The _Gneisenau_, at 4:17, still had all her guns in action, and seemed indeed to have suffered very little. Had the fire of both battle-cruisers hitherto been concentrated chiefly on the flagship? If so, the effect was really rather unfortunate, for with one ship going strong, it was impossible for the Vice-Admiral to attempt the rescue of the people in _Scharnhorst_. Rain had set in. There were signs of mist and thick weather. At any moment the light might fail. The conditions of the morning had been ideal for the control of guns at long range. These conditions had long since vanished. No doubt it went greatly against the grain to leave the brave fellows of the _Scharnhorst_ in their hopeless struggle, but the necessities of the situation gave no choice. For that matter, when the loss of life that took place in the _Gneisenau_ is considered, it is highly probable that had the British ships stopped to look for people of the _Scharnhorst_ they would have found none. For she turned over and sank, not as _Gneisenau_ subsequently did, so slowly that the people on board were able to muster on deck and then clamber on to the ship’s sides as she heeled over, but with such fearful rapidity that it is said that a salvo which _Carnarvon_ had fired at her when she was still afloat and showed no signs of immediate collapse, actually pitched in the water where she had sunk! If this story is true she must have turned over and vanished from sight in from ten to fifteen seconds. In this instance there can have been few if any survivors left swimming in the water, and those must have perished before help could reach them. With the disappearance of _Scharnhorst_ Admiral Sturdee made a double turn with his ships to bring them more or less into the wake of _Gneisenau_ and adopted a new disposition. He followed _Gneisenau_ on the starboard side himself, in _Invincible_, and sent _Inflexible_ to take up a corresponding position on the port quarter. This brought both ships within a range of about 12,000 yards of the _Gneisenau_, who for the next forty minutes was subjected to a double attack, one on each side. At 5:15 she made her last effort. She hit _Invincible_ amidships. [Illustration: Plan of the action between the British battle-cruisers and the German armoured cruisers] It is curious that after 5:30, when every gun but one was out of action and the ship had a heavy list, that she should still have been able to fire her last surviving piece. But such incidents are common to all naval actions. It is said that, at the battle of Tuschima, when _Savaroff_ had not only been shot to pieces, but seemed to be red hot from stem to stern, one of the 6-inch casemates kept at work quite steadily throughout, the last shot being fired when the ship was on her beam ends, in the act of sinking, so that the shell must have been shot straight up into the air.