passing up and down the fairways; the
land, in any case, is not far distant. Such assurance has but slender
warrant. Gallant, unselfish, and thorough as are the services of the
lifeboatmen, their operations in the main are intended to serve known
wrecks and strandings. A flare in the darkness or a flash of gunfire in
the channels is now no special signal; the new sea-casualty gives little
time or warning for a muster of resources. The ready succour of the
patrols is, perhaps, more instant and alert, but the channel seaways
cover an area that no system could place under a quartered post or
guard. No vigilance could prevent the capture of _Brussels_ and the
martyrdom of Captain Fryatt; the crew of the _Nelson_ smack were for
over thirty hours adrift in the narrow seas ere they were sighted and
rescued. In the busy waters of the Irish Sea, three men of the ketch
_Lady of the Lake_ made ten miles in eight hours under oars, after their
vessel had been sunk by gunfire. A weary progress, with ships passing
near and far, but none daring too close the boat that might, for all
they know, be trap for an enemy mine or torpedo.

It is time we ceased to sing that Rio Grande chanty: an _amende_ is
overdue.

While we, the foreign-going men, have our 'ins and outs' of the most
dangerous seas--serving our turn in the front-line sea-trenches, then
retiring to a rest in safer and more distant waters--the coastal seaman
has no such relief. His daily duty lies in the storm-centre, in the
very midst of the sea-war. From harbour mouth to the booms of his port
of entry, no course can be steered that does not drive his keel through
minable areas and across the ranges of lurking submarines.

The new sea-warfare has developed a scheme of offence that renders our
inshore waters peculiarly fraught with peril to navigators. The
coast-line is no longer a defence and protection; rather, by limiting
sea-room in manoeuvre, the shoals and rock-bound beach have turned
ally to the enemy. Sea-mark and headland provide a guide in estimating
the run of a torpedo; note of a point definite, on which sea-routes
converge, is of value to a submarine commander. Even in the shallower
waters--depths in which a torpedo attack would be difficult--an equally
deadly offence may be maintained. The run of the sea-bottom in the
channels offering a good hold to slipped mine-moorings, it was not long
before the enemy had adapted submarines to continue the minelaying that
o