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At 4 o’clock that afternoon the Lord Nelson anchored in Mudros Harbour, and shortly afterwards we were mustered on deck and then disembarked and taken to the store-ship Fauvette, where cabins were allotted to each two of us midshipmen.

The following day two torpedo-boats came alongside, and the Lieutenant-Commander of the whole squadron of T.B.s based at Malta came aboard to lunch. It was the great ambition of each of us “snotties” to get appointed to one of these sporting little craft; but we feared there was but little chance of such a stroke of luck, as they do not, as a rule, carry midshipmen. However, there was no harm in hoping!

Next forenoon one of our lieutenants told us that two of our number were to go to an armoured liner which was lying in the harbour, and suggested that we should draw lots to determine which of us it should be. Browne was away somewhere at the moment, and, as there was no time to be lost, we had to do the drawing without him. Baker and I seemed to be rather lucky at lotteries, for, as once before, we drew the winning numbers. I was not, however, particularly elated as I was still secretly hankering after service on a T.B.

We packed up the few articles of clothing we had obtained from the Lord Nelson, and, together with the Lieutenant, who was also going to the auxiliary cruiser, we were just embarking in the cutter, when, as we were about to shove off, Browne came alongside in another boat. Hastily we drew lots again, but the result was the same, and we went off to our appointed ship.

When we got on board we were asked our names, and then the Captain informed me he had orders to take Browne instead of me; so I returned to the Fauvette and told him he was to take my place. No sooner had I lost this billet than, with human cussedness, I began to regret it. After all, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” and the job would have been quite a good one.

However, my discontent was short-lived, for I soon found that, after all, my luck was “in.” That afternoon I was leaning over the stanchions looking at the shipping in the harbour, and wondering what fate might have in store for me, when the Lieutenant-Commander of the T.B.s and the Captain of the Fauvette came along the deck and stopped close to where I was standing, and I heard the former say that he intended—if he could get the Admiral’s permission—to take one of the rescued midshipmen to act as second in command of his torpedo-boat. I pricked up my ears at that, and, a few minutes later, when Captain—— had gone below, I summoned up all my courage (call it cheek, if you like), and, regardless of the snub I was undoubtedly asking for, I went boldly up to the Lieutenant-Commander and told him I had overheard what he had said, and asked him if he would not take me if he could, as I was most awfully keen to serve on a T.B.

He was frightfully kind, and did not seem a bit annoyed or surprised, nor did he hand me the snubbing I had invited; but he explained that, although at the moment the job I coveted was pleasant enough and not too strenuous, it was likely to be a very stiff service later on, and he asked if I really felt I should be equal to it.

Of course I declared that I felt perfectly fit and equal to anything, and would do my level best if only I could get the billet; so then he said he would ask for me.

As soon as he had left me I dashed below to tell the others of the glorious luck which might be in store for me.

Next morning Lieutenant-Commander—— came aboard again, and to my intense delight told me I was duly appointed to his T.B. and could join that afternoon! Further, he invited me there and then to go off with him and have a look round the boat. I found it a very different proposition to the big ship to which I had been accustomed. To begin with, there was only one tiny cabin, called by courtesy the ward-room, in which we would live and eat and sleep, and my new skipper warned me that when we were at sea it would often be three feet deep in water. However, I felt it would require much more water than that to damp my ardour for this new and exciting work.

Then he gave me a brief explanation of the duty on which the T.B.s were then engaged. That night, he said, we would in all probability go out on patrol duty just outside the boom until relieved at 6 the next morning. Then we might proceed to sea and patrol the waters surrounding the island of Lemnos. Doubtless we should anchor in some small bay for the night, and early next morning return to harbour, when we should have a day off, and so on and so forth. Twenty-four hours’ patrol and then twenty-four hours’ rest. Forty-eight hours’ rest was the general rule, but, as one of the T.B.s had run aground the week before, and had had to be sent to Malta for repairs, we were short-handed.

Presently I returned to the Fauvette to get what necessaries I could obtain from the steward in charge of the stores. All he managed to provide me with was a set of pants and vest, of the coarsest and most horsehairy description, a pound of yellow soap, and a pair of enormous and most dreadfully ugly boots. However, even these were better than nothing, and, with the borrowed plumes in which I stood up, they had to serve; and, moderately thankful for small mercies, I said “good-bye” to my former messmates and went off to my new ship.

That night I slept on one of the settees which served the single cabin for seats and lockers by day as well as for bunks by night, and early the next morning we put to sea on patrol duty, carrying a crew of sixteen in addition to the Commander and myself.

When we got outside the harbour the engines were stopped, and all hands bathed. No particular incident occurred during our patrol, and the next morning, after being relieved by another T.B., we proceeded for duty off the island.

My enjoyment of the three weeks I spent in this service was due in no little measure to the personal charm of my skipper, who was not only the most considerate and tactful officer to serve under, but a most charming and interesting companion. The work was mainly routine on the lines indicated above, and although there was plenty of variety, and at times no little excitement, to enlarge further on our doings would be waste of pen and ink, as any more detailed account would probably be “omitted by order of the censor”!

It had not occurred to me that those august, and occasionally paternally minded, powers who preside over the sailor-man’s earthly destiny, would think it necessary to send me home on leave. “Leave” had long since been relegated in my mind to that dim and distant future “after the war.” Doubtless the said powers in their wisdom realised—as at that time I certainly did not—the inevitable strain following on my narrow escape from the sinking ship.

It was, however, with some surprise and much regret that I heard from the Commander on the 1st of June, that he had been ordered to send me at once to the auxiliary cruiser Carmania, on which ship I was to proceed to England.

Very reluctantly I took leave of the T.B. and her genial Commander, and went on board the armed liner, where I found most of the survivors from my old ship. Alas! they were tragically few, for out of a ship’s company of 760, only 160 men and 20 officers had been saved.

The Carmania, which still bore scars resulting from her tremendous battle with the Cap Trafalgar earlier in the war, weighed anchor on the following day, and four days later reached Malta, where she coaled. Here I went ashore and managed to buy a ready-made reefer suit and other necessary garments; and I was uncommonly glad to feel once more respectably clad.

Our voyage was uneventful. Now that there was no duty to be performed I think most of us began to feel a bit slack, but our spirits rose as they turned homewards. We had not seen our people for nearly thirteen months, and the necessarily strict censorship of all our letters had of course increased the sense of separation.

On June 12 we arrived at Devonport, and our Commander went ashore and shortly afterwards returned with the welcome information that we had all been granted a fortnight’s leave.

Leave! Cheer-o! We wasted no time in getting ashore, and I at once wired to my home telling my mother that I had arrived, and was going straight to London to the house of some cousins who had offered me hospitality whenever I might need it, and that I would there await instructions as I did not know where she might be. A fast train landed us at Paddington about 5 o’clock, and I took a taxi to S—— Place.

•••••••

The Admiralty had informed me that he had sailed for England on the 2nd, and I knew he would go to London according to instruction, so I was able to be there to meet him.

I had not seen him since he left for Dartmouth, nearly fourteen months before. Then he was a round-faced, rosy boy....

Up the steps, dragging a seaman’s canvas kit-bag, came a tall, thin figure, white of face, drawn, haggard—incredibly old. I had not quite realised this. For a second my heart stood still—— Where was my boy?

Then he saw me waiting in the hall, and his face lighted with half-incredulous joyous wonder: “Mother! You here!”

•••••••

My boy was gone for ever—but my son had come home.

Te Deum Laudamus.