ETHEL BEATTY.

CONTENTS

PAGE
PREFACE v

I. THE LOG OF A NAVAL AIRMAN 1

II. OVER THE NORTH SEA IN A SEAPLANE 10

III. ADVENTURES IN A SEAPLANE 17

IV. SWEEPING THE SEAS FOR MINES 23

V. THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION 32

VI. A NAVAL SCHOOL 41

VII. "GENTLEMEN, 'THE KING'" 47

VIII. THE ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN 53

IX. A RUN IN A ROYAL NAVAL AMBULANCE TRAIN 60

X. A TRIP IN A SUBMARINE 67

XI. LIFE IN A LIGHTHOUSE 82

XII. WATCHERS OF THE COAST 89

XIII. CROSSING THE CHANNEL IN WAR TIME 97

SOME NAVAL YARNS

SOME NAVAL YARNS

I. THE LOG OF A NAVAL AIRMAN

Men of the British services are exasperatingly modest. You are forced to
wring stories of experiences from them, and when you are thrilled to the
core over their yarns they coolly inform you that their names must not
appear. Fortunately, there is something about a story which "rings
true." From one of the soundest pilots of the Royal Naval Air Service I
heard his experience of the previous day. We will call him "Q," as he
happens to be known in the station. It is his middle initial. He is a
tall, well-built man of thirty, who knows a seaplane backwards, and it
has been woe to the enemy when he met him.

"We started at dawn," he began. "There's not much flying in the dark,
only occasionally. First, we ran the machine out of the hangar, and, as
usual, tried the engines. In the fading darkness or growing light it is
a great sight to see the flames flashing from the exhaust. In the
beginning you run your engines slowly. Yesterday one of them kicked a
bit. The cause for the hitch was discovered, and they were once more
started. Remember that it is expedient that the engines be thoroughly
tested before a flight, as you may spend anxious hours if something goes
wrong. The spluttering ended, and we ran them up to full speed. This
done, we waited for more light before hauling the machine down to the
water. Once the seaplane was water-born, we taxied ourselves across the
port at moderate speed. As we rose in the air we had to be careful of
the m