In the meantime all the tables, chairs and things that would float had been thrown overboard, so that the men who found themselves in the water should have a chance of clutching at something that would help them to keep up, and in addition to this there were the inflated collars which have been provided for the crews of warships since the war began.
Meanwhile the submarine had vanished, but very soon another shock was felt, this time on the port side of the _Formidable_, so it seemed as if the craft had gone round to make matters even.
“There goes another at us!” some of the men shouted, as an explosion tore the decks and killed a number of the survivors.
“The cowards!” I heard one of my pals growl; “aren’t they satisfied at finishing us with one shot?”
It was a natural enough thing to say, but war is war--and British warships are not a canal fleet; they keep the seas and take their chances, and don’t slink in hiding.
The lights of a small vessel had been noticed about six hundred yards away, and careful inspection left little doubt that she was a fishing-smack. She did not move and did not make any answer to the appeals for help. Afterwards she slipped away and disappeared, and I’m pretty certain that she covered the movements of the submarine.
Things, however, were not by any means all bad. Four or five miles away more lights were visible, and these came nearer at about four o’clock, when we found that they belonged to a light cruiser.
When the cruiser drew near, Captain Loxley, thinking only of his duty, and wishful that no other ship should share the fate of his own, signalled to her to keep away, saying that the battleship had been struck and that the cruiser might be struck also; but the cruiser swept around the _Formidable_ in wide circles, nobly handled, and showed every sign of being ready to lend assistance.
The effect of the second explosion was to restore the battleship to something like an even keel; but having been torpedoed on each side she naturally sank lower and lower in the water, and it was soon clear that she would founder. Indeed, the first explosion was so terrible that there was little doubt that the ship was doomed, especially in such a sea as was then running. It was perishingly cold, with snow and sleet, and, to make matters worse, a good many of the ship’s company were only slightly clad.