so to be continuous. The Harwich mine-sweepers'
duty was to sweep the above-mentioned channels each day. As light was
needed to see and sink the mines after they had been cut adrift, the
mine-sweepers used to begin their work at daylight, whatever the
conditions of tide or weather, and until they had completed their task
no shipping was permitted to proceed up the channels. The risk at low
water to the mine-sweepers was therefore very great, and heavy were
their losses. They could not await the comparative security of high
water, and the preparatory exploratory work of the shallow-draught
craft at low water could only be carried out when low water happened
to occur at a very early hour, and even then the time available for
exploration was very limited. Since the armistice, the mine-sweeping
is conducted in far safer conditions. No unnecessary risks are taken;
the preliminary exploration at low water can be done thoroughly, and
the mine-sweepers can do their part at high water.

For an officer in charge of the War-Channel sweepers the
responsibility was very great, and often he had to come to a quick
decision when two or more possible courses of action were open to him
and it was not easy to foresee which would be the right course, while
to take the wrong one would probably mean horrible disaster. I will
now give an example of such a situation. In the first place, let it be
borne in mind that the conveyance by sea of our foodstuffs, munitions
of war, and men was a matter of vital importance to England, and that
delays in transportation had to be reduced to a minimum. The Germans,
knowing this, for a long time directed all their mine-laying energy to
that great highway of shipping, the swept War-Channel extending from
the Sunk to the Shipwash light-vessels--the channel the daily sweeping
of which was the charge of the Harwich mine-sweepers. Very often,
owing to the tides being quite unsuitable for sweepers, the choice had
to be made between two evils--stopping all traffic, or risking the
sweepers and convoying the traffic through the danger zone.

Now, on the occasion to which I am referring the War-Channel sweepers
commenced their work at daylight near the Sunk light-vessel, and
sweeping northwards found themselves at 8 a.m., it being dead low
water, in the middle of a dangerous freshly laid minefield about half
way between the Sunk and the Shipwash lightships, and close to the
line of buoys. As some of the mines were s