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That same day the articles of capitulation were drawn up and signed. The officers and some of the garrison of Heligoland, upon giving their parole, were permitted to withdraw with their private effects. The guns were either burst by means of guncotton or toppled over the cliffs, the defensive works that had escaped serious damage during the bombardment were blown up, and the captured war vessels either sunk or sent across the North Sea.
Twenty-four hours later an armistice was declared between the Anglo-American allies and Germany. The humiliation of the German Empire as a naval power was complete.
Peace was definitely declared in less than a fortnight from the unprovoked but abortive raid upon the east coast of Great Britain. By the terms of the treaty Germany was bound down not to maintain a fleet of more than twenty small cruisers. A comparatively small indemnity was demanded, while the fortifications of Borkum were ordered to be razed.
Heligoland was by mutual consent restored to its former masters, the Danes, and once and for all the menace to Great Britain ceased to exist.
The war, terrible while it lasted, brought good in its train. The exhausting struggle for naval supremacy ceased. It was universally conceded that the great English-speaking nations should rule the sea, and almost automatically the Great Powers were able to cut down their almost overwhelming expenses in naval armaments.
The victors had not been ungenerous or vindictive; they had laid no violent restriction upon their former enemy. Germany could, and did, still expand her overseas trade without let or hindrance. The settlement of sea supremacy meant a new era of peace and prosperity.
After the termination of the war, Hamerton, now promoted to the rank of lieutenant, obtained a shore appointment in Portsmouth Dockyard. Every summer the ketchDiomedaputs in an appearance in the Solent, and Hamerton, Detroit, Octavius Smith, and Stirling generally made a point of having a month's cruise together in the stanch little craft.
Often, on some quiet evening, theDiomedawill be found snugly moored in some sheltered and secluded creek of the Solent, while down below in her cosy cabin the four men will be exchanging reminiscences and recalling the events that led to the capture of the sea-girt fortress of Heligoland.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAINAt the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAINAt the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland
Transcriber's Notes:This book contains a number of misprints.The following misprints have been corrected:[Any misculation] —> [Any miscalculation][dull-back] —> [dull-black][degree of enthusiam] —> [degree of enthusiasm][overunning] —> [overrunning][Barracading] —> [Barricading][befel] —> [befell][to give an explanaation] —> [to give an explanation]A few cases of punctuation errors were corrected, but are not mentioned here.
This book contains a number of misprints.The following misprints have been corrected:[Any misculation] —> [Any miscalculation][dull-back] —> [dull-black][degree of enthusiam] —> [degree of enthusiasm][overunning] —> [overrunning][Barracading] —> [Barricading][befel] —> [befell][to give an explanaation] —> [to give an explanation]A few cases of punctuation errors were corrected, but are not mentioned here.