Ralph Henry Barbour

“ A Fritz who will not run!"
But if actual battles were few in the American patrol flotilla that Summer and Fall, there was plenty of incident. Storms became numerous as Autumn appeared, and the Gyandotte gave the lie to those pessimists who doubted her seaworthiness. There were occasions when Nelson concluded that if he ever reached land again it would be either in a small boat or atop a deck hatch, but the little cruiser always came through somehow, even if she almost stood on her beam ends doing it! Meanwhile Nelson found promotion of a sort. ”

“ As the Sans Souci spent three days on duty and three days in port alternately, Nelson usually had a good deal of Tip's society when the Gyandotte was in Queenstown. Liberty was freely granted when the cruiser was in port and Nelson and Tip made several excursions to nearby points of interest, once getting as far afield as Dublin and once to Limerick. ”

“ Martin reported that the Q-4 was lying up undergoing battery replacements. "We've had a busy time of it since I saw you last," he continued. "We're helping the Limie subs patrol this beastly coast around here. There's a big base about twelve miles away where the British fleet is tucked up, and it's our stunt to see that no one slips in and 'strafes' them when they're having tea. It isn't bad fun, but nothing ever happens. They talk about going up and shelling the German fleet out of its base, but I guess it's only talk. ”

“ Nelson took his gun captain, Garey, into his confidence meanwhile, and Garey was sympathetic but not overly impressed.
"It's one chance in a hundred, Troy," he said. "Take the average Yankee skipper and it's dollars to doughnuts that he's thin and tall and middle-aged. You see, about all the American prisoners the Germans have got so far are men they're taken off ships. ”

“ Tip claimed that you couldn't tell the Sans Souci from a mermaid half a mile distant, and Nelson was prepared to believe it, even though he had never seen a mermaid. Lieutenant Putnam-Earle greeted Nelson politely but failed to accept the hand that Nelson unthinkingly extended. ("You mustn't mind Put," said his junior afterwards. "He's like that. Awf'ly fussy, you know, about rank and all that rot. Comes of one of our oldest families. So old it's fairly putrid. He's not a half bad old chap.") Nelson didn't allow the incident to worry him. ”

“ The Englishers are a fine lot and we get along with them top-hole. (I'm getting to talk like one fast!) But this is a bleak old corner of the world and we nearly freeze to death when we go out. I wish they'd change us to the Mediterranean this Winter. ”

“ I was going to ask, but the guard butted in just then."
"Well, you get speech with the Old Man and maybe he can fix it for you. He will if he can, anyway."
But it wasn't to be, and Nelson never saw the round-faced German from St Louis again. The next morning, soon after daybreak, the Gyandotte pulled her anchors up from the bottom of the Gironde and picked her way down-stream and through the mine fields and headed back toward Queenstown. ”