Simon thought for a moment, decided thatcould not be done.
“Need a three man crew at least. TwinLewises work, being pan-fed; Vickers won’t. These new Hotchkisses might. What wouldthe gunboats carry?”
“Being argued just now. They would be abit bigger than the torpedo boats and have more in the crew. A six pounder QF tothe stern and a pair of machine guns was the most likely suggestion.”
“What do you do with it, sir?”
“Shoot up small torpedo boats at closerange. Make a nuisance of oneself in and around small harbours. Pretty bloodyuseless, in fact, but they sound good.”
“Like too much of this war, sir.”
The Senior Naval Officer had not reachedhis eminence by criticising his elders. He backed away from any disparagingcomment.
“We are too close to the action, on thefront line, you might say. Unable to sit back and appreciate the overall plan,Sturton! I will admit that occasionally it all seems rather strange, but I amsure Their Lordships know exactly what they are doing.”
There was no gain to pursuing that topic.
“Have you orders for us, sir?”
“Patrolling, seaward of the minefields andoff Dutch coastal waters, outside their limits, of course. Keep an eye on whatmay be passing through. Might be the case that the Hun is sending convoys southand breaching neutrality and nothing the Dutch can do about it. They are stillbuilding coastal defence ships, will be able to protect the integrity of theirwaters next year, can’t do a lot this. Under no circumstances will you enterDutch waters, of course.”
“No, sir. Might I be permitted to sitwaiting a mile outside, sir, in Belgian waters?”
“Not just permitted, positively encouraged,Sturton!”
Simon nodded - if he said nothing, then hedid not acknowledge the implications in SNO’s words, which was preferable forboth men. They would force the German ships to make a display of their presencein Dutch waters, a major breach of neutrality which the American newspapers wouldmake much of.
“A day in harbour – full twenty-fourhours, Sturton. Give your people a good shore run. Not a great deal for them todo here, of course. Better than being cooped up in frowsty messdecks!”
Simon grinned ruefully.
“Jack will always find something to doashore, sir. Four men at least for Rose Cottage as a direct result, I don’t doubt.They have to be given liberty, sir, and we know what they will do with it!”
“Sailors never change, Sturton! I rememberon the China Station the year after the Boxer business, letting the crew ashoreon leave. I had a sloop at the time, Archer – only small but still more than ahundred men. Ended up with thirty of them in the shore hospital at Honkers!Admiral not best pleased with me, as you will imagine! Couldn’t sail for a month.”
“Never served out East, sir. Not muchchance that I shall in this war – all of the action is in European waters. Idid see reports of something in the Red Sea recently but that’s about as far eastas it goes.”
SNO was dismissive.
“Very minor action, Sturton. Squadron oftrawlers - minesweeping and general duties, you know the sort of thing. Onanti-slavery patrol and came across a pair of Turkish gunboats escorting a convoyof troopers to attack the Canal. As far as I have heard, the intention was toput a brigade ashore for long enough to take and scuttle any ships they couldlay hands on and block the Canal at its southern end. Make it difficult to runtroops through from Australia to the Dardanelles. The trawlers sank the lot!Troopships went down in shark waters – full of them, the Red Sea. End result, athousand or two of fat sharks and no Turkish soldiers!”
“Well done the trawlers, sir! No more thana single four inch apiece, I would expect, and did a very tidy job.”
“Sort of thing one expects of the Navy, Sturton.Reserve skippers, of course, and a single real officer – a lieutenant, don’tknow his name. Must have put up a black to have been given that sort of job. Clearedhis jib, anyway – the fellow’s been made navigator on a good cruiser, Black Prince,I believe. Came out very well for him.”
All as it should be, the prodigal broughtback into the Naval fold. Very satisfying!
“Very good, sir. The half-flotilla will needto visit the powder hulk, sir. Amazing just how many rounds quick firers can getrid of in five minutes of action!”
“Yes, one of their drawbacks. Fire muchtoo fast – bound to be wasteful! Might have been wiser to stick with the oldbreech loaders, you know, Sturton. Shortage of ammunition at the moment, Armyand Navy both. Using up too much, you know how it goes! We have sufficient foryour needs. No more bombardments by the monitors and predreadnoughts this sideof Christmas – all of the big stuff is going to the Army. Running another oneof their ‘pushes’, you know. Going nowhere! Take a quarter of a mile and shoutvictory! Don’t know how many thousand men those few yards will have cost.”
“I had heard…”
SNO interrupted Simon.
“Too many of these bloody rumours going therounds, Sturton!” He proceeded to add his own. “On the strict QT, French is onhis way out. No idea of what he is doing, hopeless as a commanding general. Thequestion is, who is to succeed him. Likely to be Haig. His family has a lot ofmoney, really pushing out the boat for him, so I am told. They own some MPs, ofcourse, and are dropping some fat little presents in the pockets of others. Gota solid bloc in the House of Lords, as well. French has the ear of the King,but that don’t count for so much these days. Wullie Robertson would be a bettergeneral, so I hear, and two or three others of the younger men – none of themwith the clout. Add to that, Haig’s cavalry and that’s important. Don’t want adamned foot soldier in supreme command, after all!”
“I had thought Wellington was infantry,sir.”
“So he was, Sturton. Irish as well. Finesoldier, the Iron Duke. Not what is needed
