Chapter XX: Rammed Amidships

In the captain's cabin Hythe heard Devoran shouting for the helm to be put hard a-port. He felt the vessel begin to slew round, then a crash that shook the "Aphrodite" from stem to stern, sent him and the other occupants of the cabin reeling against the starboard side.

Simultaneously the watertight doors in the two principal transverse bulkheads were hermetically sealed, save a small emergency exit from Number Three Platform to the fore compartment. Through these those of the crew who were in the holed division made their hasty escape. They were not a moment too soon, for, although the "Vorwartz" made no attempt to back out, the fracture was ragged enough for the water under great pressure to pour in cascades into the midships compartment of the ill-starred submarine.

As soon as the men were safely in the fore part of the vessel Devoran gave orders for the remaining watertight doors to be closed. He knew that, although the danger was great, there still remained a chance of saving at least two-thirds of the "Aphrodite."

"If only I had been in the fore conning-tower," he thought, "I would have given that 'Vorwartz' something to remember us by. I'll try it, though."

And calling up Carnon, who was the senior hand in the now isolated fore part, he ordered him to stand by with electrical destructors, whereby a potential charge of electric fluid could be directed upon the "Vorwartz" as soon as she had backed a certain distance from the vessel she had rammed.

In answer Carnon replied: "I've tried the gadget, sir, and there's no current on."

"For goodness' sake try the supplementary current!" exclaimed the chief officer anxiously, but the result was the same. The apparatus by which the powerful means of offence was controlled was out of order. Either the lightning or the shock of the impact of the "Vorwartz's" stem had thrown the delicate mechanism out of gear. Nor could the torpedoes be used, for the tubes, having an arc of only four degrees on either side of the bows, could not be brought to bear upon the rival submarine.

This time Karl von Harburg had scored heavily, and stood every chance of getting clear without the "Aphrodite" being able to revenge herself upon the submarine that had caught her napping.

Meanwhile the crew of the "Aphrodite," after the first shock, had taken up their stations with consummate coolness. Every man knew that the damage was great, and that the "Vorwartz" was the cause of it. One chance yet remained for them to revenge themselves upon Karl von Harburg. Directly the "Vorwartz" backed out of the rent in her rival's side, the "Aphrodite" might be able to turn sufficiently to discharge a torpedo. At the same time steps must be taken to prevent the stricken craft from sinking into depth where the pressure of the water would literally crush their as yet undamaged sections of the submarine like an egg-shell under a hundred-ton hammer.

As soon as the water in the midship section rose to the level of the centre platform Devoran gave orders for the detachable keel of that compartment to be dropped. Kenwyn touched the emergency switch, and the massive dead weight fell. Relieved of this mass of iron the "Aphrodite" lurched in an effort to rise to the surface.

The sudden strain wrenched her free of the bows of the "Vorwartz." Instantly the water, pouring through the greatly enlarged aperture, filled the whole of the centre compartment, and before the submarine had a chance to turn and let fly a torpedo at her antagonist, the "Aphrodite" sank slowly and surely.

This, although serious, was a point in her favour, for Karl von Harburg, observing with savage glee the havoc he had wrought, concluded that his rival's craft was sinking for the last time to the bottom of the Red Sea. Accordingly, satisfied that he was now free to pursue his piratical acts, since the "Aphrodite" was the only submarine he feared, he backed astern, rose to the surface, and proceeded in a southerly direction towards the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Hardly a word was spoken as the "Aphrodite" sank. Devoran, his eyes fixed upon the depth gauge, was waiting his time. He, too, realized that should the submarine rise to the surface it would merely be giving her antagonist a unique opportunity of holing another of the sections that as yet remained intact. On the other hand, he had to guard against the danger of descending too far.

Thirty fathoms; the "Aphrodite" was now in total darkness as far as the water was concerned. Within the electric lamps still burned brightly, save for a few that had been shattered at the moment of impact.

"Easy ahead!" he ordered, and as the partially flooded vessel forged slowly and laboriously ahead, the chief officer trimmed the horizontal rudders so that the resistance at a certain angle just corrected the tendency of the whole vessel to sink.

Devoran set a course due east, hoping to fetch the shallower water on the African shore. Twenty minutes later he ventured to switch on the parallel bow searchlights. Even these powerful rays failed to reveal anything more than fifty miles away. Huge fish, that are rarely seen in shallow water, flitted past the thick scuttles. They made no attempt to dart out of the way of the submarine; they were blind, since the gift of sight at these depths is useless to them.

"She's standing the strain all right," remarked the chief officer to Hythe in quite a cheerful tone.

The sub nodded appreciatively. Under similar conditions on board a British submarine the state of affairs would be hopeless. With a rent amidships, extending from the upper platform to the bilges she would have sunk instantly, and given her crew no possible chance of escape; but here was the "Aphrodite" still under control and with the odds greatly in her favour. Next to Captain Restronguet, Devoran was the most capable man in whom to trust.

"Bottom shoaling!" exclaimed the sub, as the head searchlights glimmered upon an expanse of ooze, so shapeless and ill-defined that it required a practised hand to distinguish it from the deep sea.

The chief officer instantly adjusted the planes, and the submarine, though lacking her usual sensitiveness to the action of the horizontal rudders, rose steadily.

At twenty fathoms the bottom ceased to shoal, and in place of the slimy mud appeared fantastic formation of coral; a sure sign that shallower water was not far off. Again the "Aphrodite" was brought nearer the surface, till the welcome sunlight could be faintly noticed.

"Ten fathoms," announced Devoran. "This is our limit. We must carry on till we ground. Look! what a rent, by Jove!"

He pointed out of the scuttle, and Hythe following his gaze saw the fracture that the "Vorwartz" bow had caused. Her comparatively straight stem had cut nearly five feet into the upper platform of the "Aphrodite" in addition to making a vertical gash nearly fifteen feet in length in the stricken vessel's side. As a result the whole of the centre compartment had become a dead weight, and the buoyancy of the submarine being imparted only by the fore and aft compartments the tendency of the whole vessel was to sag amidships. Already the upper platform was curving ominously. It would not take much more strain to buckle the "Aphrodite." Although her steel plating was badly cracked and jagged, the restronium sheathing was severed as evenly as if made of wax. This, no doubt, accounted for the fact that the inrush of water at the moment of impact was comparatively slight, and in consequence the men stationed in the midship compartment were able to make good their retreat long before the water completely filled the space between the two principal transverse bulkheads.

"Let her down gently, Carnon!" ordered Devoran, as the "Aphrodite" passed the broad belt of coral and a clear sandy bottom was visible on all sides.

The quartermaster in the fore conning-tower knew his business thoroughly, and with hardly a bump the submarine settled on the bed of the Red Sea.

"All ready to let go?" asked the chief officer, and from the for'ard compartment came the alert reply that everything was in order.

"It is almost like abandoning one's ship," remarked Hythe.

"Hardly so bad as that," replied Devoran. "But all the same we are shedding a large portion of her. Would you mind standing by that lever, and when I give the word push it hard down. No, not just yet. We will wait and watch the fore part shake itself clear."

It was indeed a strange sight. At one moment Hythe saw the slightly buckling deck and the fore conning-tower, the upper platform, except for the fracture caused by the collision, being all in one piece. The next instant the whole of the bow compartment, including the conning-tower, gave a sudden bound and darted upwards towards the surface. Hythe could see the bulkhead with its watertight doors securely fastened, and the bright copper electrical contacts with their surrounding belt of insulated material. It reminded him of a salmon cut clean in halves.

Already the ballast tanks of the freed section were being filled, till, the upward motion checked, the structure slowly sank and settled once more in the bottom of the sea a few yards to the left of the remaining portion of the submarine. There, cut off from all communication with the still intact after part, the compartment had to remain, till, worm-like, the third section was detached from the damaged portion and united to form a smaller yet still efficient submarine.

Kenwyn had meanwhile opened the scuttle in the bottom plates of the vessel in order to guide her on her descent. Since the after portion alone possessed propelling machinery it was necessary that the fore part should be disconnected first.

"Down with it!" exclaimed Devoran, at the same time operating a switch. Hythe instantly depressed the lever as he had been instructed. The motion following the action was similar to that experienced in the sudden rising of a lift.

The damaged midship section had been abandoned to its ocean grave.

Directly the sub liberated the after portion of the vessel the hiss of the inrushing water could be heard, and, as in the case of the fore part, the surface was still several fathoms off when the upward tendency was checked.

At a few feet from the bottom Kenwyn announced that the required depth was reached, and the chief officer gave the order for "Half speed ahead."

The best engine-driver in the kingdom could not have brought his locomotive up to a train of waiting carriages easier than Devoran manoeuvred the after part of the "Aphrodite" up to the fore compartment. There was no perceptible shock, in fact nothing to indicate the fact that the union had been accomplished except that telephonic communication was automatically reestablished in all parts of the reduced "Aphrodite."

Into the air locks next to each exterior bulkhead divers were quickly sent. As soon as the water was admitted into these spaces new locking bolts were passed through and secured, and within twenty minutes of being placed in position the two parts of the submarine were made one. But instead of her two hundred feet from stem to stern the new "Aphrodite" was reduced by about one third. Nearly seventy feet of valuable length had been sacrificed; but, as Devoran remarked, "It might have been worse."

"That is true," agreed Hythe. "But what will Captain Restronguet say?"