t event during the month of August, 1915, that bore any naval
significance was the sinking of the British destroyer _Lynx_ on August
9, 1915, in the North Sea. She struck a mine and foundered within a
few minutes. Four officers and twenty-two men out of a complement in
the neighborhood of 100 were saved. The vicinity had been swept only a
day or two before for mines and it was believed that a German undersea
boat had strewn new mines which caused the loss.

Another British war vessel was sunk the next day. The auxiliary
cruiser _India_ fell prey to a submarine while entering the roads at
Restfjord, Sweden, on the steamship lane between England and
Archangel, Russia's northernmost port. Eighty of the crew, estimated
at more than 300 men, were saved by Swedish craft. The attack came
without warning and furnished another illustration of the submarine's
deadly effectiveness under certain conditions. The _India_, a
Peninsular and Oriental liner before the war, was well known to many
travelers. Built in 1896, she had a registry of 7,900 tons, and was in
the eastern service for a number of years.

After many months of idleness a clash came in the North Sea on August
12, 1915. The _Ramsay_, a small patrol vessel, met and engaged the
German auxiliary _Meteor_. Although outmatched, the British ship
closed with her foe and kept up the fight for an hour. The cannonade
attracted a flotilla of cruisers, which came up too late to save the
_Ramsay_, but which did succeed in cutting off the _Meteor_.

Four officers and thirty-nine members of the crew were picked up by
the Germans when their antagonist went down and these, together with
the crew of the _Meteor_, took to the German's boats when her
commander saw that escape was impossible. He blew up his ship and by a
combination of pluck, good seamanship, and a favorable fortune managed
to elude the cordon of British cruisers, reaching the German shore
with his prisoners. The total crew of the _Ramsay_ was slightly more
than 100 men.

Two successful attacks in four days on British war vessels, and the
loss of a third by a mine, stirred official circles, and demand was
made in the papers that redoubled precautions be taken. It was
believed that the adventure of the _Meteor_ into hostile waters
heralded further activity by the German fleet, but the days passed
without incident, and the British naval forces settled down to the old
routine of watching and waiting.

While these events w