark strip, like a low-lying cloud-bank, was now visible; we were approaching the coast. Consequently, it was time we started to learn something about Queenstown Harbour; for if we were forced to sink the Aud we ought at least to choose the spot where she would do most damage to the enemy. ”

“ On board the English ship also the new watch came on deck. She was now so close to us that every movement on her deck could be seen, although it was now growing perceptibly darker. Good God! If we had only had a torpedo or a submarine in attendance; a more favourable opportunity for a hit with a torpedo could hardly be imagined. Boof! the cruiser buries her nose deep in a sea and takes a considerable quantity of water over her bows, to come pouring in great streams out of her forward scuttles. ”

“ From the signal halliards of the Shatter fluttered the signal I knew so well in the old days, 'T.D.L.'—'Bon voyage.'
I rushed to the helm, tore the wheel round to port, and anxiously counted the seconds till the Aud began to answer the helm. Fortunately, the high speed at which we were going made the rudder effective—but only just in time. All our lives hung on the fraction of a second. In the very next second we shot past the English boat not a ship's length off. ”

“ The Atlantic now lay before us, and I had the choice of steering north, west, or south. South appeared to me to be the best, for even if we had aroused suspicion the English had so far had no positive proof against us. The Norwegian flag still flew at our stern, and as I had told the captain of the Shatter that we were bound for Cardiff and then for Italy, I thought it was best to keep up appearances while it was still daylight, and to steer a southerly course. If a warship should then come along we should be able to justify our course by means of our manifest. ”

“ Every man who was not wanted on deck must wrap up his neck warmly and creep into his bunk. We on the bridge, too, wrapped ourselves in thick cloaks and wound great comforters round our necks. If the supposed Englishman looked as if he meant to approach us, I intended to run up the quarantine flag and signal to him that we were from Danzig, bound for Christiania, and had diphtheria on board. Perhaps I might ask him to give warning of our arrival in Christiania. In these circumstances he would certainly avoid coming on board. For the moment we should be safe; the rest we must leave to luck. ”

“ There are, in fact, few coasts more inhospitable and more dangerous from their numerous reefs than the Irish.
We sought persistently with our glasses for any sign of life; any house or lighthouse upon the coast. In vain. There was nothing to be seen but naked rocks. Here and there the coastline was a little withdrawn, so that we thought more than once 'this must be Tralee bay.' But there appeared on either side of it so many other similar openings between the high cliffs that we became confused. ”

“ The brilliant defence which Casement made had been of no avail. He died every inch a man, and with the consciousness that the idea for which he had fought and suffered would sink deeper in the hearts of the Irish and bring them nearer to freedom. ”

“ So the first mate took over the wheel, while the second mate worked the engine-room telegraph. Down below my brave stokers, half naked and with sweat literally pouring down, toiled at the glowing furnaces, while the others untiringly fetched baskets of coal from the bunkers. The engineers stood at their stations in the engine-room, ready each moment to carry out the orders as they came from the bridge. We were steaming with every ounce of pressure we could get.
Meanwhile, the English boat had drawn nearer. ”

“ But if any man had told me that in my own cabin the captain of an English outpost boat would warn me against myself I should have thought him mad. What we had just gone through was so incredibly funny that I might have thought it a dream if the statement of the Shatter captain had not reminded us of the seriousness of our position. ”

“ You Norwegians are good fellows; so there is no harm in my telling you, although it is really supposed to remain absolutely secret. Well, we, that is to say, the Naval Staff, have discovered that these damned swine, the Germans, want to join the Irish in bringing about a revolution. That is why they chose me in order to capture the auxiliary cruiser which is to come in here and bring arms for the Irish. Look at the harbour and the entire bay—the whole place is bristling with guns! What a fine reception the Germans will get from us. ”

“ If the Englishman really should keep a look-out he might possibly succeed in sinking our submarine, which might still appear at any moment. The more I attempted by all sorts of objectives to dissuade him from his purpose, the more obstinately he clung to this plan. 'Out of gratitude,' as he said. Then he swallowed his glass of whisky in one gulp, while big tears rolled down his maudlin face. It now appeared to me imperative that I should have a few minutes' undisturbed conversation with Düsselmann; so I summoned the first mate and asked him to look after my guests. ”

“ Most unpleasant of all were the numerous black beetles, ants, and other little animals which swarmed out of every hole and crawled boldly through our hair, over our faces, and down the backs of our necks, while we dared not make the slightest move to prevent them lest the sentry a few yards away should hear us. Now that the tennis-court was empty, it was so quiet that the slightest move could be heard. ”

“ The nearest and largest of the islands was Inishtooskert, our rendezvous with Sir Roger Casement.
The die must soon be cast. With a keener anxiety than we had yet known, we directed our glasses ahead. If everything continued to go as well as it had done hitherto, then, at the latest, within half an hour the pilot-boat must make her appearance, with the recognition marks that had been agreed upon—a green flag at the mast-head and a man with a green jersey in the bows. ”

“ Time goes on, and we still wait, bracing ourselves for what may come. When the chronometer shows 7.30 I order 'seven bells' to be loudly and clearly struck on the ship's bell. We had, for good and sufficient reasons, hitherto pointedly neglected this universal usage of board-ship life. The men standing watching us at the cruiser's rail gradually drift away again. A dirty little collier is, of course, no very interesting object. Moreover, it is cold and wet on deck, and at eight o'clock the watch will be changed. Perhaps, also, a tot of steaming grog is being served out below. ”

“ That was good luck for us, for 8 p.m. is, on all ships, the hour for a change of watch, and at such times the men's attention is bound to be a little distracted. Moreover, the day was a Sunday. And on Sunday, in English ships, every one would certainly do himself a little extra well, with the aid of whisky and similar good things. Up here, too, that was especially to be expected. For the men on a remote outpost station like this, who were doubtless not relieved too frequently, in their monotonous but trying duty, that was almost the only pleasure which they had a chance to enjoy. ”