Advantage was taken of the stay at Loch Ewe to make general arrangements with the Admiralty for the defence of that base, and on September 17th the First Lord of the Admiralty, with the Chief of War Staff, the Director of Intelligence Division, Commodores (S) and (T) arrived at Loch Ewe to confer with me. The bombardment and capture of Heligoland was also discussed. The proposals had been previously forwarded to me by Mr. Churchill, and had been carefully examined by myself, Rear-Admiral Charles Madden, the Chief of Staff, and by the Flag officers commanding the Battle Squadrons. The opinions of these officers against the operation were unanimous. It had not been suggested that the Grand Fleet should be used for the operation, except as a supporting force; the older battleships were intended for this purpose. But the arguments against the operation were overwhelmingly strong. It was pointed out that ships were no match for heavy fortifications such as were known to exist on Heligoland; that direct fire from high-velocity guns with a low trajectory would be ineffective against well-placed, heavily protected and well-concealed land guns; that, even if a storming party were able to land and to capture the island, it would be quite impossible to hold it, situated as it was close to German naval bases, for if we could take it in a fortified condition, it would be far easier for the Germans to recapture it with the fortifications demolished; that it would be under continuous attack by sea and air, and that any attempt to hold it, if captured, would involve keeping the Grand Fleet constantly in southern waters, which, owing to the number of small craft then available, was an impossibility. Aircraft spotting, which would be a necessary adjunct, was at that time in its infancy, and we had no vessels specially suited for bombardments at long range, such as the monitors which, later on, carried out such useful work on the Belgian coast. After a conference, at which the Flag officers were present, I thought that the idea would be abandoned. This was not the case, however, and the matter was taken up later at the Admiralty with Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, commanding the Channel Fleet. His view coincided with those expressed by the Flag officers at the Loch Ewe conference, although he was of course prepared to carry out any orders that might be given him. The idea was not finally abandoned for some time. The opinions of Sir Cecil Burney and myself were identical, as indeed were those of every Flag officer with whom I discussed the matter, with one single exception, a junior Flag officer. [Illustration: SWEEP OF SEP^{T.} 8^{TH.} TO 11^{TH.} 1914.] Another subject touched on during Mr. Churchill’s visit was that of operations in the Baltic, but as no large operations of this nature could be attempted without the assistance of Allied battleships, in order to maintain supremacy in the North Sea during such operations, no steps were taken.