CHAPTER XXXV.
NAVAL RAIDS ON THE EAST COAST OF ENGLAND.
Every British boy and girl remembers Campbell's stirring lines:--[184]
"Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain waves, Her home is on the deep."
In these days of fast warships, aeroplanes, and airships, we can no longer say that "Britannia needs no bulwarks, no towers along the steep." While it is probably true that no invasion of Great Britain could be successful while the British Navy remains undefeated, it is likewise true that the Navy in war time cannot guarantee that an enemy with bases on the North Sea will not be able to make sudden swoops upon certain parts of the British coast. During the darkness of night or amidst the obscurity of fog, fast warships can dash across the North Sea, turn their guns on seaside towns for a short time, and then hurry back to the safety of their own waters before a British fleet can catch them. Aeroplanes and airships can also fly across by day and drop bombs on coast towns by night. Of course, such attacks can never decide the war. At the best they can only cause panic and spread dismay amongst the people. The British, however, are not easily frightened or dismayed. Those who know the British temper best will tell you that such naval raids and air attacks can only make our people more determined than ever to defeat the enemy.
Perhaps you think that the Navy ought to protect coast towns from sudden raids. You must remember that the business of the Navy is to destroy the fleets of the enemy, and that it must always be ready to give battle whenever occasion offers. Were our warships to be strung out along the coast for the protection of towns, they would be an easy prey; they would be quite unable to concentrate rapidly in order to meet the enemy when he came out in strength or to fall upon him in the open sea on his way to or from an attack on our coasts.
During the month of October, when the German guns thundering against Ypres could be heard across the Channel, we began to prepare seriously against raids and even invasion. Mine fields were laid along the threatened shores, and within easy reach of all possible landing-places Yeomanry and Territorials were stationed, trenches were dug, wire entanglements were erected, and anti-aircraft guns were mounted. Over and over again there were false alarms that the enemy were coming. In the early days of November he made his first appearance.
Late on the afternoon of 2nd November eight German warships steamed out of the mouth of the Elbe, and cleared for action, ready for a descent upon the east coast of England. Probably some of the many German spies who then swarmed in the eastern counties had reported that the coast was clear, and that a sudden swoop had every prospect of success. The squadron consisted of the _Seydlitz_, the _Moltke_, and the _Von der Tann_, battle cruisers; the _Bluecher_ and the _Yorck_, armoured cruisers; and the _Kolberg_, the _Graudenz_, and the _Strassburg_, light cruisers. All but the _Yorck_ could steam 25 knots an hour, and the battle cruisers mounted 11-inch guns. Early on the morning of the 3rd they ran through the nets of a fishing fleet about eight miles east of Lowestoft, and sighted an old coast patrol boat, the _Halcyon_. Shots were fired at her, but she managed to get away unpursued, with her wireless apparatus, bridge and funnel damaged, and one man wounded.
By eight in the morning the German ships were ten miles off Yarmouth, and had begun to aim their guns at the wireless station and the naval air station. Their shells ploughed the beach or plumped harmlessly into the sea. For a quarter of an hour they kept up their cannonade without doing any damage. Then they retired, and while doing so threw out mines to prevent pursuit. Later in the day a British submarine, D5, ran on one of these mines and was blown up. Before the voyage ended the engineer was hoisted on his own petard.[185] The _Yorck_ collided with another of the mines, and went to the bottom with all her crew.
The destruction of von Spee's squadron off the Falkland Islands aroused much anger and bitterness in Germany, and many Germans loudly complained that their great and expensive fleet did nothing but skulk in its ports. Stung by these reproaches, and eager to avenge the defeat in the Southern Seas, the German naval authorities now prepared a raid upon the Yorkshire coast. The distance between Heligoland and Scarborough is about 320 miles. A ship leaving Heligoland at five in the evening, and steaming between 20 and 25 knots an hour, can easily reach Scarborough about eight in the morning, spend an hour in shelling the town, and be back again at its base before midnight.
On the evening of 15th December, seven days after the Battle off the Falkland Islands, a German raiding force steamed westward from Heligoland. We do not yet know exactly what ships were included in it, but probably Rear-Admiral Funke had with him most of the vessels which took part in the former raid, as well as the _Derfflinger_. Before daybreak, when a thick, cold mist lay low on the coast, the squadron arrived off the mouth of the Tees. There the forces were divided. The _Derfflinger_ and the _Von der Tann_, with another vessel, probably the _Bluecher_, were sent north against the Hartlepools; while two light cruisers, along with, probably, the _Seydlitz_ and the _Graudenz_, sailed south against Scarborough.
According to the laws of war, which Germany has undertaken to recognize, unfortified towns may not be bombarded. Nobody in his senses could possibly call Scarborough a fortified town. On a green promontory there are the picturesque ruins of a castle, now crumbling to decay, and formerly there was a battery below it. But when the German ships appeared off Scarborough, its only weapon of defence was an old 60-pounder Russian gun captured in the Crimea, and sent to the town as an interesting relic. True, there was a wireless station on a hill behind the town, and some battalions of the new army were in the neighbourhood. Otherwise the Germans had not the shadow of an excuse for attacking Scarborough.
A few minutes before eight o'clock, when the all-the-year-round bathers were taking their morning dip, four strange warships were seen looming through the mist, and a few moments later the booming of guns was heard. Shells began to crash on the coastguard station and in the castle grounds, and shortly afterwards the ships steamed in front of the town to within five hundred yards of the shore. Quite unmolested, they proceeded to bombard every large object within sight. The Grand Hotel was struck by three shells; churches, public buildings, and hospitals--one of them flying the Red Cross flag--were hit, and large numbers of private houses were wrecked. Many shells were directed against the wireless station and the gas works.
For forty minutes the bombardment continued, and probably some five hundred shots were fired. Eighteen persons, chiefly women and children, were killed, and about seventy were wounded. One house was struck by a shell which glanced off a railway bridge about twenty yards distant. The whole place crumpled up as though struck by a giant's hammer, and a child of nine, another of five, the mother, and a soldier son, were instantly killed, while the father and another son were severely wounded. The number of narrow escapes was great. In some cases roofs were torn off and walls crushed in, yet the occupants remained unharmed. By a quarter to nine all was over, and the hulls of the raiding vessels disappeared round the castle promontory.
* * * * *
Some fifteen miles north of Scarborough is the pleasant seaside resort of Whitby, built on both sides of the estuary of the little river Esk. Those of you who have spent your holidays in the town will remember the red-tiled cottages of the fishermen, the gray walls of the quays and houses, the little bridge, and the ships sailing up the river at high tide. Most of the town is on the West Cliff, and across the river, on a high, treeless headland, are the roofless ruins of an abbey on the site of an older monastic building, which has always been regarded as the cradle of English song. It was on this spot that the first English poem composed in England flowed from the lips of Caedmon, a humble man who, in the seventh century, tended the cows and slept in the byre of the monastery, which was then under the rule of the abbess Hilda. For this reason Whitby is sacred all the world over to lovers of English literature. This quiet seaside place, without a vestige of fortification, was now to receive a visit of destruction from the sailors of a nation which has always professed to reverence art, learning, and literature.
About nine o'clock the coastguard at Whitby saw through the haze two warships rapidly steaming up from the south. Ten minutes later they began firing at the coastguard station on West Cliff, where many townsfolk gathered to watch the bombardment, which continued for a quarter of an hour. Some of the shots damaged the coastguard station, destroyed the western gateway of the ancient abbey on the East Cliff, and wrecked a number of private houses. Shells fell at Ruswarp, a mile inland, and damaged a school at Meadowfield. Happily, the scholars, who had just begun their morning lessons, were unhurt. In all, three persons were killed and two were injured. After the bombardment the cruisers turned northwards, and were quickly lost to view in the haze.
* * * * *
Meanwhile the other division had visited the Hartlepools, which stand on Tees Bay, to the north of the wide estuary of the Tees. West Hartlepool and Hartlepool proper are really one town, with important docks and shipbuilding yards, which at this time were busily engaged on Government orders. The port is defended by two small batteries of 6-inch guns, so the Germans were able to say that they were attacking a fortified place. West Hartlepool had no defence whatever--it was without a single gun. There were some companies of the new army in the town, and in the bay a gunboat, a destroyer, and a submarine were stationed.
About the time when the bombardment of Scarborough began this British flotilla encountered the _Derfflinger_, the _Von der Tann_, and the _Bluecher_ about eight miles from the coast, on the north side of the peninsula on which Old Hartlepool stands. The British flotilla was, of course, hopelessly outclassed by the German cruisers, but with great gallantry it tried to close in and torpedo the enemy. Shots were exchanged, and the British patrol vessels were obliged to run for safety, with some five men killed and twenty-two wounded. The German cruisers now approached within 2ΒΌ miles of the shore, and their guns opened fire. At once the two batteries, which were manned by Territorials of the Durham Garrison Artillery, who had never before fired a shot in anger, engaged the German ships with the greatest gallantry, and fought like veterans; but their 6-inch guns could not cope with the 8-inch and 11-inch guns of the enemy. Shells from the German warships burst in and around the "Heugh" battery, and killed several men.
The _Bluecher_ now engaged the batteries while the other vessels moved farther north, shelled Old Hartlepool, and fired over the peninsula at West Hartlepool and the docks. Both the shore batteries claimed to have made hits. The streets of the old town suffered greatly; many houses and the gas works were destroyed, churches, hospitals, workhouses, factories, schools, and private houses were struck, and one of the shipbuilding yards was damaged. The docks, however, were untouched, though seven ships in them were injured. The streets were full of people when the bombardment began, and little children going to school and mothers with babies in their arms were killed. The total death-roll was 119, including nine men of the King's forces, and over four hundred persons were injured. Some six hundred houses were damaged or destroyed.
At 8.50 the fire ceased, and the cruisers disappeared, throwing out mines to prevent pursuit. That night three steamers making for the port struck some of these mines, and went down, with much loss of life.
The temper of the townsfolk was admirable. There were confusion, of course, and some panic, but for the most part the people remained calm and collected. The girls at the Hartlepool Telephone Exchange, for example, worked on steadily through the cannonade. The moment the danger was over the work of rescue and relief was begun, and the ordinary business of the day was resumed. It is said that one old lady, hearing the crash of the bursting shells, asked what was happening. When she was told, she remarked, "Hey! is it only Germans? I was frightened it was thunder!" Many of the little children who had been injured by the bursting shells or by the fall of houses showed wonderful courage in their agony.
Between nine and ten o'clock on that December morning the German vessels came together again, and started on their homeward voyage. Unhappily they managed to escape, but only by the skin of their teeth. Before the first shell was fired our Grand Fleet knew that the German squadron was off the Yorkshire coast, and immediately two battle cruisers and half a dozen battleships were sent off to engage the enemy. The fog, however, thickened as they ran south, until it stretched across the waters in a series of belts. Nevertheless the battle cruisers came within eight miles of the German vessels, which at once changed course. Just when it seemed that they were at our mercy the fog grew denser, and in the obscurity they made good their escape.
Though the German warships had escaped, they had certainly suffered. The captain of the _Bluecher_ afterwards confessed that he had ten killed and twenty wounded, and two guns put out of action. The _Von der Tann_ probably suffered even more severely, and the _Seydlitz_ did not go scot-free.
When the news reached the Fatherland that a German squadron had bombarded English coast towns and had returned in safety there was great rejoicing. Soon, however, America and other neutral nations began to express their horror that undefended towns should have been attacked, and the Germans tried to excuse themselves by declaring that they had only attacked fortified places and an important naval signal station. As you know, the only town of the three with a semblance of defence is Hartlepool. As a matter of fact, the Germans simply killed unarmed and peaceful townsfolk in order to terrify the British people, and convince them of the hopelessness of continuing the struggle with Germany. The only result was to send a flock of recruits to the colours, and to heap further disgrace on the German Government. Mr. Winston Churchill summed up the situation exactly: "Whatever feats of arms the German Navy may hereafter perform, the stigma of the baby-killers of Scarborough will brand its officers and men while sailors sail the seas."
[Footnote 184: From _Ye Mariners of England_.]
[Footnote 185: A proverb meaning caught in his own trap. The petard was a kind of bomb employed for blowing open gates, etc.]