d obtained about them, and which it made public,
must necessarily have been less comprehensive than that supplied to the
world at large by the British authorities. Guidebooks, as well as
tourists who have visited the place, reported that an old castle stood
in Scarborough which in past centuries had been a fort, but which at the
outbreak of the war was nothing more than a show place. The only gun in
place at the castle was an obsolete piece that had seen service in the
Crimean War. Whitby, in times of peace, at least, had not even such
"armament."

It was on the 16th of December, 1914, that this second raid took place.
Over the North Sea there hung a light mist. The German admiralty did not
afterward make public the names of the cruisers which participated in
this expedition, but they are believed to have been the _Derfflinger_,
_Bluecher_, _Von der Tann_, _Seydlitz_, and _Graudenz_. It was at eight
o'clock in the morning that the residents of the three English towns
first heard the booming of the German guns, and coast guards near by
were able, with the aid of very strong glasses, to make out the hulls of
the attacking cruisers some miles out to sea. It was not thought
possible that the Germans could again elude the British ships on patrol
in these waters, and the guards therefore thought that the firing came
from ships flying the Union Jack and tried to signal to them. But they
came to realize the truth when they received no answering signals.

As it was not known but that the Germans would make an attempt to land,
the guards in the obsolete fort at Hartlepool took their positions and
two small patrol boats in the harbor made ready to give what resistance
they could. These, the _Doon_ and the _Hardy_, drew the fire of the
German guns, and, seeing it was impossible to withstand the German fire,
they made off and escaped. This time the Germans were better informed
about the conditions they dealt with, and evidently had no fear of
mines, for they came to within two miles of the shore. The forts on
shore were bombarded and private houses near by were hit by German
shells, killing two women who lived in one of them. The forts tried to
reply to the German guns, but those of the English battery were by no
means modern, and firing them only served to further convince the
Germans that the place was fortified; they inflicted no damage on the
German ships.

The lighthouse was the next target chosen by the Germans, one of their