| I. | The Call of Duty Overseas | [1] |
| II. | “Lafayette, we are here!” | [29] |
| III. | At Sea with the Breton Patrol | [55] |
| IV. | Tragedies and Rescues | [76] |
| V. | When the Antilles went down | [101] |
| VI. | Admiral Wilson comes to Brest | [122] |
| VII. | Smashed by a Hurricane | [146] |
| VIII. | The Pleasant Interlude at Lisbon | [174] |
| IX. | Uncle Sam’s Bridge of Ships | [198] |
| X. | The Corsair stands by | [225] |
| XI. | In the Radio-Room | [251] |
| XII. | The Long Road Home | [266] |
| XIII. | Honorably Discharged | [289] |
| XIV. | The Ship’s Company | [296] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| The Corsair rescues the Crew of the Sinking Californian | [Frontispiece] |
| Admiral H. B. Wilson, commanding the U.S. Naval Forces in France | [4] |
| Commander Theodore A. Kittinger, U.S.N., commanding U.S.S. Corsair | [10] |
| Lieutenant Commander William B. Porter, later commanding U.S.S. Corsair, and Lieutenant Robert E. Tod, Navigator | [16] |
| Fitting the Corsair for the War Zone | [22] |
| Number Two Gun Crew on Watch | [26] |
| They are All Sea Dogs together | [26] |
| Some of the Officers and Crew, before leaving New York | [32] |
| With America’s First Convoy: Troop-Ships Henderson, Antilles, Momus, and Lenape | [38] |
| The Mine functions and a Lurking U-Boat would find it excessively Unhealthy | [38] |
| The Kind of “Gobs” the Country was proud of | [44] |
| The German Submarine was a Tiny Target even when on the Surface | [44] |
| Boatswain’s Mate Seger, from Passaic | [50] |
| Pharmacist’s Mate Feeley and Mess Attendant Martinez | [50] |
| Winning Boat Crew in Fourth of July Race with Aphrodite | [56] |
| “The Bridge Gang” | [56] |
| Starting the Swimming Race from a Mooring Buoy | [62] |
| Water Sports on the Fourth of July: The Race between Life-Rafts with Coal Shovels for Paddles | [62] |
| A Wet Day for the Deck Watch | [66] |
| French and Underhill are dolled up for the Camera | [66] |
| The Burning American Schooner Augustus Weld | [70] |
| From the Corsair’s Main-Top: The Convoy steams out | [70] |
| “Coal on the Corsair, Fill every bin. We work like hell, boys, Till it’s all in” | [74] |
| A French Fishing-Smack which dared the Ruthless Warfare | [78] |
| The S.S. Manto, which sped through the War Zone At Five Knots | [78] |
| A Group of Chief Petty Officers | [84] |
| A Liberty Party at Brest | [84] |
| The Gunner’s Mates and the Long Row of Depth Charges ready to plop over the Stern | [88] |
| Another View of the Mine Track, showing the Y Gun or Double Mortar | [88] |
| French Fishermen who were set adrift | [92] |
| The Castaways find a Hearty Welcome on the Corsair | [92] |
| Gunner’s Mates Barko and Moore, and a Depth Charge | [98] |
| Watching the Aphrodite go out on Patrol | [98] |
| Engineering Force of the Corsair | [102] |
| Lieutenant J. J. Patterson, Engineer Officer, and his Husky “Black Gang” | [102] |
| A Boat-Load of Survivors from the Antilles coming alongside | [106] |
| Naval Officers rescued from the Antilles, with General McNair, U.S.A. | [106] |
| The Antilles crowded with Troops on her Last Voyage to France | [110] |
| The Alcedo picks up the Antilles Survivors | [110] |
| The Corsair drops a Mine and shakes up Fritz | [114] |
| The Finland, just after she was torpedoed | [118] |
| Destroyer Preston, which was caught in the Hurricane and also found Refuge at Lisbon | [118] |
| Chief Yeoman Paulson | [122] |
| Gunner’s Mate Wiley | [122] |
| Bucking into the Winter Seas | [128] |
| She takes ’em aboard Green | [128] |
| The Ship’s Cooks and the Wardroom Steward | [134] |
| The Noble Job of peeling “Spuds” | [134] |
| Boatswain’s Mate Houtz in the Navy’s Storm Clothes | [140] |
| Swollen Sea, from the Forward Crow’s-Nest | [140] |
| A Letter from Home: Coaling Ship must wait | [144] |
| Carroll Bayne gets his Ensign’s Commission | [144] |
| How the Hurricane Seas pounded the Yacht: “The Poor Old Ship was a Mess” | [150] |
| What was left of the Emergency Wheel | [156] |
| When the Hurricane slapped the Windows | [156] |
| Assistant Engineer Hawthorn and his Watch | [160] |
| The Crew of Number Three Gun | [160] |
| Temporary Repairs, after the Hurricane | [164] |
| What the Forward Deck-House looked like while running for Lisbon | [164] |
| Cleaning up at Lisbon, after the Hurricane | [172] |
| Lisbon Harbor and the Tug that towed the Corsair to the Dockyard | [176] |
| The American Legation at Lisbon where the Corsair’s Crew found a Home | [176] |
| The Corsair in Drydock at Lisbon | [182] |
| At her Mooring Buoy, Brest | [182] |
| “Doc” Laub agrees that “this is the Life if you don’t weaken” | [188] |
| Coxswain Dave Tibbott waits with the Launch | [188] |
| The Cheery French Pilot, Lieutenant Mejeck | [194] |
| Chief Quartermaster Benton | [194] |
| The Home of the American Naval Officers’ Club in Brest | [200] |
| American Yachts clustered inside the Breakwater, Brest | [206] |
| The Faithful Wakiva, which was sunk in Collision | [212] |
| Big Transports in Brest Harbor | [212] |
| Chief Quartermaster Farr stands with Folded Arms and indicates that he has his Sea-Legs with him | [216] |
| Commander Kittinger says Good-Bye to Lieutenant Commander Porter as the Latter takes over the Command | [216] |
| Lieutenant Schanze, Ensign Gray, Lieutenant Commander Porter, Chief Engineer Hutchison, Commander Kittinger, and Lieutenant McGuire | [220] |
| At Rosyth: Lieutenant Nolan, Dr. Agnew, Commander Porter, Lieutenant McGuire, Ensign Acorn, Lieutenant Patterson, Ensign Wangerin, and Paymaster Erickson | [220] |
| Rolling out to find a Convoy | [226] |
| A Little Water on Deck | [226] |
| The Sinking Californian: Going, Going, Almost Gone! | [232] |
| Californian Survivors aboard the Corsair | [232] |
| A Mascot from the Californian, known as “The Mutt” | [238] |
| The Newfoundland Pup saved from the French Fishing Bark | [238] |
| The Dagfin, broken down and helpless. The Corsair stands by | [244] |
| Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet | [248] |
| H. A. Breckel, Chief Radio Operator | [256] |
| Electricians Swan and Plummer, of the highly Efficient Radio Gang | [256] |
| At the Emergency Wheel: Heavy Weather Offshore | [262] |
| The Trim, Immaculate Navy Man: After Coaling Ship | [262] |
| Boatswain’s Mate French bought a Pet Parrot in Lisbon | [268] |
| “Tommy,” the Ship’s Cat, who finished strong in the Hurricane | [268] |
| “Teddy,” who was given a Military Funeral when he swallowed a Nail | [268] |
| With the Grand Fleet at Rosyth | [274] |
| Surrendered German Submarines tied up at Portland | [274] |
| The Corsair at Queenstown as Flagship of Admiral Sims | [278] |
| Seaman Henry Barry, before they wished Another Job on him | [282] |
| Gunner’s Mate Simpson hopes to spot that Sub | [282] |
| The Homeward-Bound Pennant: “We’re off for Little Old New York, thank God” | [286] |
| The Corsair when in Commission as a Yacht before the War | [290] |
| Admiral William S. Sims, commanding the U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters | [294] |
| Map showing the Corsair’s Wanderings in the War Zone | [304] |
THE CORSAIR
IN THE WAR ZONE
CHAPTER I
THE CALL OF DUTY OVERSEAS
The task of the American Navy in the great conflict was performed exceedingly well, but so very quietly that even now the merits of the achievement are realized only by those who knew how near the German submarine campaign came to winning the war. There was no blacker period than the spring of 1917 when the losses of Allied merchant shipping were mounting toward a million tons a month, and the Admiralty was well aware that England stood face to face with starvation and defeat unless this piracy could soon be checked. It was when Admiral Sims cabled to his own Government, from London, “Briefly stated, I consider that at the present moment we are losing the war”; when Admiral Jellicoe privately admitted, “It is impossible for us to go on if losses like this continue”; and when Lord Balfour could see no escape from the same tragic conclusion.
The facts were purposely concealed from the people of both countries, and even after the declaration of war the attitude of the American mind was all too leisurely, while the British grimly hung on and tightened their belts with the tenacity of the breed. The battleship squadrons of the Grand Fleet still dominated the surface of the Seven Seas, but they were helpless to aid in this vital problem. It was perceived that the chief hope of salvation was in massing destroyers to protect the converging trade routes of the Irish Sea and the English Channel and thereby increasing the supply of food and material. For this service the British Navy was able to spare a flotilla of less than a score of these craft, a patrol force obviously inadequate. These were the reasons why the fleet of thirty-five fast and powerful American destroyers was sent across the Atlantic, and why Queenstown was chosen as the strategic base port.
As soon as the troop-ships began to move overseas, these destroyers were able to extend their operations and to help guard and escort the convoys through the Bay of Biscay to the coast of France. Meanwhile another urgent situation had developed and an appeal no less insistent had been conveyed to Washington. The navy of France was mostly in the Mediterranean where it properly belonged, and the small patrol force off the stormy shores of Brittany was racked, weary, almost discouraged. Thousands of French sailors had been sent from the ships and bases to fight in the trenches. The little torpedo boats and trawlers were unable to cope with the U-boats which ran amuck among the precious coastwise convoys or intercepted the ships that were homeward bound from distant voyages.
France was magnificent, but her maritime strength in the Atlantic was almost spent. To safeguard the approaches to her ports in which American regiments and divisions were to be landed, hundreds of thousands of men, with their mountains of supplies, was more than she could attempt. Help was needed and the American Navy was eager to respond, but no more destroyers were available. It was necessary to retain a certain number of them in home waters as units of the fighting fleet of big ships which was held in readiness for whatever emergency the war might suddenly unfold. To France, therefore, the Navy was compelled to send whatever it could lay hands on at short notice, planning to reinforce this vanguard with destroyers as fast as they could be launched and commissioned.