Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

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Water continued to flood the ship, however, such that at 1000 the central engine room had to be abandoned. Shortly afterwards, the starboard engine also had to be closed down and the room secured. Audacious now had no propulsion whatsoever.

At 1030, the captain of the light cruiser HMS Liverpool spotted the White Star liner RMS Olympic on a return crossing from New York, and ordered her to assist in the evacuation of the 900-strong crew of the Audacious. By 1100, as the immobile Audacious rolled with the swell, her port side main deck had begun to dip under the water. Two hours later, all but 250 of the battleship’s crew had been taken off, and arrangements had been agreed to take the damaged battleship in tow to safety. The small and nimble destroyer HMS Fury set up a cable between Audacious and the larger and more powerful Olympic – and by 1400, the tow was secured and ready to begin.

Initially, progress was encouraging and the Olympic slowly began to make way, dragging the sluggish weight of Audacious westwards towards safety, flanked by other rescue vessels that were standing by. But when Olympic was required to alter course to south-south-east, to head towards Lough Swilly, things began to unravel. The seas were starting to rise and as the steering gear of Audacious was no longer operational, she became increasingly unmanageable. Eventually, she sheared off into the wind and the towline parted.