The third day out, October 17th, dawned clear with a moderate wind from the southwest and a disturbed sea covered with whitecaps. The ships were zigzagging, with all lookouts properly kept and gunners at their stations. The _Antilles_ had her own battery which was manned by a detachment of the Naval Armed Guard. Early in the morning, at 6.45, she was steaming directly astern of the _Corsair_ during one of the frequent changes of course. The light was still poor, and it was this hour, before the sunrise had brightened the sea, which the submarines had found most favorable for attack. The _Antilles_ was seen to sheer out to starboard and the _Henderson_ hoisted a signal which could not be read from the bridge of the _Corsair_, but the yacht swung about on the instant and sounded the call to general quarters. There was no other indication that the _Antilles_ had been hit and mortally wounded. Presently she was settling by the stern. Then the bow rose in air, towered there, and the ship plunged to the bottom five minutes after a torpedo had ripped open her engine-room. Smoke and dust and dirty whirlpools marked the spot where she had been, and the sea was littered with boats and bits of wreckage and struggling men. On board the _Corsair_ was Commander F. N. Freeman, as commander of the patrol division to which the _Corsair_ and _Alcedo_ were attached, and his report contained the following description of the disaster: No explosion was heard on the _Corsair_, nothing was seen of it, nor was a submarine sighted. The _Henderson_ immediately turned to starboard and made a smoke screen, the _Willehad_ turned to port and from knowledge now at hand apparently passed very nearly over the submarine that fired the torpedo. The _Alcedo_ turned back to the spot where the _Antilles_ sank. The _Corsair_ steamed at nineteen knots directly astern of the _Henderson_ and to the northeast, followed by the _Alcedo_. These two escorting vessels continued in the vicinity of the wreckage until 8.30 A.M. No sign of the submarine was seen. During all this time the _Alcedo_ was picking up survivors while the _Corsair_ continued circling around the boats and wreckage. The _Corsair_ assisted in picking up the survivors in outlying boats and patrolling the vicinity until 10.30 A.M. All survivors having been rescued, and it being impossible to overhaul either the _Henderson_ or the _Willehad_ before nightfall, we set course for Brest. The total number of persons on board the _Antilles_ was 237. The number rescued by the _Corsair_ was 50, by the _Alcedo_ 117—total rescued, 167.