Chapter I: Preface

Recent visits that were made to Harwich for the purpose of writing a series of articles on the Harwich Naval Forces for the _Morning Post_ suggested to me the amplification of these articles and their reproduction in the form of a little book. This does not profess to be anything more than a summary of the gallant doings of the Harwich Forces in the course of the war. The full history, no doubt, will be written some day. But this, I hope, may serve as a record that will enable many to realise better what Britain owes to the Navy, and what a great work was done by the light cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and auxiliary vessels that had Harwich as their base throughout the war.

For the purposes of this book I have referred to no official records. Conversations with those who were eye-witnesses of and participators in the events that I have here described have served as my sole source of information.

My thanks are due to the naval officers who so readily assisted me in my quest while I was in Harwich, and to the _Morning Post_ for the kind permission which I have received to publish in book form my articles that appeared in that paper.

E.F.K.

CONTENTS

_Part I_

THE HARWICH FORCE

CHAPTER I PAGE THE OPENING OF THE WAR 5

The light cruisers and destroyers--Harwich in war
time--The Harwich Force goes out--The first shots
of the naval war--Sinking of the _Koenigin
Luise_--Loss of the _Amphion_.

CHAPTER II

THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT ACTION 23

The plan--The sweep by the Harwich Force--The
destroyers in action--_Arethusa's_ duel with the
_Frauenlob_--Off Heligoland again--Action with
German light cruisers--The _Mainz_ sunk--End of the
_Arethusa_.

CHAPTER III

OTHER ACTIONS 45

The battle of the Dogger Bank--The sinking of the
_Bluecher_--The Lowestoft raid--The action off
Texel.

CHAPTER IV

THE CONVOYS 55

The Beef Trip--Escorting mine-layers--Encounters
with enemy mine-sweepers--Sinking of the
_Meteor_--The _Centaur_ mined.

CHAPTER V

ESCORTING SEAPLANES 73

The Cuxhaven raid--The Sylt raid--Enemy patrol
boats sunk--Loss of the _Medusa_--The flagship rams
an enemy destroyer--Saving of the _Landrail_.

CHAPTER VI

THE PATROLS 97

Raids on enemy trawler fleets--The unsleeping
watch--Patrolling the Channel barrage--Patrolling
the mine-net barrage--The patrols in action.

_Part II_

THE HARWICH SUBMARINE FLOTILLA

CHAPTER VII

COMPOSITION OF THE FLOTILLA 113

The shore establishment--Heavy losses of the
flotilla--Humorous incidents--Drowning the
mascot--Bluffing the Huns.

CHAPTER VIII

RECONNAISSANCE AND MINE-LAYING 127

The eyes of the Fleet--The _Westphalen_
torpedoed--Mine-laying submarines--Destruction of U
boats.

CHAPTER IX

FINE SUBMARINE RECORDS 145

Some narrow escapes--Sinking a Zeppelin--The doings
of the E9--Sinking of the _Prince Adalbert_--The
decoy trawler.

CHAPTER X

GERMAN CRIMES 163

Loss of the E 13--Inhuman Hun methods--Stranding of
the U.C. 5--German traps--Risky salvage work.

_Part III_

THE HARWICH AUXILIARY PATROL AND MINE-SWEEPING FORCE

CHAPTER XI

THE ROYAL NAVAL TRAWLER RESERVE 181

Mine-sweeping trawlers--Captains courageous--Scotch
drifters--The motor launches--Keeping open the
swept channels.

CHAPTER XII

WORK OF THE AUXILIARIES 207

Mine-sweeping methods--Indicator nets--Heavy
losses--Brilliant rescues.

CONCLUSION 231

_Part I_

THE HARWICH FORCE

CHAPTER I

THE OPENING OF THE WAR