At the same time it was necessary to maintain and
repair the booms of the harbor, to test the channels, make
arrangements concerning piloting, anchorage, and new
supplies of water, provisions and coal for the always
hurried transports which arrived, unloaded and sailed away
at all hours of the day and night; constantly to clear out
and drag the waters near the island; establish observation
posts around it, station batteries in suitable positions,
and finally to protect the channels around Corfu and the
Albanian coast, in which the English aided us effectively by
sending a hundred drifters (a sort of little fishing boat
which we call "cordiers" at Boulogne), which, beating
against the wind under full sail, dragged a cable a thousand
meters long to snare submarines. Thanks to a pair of
floating docks, which were placed between the extreme end of
Corfu and the neighboring coast, a distance of but two or
three kilometers, our vessels were soon in position, in a
line thirty miles in length so that they could execute all
the movements necessary for the landing of the Serbs and
also have gun drill, launch torpedoes and sea planes, and
perform the rest of the maneuvers that are indispensable.
Pages:
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119