ed washing their crews
overboard. At ten-thirty I made the prearranged signal, and my escort
hove-to, leaving me to finish my journey and carry out my perilous task
alone.

I knew exactly where I was--or rather, where I ought to be--for I had
kept a careful reckoning of our progress from the moment of starting,
and, unless something had gone wrong, we were then exactly two miles
south-east of the Pinnacle Rock lighthouse. But it was necessary to
make sure, otherwise I might lay my mines in the wrong place, and all my
labour would be useless; I accordingly shaped a course for the
lighthouse and cautiously stood in, with a leadsman stationed at each
extremity of the overhanging navigating bridge. These took continuous
casts of the lead and reported the result to me through my "Number 1,"
who stood outside my cabin and called to me through an open window,
while I stood at the table, with the chart spread open before me,
pricking off our position minute after minute, and comparing the
leadsmen's results with those shown on the chart, the two agreeing
accurately.

At length we reached a point beyond which it would be dangerous to go,
and I ordered the engines to be stopped and reversed, at the same time
stepping out on to the bridge, to ascertain if anything could be seen.
But it was as thick as a hedge, the lighthouse lantern was unlighted,
and there was not even a gleam from the searchlight on the cliffs above
to enable us to verify our position. True, the roar of breakers close
at hand told us we were not far from the shore; but that was all we had
to guide us; there was nothing for it, therefore, but to go ahead and do
the best we could.

There is no need for me to enter into a detailed and technical
description of the operation of laying mines; I will therefore merely
state that, despite the adverse conditions, we succeeded in
accomplishing our task and withdrawing without mishap. But we were not
a moment too soon, for the light of dawn was filtering through the haze
as we dropped our last mine and moved cautiously away from the completed
field.

The next thing was to find our escort, which we had left two miles out
at sea. We were groping our way slowly seaward through the fog, keeping
a sharp lookout for the destroyers, when all in a moment the mist
lifted, and we sighted them about half a mile distant. And at the same
instant, some four miles away to the north-east, appeared a squadron of
five destroyers