August 14, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
Our losses in ships were trivial because 
Germany was taken by surprise by our going to 
war, and had failed to get a sufficiency of armed 
cruisers on to the trade routes. Had their number 
been greater, however, the careers of the majority 
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would have been terminated very quickly. The 
reason these raiders lasted so long is largely to be 
explained by the fact that they were so few. A 
Power without an impregnable base on the trade 
routes cannot in the days of steam and wireless 
telegraphy keep up a successful guerre de course. 
THE HELIGOLAND AFFAIR. 
Towards the end of August the British sub- 
marines under Commander Roger Keyes dis- 
covered a role of quite unexpected utility. 
Their immediate function had been to watch 
the approaches to the Channel, so as to stop 
any attempt by the German ships to inter- 
fere with the transport of the Expeditionary 
Force into France. In doing this, they found 
that they had exceptional opportunities for 
observing the enemy's destroyers and light 
craft, and, as soon as the safety of the transports 
seemed assured, they constituted themselves the 
most efficient scouts possible. They soon found 
themselves in possession of an extensive know- 
ledge of the habits of the Germans. It was this 
knowledge that led to the decision to sweep the 
North Sea up to Heligoland and cut off as many 
of the enemy's light craft, destroyers, and sub- 
marines as possible. 
The expedition included almost every form 
of fast ships at the Commander-in-Chief's dis- 
posal. First the submarines were told off to cer- 
tain stations, presumably to be in a position to 
attack any reinforcements which might be sent 
out from Wilhelmshaven or Cuxhaven. Then in 
the very earliest hours of the morning, the two 
light cruisers Arethusa and Fearless led a couple 
of flotillas of destroyers into the field of opera- 
tions. The Arethusa flew the broad pennant of 
Commodore Tyrwhitt. The Fearless was com- 
manded by Captain Blount. The two flotillas, 
with their cruiser leaders, swept round towards 
Heligoland in an attempt to cut off the German 
cruisers and destroyers and drive them, if pos- 
sible, to the westward. Some miles out to the 
west, Rear-Admiral Christian had the squadron 
of six cruisers of the Euryalus and Bacchante 
class ready to intercept the chase. Commodore 
Goodenough, with a squadron of light cruisers, 
attended Vice- Admiral Beatty, with the battle- 
cruisers, at a pre-arranged rendezvous, ready to 
cut in to the rescue, if there was any chance of 
"Arethusa and Fearless being overpowered. 
The expedition obviously involved very great 
risks. It took place within a very few miles of 
bases in which the whole German fleefe- of battle- 
ships and battle-cruisers was lying. It was 
plainly possible that the attempt to lure the Ger- 
man light cruisers out might end in luring out 
the whole fleet, and one of the conditions contem- 
plated was that Admiral Beatty, instead of 
administering the quietus to such German 
cruisers as survived the attentions of the two 
Commodores, might find himself condemned to a 
rearguard action with a squadron of German 
battleships. 
A rethusa, Fearless, and the destroyers found 
themselves in action soon after seven o'clock with 
destroyers and torpedo-boats. Just before eight 
o'clock two German cruisers were drawn into the 
affray, and Arethusa had to fight both of them 
till 8.15, when one of them was drawn off 
into a separate action by Fearless, which in the 
ensuing fight became separated from the flagship. 
By 8.25 Arethusa had wrecked the forebridge of 
one opponent with a six-inch projectile, and Fear- 
less had driven off the other. Both were in full 
flight for Heligoland, which was now in sight. 
Commodore Tyrwhitt drew off his flotillas west- 
ward. He had suffered heavily in the fight. Of 
his whole battery only one six-inch gun remained 
in action, while all the torpedo tubes were tem- 
porarily disabled. Lieutenant Westmacott, a gal- 
lant and distinguished young officer, had been 
killed at the Commodore's side. The ship had 
caught fire, and injuries had been received in 
the engines. Fearless seems now to have rejoined, 
and reported that the German Destroyer Com- 
modore's flagship had been sunk. By ten o'clock 
Commodore Roger Keyes, in the Lurcher, had got 
into action with the German light cruisers and 
signalled to the A rethusa for he^. Both British 
cruisers then went to his assistance, but did not 
succeed in finding him. All the ship's guns except 
two bad meantime been got back to working order. 
At eleven o'clock Arethusa and Fearless en- 
gaged their third enemy, this time a four-fun- 
nelled cruiser. A rethusa, it must be remembered, 
still had two guns out of action. The Commodore 
therefore ordered a torpedo attack, whereupon 
the enemy at once retreated, but ten minutes later 
she reappeared, when she was engaged once more 
with guns and torpedoes, but no torpedo hit. At 
this point the position was reported to Admiral 
Beatty. The Commodore notes an interesting 
feature of this cruisers fire : " We received a 
very severe and almost accurate fire from this 
cruiser. Salvo after salvo was falling between 
twenty and thirty yards short, but not a single 
shell struck." We shall find this happened several 
times in the different engagements. 
The Commodore continues : " Two torpedoes 
were also fired at us, being well directed but 
short." One does not quite understand why the 
torpedoes should have been short. The weather 
we know was hazy, it not befng possible at any 
time to see more than 6,000 yards. It is certainly 
interesting if German torpedoes have not a longer 
range than Ihis. This cruiser was finally driven 
off by Fearless and Arethusa, and retreated badly 
damaged to Heligoland. Four minutes after, the 
Mainz was encountered. Arethusa, Fearless, and 
the destroyers engaged her for five-and-twenty 
minutes, and when she was in a sinking condition 
Commodore Goodenough 's squadron came on the 
Supplement to Uaitd ams WATm, Augutt 14, 1915. 
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