the proof how little the
officials, pervaded by the consciousness of their own importance and
superior wisdom, were disposed to allow themselves to be taught. But
he was too much of a service-man not to acquiesce in the orders of the
supreme court with unquestioning obedience. Certainly, if he had been
able to gauge in advance the far-reaching consequences of the mistake
already committed, he would probably, as a patriot, rather have
sacrificed himself than become the instrument for carrying out the
fundamentally erroneous tactics of the plan of battle communicated to
him. For more was now at stake than the proud British nation had ever
risked before in a naval engagement. It was a question of England's
prestige as the greatest naval power in the world, perhaps of the final
issue of this campaign which had been so disastrous for Great Britain.
All-powerful Albion, the dreaded mistress of the seas, was now fighting
for honour and existence. A great battle lost might easily mean a blow
from which the British lion, wounded to death, would never be able to
recover.

. . . . . . .

At the time when the Konig Wilhelm entered the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
at the head of the German transport fleet, the Prince-Admiral, who had
hoisted his flag on the Wittelsbach, led the fighting fleet from the
harbour of Antwerp into the Zuid Bevelanden Canal, which connects the
East and West Schelde, and separates the island of Walcheren from Zuid
Bevelanden. Anchor was then cast.

His squadron consisted of the battleships of the Wittelsbach
class--Mecklenburg, Schwaben, Zahringen, Wettin, and Wittelsbach (the
flagship of the Prince-Admiral), and the battleships of the Kaiser
class--Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Barbarossa, Karl der Grosse, Wilhelm
II., and Friedrich III.

These ironclads were accompanied by the large cruisers Friedrich Karl,
Prinz Adalbert, Prinz Heinrich, Furst Bismarck, Viktoria Luise, Kaiserin
Augusta, and the small cruisers Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Undine, Arcona,
Frauenlob, and Medusa.

The torpedo flotilla at the Prince's disposal consisted of the
torpedo-boats S 102 to 107, G 108 to 113, S 114 to 125, with the
division boats D 10, D 9, D 7, and D 8, built on the scale of
destroyers.

The three fast cruisers Friedrich Karl, Prinz Adalbert and Kaiserin
Augusta, with the torpedo-boats S 114 to 120, had been sent on as
scouts, to announce the approach of the enemy in good time. The cruisers
had been ordered to post themse