The Dreadnought Battle Fleet arrived at Loch Ewe at 4 P.M. on the 5th to coal, two mine-sweeping gunboats having been previously detached to that base to search the entrance for mines. During the early days of September frequent reports were received of enemy mines having been discovered on the east coast, and several vessels were sunk, as a consequence, including the gunboat _Speedy_. It appeared that the enemy was laying the mines from merchant vessels flying neutral or even, possibly, British colours, as well as from regular mine-laying ships. The large number of vessels trading on the east coast and of fishing craft at sea, both British and neutral, greatly increased the difficulty of preventing these operations. The task of boarding and examining even a considerable percentage of these vessels involved a heavy strain. Our cruiser sweeps were showing this daily. The Admiralty’s attention was drawn to the matter, and the question was raised of establishing some restrictions, particularly as regards the areas in which fishing should be permitted. The extinction of a large proportion of our coast lights was also proposed, the burning of which enabled the enemy to fix his position accurately when engaged in mine-laying operations. This policy of the extinction of lights, thus started, gradually became general, and eventually only the most important lights were exhibited at night, and the large majority of these were only shown when requests were made by men-of-war who required them for entering port, the time of their exhibition being thus reduced to a minimum. The Dreadnought Battle Fleet remained at Loch Ewe until 6 A.M. on September 7th, and then proceeded to sea. The _Orion_ was left behind to complete work on her condensers and rejoined the Fleet at sea on September 9th, having been absent for twenty-one days. The _Agincourt_, the new battleship which since commissioning had been engaged in gunnery and torpedo practices either at Scapa or to the westward of the Orkneys, joined the 4th Battle Squadron at sea on September 7th in order to give her officers experience in working with the Fleet. There had been great difficulty in carrying out her practices because she had not been supplied with “sub-calibre” guns, and this deficiency could not be made good for some months; this caused much delay in raising her battle efficiency. However, she was manned with officers and a ship’s company of a very high standard and, in spite of all disadvantages, the early gunnery practices carried out by her in company with the Fleet showed that she would eventually prove to be a most valuable addition to the Fleet.