FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



had ever known at sea. Things on board the Jane 

 Stewart went well until midnight, then the look-out 

 man called to the skipper, and said he had heard 

 an explosion in the distance and suspected that a 

 submarine was at work. 



The sinister warning was not to be neglected for 

 an instant — there was a tense time of listening, and 

 the practised ears of the skipper and the crew caught 

 sounds which sounded like directions for casting off 

 ropes. These sounds, it was judged, came from 

 the Volunteer, a Musselburgh boat, with an Eng- 

 lish crew, which was about half-a-mile away. Satis- 

 fied as to the nature of the warning, the skipper did 

 not hesitate — he ordered the motor to be started 

 and the nets to be abandoned. Almost immediately 

 there was a second explosion and the lights of the 

 Volunteer disappeared, and it was obvious that the 

 vessel had been destroyed by a torpedo. 



Such a swift onslaught on an entirely defenceless 

 fleet of fishing vessels could have but one effect, and 

 that was to spread alarm amongst the crews and 

 make them take the only course open to them, and 

 that was to seek safety in flight. Most of the steam 

 drifters cut their nets adrift and steamed their 

 hardest for harbour, and as it was impossible for 

 one submarine to deal with all of them, as the Ger- 

 mans undoubtedly would have liked, most of the 

 vessels, with the help that night gave them, found 

 refuge in port. 



Meanwhile it was clear that there was no hope of 

 the Jane Stewart sharing this good fortune, for be- 



138 



