"This sort of a give-and-take fight had been going on for some time, when there was a sudden increase of the enemy's fire. From the way the fresh fall of shot came ranging up, it was very plain that new ships were coming into action, while the fact that the splashes were higher and heavier than those from the first salvoes seemed to make it likely that some of the Hun battleships had now arrived at the party. As it turned out, this was just what had happened, and, although we could not see them from the low decks of the destroyers, the first B.C.S. was soon under the fire of the whole Hun High Seas Fleet. It was to draw these on into action with our approaching Battle Fleet that Beatty now turned away to the north'ard. "Right here was where the big moment of this part of the fight came. The Huns must have scented the chance of catching our battle cruisers on the 'windy corner' as they turned, for suddenly their fire slackened on the ships down the line and concentrated on the point where that line began to bend. It must have been something like the barrage they make at the Front, for at times the water thrown up by the bursting shell made a solid wall which completely cut off my view of the ships beyond it. The way it seemed to boil up and quiet down looked like there was some sort of general control over the bunched fire, though that sort of thing would be pretty hard to handle. "The _Lion_ caught only a corner of the 'boil,' and left it on her starboard quarter, but the shell or two that struck her started a fierce fire burning 'midships, and I did not see the guns of that turret again in action. The 'P.R.'--the _Princess Royal_--turned in a quiet interval of the barrage, and seemed not to be hit, but the _Queen Mary_ steamed right into it, and just seemed to dissolve in a big puff of smoke and steam. I have no special memory of the noise or shock of the explosion, but the pillar of smoke shot up as sudden and solid as a 'Jack-in-the-box.' It was black underneath, but always with a crown of flame at the top, as though the gases were spouting up inside and taking fire as they met the air. Some of my mates said they saw big pieces of flying wreckage, such as plates from turrets and decks, but I only remember smoke and flame. I never saw a bit of the 'Q.M.' again. When the smoke cloud lifted she was gone completely, with nothing but a gap in the line to mark the place where she had been. The thing looked so impossible that the 'T.I.' (that was what we called the torpedo gunner's mate, because he was also torpedo instructor), who was standing beside me, kept saying over an over again, 'She's not gone up! She's not gone up!'