240
THE YPRES TIMES
naval operations on the coast, which continued for more than two weeks without
intermission.
Churchill, in the 1st volume of "The World Crisis," quotes a Swedish writer,
Dr. Sven Hedin, who describes a scene in the restaurant of the best Ostend hotel;
he says
"A destroyer had just detached itself from the rest and was making
at full speed for Ostend, parallel with the coast, as close as possible to the
shore. Presently another destroyer appeared, following in the wake of
the first. What could they want, these ruffians? Strong language was
heardit was a piece of consummate impudence to come steaming right
under our noses like this. Evidently they were reconnoitringbut what
insolence, they must have known that we had occupied Ostend. Aha,
they suspect that there are submarines and destroyers in the inner harbour,
and want to see whether they can detect anything from outside.
Astounding insolence! Two small German guns are hurried up. 'Are
they going to shoot?' I asked. Oh yes, they are going to shoot all
right.' The first shot rang out. Directly the German shots had been
fired, the two destroyers swung round to port and at the same moment
opened fire. Their guns seemed to flash out straight at us. The results
were instantaneous. The restaurant which had been one of the most
elegant in Europe was blasted into a smoking shambles of ruin and death.
In this manner the German Army and the British Navy first came
into contact with one another."
The ships remained under weigh during bombardment, which increased the
difficulties of keeping on a target, but this was necessary owing to the danger of
attack by submarines; the firing, too, was indirect, as the target could seldom be
seen. Prominent objects on shore were fixed on the chart by angles from the ship,
and the bearings and ranges of the targets derived from these fixed points. Wire
less messages indicating positions on a squared map of bodies of troops and
batteries, etc., were constantly received, and naval balloons did some general spot
ting, but corrections for individual guns were not possible.
The enemy were undoubtedly taken unawares on the 18th; firing was incessant
throughout the day, and all reports indicated that great execution had been done.
The King of the Belgians expressed his appreciation in a W/T message in which
he said that his General Staff estimated the casualties of the enemy, due to the
bombardment of the flotilla, as being 1,600 killed and wounded, a battery of
artillery had been put out of action, and an immense amount of commissariat had
been destroyed.
The bombardment from the sea continued day after day from daylight to
dawn and the coast was swept by a devastating fire, with an occasional interval for
rushing off to Dunkirk to replenish with ammunition and coal and then back again
to the hunting ground. They were strenuous times for the crews, often
ammunitioning and coaling most of the night and in action all day. At other
times the ships anchored on the Nieuport Bank for the night and trusted to provi
dence that they were unseen by the ever-vigilant submarine. Aircraft, too, became
increasingly active. Was there ever such a war? Ships and submarines, aircraft
and land artillery all engaged in fighting one another.
To quote from the writer's diary at the time:
One soon gets used to the everlasting din, day after day. It was a
bit disturbing at firstthe guns, when fired, shake the ship from bow to
stern; cabins are wrecked, fittings fall down in a most unseemly manner
and we live in an unholy mess, empty cartridge cases lumber the deck,