Never before, not even in Armada days, and probably never again, could such a call come from the fleet in being to the fleet of merchantmen. The sailing ship has had many centuries of usefulness as a fighting ship and a cargo carrier, and if she is being gradually killed by the mechanical ship she is dying hard. Apparently in neither capacity has she quite finished her fascinating and illustrious history.
CHAPTER XIV
THE SUMMIT OF Q-SHIP SERVICE
It was on February 17, 1917, that Commander Gordon Campbell, still in command of Farnborough, now named Q 5, again sank a submarine, but in circumstances which, hid from publication at the time, sent a thrill through the British Navy and especially among those who had the good fortune to be serving in that area. The scene was again off the south-west Irish coast, and the enemy at the beginning of the month had commenced the unrestricted warfare portion of their submarine campaign. The Germans, as we have since learned, possessed at this date ninety-five submarines in addition to eight in the Baltic and thirty-one in the Mediterranean. The orders to their submarine captains were very drastic and left no uncertainty, and one of these commanding officers informed one of my friends after the war that unless they were successful in sinking plenty of shipping they soon were removed from their command.
The Master of the Collier “Farnborough”
Commander Gordon Campbell, V.C., D.S.O., R.N., taken on the bridge of the “Farnborough” (Q-5), disguised as a master mariner.
Q-ship “Farnborough”
The above picture shows her just as she appeared when she destroyed the U-83. The position of the after gun’s crew can just be seen abaft of where the sea is breaking over the stern.
To face p. 192