not seriously hit and was able to sink one of her opponents. Her captain in due course recovering control of the vessel, brought her around, so that she followed her consorts. the meantime, the Barham, Valiant and Malaya had turned short to avoid the danger spot where the Queen Mary and Invincible were lost, and for an hour while waiting for Jellicoe to arrive fought a delaying action against the High Seas fleet. The Warspite joined them about 5.15 o'clock. All four ships were so successfully maneuvered that no hits of a disabling character were received. They had a speed over their opponents of fully four knots, and so were able

to draw away from part of the long line of German battleships, which almost filled up the horizon. At this time the Queen Elizabeths were steadily firing at the flashes of German guns at a range which varied from 12,000 to 15,000 yards, especially against those nearest them. The Germans being enveloped in a mist only smoke and flashes were visible."

The visibility at 6.50 was not more than four miles. Soon after that the German ships were temporarily lost

From a detailed account printed in The Herald (Glasgow) and cabled to The Times (New York).

sight of, but Beatty continued his course to the eastward until 7 o'clock, when he gradually altered to the south and west in order to regain touch with the Germans. He was in action twice again, and with battleships as well as battlecruisers, at ranges of 15,000 to 10,000 yards. Each time his gunners "got home" on the retreating German vessels. On the last occasion the leading German ship, after being repeatedly hit by the Lion, turned away eight points, emitting high flames, with a heavy list to port, while the Princess Royal set fire to a three-funnelled battleship, and the New Zealand and Indomitable reported that a third ship hauled out of line, heeled over and was on fire. Then the mist enveloped them, and the battle-cruiser's part in the engagement ceased.

The concluding phase of the daylight engagement, that between the battle-squadrons, was a one-sided affair. As soon as Admiral Scheer saw the situation he turned to the southward, and, under cover of declining daylight, thickening mist, and smoke-clouds from his small craft, withdrew from the fight. Before he could get away, the three squadrons of the British battle-fleet in a single line had been hurled across his van. Under fire from 13.5-inch guns the German formation was shattered and the ships themselves severely mauled. The supreme moment, leading to the climax of the whole battle, was when Jellicoe brought his dreadnoughts at top speed into the mêlée, a situation which called for tactical skill, calm judgment, and instant decision. Flashes of guns were visible through the haze, but no ship could be distinguished. Even the position of the German battleships could not always be determined. So thick was the mist that great care was essential to prevent British ships from being mistaken for German ones. Conditions were unparalleled, but Jellicoe delivered a vigorous thrust which threw the Germans into confusion, and after this, all their tactics were of a nature to avoid further action. How they extricated themselves was not made clear. The fighting between big ships lasted intermittently for two hours more, and then developed into a chase, until under cover of darkness and the thickness of weather, Scheer escaped. It was not until the following day, after the

whole large area covered by the fight had been thoroughly searched, without a trace of the Germans being seen, that the British Commander-in-Chief returned to his bases to refuel and refill his magazines. It was then officially stated that he was ready again to put to sea.

The loss of the Indefatigable was one of those catastrophic strokes of fortune made possible by the tremendous power locked up in modern ships of war. The ships on both sides. had become vigorously engaged when suddenly a heavy explosion took place on the last ship of the British line

which was the cruiser Indefatigable. A black column of smoke shot upward 400 feet, hiding the ship, and when it cleared away a little later the ship had disappeared. Out of her 900 officers and men, only two survived. At 4.18, when the third ship in the German line was seen to be on fire, another misfortune befell the British squadron, the battle-cruiser Queen Mary being vitally hit, and, with a terrific explosion which appeared to blow her hull asunder, she disappeared. She had at least 1,000 people aboard, and only about a score were saved. In modern warfare seamen

have to face perils that were unknown to their predecessors. In the old wars, ships were more often captured than sunk.

According to a Portsmouth correspondent,10 the manner in which the Warspite fought the German battle-fleet, when she went to the rescue of the Warrior, formed one of the most thrilling stories of the battle. The Warrior lay helpless, her engines disabled, her magazines under water, and her crew unable to use guns. She was calmly waiting for the end when suddenly on the horizon the crew saw a huge ship coming, the fast and powerful Warsp te, which Jellicoe, learning of the Warrior's peril, had sent ahead of the Grand Fleet to succor her. Helpless sailors on the Warrior greeted her with cheers as she threw herself between the imperilled ship and the German vessel. The first salvo from the Warspite's 15-inch batteries hit a German ship with full force, and she reeled and sank. The Warspite circled around the Warrior, drawing upon herself the fire of German ships and replying with vigor. After a shell had damaged her steering-gear, the Warspite held on, fighting alone the German ships. Four times in this manner the Warspite circled the Warrior, punishing the German ships with her great guns. No episode of the fight was more thrilling or spectacular than this. The cruiser, after putting one or more of the German cruisers out of action, had been battered and terribly injured, and was expecting the shells that would finish it when the Warspite appeared. officer of the Warrior afterward said:

An

"The first shot from the Warspite lopped off the foremast of the leading enemy cruiser. The next overturned both the fore gunturrets, and in five minutes the enemy vessel was ablaze from end to end, enveloped in a cloud of dense smoke. The second battlecruiser, which had been concentrating her fire on the Warspite, turned to starboard, smoke belching from her funnels, and endeavored to pick up her main squadron. But it was not to be. Two shel's from the Warspite blew every funnel she had to pieces. The third made a great rent in her stern. The fourth plowed up her deck 10 In The Times (London).