*****
At the final conference with the German Naval Armistice Commission, which was held in theHerculeson the morning of the 17th, Admiral Goette and his associates, in striking contrast to their belligerent attitude at the first meeting in Kiel, proved thoroughly docile and conciliatory. All of the important points at issue were conceded—including the surrender of submarines building and the delivery of theBadenin place ofMackensen—and tentative arrangements were made for future visits of special Allied Commissions whenever these should be deemed necessary to insure the enforcement of the provisions of the armistice. Work on the reconditioning of all Allied merchant ships was to be given precedence over everything else. Considering that he had no trumps either in his hands or up his sleeve, Admiral Goette played his end of the game with considerable skill. Such futile attempts at "bluffing" as he made were invariably traceable to pressure exerted upon him from the "outside," probably Berlin. Personally,in spite of the severe nervous strain he was under (the effects of which were increasingly noticeable at every succeeding conference), he deported himself with a dignity compatible with his heavy responsibilities. The same may be said of Captain Von Müller, which is perhaps as far down the list as it would be charitable to go in this connection.
*****
Weighing anchor at noon of the 18th, theHerculeswas locked through into the canal in good time to see in daylight that section which had been passed in darkness in coming through from the North Sea. A rain, which turned into soft snow as the afternoon lengthened, was responsible for rather less frequent and numerous crowds of spectators than on the previous passage. The ubiquitous Russian prisoner was still much in evidence. An especially pathetic figure was that of a lonepoilu—still in horizon blue, with the skirts of his bedraggled overcoat buttoned back in characteristic fashion—whom I sighted just before dark. Leaning dejectedly on his hoe in a beet-field, he watched theHerculespass without so much as lifting a finger. Most likely the unlucky chap took her for a German, for the rapturous demonstrations with which a score of his comrades signalized their arrival aboard a few days beforeshowed very clearly how a French prisoner would greet a British ship if he knew her nationality.
TheHerculeswent into her lock at Brunsbüttel an hour before midnight. TheRegensburg, which had preceded her through the canal, was already in the adjoining lock, and in attempting to pass on the light cruiserConstanceand three British destroyers at the same operation the canal people made rather a mess of things. There was a savage crashing and tearing of metal at one stage, followed by a considerable flow of profanity in two languages. When, the next morning in the Bight, a signal of condolence was made by theHerculesto one of the destroyers following in her wake on the "messy" state of its nose, the reply came back. "Don't worry about my nose. You ought to see theRegensburg. I've got a piece of her side-plating on my forecastle!" That was the second time the unluckyRegensburghad come to grief in locking through at Brunsbüttel with the ships of the Allied Naval Commission.
Owing to the fog, the Germans were unable, or unwilling, to send a ship to take off their pilots from theHerculesand escorting destroyers after the outer limits of the mine-fields had been passed, and it became necessary as a consequence to carry them on to Rosyth. The change of air and food incidental to their personally conducted tour toScapa (to await the next German transport home) was evidently a by no means disagreeable prospect to them, judging by the way they took the news. The steward who reported that the pilot he was looking after had been "stowing away grub like he expected a long continuance of the blockade," may have stumbled upon the reason for their philosophic attitude.
We found the Firth of Forth as we left it—wrapped in fog. There was just enough visibility to make it possible to find the gates in the booms and the main channel under the bridge. The historic voyage came to an end when theHercules, after tying up to theQueen Elizabeth'sbuoy for a few hours, went into the dry dock at two-thirty in the afternoon of the 20th. The Commission left for London the same evening in a special train provided by the Admiralty.
THE END
Transcriber's NotesSimple typographical errors were corrected.Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.Spelling in "dialect" passages not changed.German nouns printed in lower-case have not been changed to upper-case.Inconsistently-spaced abbreviations have not been changed.The following three typographical errors were corrected by referencing a later edition of this book:Page 90, paragraph ending: "Liverpool or Liverpool?" ended with a comma and closing quote.Page 144 "the latter being" was printed as "the later being".Page 287: "model cities" was printed as "model cites".
Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Spelling in "dialect" passages not changed.
German nouns printed in lower-case have not been changed to upper-case.
Inconsistently-spaced abbreviations have not been changed.
The following three typographical errors were corrected by referencing a later edition of this book:
Page 90, paragraph ending: "Liverpool or Liverpool?" ended with a comma and closing quote.
Page 144 "the latter being" was printed as "the later being".
Page 287: "model cities" was printed as "model cites".