CHAPTER XXV

THE EMPIRE'S ORDEAL

IN the course of a few hours the officers and crew of the _Olive Branch_ were in possession of the state of affairs so far as it was possible for their English agent to impart information. Great things were taking place, events of momentous importance, yet with few exceptions the country was kept in ignorance of the initial disasters of the war.

A secret treaty had been contracted between three great European Powers, and so well were the terms of the understanding guarded that the British Foreign Office was absolutely unaware of the existence of any agreement between the countries concerned. Simultaneous "autumn manoeuvres" had been the means of the foregathering of a powerful combined fleet in the Atlantic, where, though away from the recognised trade routes, it was within twelve hours' steaming distance of the south coast of England.

At the same time most of the British warships under the supreme command of Sir Protheroe Hobbes, Admiral of the Fleet, were cruising off the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, while through unforeseen defects, an unprecedented number were under refit at the home ports. Several events, to which no one at the time attached the real importance, took place during the week preceding the outbreak of war.

A large British-owned vessel entering Portsmouth Harbour with a cargo of Norwegian granite for use on some of the dockyard works, ran aground opposite the Round Tower--the narrowest part of the mouth of the harbour. As she swung round broadside on to the strong flood tide there was an explosion amidships and the vessel sank in ten minutes, completely blocking up the fairway, and consequently "bottling up" six useful units of the British Navy.

On the same day a mysterious outrage took place in Scotland, the centre spans of the Forth Bridge being destroyed by some powerful explosive. This act was wrongly attributed to Anarchists, who had been extremely active of late. Though fortunately there was no loss of life entailed, the consequences were disastrous, since, until the debris was removed, the naval base of Rosyth was completely isolated.

The following afternoon the ambassador of the Triple Alliance left London, and hostilities, without a formal declaration of war, immediately broke out.

Under cover of darkness simultaneous attempts were made by airships upon the principal naval ordnance magazines of Great Britain. The attack upon Priddy's Hard Magazine failed, mainly through the initiative taken by a young lieutenant in charge of B Y aeroplane at Fort Blockhouse; but the enemy succeeded in destroying the magazines of Bedenham, Chattenden, and Bull Point, though in the last instance the airship dealing the blow was so crippled by the effect of the explosion that she was compelled to come to earth at Saltash, where her crew were immediately taken prisoners.

A small coasting steamer entering Plymouth Sound struck a submarine mine a few cables from the Mewstone, and sank with all hands. It was subsequently discovered that the channel on either side of the breakwater had been strewn with mines, so that ere a battleship or cruiser dare leave the Hamoaze the Sound had to be "swept" as far seaward as a line joining Rame Head and Wembury Point.

Meanwhile the fleet of the Triple Alliance--outnumbering Admiral Hobbes's command by no less than seven Dreadnoughts and super-Dreadnoughts, eleven armoured cruisers, and more than twenty ocean-going destroyers--sought to cut off the British fleet and compel it to give battle. Once the British fleet were destroyed the position of the Empire would be hopeless. Without landing a single hostile regiment her downfall would be only a matter of a few weeks; with her seaborne commerce captured or destroyed England would be starved into submission; the partition of the Empire would follow in due course.

The minute Admiral Hobbes heard by wireless of the outbreak of war, he issued orders for the fleet to steam at its greatest speed straight for the English Channel. A man of undoubted courage and skill, he never hesitated to count the cost; disregarding the disparity of force, he resolved to take the initiative and do his best to win a decisive action.

At daybreak on the day following the departure of the British fleet from Bantry Bay, two of the swift coastal destroyers signalled that the enemy's ships were standing northwest in quarter line.

Unfortunately this information, though correct, was not complete, as a strong division, in line ahead, was steaming parallel to that of the main fleet, though some fifteen miles to the south-west. Thus, should the British admiral of the fleet attempt to break the enemy's line--as he decided to do--he would have to run the risk of being raked by the guns of the powerful division lying hull down on his starboard side.

Admiral Bloch, in supreme command of the combined hostile fleets, had laid his plans carefully, but he had not reckoned with Captain Brookes, of the _Olive Branch_. Bloch it was who had planned the annihilation of the dreaded cruiser by means of a surprise night attack by one of the latest type of airships.

The crew of the airship had cabled news of the failure of the enterprise, but unfortunately for the enemy, owing to an error on the part of a Greek telegraph operator, the code word for "destroyed" was substituted for that signifying "escaped."

Consequently Admiral Bloch, imagining that all danger from that source was at an end, did not hesitate to meet the British fleet, well knowing that the latter, though powerful, was vastly inferior in numbers to his own.

Meanwhile the _Olive Branch_ was tearing across the Bay. Two hundred miles from Finisterre she overhauled a British transport homeward bound. This vessel she promptly warned of the danger ahead, and as the transport turned and made towards Gibraltar her sides were crowded with troops who cheered the formidable cruiser to the echo.

The defects to the _Olive Branch's_ electrical gear had been made good ere she passed Gibraltar; the 6in. shells were charged with their powerful explosive; magazines were opened and water-tight doors closed.

As far as was humanly possible the vessel under Captain Brookes's command was fit and ready for action.

At six bells the dull rumble of a terrific cannonade was heard away to the nor'-west. The van of Admiral Hobbes's fleet was in touch with the enemy.

It was a prolonged yet terrible encounter. The British fleet, advancing in line ahead in double columns, suffered severely as they received the concentrated fire of the hostile ships. It was a running fight at this stage, for Admiral Bloch's main division, relying on its superior numbers, was slowly retiring so as to subject its pursuers to a heavy cannonade at long range ere the second division, fresh for action, converged upon the flank of the British fleet.

In twenty minutes the _British Orion_ and _Thunderer_ were sunk, while the _Princess Royal_, _Vanguard_, _Inflexible_, and _Foudroyant_ had fallen out of line. In spite of their complicated system of water-tight doors they were leaking badly, their powerful centrifugal pumps being barely sufficient to cope with the inrush of water. The _Foudroyant_ in particular was in a deplorable condition, being battered entirely out of recognition.

The "lame ducks" must go. Admiral Hobbes could not hazard the rest of his fleet by standing by. The cripples were ordered to make their way as best they might for Haulbowline, trusting to luck to avoid the detached armoured cruisers of the hostile fleet.

In this running fight the enemy possessed a decided advantage in the fact that both torpedoes and mines could be employed, whereas the pursuing vessels were unable to use either.

Nor had they suffered lightly. The huge 20,000-ton battleship Kronprinz Gustave, her armoured sides shattered by the 13in. projectiles of the King George V., was slowly settling down by the head. The _Askoldin_ and _Trodet_--both regarded as formidable vessels--had already disappeared, while the _Styx_, _Vonderflack_, and _Gelion_ had dropped astern hopelessly crippled. These three vessels, finding themselves overhauled by the British fleet, surrendered at discretion. But Admiral Hobbes was not in a position to take possession of the disabled ships; all he could hope was that his own "lame ducks" would be able to complete the surrender.

Then with a terrific roar a small cruiser steaming about two cables' length on the quarter of the _Donetz_--Bloch's flagship--burst into a thousand fragments. Admiral Hobbes hailed this success with as much delight as if it had been the sinking of one of the enemy's super-Dreadnoughts, for the vessel had been recognised as the _Hekla_, a mine-layer of the most aggressive type.

Thus the losses on the side of the Triple Alliance outnumbered those of the British by one. This, Admiral Hobbes knew, was good, but not good enough. Should the action be continued with the same proportion of losses the allies would come out with a balance of eleven ships to the good--and that without taking into consideration the as yet invisible division of Vice-Admiral Neboff.

By noon the rival fleets, covering a front of eleven miles, were in the vicinity of the Lizard. The British commander hoped that some of the units left at Devonport might make a flank attack on the enemy. His wireless gear had been swept away, and consequently he was cut off from communication with the shore.

Then instead of the expected reinforcement one of the scouts came within signalling distance with the grave news that another hostile division was closing in on the British starboard quarter.

Half an hour later Admiral Neboff's division opened fire.

Admiral Hobbes realised that his position was hazardous in the extreme. Cornered between two powerful fleets he had either to beat an undignified retreat or to fight to the death. Quickly he made up his mind; he would hammer and be hammered as long as a single ship remained afloat.

At this juncture a grey cruiser, cutting through the water at an inconceivable speed, was seen approaching from the south-east. Eagerly, though hardly daring to hope, Admiral Hobbes watched her approach through his glass. As she passed within a mile of the partially disabled _Hertzog_ the foreigner imprudently let fly an 11in. shell. The mysterious cruiser returned shot for shot, but one only was sufficient. Like a cardboard box the _Hertzog_ appeared to crumple up, and amid a thick cloud of steam and smoke she disappeared beneath the waters.

"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the British admiral, fervently. "'Tis the _Olive Branch_."