15 
LAND & WATER 
May 31, igi; 
" The Zepps spotted their wrecked homes and then sailed 
high over us chucking bombs about. thouKli not matiN . 
I expect that they had already pitched most of their cargo into 
the English eastern counties. We let fly at them with tlie 
high angle gun, and presently they disappeared towards 
Heligoland. We had come a day too Ikte. Twenty-four 
hours earlier and we might have blown up the airships with 
the sheds. It was poor luck. As there was now nothing 
more to do tiie Admiral drew off the whole flotilla and set 
us tramping down the coast towards Zeebrugge. On the way 
he let us and two other Pots plump a shell or two on old 
Heligoland, just by way of being civil to Fritz. It was there 
that I got blown up by a mine."' 
" What!" I cried. 
" You needn't worry," said the Commander serenely, " W'e 
arc meant to be blown up. It was a floating mine. We 
took it full on the starboard beam, and the burst of it 
drove us fifty yards to port and smothered us with water 
and foam. I was ^till trying to get the smart of salt spray 
out of my eyes, when a destroyer dashed up to enquire if 
we were hurt. Hurt, indeed, as if a mine more or less would 
hurt US. ' Young fellow ' I said, ' run away and tell 
the Admiral that the Moab, I mean the Princess what 
d'you call it, will be at Zeebrugge when she is wanted." 
Fancy being asked of you are hurt two minutes after 
being blown up by a four foot mine ! I asked the qusirtci - 
master how she steered, and he said that she didn't 
steer. She never had, and didn't seem hkcly to begin. 
After a bit of questioning he .conceded that she might be 
worse " She 'as, sir," said he. " now that she's been blown 
up a steady lurch to port. I 'olds the wheel according and 
it comes a bit easier. She don't waggle both ways, sir, like 
she did before." 
, :" The 'Waslipol' is indeed a peach," I Observed. 
" Yc*s, isn't she?" purred her proud skipper, " Mucii more 
fun than a silly Dreadnought. In the.evening the lingineer- 
Lieutenant came to me scratching his liead and griiuiing. Her 
broke to me gently the surprising fact that i\wMoah was doing 
six knots instead of the old five. I said that the mine 
must have waked her up, shaken the newness out of he 
joints. ' I exjiect,' said he, ' that she's had a big slice 
chopped off to starboard and feels freer for the loss of it.' It 
was quite likely." 
■ ("onie, come, " protestwl 1, " 1 swallowed the yarn al)out 
her steering kindlier, but this one about the increased speed 
is a shade ton ^,teep c\cn for me. Surely you don't claim that 
being blown up by a mine gave thcWiishpot vi knot of speed,* 
I do," cried lie." I will show you the log if you like," 
Proceed," I said with resignation., 
" We went on to Zeebrugge where the submarines come 
from. 
At Zeebrugge we got to work scientifically in the early morn- 
ing and pounded the place to bits, a Uttle at a time. Fritz 
loosed o(f all his heavy stuff, about ir inch, but he didn't 
hit us any. We lay out some miles so as to pitch on to 
him nice and steeply as if we were howitzers. It was at 
Zeebrugge that I got a moukly to port. 1 was a ])it anxious 
about my starboard side after the mine had scatted it.' So 
I trained my guns off the port broadside — to giv'e F'ritz 
the other cheek, as it were. It was as well I did, for a German 
mouldy, fired from 4,000 yards away, hit the old Moab bang 
in the ribs, and heaved her most out of the water. When she 
sploshed back my head nearly went tluough the cotmin.g tower. 
Ragged' bits of steel stuck up out of the water and the men 
grumbled mightily at Dover because they couldn't bathe off 
either side without getting their feet cut." 
" How was her steering after that.''" I enquired gravely. 
" Damned bad," grumbled the Commander. " Her two 
sides were busted so unevenly. Fritz is a clumsy beast with 
his mines and mouldies. On the starboard side I had been 
scatted near the bows and on the "jwrt side right amidsliips. 
The poor dear wobbled worse than when she was whole. But 
the speed— it was glorious ! Seven knots easy." 
" ()h, come," I groaned wearily. 
. " Fact," he chirjxxl. " The Admiral ordered us here for 
repairs and i brought her down at sincn knots all the way. 
We yawed like blazes, and everything with steam fled at the 
sight of us, but we kept her going all tlie way at seven good 
knots. I was a proud Owner. I wouldn't take a tow and nearly 
, sank the Victory with my broad snout. It took us live hours 
to make th(> d<>ck, but I did it at last under my own steam. 
You may s<.>e her to-morrow, naked ami shameless. 
' I accepted the offer ; I saw her though I may not describe 
what I S;iw. As I stoorl under her pigeon breast in dry dm-k, 
1 could have wept. That shapeless pot-bellied monstnjsity 
the last word in naval design ! It was pitiful. The Commander, 
late Capt. K.N., grinned into my long face. " 
" She's not much t<j look at, but a lovely gun platform. ' 
said he. 
" She won't steer," I groaned, 
knots." 
.^ "Se\en after she's been busted 
and makes only Ine 
corrected he ])ri)udly. 
^'FLYING" REPRISALS COMPETITION 
AND 
THE GREAT FOLKESTONE AIR RAID. 
rlli great German Aeroplane Raid on Folkestone and other districts has aroused wide- 
spread interest in tliis Competition. 
In "all districts" no fe\vtn- than 76 peiM>ii^ wvu- killed and 174 injuieU. (Ji thcbc 27 
women and 23 children were killed, and 43 women and 19 children were injured. 
In Folkestone alone there were 66 deaths. 
How can these Aeroplane Raids be prevented ? 
Is there any form of reprisals whic^j will deter the Germans frf)m butchering our women 
and children in broad dayhght ? 
The British people are slowly realising that reprisals arc a practical method of self-defence 
against German barbarism. They feel that reprisals constitute a military weapon which can be 
and ought to be used, not merely for the purpose of retaliation^ but for the purpose of prevention. 
The military use of reprisals has not been sufficiently studied by the British people. Th^ 
Folkestone Raid proves that they are urgently needed in self-defeiice. 
The Proprietors of FLYING believe that the problem of Preventive Reprisals can 
be solved, and they therefore offer a series of Prizes for the best solution of the 
Reprisals Problem. It must be practicable, eflective, and thoroughly worked out in detail, 
THE PRIZES. 
THE FIRST PRIZE wiU be the original painting, by Mr. Charles Pears, entitled " Aeroplanes Leaving Dover 
for an Attack on Zeebrugge," a reproduction of which was presented with the first numbci' of FLYISd. The 
picture is worth _5o Guineas. 
THE SECOND PRIZE will be Ten Guineas, and the THIRD PRIZE will be Five Guineas. 
(-'om/mliturs iini«t fill up and send in llib cou/ioii jmhlislieil in FLYI M(l , 
