seven o'clock
Keep lookout for inbound transports to be convoyed . Ten ships . '' Again the destroyer swung into line . It was almost seven o'clock -- after dark -- when the lookout aboard the Plymouth reported : `` Smoke ahead ! '' Instantly all was activity aboard the destroyers . Directly , through his glass , Jack sighted nine rusty , English tramp steamers , of perhaps eight thousand tons , and a big liner auxiliary flying the Royal Navy ensign . Under the protection of the destroyers , the ships made for an English port .