ormed
by the men of that force, or to mention the names of those who
performed them. But I have received a letter from a member of the crew
of one of these three lost destroyers who signs himself, "A grateful
survivor of that night," from which I propose to quote a few passages,
for it exemplifies the spirit of the British Navy and the just pride
that the "band of brothers" who fought under Tyrwhitt take in the
Harwich Force. I may say that eye-witnesses confirm all that my
correspondent writes. "_Four destroyers were on the scene, SURPRISE,
TORRENT, TORNADO, and RADIANT. The last-named alone returned. The most
gallant rescue-work was performed by the RADIANT, under the command of
Commander Fleetwood Nash, D.S.O., whose cool and skilful handling of
his ship under dangerous conditions was the means of saving so many
lives. Most gallant was the conduct of the sub-lieutenant and the men
who went into the ice-cold water among the struggling and drowning
men, at great risk to themselves, to save lives. Exceptional coolness,
too, was displayed by the engine-room and stokehole branch of the
RADIANT while rescue work was being performed in the dangerous area.
That all survivors volunteered, on their own, to serve in the Harwich
Force, although some of them had been mined or torpedoed two or three
times previously, speaks for the splendid type of men who man the
ships of the Harwich Force._"

The laying of mines and the destruction of one another's minefields
used to keep the Germans and ourselves well occupied, and the scraps
that occurred between craft engaged in these operations were very
frequent. It was one of the regular duties of the Harwich Force to
escort our own mine-layers and to protect our minefields--which
extended across the Bay of Heligoland from Holland to Denmark--against
the interference of enemy mine-sweepers.

The following will serve as an example of the encounters that so often
took place. In August 1917 a section of the Force, which throughout
the night had been supporting our own mine-layers (the latter had
been busy laying mines on our minefield), on the following morning,
while steaming close along the edge of the minefield in somewhat foggy
weather, sighted about eight enemy mine-sweepers, undoing the night's
work and energetically sweeping up our mines. The fire of our
destroyers sank two of the mine-sweepers, and the others, though badly
damaged, were enabled, owing to their light draught, to esca