Page "Robert Erskine Childers" Paragraph 9

If Childers's support for Britain in the fight against Germany may have been in some doubt, when in mid-August 1914 he did once again volunteer, the grant of a reserve commission in the intelligence arm of the Royal Navy was entirely to be expected: Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, although hostile to spending money on armaments at the time The Riddle of the Sands was published, later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat, and he was instrumental in securing Childers's recall.

His first task was a neat reversal of his plot for The Riddle of the Sands: to draw up a plan for the invasion of Germany by way of the Frisian Islands.

Only a few days later he found himself allocated to HMS Engadine, a seaplane support vessel, as an instructor in coastal navigation to newly trained pilots.

He managed to extend his duties to include flying as a navigator and observer, including a sortie navigating over a familiar coastline in the Cuxhaven Raid, an inconclusive bombing attack on the Cuxhaven airship base on Christmas Day 1914, for which he was mentioned in despatches.

In 1915 he was transferred in a similar role to HMS Ben-my-Chree, in which he served in the Gallipoli Campaign and the eastern Mediterranean, earning himself a Distinguished Service Cross.

He was sent back to London in April 1916 to receive his decoration from the king and for service in the Admiralty.

This period in his life is relatively undocumented and his Irish detractors were to allege that he was once again engaged in intelligence work.

In reality he was engaged in the mundane task of allocating seaplanes to their intended ships.

It took Childers until autumn of that year to extricate himself and train for service with a new coastal motor-boat squadron operating in the English Channel.