_)]
Then I loosed one of my torpedoes at the middle ship. I was then about
twelve feet under water, and got the shot off in good shape, my men
handling the boat as if she had been a skiff. I climbed to the surface
to get a sight through my tube of the effect, and discovered that the
shot had gone straight and true, striking the ship, which I later
learned was the Aboukir, under one of her magazines, which in exploding
helped the torpedo's work of destruction.
There was a fountain of water, a burst of smoke, a flash of fire, and
part of the cruiser rose in the air. Then I heard a roar and felt
reverberations sent through the water by the detonation. She had been
broken apart, and sank in a few minutes. The Aboukir had been stricken
in a vital spot and by an unseen force; that made the blow all the
greater.
Her crew were brave, and even with death staring them in the face kept
to their posts, ready to handle their useless guns, for I submerged at
once. But I had stayed on top long enough to see the other cruisers,
which I learned were the Cressy and the Hogue, turn and steam full speed
to their dying sister, whose plight they could not understand, unless it
had been due to an accident.
The ships came on a mission of inquiry and rescue, for many of the
Aboukir's crew were now in the water, the order having been given, "Each
man for himself.
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