The Admiralty now informed me that a patrol of the 3rd meridian of East Long. between the parallels of 55.30 N. and 53.30 N. had been established by the 1st and 3rd Flotilla, the patrol consisting of eight destroyers and one light cruiser, supported by two cruisers of the “Bacchante” class, the object being to catch enemy mine-layers. I was also informed that a patrol of the “Broad Fourteens,” off the Dutch coast, was being maintained to guard the Eastern Channel and Thames approaches. On September 11th the _Hibernia_ reported a 12-inch gun cracked, the fifth since the outbreak of war! On the same day salvage operations on the armed merchant-cruiser _Oceanic_, which had gone ashore in a fog on Foula Island on September 8th, were abandoned owing to heavy weather. The vessel broke up eventually. Rear-Admiral E. R. Pears reported that the Portsmouth floating dock would be ready for work on September 21st, a very smart piece of mooring work having been carried out by Captain Munro, R.N., the King’s Harbour Master. The Dreadnought Battle Fleet remained at Loch Ewe coaling, storing and cleaning boilers, etc., from 5 P.M. on September 13th until 6 P.M. on September 17th, and the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, except the _Inflexible_ and _Invincible_, remained at Scapa until September 18th. Meanwhile the usual cruiser sweeps in the North Sea in Areas 3, 6 and 7 were carried out by the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 10th Cruiser Squadrons and the Mine-layer Squadron, supported by the _Invincible_, _Inflexible_ and 3rd Battle Squadron, which left Scapa on the morning of September 14th for the purpose. The armed merchant-cruisers _Alsatian_ and _Mantua_ were patrolling eastward of the Shetlands.