Ralph Delahaye Paine

“ Phillip of the Texas when he shouted to his bluejackets in the moment of victory, “Don’t cheer, boys. The poor devils are dying.”
The Corsair of twenty years later was to sail against an enemy who skulked beneath the sea with malice toward all and mercy toward none, who counted women and children as fair prey in war, and whose trail was marked by the agonies of unarmed and helpless castaways adrift in open boats.
This Corsair was no fragile, fair-weather yacht whose cruises had been confined to sheltered reaches, but a powerful ship familiar with the Atlantic in all seasons. ”

“ Every shovel and basket of coal meant steam to shove the old boat nearer home. [Pg 287] That homeward-bound pennant trailed jubilantly from the masthead, a silk streamer of red, white, and blue, one hundred and eighty feet long, into whose folds had been fondly stitched the desires, the yearnings, the anticipations of every man in the ship. Only a few of them had stood, with bared heads, on the Corsair’s deck when she had been formally commissioned as a fourth-rate gunboat of the United States Navy in May of 1917, and the bright ensign had whipped in the breeze. ”

“ It was the supreme test for the Corsair, a yacht which was, after all, handicapped for such a struggle. Officers and men prepared her to face it as best they could, but she could not be “battened down” like the rugged ship that is built to tramp the world. The deck-houses, contrived for comfort and convenience, presented an expanse of large windows and mahogany walls and were exposed to the battering of the seas. There was no passageway below to connect the fore and after parts of the yacht. ”

“ In these days a man-of-war without a radio-room would be almost deaf, dumb, and blind. We knew that we were actually in the war when the distress calls from sinking ships or those which were under attack by submarines began to come hurtling through the air. This in itself was enough to prove the priceless value of the radio in saving life. For some time I kept a chart upon which were plotted all the positions of vessels which transmitted radio calls for help, but within two months so many of these calls had been received that I had little space left in which to record the new ones. ”

“ By way of precaution the Corsair’s crew scampered to general quarters, because nothing could be taken for granted in war-time. Bearing down, the yacht hovered close to a sea-worn, dingy Norwegian tramp which wallowed inert and wore an air of profound discouragement. The sailors of the Dagfin flourished their caps and yelled with delight. It was obvious that they yearned to be [Pg 243] plucked out of the submarine zone after six days and nights of exposure as a stationary target to any U-boat which might wander that way. Fritz was too unsportsmanlike to hesitate to shoot at a sitting bird. ”

“ And so the Corsair came to France and rested in the quaint old port of Saint-Nazaire while her men beheld the troops of Pershing’s First Division stream down the gangways and receive a welcome thrilling beyond words, the cheers and outstretched hands, the laughter and the tears of a people who hailed these tall, careless fighting men as crusaders come to succor them. ”

“ Most of the youthful landsmen, convinced that the yacht was going to the bottom, were frightened out of a year’s growth and not in the least ashamed to admit it. If they said their prayers, it was to be counted in their favor. The professional seafarers had their own misgivings, but with the stubborn, unreasonable confidence of their kind, they somehow expected to pull her through, believing in the ship as long as she was able to float. This was particularly true of Lieutenant Commander Porter, who had lived with the Corsair for so many years that she was almost a part of himself. ”

“ There was no use in staying below to hear the mess cook rave, so I seized a cold potato between my teeth and followed it madly all the way to the chart-house where I feasted in peace. I was thankful to be alive, thankful that I had a slippery deck to skate on, a speaking-tube to cling to, and an oilskin coat which fitted so snugly about my neck that not more than a quart of briny water seeped into it every time our good ship did a courtesy to the waves. Only a third arm could have made me happier. Every sailor needs one in his business. ”

“ Taken as a whole, by and large, the Navy has achieved a great work and is entitled to approval and commendation.
Late in October the word came to the Corsair that the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Henry T. Mayo, and staff, would be graciously pleased to use the yacht (or fourth-class gunboat, to be precise) to take them from Royan to Pauillac. Now a four-starred admiral is absolutely top-hole in naval rank and dignity, and the three gold stripes above the broad band on his sleeve are viewed with awe and bedazzlement by the younger officers. ”

“ As seen from the Corsair, she rode on an even keel and it was impossible to realize that a torpedo had torn a hole thirty-five feet wide in her side, into which the sea was gushing like a cataract.
On board the Finland were many of the survivors of the Antilles and they were in no mood for an encore. They set the pace for the crew of the Finland in the race to abandon ship and the big transport seemed fairly to spill boats and men from every deck. ”

“ On a run one night in March (to La Pallice) after leaving a Verdon convoy, the Corsair and Aphrodite ran into a pretty stiff blow. We were doing about fourteen knots or better with the wind and sea a little on the port bow. A good-sized sea slapped into the port side forward, by the petty officers’ quarters, smashing in one of the deadlights of that compartment. The crash was tremendous. Everybody asleep down there woke up with visions of the ship torpedoed, and out of the hatch they boiled on the jump, mostly arrayed in the costume which Nature provides for sailors. ”

“ As the American flagship, the Corsair tarried there through part of April before sailing to Southend to execute similar orders and duties. England was green and blooming with the loveliness of its rare springtime, and the men of the lonely American yacht were more than ever absorbed in thoughts of flying that homeward-bound pennant. ”

“ Soon after the flotilla of coal-burners came to Brest, the whole scheme of American naval operations in France took on a new aspect with the arrival of Rear-Admiral Henry B. Wilson. He was the man to perceive the vital need of expansion and to create the organization so urgently required. Outspoken yet tactful, with the hearty affability of a sailor and the energy of a captain of industry, Admiral Wilson proceeded to build upon the surmise that the war might last three years and demand an American army of four million men. ”

“ Yankee gun crews, baggy blue trousers slapping in the breeze, stand beside them and watch us pass. Blue-clad officers peer down at us from the bridges. Aloft, hoists of gay signal flags, red, yellow, white, and blue, flutter like confetti in the air. From signal bridges bluejackets are sending semaphore signals with red and yellow flags. A big American ocean-going tug churns through the fleet. On our right is a French mine-layer, long rows of mines along her deck. Fast motor-boats slide in and out among the vessels. ”

“ HONORABLY DISCHARGED Of the old crew, the crew which had sailed with Pershing’s First Expeditionary Force, only two officers and eighteen men watched the frowning headlands of Brittany sink into the sea as the Corsair turned her bow to follow the long trail that led to the twin lights of Navesink and the skyline of New York. A day at the Azores for coal and she laid a course for Bermuda and another brief call before straightening out for the last stretch of the journey. ”

“ Man has contrived many cunningly ingenious structures, but none of them nobler than a staunch and well-found ship. The Corsair was a shell of thin steel plates, but every line and curve and hollow [Pg 153] of them had been influenced by the experiences of centuries of warfare with the sea. A good ship is, in a way, the heritage from unnumbered builders who, patiently, intelligently, wrought in wood by rule of thumb to fashion the frames and timbers and planking of frigates and barks and stately clippers long since vanished. ”

“ The Corsair was too courteous to express annoyance, but her radio queries became more and more emphatic. The Macona was as elusive as a Flying Dutchman. At length the yacht concluded that she had done her honest duty and so turned in the general direction of the destroyer rendezvous, still keeping an eye lifted for the lost sheep of the convoy.
At 8.35 o’clock on the morning of September 10th, with the Macona still on her mind and the quest continued, the Corsair descried a steamer against the misty horizon and soon it was discovered that she was in distress and making no headway. ”

“ Investigation had disclosed the fact that the Finland was able to move under her own steam and the task in hand was to put the crew back on board and escort her into Brest for repairs. Meanwhile the Corsair, in quest of the enemy, was letting a real barrage of depth charges slide over her stern, and her wake was one thundering geyser after another. Eleven of these bombs jarred her rivets when they went off, and if a man had any loose teeth in his head he was liable to lose them entirely. Alas, no débris, such as dead German sailors, rose to the surface. ”

“ The Corsair’s crew had been hoping to visit England and the opportunity came, but not precisely as they might have wished it. The yacht was ordered to proceed to Devonport on September 13th to load a cargo of depth charges for the other naval vessels on the French coast. It was something like asking a man to make a railway journey from New York to Boston with a stick of dynamite in every pocket of his clothes. ”

“ You see, the Corsair and the Aphrodite were the first American war vessels to patrol the Bay of Biscay; consequently we are old-timers here and are looked up to by the others as being well versed in this game. The hard service is the best thing that could have happened to us. Being in a war without actually serving on the firing line would drive me looney, but as things have turned out I have the most wonderful opportunity to exercise all my mechanical ingenuity and experience and they have more than stood me in good stead. ”

“ Picture to yourself the situation of a ship partly filling with water, at three o’clock in the morning, in a storm of ever-increasing violence, everybody on board wet and cold and exhausted, and then suddenly having a few beer-kegs loaded with dynamite going off just astern of her. ”

“ There the Penguin took hold and the yacht went on alone to a berth at Pauillac, none the worse for the experience. It was all in the job, not so sensational as dropping depth bombs on a submarine, but perhaps requiring more courage, endurance, and seamanship. Commander Porter’s description of the tussle with the hawser is highly technical, but one catches glimpses of the hard and heavy toil of the sea and the ability to do the right thing in time of stress which comes only with experience. ”

“ IN THE RADIO-ROOM In this strange warfare against an enemy who fought, for the most part, under the sea, there was no more effective agency than the wireless telegraph or radio. It enabled the convoys to receive warnings and to steer safe courses, it brought help to hundreds of ships in distress, and as an offensive weapon enabled the Allied naval forces to locate and destroy a large number of German submarines. Without the highly developed employment of radio communication, it would have been impossible to protect the transportation of troops, food, and material. ”

“ Others crumple under defeat and surrender at one blow. The Finland had a long record of faithful and successful service as one of the favorite passenger steamers of the Red Star Line between New York and Antwerp. She had the reputation of having lived up to the expectations of her builders. They had tried to make her a staunch ship that would hang together. When the cruel test came, the bulkheads stood fast, the water-tight doors did their duty, and the concussion failed to start the engines from the bed-plates. ”

“ At this early period of the naval war, the employment of the depth charge as the most efficient weapon against the submarine had not been fully developed. The traditions of accurate gunfire as the best offensive were not easily set aside. It was true of the destroyers at Queenstown, as of these yachts bound to France, that their crews felt sublimely certain of smashing Fritz with the batteries at which they drilled like so many skilled football teams. ”

“ Brest Harbor was a familiar panorama to the few men aboard the Corsair who had shared the toil and excitement of those early months of patrol work offshore, almost a year before. Now, however, the transports were crammed with troops homeward bound, and there was no more convoying the “empty buckets” out of Saint-Nazaire and Bordeaux and Quiberon Bay, nor was there any chance of a brush with the persistent U-boat which had been dubbed “Penmarch Pete.” ”

“ It was to be the destiny of most of these unknown men to fall, dead or wounded, on the fields of France, but the regiments came back, and then the country knew them as they marched down Fifth Avenue, wildly cheered and pelted with flowers—the stern, bronzed ranks of the First Division. ”

“ AT SEA WITH THE BRETON PATROL When the Corsair arrived on the French coast there was nothing to indicate the vast American organization, military and naval, which was soon to be created with a speed and efficiency almost magical. Supply bases, docks, fuel stations, railroads were, at the outset, such as France could provide from her own grave necessities. Marshal Joffre and Lord Balfour had convinced the Government at Washington that if the United States delayed to prepare, it might be too late. Troops were demanded, above all else. Man power was the vital thing. ”

“ The first boat from the Finland was dangling from the davits, half-filled with men, when somebody either cut or let go the forward falls. The bow of this big whaleboat crashed down to the water, dumping most of them out. A few managed to hang on and were struggling desperately when the after falls carried away and the boat dropped upon the heads of the men already in the sea. The next boat reached the water only to be up-ended by the headway of the ship. ”