第19章 THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE(19)

Overwhelming, crushing, and sinking to the bottom crabs, repeller, motor guns, and everything that belonged to them.In England there was a feeling of strong resentment that such a little fleet should be allowed to sail with such intent into British waters.This resentment extended itself, not only to the impudent Syndicate, but toward the Government; and the opposition party gained daily in strength.The opposition papers had been loud and reckless in their denunciations of the slowness and inadequacy of the naval preparations, and loaded the Government with the entire responsibility, not only of the damage which had already been done to the forts, the ships, and the prestige of Great Britain, but also for the threatened danger of a sudden descent of the Syndicate's fleet upon some unprotected point upon the coast.This fleet should never have been allowed to approach within a thousand miles of England.It should have been sunk in mid-ocean, if its sinking had involved the loss of a dozen men-of-war.In America a very strong feeling of dissatisfaction showed itself.From the first, the Syndicate contract had not been popular; but the quick, effective, and business-like action of that body of men, and the marked success up to this time of their inventions and their operations, had caused a great reaction in their favour.They had, so far, successfully defended the American coast, and when they had increased the number of their vessels, they would have been relied upon to continue that defence.Even if a British armada had setout to cross the Atlantic, its movements must have been slow and cumbrous, and the swift and sudden strokes with which the Syndicate waged war could have been given by night and by day over thousands of miles of ocean.Whether or not these strokes would have been quick enough or hard enough to turn back an armada might be a question; but there could be no question of the suicidal policy of sending seven ships and two cannon to conquer England.It seemed as if the success of the Syndicate had so puffed up its members with pride and confidence in their powers that they had come to believe that they had only to show themselves to conquer, whatever might be the conditions of the contest.The destruction of the Syndicate's fleet would now be a heavy blow to the United States.It would produce an utter want of confidence in the councils and judgments of the Syndicate, which could not be counteracted by the strongest faith in the efficiency of their engines of war; and it was feared it might become necessary, even at this critical juncture, to annul the contract with the Syndicate, and to depend upon the American navy for the defence of the American coast.Even among the men on board the Syndicate's fleet there were signs of doubt and apprehensions of evil.It had all been very well so far, but fighting one ship at a time was a very different thing from steaming into the midst of a hundred ships.On board the repeller there was now an additional reason for fears and misgivings.The unlucky character of the vessel when it had been the Tallapoosa was known, and not a few of the men imagined that it must now be time for some new disaster to this ill-starred craft, and if her evil genius had desired fresh disaster for her, it was certainly sending her into a good place to look for it.But the Syndicate neither doubted nor hesitated nor paid any attention to the doubts and condemnations which they heard from every quarter.Four days after the news of the destruction of the Craglevin had been telegraphed from Canada to London, the Syndicate's fleet entered the English Channel.Owing to the power and speed of the crabs, Repeller No.11 had made a passage of the Atlantic which in her old naval career would have been considered miraculous.Craft of various kinds were now passed, but none of them carried the British flag.In the expectation of the arrival of the enemy, British merchantmen and fishing vessels had been advisedto keep in the background until the British navy had concluded its business with the vessels of the American Syndicate.As has been said before, the British Admiralty had adopted a new method of defence for the rudders and screw-propellers of naval vessels against the attacks of submerged craft.The work of constructing the new appliances had been pushed forward as fast as possible, but so far only one of these had been finished and attached to a man-of-war.The Llangaron was a recently built ironclad of the same size and class as the Adamant; and to her had been attached the new stern-defence.This was an immense steel cylinder, entirely closed, and rounded at the ends.It was about ten feet in diameter, and strongly braced inside.It was suspended by chains from two davits which projected over the stern of the vessel.When sailing this cylinder was hoisted up to the davits, but when the ship was prepared for action it was lowered until it lay, nearly submerged, abaft of the rudder.In this position its ends projected about fifteen feet on either side of the propeller-blades.It was believed that this cylinder would effectually prevent a crab from getting near enough to the propeller or the rudder to do any damage.It could not be torn away as the stern-jacket had been, for the rounded and smooth sides and ends of the massive cylinder would offer no hold to the forceps of the crabs; and, approaching from any quarter, it would be impossible for these forceps to reach rudder or screw.The Syndicate's little fleet arrived in British waters late in the day, and early the next morning it appeared about twenty miles to the south of the Isle of Wight, and headed to the north-east, as if it were making for Portsmouth.The course of these vessels greatly surprised the English Government and naval authorities.It was expected that an attack would probably be made upon some comparatively unprotected spot on the British seaboard, and therefore on the west coast of Ireland and in St.George's Channel preparations of the most formidable character had been made to defend British ports against Repeller No.11 and her attendant crabs.Particularly was this the case in Bristol Channel, where a large number of ironclads were stationed, and which was to have been the destination of the Llangaron if the Syndicate's vessels had delayed their coming long enough to allow her to get around there.That this little fleet should have sailed straight for England's greatnaval stronghold was something that the British Admiralty could not understand.The fact was not appreciated that it was the object of the Syndicate to measure its strength with the greatest strength of the enemy.Anything less than this would not avail its purpose.Notwithstanding that so many vessels had been sent to different parts of the coast, there was still in Portsmouth harbour a large number of war vessels of various classes, all in commission and ready for action.The greater part of these had received orders to cruise that day in the channel.Consequently, it was still early in the morning when, around the eastern end of the Isle of Wight, there appeared a British fleet composed of fifteen of the finest ironclads, with several gunboats and cruisers, and a number of torpedo-boats.It was a noble sight, for besides the warships there was another fleet hanging upon the outskirts of the first, and composed of craft, large and small, and from both sides of the channel, filled with those who were anxious to witness from afar the sea-fight which was to take place under such novel conditions.Many of these observers were reporters and special correspondents for great newspapers.On some of the vessels which came up from the French coast were men with marine glasses of extraordinary power, whose business it was to send an early and accurate report of the affair to the office of the War Syndicate in New York.As soon as the British ships came in sight, the four crabs cast off from Repeller No.11.Then with the other two they prepared for action, moving considerably in advance of the repeller, which now steamed forward very slowly.The wind was strong from the north-west, and the sea high, the shining tops of the crabs frequently disappearing under the waves.The British fleet came steadily on, headed by the great Llangaron.This vessel was very much in advance of the others, for knowing that when she was really in action and the great cylinder which formed her stern-guard was lowered into the water her speed would be much retarded, she had put on all steam, and being the swiftest war-ship of her class, she had distanced all her consorts.It was highly important that she should begin the fight, and engage the attention of as many crabs as possible, while certain of the other ships attacked the repeller with their rams.Although it was now generally believed that motor-bombs from a repeller might destroy a man- of-war, itwas also considered probable that the accurate calculations which appeared to be necessary to precision of aim could not be made when the object of the aim was in rapid motion.But whether or not one or more motor-bombs did strike the mark, or whether or not one or more vessels were blown into fine particles, there were a dozen ironclads in that fleet, each of whose commanders and officers were determined to run into that repeller and crush her, if so be they held together long enough to reach her.The commanders of the torpedo-boats had orders to direct their swift messengers of destruction first against the crabs, for these vessels were far in advance of the repeller, and coming on with a rapidity which showed that they were determined upon mischief.If a torpedo, shot from a torpedo-boat, and speeding swiftly by its own powers beneath the waves, should strike the submerged hull of a crab, there would be one crab the less in the English Channel.As has been said, the Llangaron came rushing on, distancing everything, even the torpedo-boats.If, before she was obliged to lower her cylinder, she could get near enough to the almost stationary repeller to take part in the attack on her, she would then be content to slacken speed and let the crabs nibble awhile at her stern.Two of the latest constructed and largest crabs, Q and R, headed at full speed to meet the Llangaron, who, as she came on, opened the ball by sending a "rattler" in the shape of a five-hundred-pound shot into the ribs of the repeller, then at least four miles distant, and immediately after began firing her dynamite guns, which were of limited range at the roofs of the advancing crabs.There were some on board the repeller who, at the moment the great shot struck her, with a ringing and clangour of steel springs, such as never was heard before, wished that in her former state of existence she had been some other vessel than the Tallapoosa.But every spring sprang back to its place as the great mass of iron glanced off into the sea.The dynamite bombs flew over the tops of the crabs, whose rapid motions and slightly exposed surfaces gave little chance for accurate aim, and in a short time they were too close to the Llangaron for this class of gun to be used upon them.As the crabs came nearer, the Llangaron lowered the great steel cylinder which hung across her stern, until it lay almost entirely under water, and abaft of her rudder and propeller-blades.