Peter went back to his work.
CHAPTER XXV
Seaplane and Submarine
Two hours after the shelling of Portsmouth by a Rioguayan submersible cruiser, Southampton was heavily bombarded, presumably by the same craft. Here, the firing was of a more concentrated nature, practically all the projectiles falling in the docks, although an obvious but unsuccessful attempt was made to destroy the Naval Ordnance Magazines at Marchwood. Southampton, however, escaped comparatively lightly—few of its prominent buildings were even damaged, and the toll of human life in the town itself was small. At the docks, too, the loss of life was not great, owing to most of the workers quickly finding cover which proved useful against anything but a direct hit.
Within thirty minutes of this bombardment came telegraphic reports that Plymouth and Devonport were under hostile fire.
The news had barely reached the Admiralty, when telegrams were pouring in from Manchester and Liverpool, reporting that both places had been shelled from an unknown type of craft that had appeared sixteen miles west by north of the Bar Lightship. In this case, the firing lasted only a couple of minutes or so, for on the appearance of an Isle of Man packet-boat the submarine hastily dived. That pointed to the fact that the crew of the submarine were evidently "jumpy", otherwise they would not have dived simply because of a small and unarmed steamer.
. . . . . . . . .
True to his promise, Brian Strong had a complete apparatus ready in the specified time. In the presence of a number of naval experts, the device was submitted for trials.
For the sake of secrecy, the apparatus was placed on the light cruiser Cariad, the vessel with the experts on board being ordered to proceed to a position twenty miles south-east of the Nab tower.