2 p.m.
To bed till 4 a.m. * * * * * A most unprofitable day . I grudge every day away from Zoe on which we do nothing . This morning about noon the gale blew itself out , but a heavy confused sea continued to run . At 2 p.m. we saw a most tantalizing spectacle . A big tank steamer , fully 600 feet long and of probably 17,000 tons burthen hove in sight , escorted by two destroyers . To attack with the gun was impossible , as we could only keep the conning tower open when stern to sea , and in any case the two destroyers prevented any surface work . We tried to get in for an attack , but we had not seen her in time , and the best we could do was to get within 3,000 yards , at which range it would have been absurd to have wasted a torpedo , the chances of hitting being 100 to 1 against , even if the torpedo had run properly in the sea that was on .