All three went below and soon the D-16 sank from sight.
There was no further incident as the D-16 wended her way along. She reached Dover Harbor without difficulty, where Lord Hastings put in to replenish his supply of coal and food. Here he also filed his report to the Admiralty. Upon the morning of the following day, the submarine pointed her nose up the English Channel toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Once upon the broad expanse of the Atlantic the D-16 turned her prow southward and ran down the coast of France at full speed, finally emerging into the sunny waters of the Mediterranean.
“I believe,” said Lord Hastings, “that, on our way to the Dardanelles, we might run into the Adriatic and see what success the French fleet is having with the Austrians.”
“Good,” said Frank. “Ever since we left there I have been anxious to get back for a day or two.”
“Suits me, too,” declared Jack.
Accordingly the submarine, instead of going straight to the allied fleet off the Dardanelles, swerved at the entrance of the Adriatic, and soon was among the French fleet gathered there.
The blockade of the Austrian fleet in the Adriatic, up to this time, had been maintained with all vigilance, and in spite of several attempts of the enemy to run the blockade, they were still bottled up. What attempts they had made had been defeated with heavy losses, and it seemed that there would not be another.
There was no denying the fact that the French fleet was superior to that of the Austrians, but it was still something of a mystery to naval authorities why the Austrians did not venture forth to give battle.
True, they had done this once in the earlier stages of the war, assisted by four Zeppelin dirigibles, but they had been driven back after several of their most powerful ships had been sunk and the dirigibles hurled into the sea. After that the Austrians made no more attacks in force, but confined their operations to raids by single ships, one or two of which had been successful enough to dispose of one or two French battleships, or cruisers.