here dispersed, and the destroyers then picked up
the west-bound convoy at a rendezvous off the Norwegian coast shortly
before dark, and steered for a rendezvous between Norway and the
Shetland Islands, where an escort of armed patrol vessels joined the
convoy at daylight to assist in its protection to Lerwick. From Lerwick
convoys were dispatched to various points on the coast of the United
Kingdom; those making for southern ports on the East Coast were escorted
by a force composed of some of the old "River" class or of 30-knot class
destroyers, and trawlers belonging to the East Coast Command based on
the Humber, and those making for more northerly ports or ports on the
West Coast were escorted merely by armed patrol vessels, as the danger
of submarine attack to these convoys was not so great.

The main difficulty was the provision of the destroyers required for the
proper protection of the convoys, and to a lesser degree the provision
of armed patrol vessels of the trawler, whaler, or drifter types.

The conference held early in April, 1917, had reported that whilst
stronger protection was naturally desirable, the very least force that
could give defence to the convoys between Lerwick and the East Coast
ports would be a total of twenty-three destroyers and fifty trawlers,
whilst for each convoy between Lerwick and Norway at least two
destroyers and four trawlers were needed. The destroyers for the latter
convoys were provided by the Grand Fleet, although they could ill be
spared. The total number so utilized was six. It was only possible to
provide a force of twenty old destroyers and forty-five trawlers for the
East Coast convoys instead of the numbers recommended by the conference,
and owing to the age of a large majority of these destroyers and the
inevitable resultant occasional breakdown of machinery, the number
available frequently fell below twenty, although it was really
marvellous how those old destroyers stuck to the work to the eternal
credit of their crews, and particularly the engineering staffs. The
adoption of the system, however, resulted during the comparatively fine
summer weather in a considerable reduction in the number of merchant
ships lost, in spite of the fact that great difficulty was experienced
in keeping the ships of the convoys together, particularly at night,
dawn frequently finding the convoy very much scattered.

It became obvious, however, that with the approach of winter the old
de