e for a fleet to leave
Cuxhaven early in the evening and to be at Scarborough early the
following morning. In addition, sailing is restricted because an
unusually large portion of its waters is too shallow to permit
of the passage of large ships.

The Germans on this occasion had arranged a trap. They knew that
after making two successful raids on the English coast the British
would keep even a closer watch for them. When they sailed from
their base, it was with the expectation of meeting a hostile force,
as was undoubtedly their expectation on the first two raids. But
they did not intend to fight matters out on high waters. What they
wanted to do was to get the British involved in a good running
engagement, steering a southeasterly course the while and luring
the British ships within striking force of a waiting fleet of
superdreadnoughts and perhaps land guns and mines. This explains
why Admiral Hipper turned stern as soon as he got into touch with
the enemy.

There was a distance of fourteen miles between the two fleets when
the _Lion_ got her heavy guns into action. The German line was off
her port (left) bow. At the head of that line was the _Moltke_,
and following her came the _Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Bluecher_, and the
destroyers in the order given. At the head of the British line was
the _Lion_, followed by the _Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand_,
and _Indomitable_ in the order named. The other cruisers and the
destroyers of the British fleet brought up the rear. In the chase
which followed the Germans were handicapped by the fact that the
_Bluecher_ was far too slow to be brought into action, which meant that
either the other ships must leave her behind to certain destruction
or that they must slow down to keep with her. They chose the latter
course, while her stokers did their best to increase her speed. In
the English fleet there was the same trouble with the _Indomitable_,
but inasmuch as the British were the pursuers and had a preponderance
in ships and in the range of their guns, this did not matter so
much to them. But the stokers of the _Indomitable_ worked as hard,
if not harder, than those of the _Bluecher_.

By half past nine the two forces were seven miles apart and the
battle was on. It is necessary here to give certain facts about
gunnery on a large modern battleship. Firing at a range of seven
miles means a test of mathematics rather than of the mere matter of
pointing guns. At that distance t