And sometimes swift
mine-laying ships on the surface would do even more deadly harm,
rolling a hundred mines off a little railway on deck. At other times
mines would be loosed from the shore or from ships at anchor, so as to
float in among vessels with the tide or down the current of a stream.
One of these was tried against the British in West Africa by a German
missionary. Others were sent against the French and British vessels in
the Dardanelles, sometimes blowing them up.
But the enemy never had it all his own way. British submarines did
wonderful work in spite of the mines. Commander Holbrook won the V.C.
by feeling his perilous way through five lines of Turkish mines, though
the currents were very tricky, and more than once the side of his "sub"
actually touched the steel ropes holding the mines to their anchors.
When he reached Constantinople he torpedoed and sank the Turkish
battleship that was supposed to be guarding these very mines! Then he
dived back through the five rows of mines and rejoined the fleet
without a scratch.
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