The Snow-Drop / A Holiday Gift

ions, and with a war-taught complement of officers and a half-taught complement of men. For a month the men had been given a queer but usef

their drill and the probable sequence of diving orders, without the work of the builders of the E boat being interfered with. Except in the dinner hour, or during the infrequent holidays, no drill could be carried out

rane, and at an order from the boat's Captain the securing wires and hemp hawsers splashed into the oily still water. The telegraph clanged decisively, and to an answering whirr and boil under her stern the boat moved slowly ahead towards the open basin entrance. She increased speed as she neared the narrow passage, and the whirling eddies of a flooding tide outside came in view. As her stem came out into the river she took a shar

n addition she carried an overseer of overseers-a Commander from the submarine Commodore's staff. He was present as schoolmaster, judge, and as friend to the Captain of the boat, and his job was one the Captain of the boat was not in the least envious of. The Captain knew that his crew were only partially trained, that he himself was new to E boats, and that the boat might not be all

of the enemy-far from it; it was to save her from the enthusiastic but misguided attentions of the multitudes of "Fritz-hunters" who drew no distinction between submarines of their own or the enemy's flag. As she neared the light-vessel, the submarine increased speed and some of the "yarning-party" on the bridge departed below down the conning-tower. The programme included a full-speed surface-trial which was to start from the light

orkman can live without a quid of tobacco in his cheek (in fact by the trials standard of some yards she was clean), but it was

rom the bow-gun before the dive, with the idea that if the gun-mounting was going to cause leaks through to the hull as a result of recoil, it should be given the chance to do it now instead of later when the boat was in enemy waters. A biscuit-tin was dropped, the boat circled round, and at a range of a hundred yards the gunlayer proceeded

de a pointing gesture with his thumb at the open conning-tower lid. The civilians, with a nervous straightening of bowler hats and several lingering looks at the sunlit sea and sky, clambered slowly below, and the Captain remained watching t

d and assisted his officers in their efforts to station the passengers in positions where they would be as much out of the way as possible, and would at the same time be comfortable enough to lose their de

ent valves indicated their opening with a snort and a roar of air, and the rush and gurgle of flooding tanks cut off the chatter of the passengers, as the clang of a closing breech-block brings silence to a gun's crew. A few seconds later the Captain spoke again. "Flood three and four-take her down." Each order was repeated by the First Lieutenant-an officer whose eyes seemed to note the doings

gle off now, coxswain." "Twenty feet, sir, horizontal." The coxswain sat on a low heavy music-stool facing another white-faced diving-gauge, his big brass hydroplane wheel moving a turn or two each way under his hand. "Pum

dy the p

mp-keep her u

sir-horizo

lose main line-c

sea. The watcher in the following destroyer saw the wake die down till it was a barely visible ripple, as-her trim correct-the Captain eased the boat's speed

crept slowly round, and as the depth increased the little spot of daylight thrown by the periscope eye-piece on to the pump-st

s her downward way was checked. "Keep her at that," he said. "Mr Ramage,

lane men tilted the bow slightly down again for further descent. At a hundred and twenty feet the order came for the motors to stop, and with failing headway the boat sank gently down. One or two men (naval as well as civilian) reached out a hand to grasp for support as they stood, for the moment before touching bottom is always one of slight uncertainty; for, however reliable the chart, it is yet possible to bounce roughly on these occasions

as the tank filled. The boat lay now as he intended her to do, bedded with negative buoyancy and with her bows well do

ish the idea of staying longer than was necessary at a hundred and thirty-six feet by gauge and with a pressure of sixty pounds to the

the Captain was called into consultation over it. For ten minutes more the two officers conversed and searched, then came leisurely forward again. "That

we're quite satisfied-quite...." The Commander, who throughout the dive had sat unmoving by the pe

pounds-Blow one a

alves. For five minutes the hissing and roaring continued, then at a shouted order the noise stopped. The First Lieutenant looked b

rises. Then I'm going to fill One and Two again and catch the trim before we break surface. She

ntee of good faith) and turned to the motor-room voice-pipe: "Slow ahead Port-half ahead Starboard"-a pause filled by a dry humming from right aft where the big motors purred. "Stop both-slow ahead Starboard-half astern Port"-anot

she began to level slightly, but the angle could not be taken off her in time,-the destroyer men had a vision of a grey conning-tower foaming ahead for a few seconds, surmounted by

e Bight, or we all go West one-time,-I think that'll do for the dive, though. She'll be tight as a drum when the firm