Encouragement of this kind was desirable, for German submarines and mines were already beginning to take their toll. Off the Forth on September 5, a single torpedo sank the light cruiser _Pathfinder_ with nearly all hands. This loss was avenged when a week later the _E 9_, under Lieut. Commander Max Harton, struck down the German cruiser _Hela_ within 6 miles of Heligoland. But on September 22, at 6.30 a.m., a single old-type German craft, the _U 9_, dealt a staggering blow. With a total of 6 torpedoes Commander Weddigen sank first the _Aboukir_, and then in quick succession the _Hogue_ and the _Cressy_, both dead in the water at the work of rescue. The loss of these rather antiquated vessels was less serious than that of over 1400 trained officers and men. A shock to British traditions came with the new order that ships must abandon injured consorts and make all speed away. In the bases at Rosyth and Scapa Flow, which at the outbreak of war were totally unprotected against submarines and thought to be beyond their reach, the Grand Fleet felt less secure than when cruising on the open sea. Safer refuges were sought temporarily on the west coast of Scotland and at Lough Swilly in the north of Ireland, but even off this latter base on October 27, the big dreadnought _Audacious_ was sunk by mines laid by the German auxiliary cruiser _Berlin_. In view of the impending Turkish crisis, the loss was not admitted by the Admiralty, though since pictures of the sinking ship had actually been taken by passengers on the White Star liner _Olympic_, it could not long remain concealed. Mines and submarines had seemingly put the British navy on the defensive, even if consolation could be drawn from the fact that troops and supplies were crossing safely to France, the enemy had been held up at the Marne, the German surface fleet was passive, and the blockade was closing down. _Escape of the "Goeben" and the "Breslau"_ In distant waters Germany at the outbreak of the war had only ten cruisers--_Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Emden, Nuernberg_, and _Leipzig_ in the Pacific, _Koenigsberg_ on the east coast of Africa, _Karlsruhe_ and _Dresden_ in the West Indies, and _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ in the Mediterranean. Within six months' time, these, together with a few auxiliary cruisers fitted out abroad, were either destroyed or forced to intern in neutral ports. Modern wireless communication, difficulties of coaling and supply, and the overwhelming naval strength of the Allies made the task of surface raiders far more difficult than in previous wars. They were nevertheless skillfully handled, and, operating in the wide ocean areas, created a troublesome problem for the Western Powers.