Fire was checked at 5.46, slow salvoes being resorted to on account of the difficulties of spotting. At this time a heavy thud was felt forward, which made the whole ship quiver; a shell had landed in the paint room, where it burst and made rather a mess of things. No material damage resulted, and there was fortunately no fire. At 6.15 we started using lyddite instead of common shell, having again decreased the range. The result was stupendous, the dark smoke and flash caused by those projectiles as they struck could be plainly seen, and not long afterwards the enemy was on fire. His return fire began to slacken appreciably, though he still managed to get a hit every now and again. Captain Ellerton decided to close and went in to nearly 7,000 yards, turning and letting the German have it from the port broadside. It was now 6.35, and the news came through by wireless from the flagship that the _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ had been sunk. It passed round the ship like lightning, even penetrating the watertight bulkheads in some miraculous manner, and cheered up all hands tremendously. Keeping the range between 7,000 and 8,000 yards, our ships continued to do great damage, and at 6.51 the enemy was seen to be badly on fire forward. In spite of this he continued to fire with great spirit, and even registered a few hits between 6.55 and 7.45 P.M. Then his firing stopped completely, and it was observed that he was on fire the whole length of the ship. The scuttles showed up like a series of blood-red dots gleaming from the ship's side, the whole of the foremost funnel and part of the centre one had disappeared, the upper works were severely damaged, while smoke was issuing here and there. The ship, indeed, presented a sorry spectacle. All this time the _Glasgow_, which was still on the quarter of the _Cornwall_, had also been busily engaged with the _Leipzig_, but at a greater range.