CHAPTER XXIV
UNDER THE SEA AGAIN
"I have not yet told the men what I propose to do," Captain
Nicholson informed the boys, ass they made their way aboard the
Y-3.
Captain Nicholson introduced the lads to the man at the helm.
"Old Jansen," he said with a flourish of his arm.
The boys acknowledged this introduction, and Old Jansen touched his cap.
"Jansen," said the commander, "we are going to attack the Turkish battleships at the mouth of the Euphrates."
The old man let out a siren-like yell, and turned crimson all over his pink and white face.
Captain Nicholson turned the submarine over to him, and, followed by the two lads, made his way below.
"I never knew eighteen throats could make so much noise," said
Frank to Jack, after the crew had been informed of their project.
And it was indeed a terrific noise the men made when they learned they were about to go into action.
"The 'subs' aren't like the big ships," Captain Nicholson explained. "With such a small crew I know the men personally, and I know I can count on each and every one of them, particularly Old Jansen, and Brown, the gunner's mate. I need not caution the engine-room crew for special watchfulness. Every oiler aft knows a warm bearing would condemn him forever in the eyes of his shipmates."
A few moments more and the submarine was racing along toward the mouth of the Euphrates, where the enemy was known to be. Just as dusk was setting in, Brown, the gunner's mate, reported an aeroplane to leeward. Captain Nicholson, Jack and Frank, who stood on the bridge, could just make it out with binoculars.
"I hate to use any electricity out of my batteries now," said
Captain Nicholson, "for it is likely to be very precious later.
However, I don't want to run chances of being discovered. We'll
dive."
The three made their way below. The entrance was hermetically closed, and soon the tanks were being filled. A moment later the Y-3 began to submerge.
At a depth of 60 feet Captain Nicholson trimmed down, and f or an hour the vessel ran along at eight knots, the commander wishing to make sure of complete darkness before coming up.
"How do you manage to keep your course under water, captain?" asked Frank.
"Simple," was the reply. "Gyroscopic compass."
At that moment the man on watch at the bell receiver reported the sound of a ship's propellers above. Captain Nicholson turned his place at the periscope over to his first officer and listened himself.
The steady rhythmic beat was well off the port bow.
At Captain Nicholson's command, the main ballast tank was emptied until the conning tower was well awash. Then the commander, Frank and Jack went up to have a look around, for the airship, as well as for the vessel.
"Those sky pilots," said the commander, "maintain that they can see us and get us with bombs at any depth. However, I see nothing of our friend. Looks like he had lost his bet this time."
They returned below, and Frank put his eye to the periscope.
Almost instantly he made out the outline of large vessel of some kind. He reported this to Captain Nicholson, who brushed him quickly aside and peered into the periscope himself.
"Merchant vessel of some kind," he said aloud. "We haven't time to fool with him now. May be able to get him as we come back."
Once more now the three made their way to the bridge. The clouds had gradually thickened and it was very dark.
"I wish it would rain," mused Captain Nicholson, "or that we would at least have a dull sunrise, for it will be better suited for our work. Brown says he's sure we'll be favored with suitable weather because of the righteousness of our cause; but I am pinning my faith to the barometer, which has already fallen two points."
"Well, I hope everything goes all right," said Jack.
"It will," said the commander grimly. "You can bank on that, son. Might as well give the men a little rest," he added.
He poked his head down and called out:
"Turn in and pipe down!"
Then the commander and the two lads stood watch on the bridge.
At 2 o'clock, according to the captain's reckoning, the submarine was well off the mouth of the Euphrates.
"Can we find our way in by the navigation lights?" asked Frank.
"Not much," replied Captain Nicholson. "We'll stand off and on near where I place the shore line till we have daylight enough to see what we are about. Anyhow, I don't suppose there will be any lights, or if there are, they will likely be misplaced, to lure somebody to death."
Now the commander went below and bent over the charts for perhaps the hundredth time.
"About two miles off yet!" he muttered.
The chart gave the bottom on the sandbar in front of the entrance as shell and hard sand.
"Lucky," Captain Nicholson told the boys when he returned to the bridge. "This will allow us to run with very little under our keel in no fear of rocks."
"Is it very deep along here?" asked Jack.
"No," replied the commander. "That's what worries me. The chart shows a bare six and a half fathoms over the bar, continuing slightly deeper until it sheers off into the deep basin that is the inner harbor."
"And how much water does the Y-3 draw?"' asked Frank.
"From the top of her periscope to the bottom of her keel," replied Captain Nicholson, "the Y-3 displaces exactly 20 feet. It will be ticklish work to navigate in those six and a half fathoms (39 feet) without being drawn down by suction and striking bottom so hard as to rebound up to the surface, where the Turks are sure to see us."
At 4:30 o'clock in the morning there was light enough to make out the small gray fort guarding the entrance to the Euphrates. The submarine did not lie more than a mile away.
"It's up to us to get out of sight before the fort watchers see us," said Captain Nicholson.
Being satisfied of how far his run should be and verifying his course by the compass while still on the surface, Captain Nicholson quickly ordered the vessel trimmed down to a depth of 60 feet, and then started forward at about four knots—as low a speed as was consistent with good handling.
"Lucky it's high tide; just beginning to ebb," said Captain Nicholson. "We'll find all the water on the bar that is ever there."
There was to be no more sleep now on the Y-3. From the gunner's mate down every man of the crew was on the qui vive.
As the submarine neared where the bar was charted, it came up till the pressure gauge showed only ten feet of water above.
"Ten feet to hide us from the forts' lookouts and guns," explained Captain Nicholson.
Suddenly there was a jar that stirred all on board off their feet. There was a sensation of sinking. As previously instructed, the diving rudder man immediately gave the submarine up-rudder. Captain Nicholson ordered full speed ahead, although he knew it would mean that the vessel's periscope would show, giving the enemy a good look at the vessel.
"If we hadn't come up," said Captain Nicholson, "we would have been sucked down solidly into the sand, and good-bye to our chances at those men-o-war inside."
He was silent a moment and then added: "This is what I call tough luck. We shall have to porpoise."
In a second the submarine was again down in the deep basin beyond the bar. The vessel hadn't been up long enough for the commander even to get a look around.
"Here's where we get busy," said Captain Nicholson. "It's up to us to rush the work along before the men in the fort, who must have seen us, can take measures against us."
The submarine ran along at a speed of ten knots at a depth of forty feet and in almost no time at all had covered the mile from the entrance to where the men-of-war lay.
"Now's the time," said Commander Nicholson.
Quickly the torpedoes, 18-inch superheaters, were placed in the tubes. It only remained to arise, sight the enemy and fire.
Quickly the little vessel rose until her periscope gave the commander a view of the first Turkish cruiser. The commander gave the word for a quick rise and the submersion, and took a firm grip on the periscope.
Through the spray that broke, the keen eyes of the commander made out the form of his first target. There, on the port side of the submarine, was a large Turkish cruiser, stern to.
Midstream, to starboard, lay a light cruiser of the first class, and 800 yards up the basin, between the two, a small armored cruiser.
The flat country was thickly veiled with mist and a drizzling rain. A choppy sea added to the chances of making the first attack on the Turks unobserved.
Captain Nicholson steered a course straight to the starboard side of the first Turkish cruiser, to launch the torpedo just forward of amidships at a distance of about 300 yards.
The lookout on the cruiser had not picked up the submarine. Captain Nicholson saw an officer at the stern, sighting the fort with his glass. The Y-3 crept on unnoticed.
Suddenly a seaman on the forecastle of the cruiser made out the periscope of the submarine, waved his cap frantically and ran toward an officer.
All this, as it progressed, Captain Nicholson repeated to the lads, who stood just behind him.
Jack glanced at the range scale. It read 349 yards.
The cross wires of the periscope were on her middle funnel.
Captain Nicholson jerked the firing valve for No. 1 torpedo.
There was a hiss of air and a rush of water.
The first torpedo had been launched!