ion's_ crew and a German prisoner who had just been rescued from
the _Amphion_. Thus this man, who had survived two disasters in the
space of a few hours, now fell a victim to the accident of falling
debris.

It is worthy of mention that one of the destroyers' boats, while
passing through the floating wreckage, came upon an uninjured football
that had come from the _Amphion_. The men were keen on salving it; so
it was picked up and brought on board the destroyer, and it was used
throughout the following football season whenever the ship was in
port. The Hun prisoners, belonging to a race that professes to despise
the British for their love of sport, were given food for thought by
this incident.

CHAPTER II

THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT ACTION

CHAPTER II

THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT ACTION

The plan--The sweep by the Harwich Force--The destroyers in
action--_Arethusa's_ duel with the _Frauenlob_--Off
Heligoland again--Action with German light cruisers--The
_Mainz_ sunk--End of the _Arethusa_.

The first naval action of the war was that in the Bight of Heligoland.
In this the Harwich Forces played a notable part. The Harwich
submarine flotilla under Commodore Roger Keyes (now Vice-Admiral Sir
Roger Keyes) had a good deal to do with the preparation for the
battle. At the beginning of the war these submarines were sent to
guard the approaches to the English Channel, their object being to
prevent any portion of the German fleet from passing through the
straits and attacking the ships that were conveying our first
Expeditionary Force to France. While thus employed they did valuable
work in observing the movements of the enemy light forces in the North
Sea. Acting on the information supplied by the submarines, the
Commander-in-Chief decided to send the fast ships of the Harwich Force
to make a sweep of the North Sea up to Heligoland and cut off enemy
light craft known to be operating within that area.

August 28 was the day appointed for this raid. The Harwich submarines
were sent out in advance to scout and to attack any enemy ships that
might issue from the German bases to support their light craft. At the
same time, from the Grand Fleet base, a squadron of cruisers was sent
to the westward of Heligoland in order to intercept the German light
craft should the Harwich Force succeed in cutting them out and driving
them to the west. Beatty, with battle cruisers and light cruisers,
went to an ap