o south until we reach the Bristol Channel, which appears to be choked
with them, and the dangerous cliffs of Cornwall, which receive the
ill-fated vessels of the fleets that are perpetually leaving or entering
the two great channels. But it is on the east coast of England that the
greatest damage is done. From Berwick to the Thames the black spots
cluster like bees. On the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, off Great
Yarmouth, where lie the dangerous Haisborough Sands, the spots are no
longer in scattered groups, but range themselves in dense battalions;
and further south, off the coast of Kent, round which the world's
commerce flows unceasingly into the giant metropolis, where the famous
Goodwin Sands play their deadly part in the great war, the dismal spots
are seen to cluster densely, like gnats in a summer sky.

Now, just where the black spots are thickest on this wreck chart,
lifeboats and rocket apparatus have been stationed in greatest numbers.
As in ordinary warfare, so in battles with the sea, our "Storm Warriors"
[See an admirable book, with this title, written by the Reverend John
Gilmore, of Ramsgate. (Macmillan and Company)] are thrown forward in
force where the enemy's assaults are most frequent and dangerous. Hence
we find the eastern shores of England crowded at every point with
life-saving apparatus, while most of the other dangerous parts of the
coast are pretty well guarded.

Where and how do our coast heroes fight? I answer--sometimes on the
cliffs, sometimes on the sands, sometimes on the sea, and sometimes even
on the pierheads. Their operations are varied by circumstances. Let us
draw nearer and look at them while in action, and observe how the enemy
assails them. I shall confine myself at present to a skirmish.

When the storm-fiend is abroad; when dark clouds lower; when blinding
rain or sleet drives before the angry gale, and muttering thunder comes
rolling over the sea, men with hard hands and weather-beaten faces, clad
in oilskin coats and sou'-westers, saunter down to our quays and
headlands all round the kingdom. These are the lifeboat crews and
rocket brigades. They are on the lookout. The enemy is moving, and the
sentinels are being posted for the night--or rather, they are posting
themselves, for nearly all the fighting men in this war are volunteers!

They require no drilling to prepare them for the field; no bugle or drum
to sound the charge. Their drum is the rattling thun