ish and
German battle-cruiser squadrons were both out on the North Sea at the
time, the first to cover the raiding ships, the latter to attack them.
But the great sea battle that might have been fought was not fought
because the Germans so willed it, and retired behind the shelter of
their minefields before Beatty could get at them.

At an early hour of the morning of March 25, 1916, the Harwich Force,
consisting of the light cruisers _Cleopatra_, _Undaunted_, _Penelope_,
and _Conquest_ (_Cleopatra_ flying the Commodore's pennant), a number
of destroyers, and the seaplane-carrier _Vindex_, arrived off the west
coast of Sylt Island. A short time before reaching the spot at which
it was proposed to hoist out the seaplanes, the _Cleopatra_, screened
by half the destroyer force, and leading the _Vindex_, proceeded in
advance, leaving the rest of the force to await her return. When the
selected spot was reached, the track of a torpedo was observed to be
approaching the _Cleopatra_. It was avoided by turning towards and
following its track. The destroyers were now detailed to keep the
German submarine down while _Cleopatra_ and _Vindex_ stopped to hoist
out the five seaplanes. The morning had been bright, but a dense
snowstorm came on shortly after the seaplanes had been hoisted out.
However, the weather cleared for a while, and all the seaplanes had
got away by 5.30 a.m. But further snowstorms that followed made the
flying conditions very difficult, and the seaplanes lost their
bearings while searching for their objective.

The _Cleopatra_, the _Vindex_, and the escorting destroyers now
rejoined the remainder of the force at the appointed rendezvous, and
awaited the return of the seaplanes. At 7 a.m. the first seaplane
returned and was hoisted in, and a little later a second was picked
up--the only two of the five that ever did come back.

As the time appointed for the return of the seaplanes had passed, and
there were no signs of the others, the force proceeded in search of
the three missing ones, the cruisers penetrating the channel inside
the Horn Reef, while the destroyers were ordered to the south-east to
spread out and get in as near as possible to the German coast, so that
they might protect against enemy attack and pick up any damaged
seaplanes that might arrive. The search was fruitless, but it led to
various incidents.

The destroyers steamed in near enough to bombard the coast. Close
under the shore, near the