Читать книгу The Battle of the Falkland Islands, Before and After - Henry Edmund Harvey Spencer-Cooper - Страница 9

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"When, with a roar that seemed to buffet the heavens

And rip the heart of the sea out, one red flame

Blackened with fragments, the great galleon burst

Asunder! All the startled waves were strewn

With wreckage; and Drake laughed: 'My lads, we have diced

With death to-day, and won!'"

—Alfred Noyes (Drake).

It has already been mentioned that the Carmania was ordered to search the Brazilian island of Trinidad (not to be confused with the British Island of the same name), which lies in the South Atlantic about 600 miles to the eastward of South America, and in about the same latitude as Rio de Janeiro. It was uninhabited at this time, and seemed a likely place for the Germans to use as a temporary coaling base; they have never had any compunction about breaking the laws of neutrality if it suited their purpose.

The following narrative is taken from the official report, supplemented by an account written by the author two days after the action from a description given him by the officers of H.M.S. Carmania.

Land was sighted on the morning of September 14th, 1914. A moderate breeze was blowing from the north-east, but it was a lovely day, with a clear sky and the sun shining. Shortly after 11 A.M. the masts of a vessel were observed, and on approaching nearer the Carmania made out three steamers, apparently at anchor in a small bay that lies to the south-west of the island. One of these was a large liner, but the others were clearly colliers and had their derricks topped; they were probably working when they sighted us, and they immediately separated and made off in different directions before the whole of their hulls could be distinguished.

The large vessel was apparently a liner about equal in size,[4] having two funnels which were painted to resemble those of a Union Castle liner. After running away for a while, the larger steamer, which turned out to be the Cap Trafalgar (though this was not known for certain till weeks afterwards), altered course to starboard and headed more in our direction. She was then steering about south at what appeared to be full speed, while the Carmania was steaming 16 knots on a sou'-westerly course.

There could no longer be any doubt that she meant to fight, and the duel now ensued that has been so happily described by a gifted naval writer, the late Fred T. Jane, as "the Battle of the Haystacks." To my idea, it appears almost a replica of the frigate actions of bygone days, and will probably go down in history as a parallel to the engagement fought between the Chesapeake and Shannon. For gallantry, pluck and determination it certainly bears comparison with many of these actions of the past.

About noon she fired a single shot across the enemy's bows at a range of 8,500 yards, whereupon he immediately opened fire from his after-gun on the starboard side. This was quickly followed on both sides by salvoes (all guns firing nearly simultaneously as soon as their sights came on to the target), so matters at once became lively.

Curiously enough, the enemy's first few shots fell short, ricocheting over, and then, as the range decreased, they went clean over the hull, in consequence of which our rigging, masts, funnels, derricks, and ventilators all suffered, though the ship's side near the waterline—the principal anxiety—was so far intact. Some of the Carmania's first shots, which were fired at a range of 7,500 yards, were seen to take effect, and she continued to score hits afterwards with moderate frequency. The port battery was engaging his starboard guns at this period, so that he was on her port hand, and a reference to the plan will show that she was ahead on bearing. The range was rapidly decreasing since they were both on converging courses, but unfortunately the German ship had the speed of her, for the Cunarder could only do 16 knots, due largely to a lack of vacuum in the condensers. As far as could be judged the Cap Trafalgar was steaming between 17 and 18 knots. (See Diagram, p. 39.)

At 4,500 yards, two of our broadsides were seen to hit all along the waterline. As the range decreased to 4,000 yards the shot from the enemy's pom-poms (machine guns), fired with great rapidity, began to fall like hail on and all round the ship; this induced Captain Grant to alter course away with promptitude, thus opening out the range and bringing the starboard battery into play. The port 4.7-inch guns—they were all over twenty years old—were by this time wellnigh red-hot. That the enemy did not apprehend this manœuvre was demonstrated by his erratic fire at this moment, when the Britisher was enabled to bring five guns into action to his four through being able to use both the stern guns. It was now that the German suffered most heavily, the havoc wrought in such a short time being very noticeable. He then turned away, which brought the two ships nearly stern on to one another; two of his steam pipes were cut by shell, the steam rising into the sky, he was well on fire forward, and had a list to starboard.

The Mappa Co. Ltd London

(Diagram of action between 'CARMANIA' and 'CAP TRAFALGAR'.)

One of his shells, however, had passed through the captain's cabin under the fore bridge, and although it did not burst it started a fire, which rapidly became worse; unhappily no water was available to put it out, for the fire main was shot through, while the chemical fire extinguishers proved of little use. All water had to be carried by hand, but luckily the fire was prevented from spreading over the ship by a steel bulkhead, together with an ordinary fire-proof swing door, which was afterwards found to be all charred on one side. Nevertheless it got a firm hold of the deck above, which broke into flame, so the fore-bridge had to be abandoned. The ship had now to be steered from the stern, and all orders had to be shouted down by megaphone both to the engine rooms and to this new steering position in the bowels of the ship, which was connected up and in operation in fifty-seven seconds! To reduce the effect of the fire the vessel was kept before the wind, which necessitated turning right round again, so that the fight resolved itself into a chase.

The action was continued by the gun-layers, the fire-control position being untenable due to the fire, so each gun had to be worked and fired independently under the direction of its own officer. Among the ammunition supply parties there had been several casualties and the officers, finding it impossible to "spot" the fall of the shell, owing to the flashes from the enemy's guns obscuring their view from so low an elevation, lent a hand in carrying the ammunition from the hoists to the guns. In these big liners the upper deck, where the guns are mounted, is approximately 70 feet above the holds, whence the ammunition has to be hoisted and then carried by hand to the guns—a particularly arduous task.

Crossing, as it were, the enemy was at this time well on the starboard bow, but firing was continued until the distance was over 9,000 yards, the maximum range of the Carmania's guns. Owing to his superior speed and a slight divergence between the courses, the distance was gradually increasing all the time, and at 1.30 he was out of range. His list had now visibly increased, and his speed began to diminish, probably on account of the inrush of water through his coaling ports. It was surmised that there had not been sufficient time to secure these properly, for he had evidently been coaling at the time she arrived upon the scene.

Towards the end the Cap Trafalgar's fire had begun to slacken, though one of her guns continued to fire to the last, in spite of the fact that she was out of range. It became patent that she was doomed, and her every movement was eagerly watched through field-glasses for some minutes by those not occupied in quenching the fire. Suddenly the great vessel heeled right over; her funnels being almost parallel to the surface of the sea, looked just like two gigantic cannon as they pointed towards the Carmania; an instant later she went down by the bows, the stern remaining poised in mid-air for a few seconds, and then she abruptly disappeared out of sight at 1.50 P.M., the duel having lasted an hour and forty minutes.

There were no two opinions about the good fight she had put up, and all were loud in their praise of the gallant conduct of the Germans.

One of the enemy's colliers was observed approaching this scene of desolation in order to pick up survivors, some of whom had got away from the sinking ship in her boats. The collier had been flying the United States ensign, evidently as a ruse, in the hope that the Carmania might be induced to let her pass without stopping her for examination. It was, however, impossible to interfere with her owing to the fire that was still raging in the fore part of the ship. This kept our men at work trying to get it under, and necessitated keeping the ship running before the wind, the direction of which did not permit of approaching the spot in order to attempt to pick up survivors.

Smoke was now seen away to the northward, and the signalman reported that he thought he could make out the funnels of a cruiser. As the Cap Trafalgar, before sinking, had been in wireless communication with some German vessel, it was apprehended that one might be coming to her assistance. As the Carmania was totally unfit for further action, it was deemed advisable to avoid the risk of another engagement, so she steamed off at full speed in a southerly direction.

As soon as the collier and all that remained of the wreckage of the Cap Trafalgar was lost to view the gallant Cunarder was turned to the north-westward in the direction of the anchorage. She was unseaworthy, nearly all her navigational instruments and all the communications to the engines were destroyed, making the steering and navigation of the ship difficult and uncertain. When wireless touch was established, the Cornwall was called up and asked to meet and escort her in. But as she had only just started coaling she asked the Bristol to take her place. The next day the Bristol, which was in the vicinity, took the Carmania along until relieved the same night by the Cornwall, which escorted her on to the base, where temporary repairs were effected.

One of the enemy's shells was found to have passed through three thicknesses of steel plating without exploding, but in spite of this it set fire to some bedding which caused the conflagration under the fore bridge. Where projectiles had struck solid iron, such as a winch, splinters of the latter were to be seen scattered in all directions. The ship was hit seventy-nine times, causing no fewer than 304 holes.

There were 38 casualties. Five men were killed outright, 4 subsequently died from wounds, 5 were seriously wounded and 22 wounded—most of the latter were only slightly injured. All the casualties occurred on deck, chiefly among the guns' crews and ammunition supply parties. No one below was touched, but a third of those employed on deck were hit.

The following remarks may be of interest, and are taken from the author's letters, written on September 16th, after having been shown over the Carmania:

"When I went on board this morning, I was greatly struck by the few fatal casualties considering the number of holes here, there, and everywhere. Not a single part of the upper deck could be crossed without finding holes. A remarkable fact was that only one officer, Lieutenant Murray, R.N.R., was hurt or damaged in any way, although the officers were in the most exposed positions, and the enemy's point of aim appeared to be the fore bridge.

"They had only three active service ratings on board; some of the gunlayers were old men, pensioners from the Navy.

"One of the senior officers told me that the first few rounds made him feel 'a bit dickey,' but that after that he took no notice of the bigger shells, though, curiously enough, he thoroughly objected to the smaller pom-poms which were 'most irritating.' He added that the men fought magnificently, and that the firemen worked 'like hell.' As flames and smoke from the fire on deck descended to the stokeholds by the ventilators instead of cool air, the states of things down below may easily be imagined.

"One chronometer was found to be going in spite of the wooden box which contained it having been burnt.

"The deeds of heroism were many.

"I liked the story of the little bugler boy, who had no more to do once the action had commenced, so he stood by one of the guns refusing to go under cover. As the gun fired he shouted: 'That's one for the blighters!' And again: 'There's another for the beggars—go it!' smacking the gunshield the while with his hand.

"Again one of the gunlayers, who lost his hand and also one leg during the engagement, insisted upon being held up when the German ship sank, so as to be able to cheer. I talked to him, and he waggled his stump at me quite cheerily and said, 'It was well worth losing an arm for.'

"It is good to feel that the spirit of our forefathers is still active in time of need."