nd submarine base at Harwich on the east coast of
England. Strangely enough, Felixstowe was a favourite summer resort of
the Kaiser whenever he came to the British Isles. Felixstowe is within
a hundred miles of the Belgian coast, where the Germans had submarines
at Ostend and Zeebrugge. It is only fifty from the Dutch lightship on
the North Hinder Bank, where German submarines used to come up so as to
make sure of their course on their way between the English Channel and
their own ports. The neighbourhood of this lightship naturally became
a very favourite hunting ground of the new flying boats, which used to
bomb the Huns whenever one of their submarines was sighted either on or
below the surface. Forty flying boats were launched in 1917, and
forty-four submarines were bombed. The "Porte Baby," as the flying
boat of '17 was called, measured a hundred feet across the wings and
carried a small aeroplane, complete with its own airman, on top. The
"Porte Super-Baby" of 1918 could lift no less than fifteen tons and was
easily the strongest aircraft in the world. The "Baby's" crew was
four--pilot, navigator, wirelesser, and engineer. The "Super-Baby"
carried more. Two gigantic Zeppelins and several submarines were
destroyed by the "Babies." The "Super-Babies" had no proper chance of
showing what they could do, as the Armistice came (11 November 1918)
before they were really at work. Porte had many Canadians in his
crews; and Canadians brought down the first Zeppelin and sank the first
submarine.

But the five chief kinds of fighting craft are only half the battle.
There are five more to be told off on the fingers of the other hand.
First, the Auxiliary Cruisers, which are swift merchant liners quickly
armed and manned by trained Reservists, who are mostly merchant seamen
and fishermen in time of peace. These cruisers do scouting and escort
duty, and sometimes have a hard fight with the enemy; though they are
not strong enough for regular battles between great men-of-war.
Secondly, the Supply Vessels of every size and every kind, which keep
the Fleet supplied with food and fuel, munitions and repairs, and
everything else a great fleet needs. So vast is British sea-power of
every kind, compared with the sea-power of any other people, that
foreign fleets and joint expeditions generally have to get British
shipping to help them through their troubles when the British are
either neutral or allied. The Russian fleet