After this had been safely effected, the fire that was raging under the fore mess-decks having reached the magazines, another terrific explosion occurred in the _Amphion_. This blew away a large portion of the fore part of the ship, and quantities of wreckage began to fall over the surrounding sea, causing several casualties in the destroyers. One shell fell on board the _Lark_, killing two men of the _Amphion's_ crew and a German prisoner who had just been rescued from the _Amphion_. Thus this man, who had survived two disasters in the space of a few hours, now fell a victim to the accident of falling debris. It is worthy of mention that one of the destroyers' boats, while passing through the floating wreckage, came upon an uninjured football that had come from the _Amphion_. The men were keen on salving it; so it was picked up and brought on board the destroyer, and it was used throughout the following football season whenever the ship was in port. The Hun prisoners, belonging to a race that professes to despise the British for their love of sport, were given food for thought by this incident. CHAPTER II THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT ACTION CHAPTER II THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT ACTION The plan--The sweep by the Harwich Force--The destroyers in action--_Arethusa's_ duel with the _Frauenlob_--Off Heligoland again--Action with German light cruisers--The _Mainz_ sunk--End of the _Arethusa_. The first naval action of the war was that in the Bight of Heligoland. In this the Harwich Forces played a notable part. The Harwich submarine flotilla under Commodore Roger Keyes (now Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes) had a good deal to do with the preparation for the battle. At the beginning of the war these submarines were sent to guard the approaches to the English Channel, their object being to prevent any portion of the German fleet from passing through the straits and attacking the ships that were conveying our first Expeditionary Force to France. While thus employed they did valuable work in observing the movements of the enemy light forces in the North Sea. Acting on the information supplied by the submarines, the Commander-in-Chief decided to send the fast ships of the Harwich Force to make a sweep of the North Sea up to Heligoland and cut off enemy light craft known to be operating within that area.