"Frank," said Jack, "go below and have a look at the engine room. Then find the quartermaster and see about provisions and fuel."
Frank also hurried away.
Sailing preparations aboard the Essex were made hurriedly and within less than an hour all was ready for departure. Meanwhile, crowds had collected ashore, upon learning that the Essex was about to set out in pursuit of the German undersea raiders.
Loud cheers split the air. Men and women waved their handkerchiefs. From a group of soldiers on the shore came expressions of good luck. In response to Jack's request, a pilot had been hurried aboard and now took the wheel.
"Half speed ahead," Jack ordered.
The water churned up ahead of the Essex, and she moved majestically toward the center of the stream.
Gradually the cheering died away in the distance, and the city of Newport News was lost to sight. In Hampton Roads again, the pilot was dropped in a small boat and rowed shoreward.
Frank took his place behind the helmsman and Jack rang for full speed ahead. At last the Essex was off in pursuit of the German submarines.
Meanwhile, an account of the activity of the enemy off the coats is in order. Besides the sinking of the first two freight vessels, which had been reported to the Navy Department by survivors who had reached shore in small boats, other vessels had been sent to the bottom. Most of these were freighters or small trading ships, including two sailing vessels. Some had been sunk off the New Jersey coast, others off the coasts of Delaware and Virginia.
In some cases the vessels attacked had attempted to flee, but they were quickly overhauled by the submarines, which, besides firing torpedoes into their hulls, shelled them with rapid fire guns and later attacked the small boats in which the crews sought to make the shore.