Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-25


by tremendous and successive concus-
sions came rushing back in shrieking
gales, which tore up the waves into
binding foam. For miles in every di-
rection the sea swelled and upheaved
into great peaked waves, the repeller
rising upon these almost high enough to
look down into the awful chaslns which
her bombs were making. A torpedo
boat. caught in one of the returning
gales, was hurled forward almost on hen
beam ends until she was under the edge
of one of the vast masses of descending
water. The flood which, from even the
outer limits of this falling sea, poured
upon and into the unlucky vessel yearly
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 afioat in the turbulent rea until
they reached the nearest torpedo vessel.
Five minutes afterward 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,
md he noticed that simultaneously With
the appearance of the 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
bomb should fail to act. One puff sig
nified that bomb had been discharged
to the north; two, that it had gone east
ward, and SO on. If, therefore, crab
should see a signal of this kind, and per-
ceive no signs of the action, of bomb it
would be careful not to approach the re-
peller from the quarter indicated. 1t 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 the discharge of a
motor gun. Once he noticed that there
was short cessation in the hitherto con-
slant succession of water avalanches, ard
during this hull he had seen two puifs
from the repeller, and the destruction, at
.f a. 4 -
boat. 1t was. therefore, plain enough to
him that if motor bomb could be placed
so accurately upon one torpedo boat ard
with such terrible result, other bombs
could quite as easily be discharged upon
the other torpedo boats which formed
the advanced line Of the fleet. 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 destrac-
ton.
Unwilling, therefore. to expose his
vessels to prolitless 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 the repcller
ceased the discharge of bombs, but tie
sea was still heaving and tossing after
the storm, when dispatch boat brought
orders from the British admiralty to the
flag ship. Communication between the
British fleet and the 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 nov
received by the vice admiral were to tie
effect that it was considered judicious to
discontinue the conflict for the day, ard
that he and his whole feet should return
to Portsmouth to receive further orders.
In issuing these commands the British
government was actuated simply by mo-
tives of humanity and common sense.
The British fleet was thoroughly pre-
pared for ordinary naval warfare, but
an enemy had inaugurated another kind
of naval warfare for which it was not
prepared. 1t was therefore decided TO
withdraw the ships until they should be
prepared for the new kind of warfare. To
allow ironclad after ironclad to be disa-
bled and set adrift, to subject every ship
in the fleet to the danger of instantaneous
destruction, and all this without the
possibility of infiicting injury upon the
enemy, would not be bravery; it would
be stupidity. 1t was surely possible to
devise means for destroying the seven
hostile ships now in British waters.
Until action for this end could be taken,
it 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
the Isle of Wight the six crabs, which
bad been lying quietly among and under
the protection of their enemies, with
drew southwark, and making slight
circuit, joined the repeller.