That had taken place about fifteen minutes after {237} the _Vindictive_ and her consorts had reached their berths, and a few minutes before the block-ships, with _Thetis_ leading, had rounded the light-house at the tip of the Mole. In order to assist these to find their bearings, an employee of Commander Brock, who had never before been to sea, had for some time been firing rockets from the after cabin of the _Vindictive_; and presently they came in sight, exposed, as the _Vindictive_ had been, by the partial blowing-back of their smoke-screen. Steaming straight ahead for their objectives, they were therefore opposed by the intensest fire; and the spirit in which they proceeded is well illustrated by what had just taken place on board the _Intrepid_. It had been previously arranged that, for the final stage of their journey, the crews of the block-ships should be reduced to a minimum; but, when the moment came to disembark the extra men, those on the _Intrepid_, so anxious were they to remain, actually hid themselves away. Many of them did in fact succeed in remaining, and sailed with their comrades into the canal. The first to draw the enemy's fire, the _Thetis_, had the misfortune, having cleared the armed barges, to foul the nests--bursting through the gate and carrying this with her, but with her propellers gathering in the meshes and rendering her helpless. Heavily shelled, she was soon in a sinking condition, and Commander Sneyd was obliged to blow her charges, but not before he had given the line, with the most deliberate coolness, to the two following block-ships--Lieutenant Littleton, in a motor-launch, then rescuing the crew. {238} Following the _Thetis_ came the _Intrepid_, with all her guns in full action, and Lieutenant Bonham-Carter pushed her right into the canal up to a point actually behind some of the German batteries. Here he ran her nose into the western bank, ordered his crew away, and blew her up, the engineer remaining down below in order to be able to report results. These being satisfactory, and everyone having left, Lieutenant Bonham-Carter committed himself to a Carley float--a kind of lifebuoy that, on contact with the water, automatically ignited a calcium flare. Illumined by this, the _Intrepid's_ commander found himself the target of a machine-gun on the bank, and, but for the smoke still pouring from the _Intrepid_, he would probably have been killed before the launch could rescue him.