shore for a few hours in those days of sudden
summons. It had been arranged, too, that the hotel telephone should
always supplement the message of the siren. At this hotel--and, by the
way, what a scene was here when the armistice was announced!--there
were always staying numbers of the relatives and friends of the naval
officers. There was often a gay assemblage here. It was the gaiety of
brave men at the prospect of danger, and of women who concealed their
anxiety for the sake of their men. On one occasion, when the loud
siren's call, dreaded of women, came, a concert for the benefit of
some naval or military fund was just opening in the great hall
belonging to the hotel, and the wives and other ladies related to the
naval officers were selling the programmes. There was no time for
farewells; the officers left the hall and hurried down the unlit,
narrow streets of the old town to the quays as fast as they were
able. But the concert was not interrupted, and, assuming a brave face,
the ladies continued to sell the programmes. As on other occasions, of
the men who left the hall that night there were some who did not come
back.

There are many who were in Harwich during the war who can now read
Byron's stanzas describing the scene at Brussels on the eve of
Waterloo with an understanding mind. This war has shown that the
spirit of the Elizabethan and Nelson days is still with us. One
wonders how the people of ages hence, when, from a long way off, they
look back at these "_old, unhappy, far-off things and battles long
ago_," will think and write of the men and women of this day.

The Harwich Force lost no time in going out to search for the enemy
after the declaration of war. War was declared by Great Britain on
August 4, 1914, and at an early hour of the morning following that
fateful event the people of Harwich thronged the quays and the
seashore to witness the steaming out of the harbour at high speed of
the entire Harwich Force. It was a scene of wild enthusiasm on shore,
and the population loudly cheered the ships that were hurrying off to
fight the enemies of England.

It was at six in the morning of that glorious summer day that the
force left the harbour, and then the ships spread out in accordance
with orders. At 9 a.m. a section of the force, consisting of the light
cruiser _Amphion_ and some destroyers, were near the Galloper, when
Captain Fox, commanding the _Amphion_, hoisted the cheery signal,
"_Good hun