he had left Sheerness with eight vessels of the Channel
fleet and with no protection from destroyers. The night was a bright
moonlight and for such vessels to be moving in line on such a night
without destroyers shows gross carelessness. Out of a crew of 800 men
only 201 were saved, and the rescue of this part of the crew was due to
the seamanship of Captain Pillar of the trawler Providence, who managed
to take most of those rescued on board his vessel.

On January 24th the German battle cruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral
Hipper set sail from Wilhelmshaven. What his object was is not known. He
had enlarged the mine field north of Helgoland and north of the mine
field had stationed a submarine flotilla. It is likely that he was
planning to induce the British fleet to follow him into the mine field,
or within reach of his submarines. That same morning the British battle
cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty put to sea.

According to the official report of the English Admiral he was in
command of the following vessels; battle cruisers, the Lion, Princess
Royal, the Tiger, the New Zealand, and the Indomitable; light cruisers,
the Southampton, the Nottingham, the Birmingham, the Lowestoft, the
Arethusa, the Aurora and the Undaunted, with destroyer flotillas under
Commodore Tyrwhitt. The German Admiral had with him the Seydlitz, the
Moltke, the Derfflinger, the Blucher, six light cruisers and a destroyer
flotilla. The English Admiral apparently had some hint of the plans of
the German squadron. The night of the 23d had been foggy; in the
morning, however, the wind came from the northeast and cleared off the
mists. An abridgment of the official report gives a good account of the
battle, sometimes called the battle of Dogger Bank:

"At 7.25 A. M. the flash of guns was observed south-southeast; shortly
afterwards the report reached me from the Aurora that she was engaged
with enemy ships. I immediately altered course to south-southeast,
increased speed, and ordered the light cruisers and flotillas to get in
touch and report movements of enemy. This order was acted upon with
great promptitude, indeed my wishes had already been forestalled by the
respective senior officers, and reports almost immediately followed from
the Southampton, Arethusa, and Aurora as to the position and composition
of the enemy. The enemy had altered their course to southeast; from now
onward the light cruisers maintained touch with the