These unfortunately belated reports disposed at once of any idea that submarines had attacked the _Audacious_, and at 5 P.M. the _Exmouth_ sailed from Lough Swilly to attempt to tow her in. Steps had already been taken to warn outward and homeward bound vessels of the existence of the mine-field and to divert all traffic clear of it; and all mine-sweeping gunboats were ordered to Lough Swilly to locate the exact limits of the mine-field and to sweep a clear passage along the north coast of Ireland. On the arrival of the s.s. _Olympic_ at Lough Swilly, orders were given that no communication between the ship and the shore was to take place. I wired to the Admiralty suggesting that the loss of the _Audacious_ should be kept secret for as long as possible, so that the enemy should not learn of it, as the fact would afford him encouragement at a time when the military situation was extremely critical for the Allies, and also because, as a general policy, it was desirable to conceal from the enemy any serious losses of which he could otherwise have no immediate knowledge. This procedure was approved for the time, because of the military situation, and the _Olympic_ was kept at Lough Swilly for several days. This was necessary as she had on board a considerable number of United States passengers, and it was known that they had taken photographs of the _Audacious_ in a sinking condition. Amongst these passengers was Mr. Schwab, of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and it was made known to me after a day or two that he had come over on very important business connected with War Office contracts, and wished to proceed to London. After an interview with him, this was agreed to, and I asked him to call on Lord Fisher of the Admiralty in connection with the construction of some submarines which I ascertained from him that his firm was in a position to build very rapidly and which would be of the greatest value to us. He did this, and with the most satisfactory results, as ten submarines were constructed--as he promised--in the extraordinarily short space of five months. These vessels were most useful to us later. The 1st and 4th Battle Squadrons were at Lough Swilly during the remainder of October; the 2nd Battle Squadron proceeded to Lamlash on the 29th to coal, and to Lough Swilly on November 1st; the 3rd Battle Squadron went to Scapa on the 27th; and the 6th Battle Squadron to Lough Swilly.