have carried them through anything. The heroism of the wounded was the
'admiration' of all. I cannot adequately express the pride with which
the spirit of the fleet filled me."

At daylight on the 1st of June the British battle fleet, being southward
of Horn Reef, turned northward in search of the enemy vessels. The
visibility early on the first of June was three to four miles less than
on May 31st, and the torpedo-boat destroyers, being out of visual touch,
did not rejoin the fleet until 9 A.M. The British fleet remained in the
proximity of the battlefield and near the line of approach to the German
ports until 11 A.M., in spite of the disadvantage of long distances from
fleet bases and the danger incurred in waters adjacent to the enemy's
coasts from submarines and torpedo craft.

The enemy, however, made no sign, and the admiral was reluctantly
compelled to the conclusion that the High Sea Fleet had returned into
port. Subsequent events proved this assumption to have been correct. The
British position must have been known to the enemy, as at 4 A.M. the
fleet engaged a Zeppelin about five minutes, during which time she had
ample opportunity to note and subsequently report the position and
course of the British fleet.

The Germans at first claimed a victory for their fleet. The test, of
course, was the outcome of the battle. The fact that the German fleet
retreated and nevermore ventured forth from beneath the protecting guns
and mine fields around Helgoland, demonstrates beyond dispute that the
British were entitled to the triumph. The German official report makes
the best presentation of the German case. It follows in full:

The High Sea Fleet, consisting of three battleship squadrons, five
battle cruisers, and a large number of small cruisers, with several
destroyer flotillas, was cruising in the Skagerrak on May 31 for the
purpose, as on earlier occasions, of offering battle to the British
fleet. The vanguard of the small cruisers at 4.30 o'clock in the
afternoon (German time) suddenly encountered ninety miles west of
Hanstholm, (a cape on the northwest coast of Jutland), a group of eight
of the newest cruisers of the Calliope class and fifteen or twenty
of the most modern destroyers.

While the German light forces and the first cruiser squadron under Vice
Admiral Hipper were following the British, who were retiring
north-westward, the German battle cruisers sighted to the westward Vice
Admiral Beatty