204 THE BAY OF LUCE 



Such tribute to a fallen foe, conveyed through the 

 unemotional medium of the Annual Register, breathes 

 the chivalrous spirit that animated two great nations, 

 albeit each was bent on the other's destruction. Such 

 was again the mutual purpose of two great nations in 

 the winter of 1917, when, after the lapse of one hundred 

 and fifty-seven years, the Bay of Luce became once 

 more the scene of a sea-fight, with a result as decisive 

 as that which brought gallant Thurot's career to a close. 

 But here is no word of a seaman's sympathy by the 

 victor to record ; only the stealthy approach of the 

 assassin, a cowardly blow, inhuman glee in destruction. 



Near the close of November 1917 a furious nor'- 

 wester lashed the coast of Galloway, accompanied by 

 bitter cold. The steamship Main of Cardiff" sought 

 shelter in our bay, .dropping her anchor about midnight 

 under lee of the Rhinns promontory. Rough and cold 

 as it was, the course of this ship had been marked by a 

 German submarine, and her doom decreed. About two 

 o'clock in the morning, when all but the watch were 

 asleep in the Main, the submarine opened shell fire 

 upon her without hailing her. The Main carried a 

 gun for defence, but the enemy's fire dismantled it and 

 tore off the gunner's arm before he could use his piece. 

 One of the lifeboats was shattered ; the other was 

 launched, in which the captain and crew pushed off, 

 fifteen all told. She capsized three or four times, all 

 hands being washed off and drowned in the heavy sea, 

 except the captain. He drifted about the bay for 

 fifteen hours, until the boat was sighted at dusk passing 

 Port William, finally coming ashore near my house, 



