Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE SILENT WATCHERS

* * * * * *

_By the Same Author_
THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS

_A series of exciting stories which reveal_
_the English Secret Service as it really_
_is—silent, unsleeping, and supremely_
_competent._

“William Dawson is a great creation, a sheer
delight. If Mr. Bennet Copplestone’s intriguing
book meets with half the success it deserves, the
inimitable Sherlock Holmes will soon be out-rivalled
in popularity by the inscrutable William
Dawson.”—_Daily Telegraph._

_$1.50 Net_
JITNY AND THE BOYS

“The book is full of the thoughts which make
us proud to-day and help us to face to-morrow.
Yes, ‘Jitny’ has my blessing.”—_Punch._

“Motoring people could do nothing better than
sit down and have a spin, in imagination, by reading
this book. A clinking motor-car story.”
—_Daily Chronicle._

_$1.50 Net_
NEW YORK—E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

* * * * * *

THE SILENT WATCHERS

England’s Navy during the Great War: What It Is, and What We Owe to It

by

BENNET COPPLESTONE

Author of “The Lost Naval Papers”

“The Navy is a matter of machines only in
so far as human beings can only achieve material
ends by material means. I look upon the ships and
the guns as secreted by the men just as a tortoise
secretes its shell.”—PROLOGUE.

New York E. P. Dutton & Company 681 Fifth Avenue

Copyright, 1918 By E. P. Dutton & Company

All Rights Reserved

First Printing, Sept., 1918 Second Printing, Oct., 1918

Printed in the United States of America

NOTE

Between June, 1916, and February, 1918, I
contributed a good many articles and sketches on
Naval subjects to _The Cornhill Magazine_. They
were not designed upon any plan or published
in any settled sequence. As one article led up
to another, and information came to me from my
generously appreciative readers (many of whom
were in the Service), I revised those which I had
written and ventured to write still more. This
book contains my _Cornhill_ articles—revised and
sometimes re-written in the light of wider information
and kindly criticism—and several additional
chapters which have not previously been published
anywhere. I have endeavoured to weave into a
connected series articles and sketches which were
originally disconnected, and I have introduced
new strands to give strength to the fabric. Through
the whole runs a golden thread which I have
called THE SECRET OF THE NAVY.
B. C.
_March, 1918._

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE AFTER THE BATTLE

I. A BAND OF BROTHERS
II. THE COMING OF WAR
III. THE GREAT VICTORY
IV. WITH THE GRAND FLEET: A NORTH SEA “STUNT”
V. WITH THE GRAND FLEET: THE TERRIERS AND THE RATS
VI. THE MEDITERRANEAN: A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE
VII. IN THE SOUTH SEAS: THE DISASTER OFF CORONEL
VIII. IN THE SOUTH SEAS: CLEANING UP
IX. HOW THE “SYDNEY” MET THE “EMDEN”
X. FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
XI. THE CRUISE OF THE “GLASGOW”: PART I—RIO TO CORONEL
XII. THE CRUISE OF THE “GLASGOW”: PART II—CORONELTO JUAN FERNANDEZ
XIII. THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS: PART I
XIV. THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS: PART II

EPILOGUE LIEUTENANT CÆSAR

LIST OF MAPS

THE NORTH SEA
THE MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS
THE SOUTH SEAS
HOW THE “SYDNEY” MET THE “EMDEN”
THE “SYDNEY-EMDEN” ACTION
THE CRUISE OF THE “GLASGOW”
THE PACIFIC: VON SPEE’S CONCENTRATION
THE CRUISE OF THE “GLASGOW”
THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS

THE SILENT WATCHERS