In those days the officers got to know the men even better than they had done before, and the spirit of comradeship between all ranks became correspondingly closer. Certainly no Commander-in-Chief could ever have desired to see in the force under his orders a finer spirit than that which animated the officers and men of the Grand Fleet. CHAPTER IV DECLARATION OF WAR At 8.30 A.M. on August 4th, 1914, the Grand Fleet proceeded to sea in compliance with Admiralty orders. The ships accompanying the Fleet-Flagship _Iron Duke_ were the vessels of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battle Squadrons, the light cruisers _Southampton_, _Birmingham_, _Boadicea_, _Blonde_ and the destroyers of the 4th Flotilla; the cruisers _Shannon_, _Natal_ and _Roxburgh_, and the light cruisers _Nottingham_, _Falmouth_ and _Liverpool_, which were at Rosyth with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, were directed to meet the Fleet at a rendezvous in Lat. 58.40 N., Long. 1.30 E. The light cruisers _Bellona_ and _Blanche_ were left behind to coal. A report received from the Admiralty that three German transports had passed the Great Belt on the evening of August 1st had led to the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, with the cruisers _Cochrane_ and _Achilles_, and the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, being ordered to sea on the evening of August 3d to cruise to the southward of the Fair Island Channel during the night. The orders under which the Fleet acted were to sweep east as far as Long. 2 E. and, then, for the cruisers to carry out a wide sweep to the southward and south-westward. These orders were in conformity with the general strategical ideas embodied in the War Orders for the Grand Fleet, which, as already indicated, aimed at establishing a blockade; at preventing the enemy forces from getting into the Atlantic to interfere with the operations of our cruisers engaged in protecting our own trade as well as stopping trade on the part of the enemy; and at asserting control of the North Sea and denying it to the enemy. Pursuant to these orders, the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron and 3rd Cruiser Squadron were directed to sweep the area between Lat. 60 and 61 N., working eastward from the Shetland Islands to Long. 2 E., arriving there at 4 P.M., thence to sweep to the S.E. until 5 A.M. on August 5th, when they were on a line drawn S.W. from Hangesund Light in Lat. 59.25 N. with the eastern ship 20 miles from the coast. The _Antrim_ and _Argyll_, being short of fuel, were detached during the evening of August 4th to coal at Scapa.