German harbour of List, they engaged enemy
patrol vessels and aircraft. They sank two of the patrol boats (armed
trawlers) and brought down a seaplane. While our boats were picking up
survivors, some of these patrol boats threw out such dense clouds of
smoke to screen themselves that, in the obscurity thereby caused, a
collision took place between two of the British destroyers, the
_Laverock_ ramming the _Medusa_ and holing her badly in the
engine-room. The _Laverock_, despite her injuries, was able to proceed
under her own steam, but the _Medusa_ was wholly disabled.

In the meanwhile, urgent wireless messages from the Admiralty were
received ordering the Commodore to withdraw. To remain longer on the
coast with a crippled ship in tow would be to invite the attack of a
superior enemy force; in fact, it was known that strong forces were
already putting to sea from the German bases; so at 11 a.m. the
Commodore ordered the entire force to withdraw to the westward. The
flotilla-leader _Lightfoot_ took the _Medusa_ in tow.

At the beginning of the homeward voyage the enemy seaplanes circled
round the ships, but were kept off by our high-angle guns. One plucky
German airman, however, despite the shrapnel that was bursting all
round him, made a most determined attack. He dropped about eight bombs
and very nearly hit the _Conquest_. But the ever-increasing strength
of the wind, and the signs of worse weather coming, at last made the
German airmen turn to seek shelter on their own land.

The flotilla soon found itself steaming in the teeth of a strong
south-west gale, violent rain-squalls alternating with snow-blizzards,
and a high sea running. Progress was slow, for the speed of the
flotilla was necessarily limited to that at which their crippled
consort could be towed, and that speed, as the wind ever hardened, was
gradually reduced from ten to only six knots.

At 4 p.m. the flotilla sighted ahead of it, steaming to the southward,
the ships of Sir D. Beatty's squadron of cruisers that had been sent
to support it. The delay caused by the wait for the seaplanes that did
not return and by the crippled state of the _Medusa_ had brought about
a dangerous situation. The mission of the battle cruisers had been to
cruise to the south-west and prevent the enemy from attacking the
Harwich Force while the seaplane raid was in progress, and, at the
conclusion of the raid, to cover the withdrawal of that force, by
following it to the