Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-04-11

fash Of sound occasionsd By the removal
OF the particles of the object aimed at.
and the subsequent roa- of wind or fall
of water.
As each motor bomb dropped into the
channel, dense cloud appeared high in
tho air, above q roaring, Settling cal
dron. followed out of the waters and out
of the very bottom Of the channel. Into
this chasm the cloud quickly came down.
condensed into q vast body of water.
which fell, with the roar of cyclone,
into the dreadful abyss from which it
had been torn, before the Kissing walls
of the great hollow had half filled it with
their sweeping surges. The piled up
mass Of the redundant water was still
sending its maddened pillows tossing and
writhing in every direction toward their
normal level, when another bomb was
discharged; another surging abyss ap-
pearcd, another roar of wind and water
was heard, and another mountain Of
furious pillows uplfted itself in n storm
of spray and foam, raging that it had
found its place usurped.
Slowly turning, the repcller discharged
bomb after bomb, building up out of the
very sea Itself barrier against It's enc
mics. Under these laundering cata-
racts, born in an instant, and coming
down all at once in plunging storm;
into these abysses, with walls of water
and floors of cleft and shivered rocks;
through this wide belt of raging turmoil,
thrown into new frenzy after the dis
charge of every bomb-po vessel, no tor.
pedo, could pass.
The air driven off in every direction
by tremendous and successive concus-
sions came rushing back in shricking
gales, which tore up tho waves into
binding foam. For miles in every d.
rection the sea swelled and upheaved
into great peaked waves, the repeller
rising upon these almost high enough to
look down into the awful chasms which
her bombs were making. A torpedo
boat, caught in one of the returning
gales, was hurled forward almost on her
beam ends until she was under the edge
of one Of the vast masses Of descending
water. The food which. from even the
outer limits Of this falling sea, poured
upon and into the unlucky vessel ncarly
swamped her, and when she was swept
back by the rushing waves into less
stormy waters, her officers and crew
leaped into their boats and deserted her.
By rare good fortune their boats were
kept afoat in the turbulent cea until
they reached the nearest torpedo vessel.
Five minutes aftcrward small but
carefully aimed motor bomb struck the
nearly swamped vessel, and with the
roar Of all her own torpedoes she passed
into nothing.
The British vice admiral had carefully
watched the repeller through his glass,
and he noticed that simultaneously with
the appearance Of tho cloud in the air,
produced by the action Of the motor
bombs. there were two puffs of black
smoke from the repeller. These were
signals to the crabs to notify them that
motor gun had been discharged. and
thus to provide against accidents in case
a bomb should fail to act. One puff sig
nified that bomb had been discharged
to the north; two. that it had conc east
ward, and so on. If, therefore, a crab
should see signal of this kind, and per.
ceive no signs of the action of bomb il
would be careful not to approach tho re-
peller from the quarter indicated. It is
true that in case Of the failure of bomb
to act, another bomb would be dropped
upon the same spot, but the instructions
of the war syndicate provided that every
possible precaution should be taken
against accidents.
OF course the vice admiral did not I'M.
derstand these signals, nor did he know
that they were signals. but he knew that
they accompanied tic discharge of a
motor gun. Once he noticed that there
was short cessation in the hitherto con.
slant succession of water avalanches. and
during this lull he had seen two puffs
from the rcpcller. and the destruction, at
the same moment, Of the deserted torpedo
boat 1t was. therefore, plain enough to
him that If motor bomb could DO placed
so accurately upon one torpedo boat, and
with such terrible result, other bombs
could quite es easily be discharged upou
tho other torpedo boats which formed
the advanced line Of the feet. When
the barrier Of storm and cataract again
began to stretch itself in front of the
repeller, he knew that not only was it
impossible for the torpedo boats to send
their missives through this raging tur-
MOL, but that each of these vessels was
itself in danger of instantaneous destruc-
ton.
Unwilling, therefore. to expose his
vessels to profitless danger, the vice
admiral ordered the torpedo boats to re-
tire from the front. and the whole line
Of them proceeded to point north Of the
fleet, where they lay to.
When this had been done tho repcller
ceased the discharge Of bombs, but the
sea was still hcaving and tossing after
tho storm. when a dispatch boat brought
orders from tho British admiralty to the
Tag ship. Communication between the
British fleet and tho shore, and con-
sequently London, had been constant.
and all that had occurred had been
quickly made known to the admiralty
and the government. The orders how
received BY the vice admiral were to the
effect that It was considered judicious to
discontinue the conflict for the day, and
that he and his whole fleet should return
70 Portsmouth to receive further orders.
In issuing these commands the British
government was actuated simply BY mo
tives Of humanity and common sense.
Tho British feet was thoroughly pro-
pared for ordinary naval warfare, but
ON enemy had inaugurated another kind
OF naval warfare for which It was not
prepared. It was therefore decided to
withdraw the ships until they should bs
prepared for the new kind Of warfare. To
allow ironclad after ironclad to be djsa-
bled and Get adrift, to subject every ship |
IN the feet to the danger of instantaneous
destruction. and all this without the |
possibility OF inflicting injury upon tho |
enemy. would not be bravery; it would |
DO stupidity. II was surely possible to |
devise o means for destroying the seven |
hostile ships now in British waters
Until action for this end could be taken.
1t was the part Of wisdom for the British
navy to confine itself to the protection Of |
British ports.
When the fleet began to move toward
tho 1slc OF Wight the six crabs, which
bad been lying quietly among and under
tho protection Of their enemies, with
drew southwark. and making q slight
circuit. joined the repeller.
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