The Amphion’s men were dreadfully burned and scalded and had marks on their faces and bodies which resembled splashes of acid.

The scene at Harwich was like that which follows a colliery explosion.  Of the British seamen in the hospital thirteen were suffering from severe burns, five from less serious burns, two from the effects of lyddite fumes, and one each from concussion, severe injury, slight wounds, shock, and slight burns.  A few wounded German sailors also lay in the hospital.

SINKING A GERMAN SUBMARINE

On August 12 there came from Edinburgh the story of an eyewitness of a naval battle in the North Sea on the previous Sunday between British cruisers and German submarines, in which the German submarine U-15 was sunk.

“The cruiser squadron on Sunday,” the story ran, “suddenly became aware of the approach of the submarine flotilla.  The enemy was submerged, only the periscopes showing above the surface of the water.

“The attitude of the British in the face of this attack was cool and the enemy was utterly misled when suddenly the cruiser Birmingham, steaming at full speed, fired the first shot.  This shot was carefully aimed, not at the submerged body of a submarine, but at the thin line of the periscope.

“The gunnery was superbly accurate and shattered the periscope.  Thereupon the submarine, now a blinded thing, rushed along under water in imminent danger of self-destruction from collision with the cruisers above.

“The sightless submarine was then forced to come to the surface, whereupon the Birmingham’s gunner fired the second shot of the fight.  This shot struck at the base of the conning tower, ripping the whole of the upper structure clean and the U-15 sank like a stone.

“The remainder of the submarine flotilla fled.”  NAVAL BATTLE OFF HELIGOLAND

In the last week of August a naval engagement occurred off the island of Heligoland, in the North Sea.  British war vessels sank five German ships, killing 900 men.  A graphic description of the engagement was given by a young lieutenant who was on one of the British torpedo boat destroyers: 

“I think the home papers are magnifying what really was but an affair of outposts.  We destroyers went in and lured the enemy out and had lots of excitement.  The big fellows then came up and afforded some excellent target practice, and we were very glad to see them come; but it was a massacre, not a fight.

“There was superb generalship and overwhelming forces on the spot, but there was really nothing for them to do except to shoot the enemy, even as father shoots pheasants.

“Have you ever noticed a dog rush in on a flock of sheep and scatter them?  He goes for the nearest and barks and goes so much faster than the flock that it bunches up with its companions.  The dog then barks at another and the sheep spread out fanwise, so in front of the dog there is a semicircle of sheep and behind him none.