Soon after the flotilla of coal-burners came to Brest, the whole scheme of American naval operations in France took on a new aspect with the arrival of Rear-Admiral Henry B. Wilson. He was the man to perceive the vital need of expansion and to create the organization so urgently required. Outspoken yet tactful, with the hearty affability of a sailor and the energy of a captain of industry, Admiral Wilson proceeded to build upon the surmise that the war might last three years and demand an American army of four million men. The pulse of the service quickened and the response was loyal and instant.
It was not long before the executive offices of the Admiral and his staff, in a tall building of Brest, resembled the headquarters of a busy firm in Wall Street. It was the centre of a network of communication by wire and radio with the entire shore-line of France, from Dunkirk to the edge of Spain, and with the Allied naval chiefs of Paris, London, and Washington.
The Corsair received her orders and did as she was told, but guiding her movements was the complex and far-flung activity of the secret intelligences which revealed only the deductions and the results. The Admiral’s changing charts were dotted with tiny flags and lines of red ink which recorded, hour by hour, the track of every German submarine that stole seaward from Zeebrugge, and the plodding courses of every Allied convoy that steered in hopes of a safe haven. The decoding room unravelled the messages that whispered by day and night from a hundred sources, or caught and read the German ciphers that were sent to the U-boat skippers far out at sea.
Bit by bit was put together an organization of equipment and personnel which extended from Brest to a dozen other bases and separate patrol divisions, each with its own subordinate commander. Gradually it came to embrace such a list of departments and responsibilities as these:
| Coastal convoy escorts | Yard Boatswain’s Office |
| Harbor tug fleet | Radio repair shop |
| Naval Port Officer | Naval magazine |
| Marine Superintendent | Naval hospitals |
| Supply office | Shore patrol |
| Repair shops | Docks |
| Repair ship | Canteens |
| Barracks | Oiling stations |
| Personnel | Coastal stations |
| Pay Office | Coaling stations |
| Public Works. | |
THE SHIP’S COOKS AND THE WARDROOM STEWARD
THE NOBLE JOB OF PEELING “SPUDS”
All this was not set in motion in a week or a month. Admiral Wilson had to build almost from the foundation. The French organization was depleted and worn. Vice-Admiral Moreau and Rear-Admiral Grout achieved everything in their power to assist the American undertaking, with men, ships, and material, but it was unfair to expect too much of them. When the Queenstown destroyers came into Brest and the officers found time to go ashore, you might have heard them boast, in the most gentlemanly terms, of the splendid efficiency of their own base and the extraordinary ability of Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, who directed their operations. At this, an officer from the Corsair was likely to fling back that the Queenstown outfit ought to get on, with the vast resources of the British Admiralty at its disposal and a base that had nothing much more than a fleet of destroyers on its mind. The whole French coast was cluttered up with transports and cargo boats, from Brest to Bordeaux, and it was some job to keep them moving, not to mention chasing Fritz. And as for Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, K.C.B., he was said to be a fine old bird, but he wasn’t the only two-fisted, “iron-bellied” admiral in the war zone, and the doctrine of the Breton Patrol was “Wilson, that’s all.” In such manner was voiced the spirit of friendly rivalry between the Navy men of Brest and Queenstown and it was the kind of loyalty which you might expect.