In a
few minutes McClure climbed into the conning tower.
"What's up now?" he asked as he swept the horizon.
"Destroyer right ahead, sir," reported Jack as he indicated the
position of the vessel. McClure picked it up with his glasses, and
by taking the _Monitor's_ position was able very shortly to determine
that the vessel was off the entrance to Ostend.
"We might as well run up a bit closer and take a shot at her anyway,"
he announced shortly.
Crowding on full speed, the American vessel edged in closer and was
then partially submerged. The German vessel had not noticed the
submarine as yet; at least, she gave no indication of being cognizant
of the proximity of the American vessel. At a distance of three
thousand yards McClure decided to loose a torpedo.
"We'll take one shot and then dive," he said. "The coast is studded
with guns everywhere here and we are too close to them to loiter
around long."
In another moment, after sighting carefully on the fleeing destroyer,
McClure gave the signal to fire and Jack sent a torpedo whirling from
the bow of the _Monitor_.
Pages:
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221