From Snotty to Sub

by Wolston B. C. W. Forester

We arrived at our first destination at about 3 P.M. T.B. —— made fast astern of us, and after I had seen her secured I turned in until 7.30, when we once more got under way and proceeded into harbour. Here we made fast alongside the ——, which was nice and handy for getting ashore. I was not greatly impressed with —— as a town, but it afforded an opportunity for some much-needed exercise.

At 5.30, in company with another "P." boat we steamed out of harbour to find a stiff breeze blowing, and the tide setting strongly against the wind. This created a nasty chop on the water, but, as the ship we had to shepherd carried no signalman, in order to facilitate communication with her in reference to course to be steered, etc., we decided to secure alongside her until 8 P.M., when she was due to get under way. When we had made fast, P—— secured alongside us, thus bringing the full strain of two boats on our hawsers. I heard our wire beginning to strand, so gave the order to ease away and take the strain on the grass line, but that had no sooner tautened than it parted. Directing the men to pay out the wire as slowly as possible, I dispatched a messenger aft to the Captain to inform him that we should not be able to hold on much longer. Before he had time to give orders to let go aft and get way on, the wire was all paid out and we had to let the end go overboard, as, had it parted, it would naturally have flown back, and probably caused serious injury to those on the fo'c'sle. The remaining securing lines had then to be let go, and thus we were left, drifting about the roads with no way on, and still secured to and bumping P——. After considerable trouble we managed to get free and dropped our anchor. By this time it was 7.30, so we had only half an hour for dinner, after which we weighed anchor again.

I had the first watch, during which no incident occurred, and I turned in at midnight. When I returned to the bridge at 4 A.M. I found that the night was now calm and clear, but it was very dark and there was no moon. I took over from the Gunner, who went below to turn in. All went well for about twenty minutes. Then—suddenly—about one point on our starboard bow, I saw all steaming lights of another vessel switched on!

Now, by rule of the road at sea, as the stranger was on our starboard hand, we were bound to give way to her and pass under her stern, so I gave the order, "Hard aport." Unfortunately she was so very close that there was no time to get full helm on, and seeing that a collision was inevitable I gave the order, "Stop both," and dashing to the starboard telegraph myself put it to "Stop." Before I had even let go of the handle there came a mighty crash ... the ship quivered from stem to stern and stopped dead.

The Captain was beside me in an instant. "What are we doing?" he demanded ... meaning what orders had I issued. I replied, "All stopped, sir."

Then we looked over the canvas screen and saw that the other boat had her bows locked into our fo'c'sle, and had heeled over to an acute angle as she struck. For the moment we thought she must sink—but, hailing her, the Captain requested her Commander to keep her bows locked in until we had ascertained the extent of the damage. It would appear, however, that he did not hear the hail, for he promptly went astern and backed out.

As the water rushed in through the rent in our side we began to go down by the bows, and for an anxious moment we thought we were done for ... but by good luck we still floated.

Leaving me to superintend the getting out of the collision-mat, my Skipper signalled to the ship that had rammed us—which, by the way, was another "P." boat—asking if we could give her any help. She replied in the negative, saying that so far as she could ascertain she was not damaged, and was returning to her base.

After I had reported to the Captain that the collision-mat was in place, he ordered me to go below and superintend the shoring up of the bulkheads. The stokers off watch, and the watch below, under the directions of the Engineer, had already collected all spare balks of timber, mess stools, etc., for this purpose. The hatch leading to the coxswain's storeroom had been opened up and it was discovered that we were making no water abaft the compartment in which we had been holed.

When I had seen the bulkheads shored up to my satisfaction, I reported to the Captain on the bridge. Every possible precaution for insuring the safety of the ship having now been taken, he decided that it would be best to get under way immediately, and endeavour to get back to Portsmouth without further delay, in case it came on to blow and the sea got up. At the moment, fortunately for us, it was quite calm. Not feeling certain that the bulkheads would withstand the strain of going ahead, and not knowing the extent of the damage the ship had sustained below the water-line, the Captain decided to proceed stern first until daylight enabled us to make a more thorough examination.