By this time they had observed the Calder's approach; but, content that they had been seen, the exhausted men engaged in no demonstration of welcome. They sat listlessly, with their salt-rimmed eyes fixed upon their rescuers.
At a great risk of crushing the men in the water, the destroyer closed. The "Carley" was secured and brought alongside, and the work of transferring the survivors commenced. Without assistance the majority would never have been able to gain the Calder's deck, so pitiful was their condition owing to a night's exposure to the cold.
They were British seamen, but Sefton forbore to question them until they had received attention from the hard-worked Dr. Stirling, and been supplied with food and drink from the already sadly-depleted stores.
When the men had recovered sufficiently to relate their adventures, they told a typical story of British pluck and heroism. They were part of the crew of the destroyer Velocity, and had taken part in a night attack upon von Hipper's squadron.
In the midst of the mêlée a hostile light cruiser, tearing at 27 knots, rammed the Velocity, cutting her completely in twain just abaft the after engine-room bulkhead. Swallowed up in the darkness, the stern portion of the destroyer floated for nearly ten minutes before it foundered. Of what happened to the remaining and larger part of the vessel the survivors had no definite knowledge, although some were under the impression that it was towed away under fire by another destroyer.
Left with sufficient time to cut away a "Carley", the remnant of the Velocity's crew found themselves adrift, with the still engaging vessels steaming farther and farther away.
Without food and almost destitute of clothing, for in anticipation of a swim the men had taken off the remainder of their already scanty "fighting-kit", their position was a precarious one. The rising seas threatened to sweep them from the over-crowded raft, while the bitterly cold night air numbed their limbs. Yet, with the characteristic light-heartedness of the British tar, the men passed the time in singing rousing choruses, even the wounded joining in.
At daybreak they were pretty well exhausted. No vessel was in sight. They were without food and water, and unable to take any steps to propel their unwieldy, heavily-laden raft in any direction.
Presently a large German battle-cruiser loomed through the mist. The Huns must have had a bad attack of nerves, for, contrary to all the dictates of humanity, they let fly a dozen quick-firers at the raft. Possibly they mistook the low-lying object for a submarine. Fortunately the shells flew wide.
Then, to the surprise of the remnant of the )Velocity's* crew, the German ship suddenly heaved her bows clear of the water and disappeared in a great smother of foam and a cloud of smoke.