518 
NAVAL MANCEUVRES, 1894 . 
H.M.S. 
Australia 
again 
attacked. 
B. Red 
sighted. 
Battle off 
“The 
Maidens.” 
A. Red 
sighted. 
Battle off 
South Rock. 
and shortly afterwards turned north to crush B. Bed before it could 
reach the shelter of the forts at Belfast. 
About 3 a.m. the Australia was again attacked by torpedo-boats, 
one approaching on either quarter, and this time the attack was nearly 
successful, a torpedo passing only some 20 yards in front of our bow. 
Both the boats were claimed to have been put out of action, and one 
was discovered by means of the search-lights to have been a friend ! 
Soon after daybreak (Sunday) one of our cruisers discovered B. Bed 
fleet near The Maidens, and hugging the coast, so as to gain Belfast 
without encountering us. 
At 5 a.m. Blue fleet advanced to cut off the enemy, D. Blue 
in “ column line ahead,” C. Blue on our port side in “ column of 
divisions line ahead.” At 5.45 our cruisers opened fire, the enemy 
replying. The fleets continued to approach Belfast Lough parallel to 
each other, and keeping up a heavy fire, but as no ship was allowed by 
the rules to approach within eight cables of an enemy, it was impos¬ 
sible for us to prevent them from gaining the Lough. At 6.45 a.m. 
the Colossus and Edinburgh were signalled “to chase,” and they 
wheeled out of the column and engaged at closer quarters, with a view 
to cutting off the Conqueror and 2nd class cruisers, but having 
approached too near to the imaginary forts, they were eventually ruled 
“out of action” by the umpires. At 7 a.m. “cease fire” was sounded. 
Thus B. Bed had only been under fire 1J hours, but the odds had been 
so overwhelming, 50 to 30, that Admiral Seymour claimed a victory, 
which the umpires allowed. 
Scarcely had the Blue ships drawn off when, at 7.15 a.m., seven 
cruisers belonging to A. Bed fleet were sighted to the south, and we 
discovered that we had had a very close shave of being caught between 
two fires. 
The Blue fleet immediately started south to crush A. Bed, the for¬ 
mation adopted being “ columns of divisions line abreast,” D. Blue 
leading. 
At 9.30 a.m. A. Bed was seen approaching in “single column line 
ahead,” the catchers forming another column inshore of the remainder. 
Blue continued to advance, passing the Bed to starboard, and at 10.20 
a.m. fire was opened. At 10.25 a.m. the whole of the Bed ships “went 
about,” this manoeuvre bringing the two fleets parallel to each other, 
and moving south, away from Belfast. Meanwhile B. Bed was seen to 
have left Belfast and to be following us, so that, should our claim 
to have defeated them in the morning be disallowed by the 
umpires, we were now liable to be defeated ourselves. But A. Bed’s 
manoeuvre appeared premature, as B. Bed was not yet within support¬ 
ing distance, and every minute the battle was moving further away 
instead of approaching the wished-for supports. 
Admiral Seymour now altered his formation, each line forming 
“ quarter line disposed to port,” or, in other words, an echelon retired 
from the right, the flagship being on the right. By this means the 
ships were able to bring a heavy fire to bear on the various Bed ships, 
but from an outsider’s point of view the change of formation was 
delayed a little too long, as the Bed ships when moving north had a 
