The armament of each vessel consisted of but one
gun, of large calibre, placed on the forward deck, and
protected by a bomb-proof covering. Each vessel was
manned by a captain and crew from the merchant service,
from whom no warlike duties were expected. The
fighting operations were in charge of a small body of
men, composed of two or three scientific specialists,
and some practical gunners and their assistants. A few
bomb-proof canopies and a curved steel deck completed
the defences of the vessel.

Besides equipping this little navy, the Syndicate
set about the construction of certain sea-going vessels
of an extraordinary kind. So great were the facilities
at its command, and so thorough and complete its
methods, that ten or a dozen ship-yards and foundries
were set to work simultaneously to build one of these
ships. In a marvellously short time the Syndicate
possessed several of them ready for action.

These vessels became technically known as "crabs."
They were not large, and the only part of them which
projected above the water was the middle of an
elliptical deck, slightly convex, and heavily mailed
with ribs of steel. These vessels were fitted with
electric engines of extraordinary power, and were
capable of great speed. At their bows, fully protected
by the overhanging deck, was the machinery by which
their peculiar work was to be accomplished. The