Headlong as he was travelling, it was not till noon that Sir David Beatty met his returning cruisers, and, twenty minutes later, having shifted his flag from the _Attack_ to the _Princess Royal_, he heard from Captain Osmond de B. Brock of what had subsequently happened; that the _Blücher_ had been sunk near Borkum Reef, a Zeppelin and aeroplane bombing the vessels rescuing survivors; and that the other cruisers had made their escape in an eastward direction. It was owing to the increasing danger from mines thrown out of the fleeing vessels, and the growing proximity of the German minefields, that the {99} action had in the end been broken off; and whether it should, under those circumstances, have been pressed further must remain an open question. That quite apart, however, from its material advantages in the sinking of the _Blücher_ and the disabling of her consorts, the victory of the Dogger Bank had important moral results there is not a shadow of doubt. It had once more re-affirmed the value of the battle-cruiser for which the navy was chiefly indebted to Lord Fisher, and it proved to be the grave of the big-scale raids upon our open east coast towns. More than all that, however, it was a triumphant example of an instantly seized opportunity; it demonstrated to the enemy that, in spite of his mines and submarines, we maintained our full tactical liberty; and it was further evidence that in Admiral Beatty we had found a naval leader of the highest class. Those were the recognitions behind the "Well done, David" of the _Princess Royal's_ coal-blackened stokers as the Admiral climbed in mid-sea from the little _Attack_ into the famous cruiser; and they spoke again, on the following Tuesday morning, when the _Lion_ limped up the Firth to her anchorage. Three miles away, in the Fifeshire valleys, ploughman and farmboy heard those welcoming syrens. {100} CHAPTER VI THE SEAMEN AT GALLIPOLI At the outbreak of war, Germany was represented in the Mediterranean by two vessels, the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_, more likely, perhaps, to become historical than any two that she will ever build. Both were modern vessels, the _Goeben_, a first-class battle-cruiser, carrying ten 11-inch guns and capable of 28 knots, and the _Breslau_, a light cruiser of about the same speed and with twelve 4.1-inch guns. Outside the Adriatic, these were the only hostile men-of-war with which the Allies in the Mediterranean had to reckon; and, though full allowance must be made for the responsibilities entailed in preventing a sortie of the Austrian Navy, in convoying troops from Algeria to France, and in avoiding the least infringement of neutral waters, the escape of the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ must still be regarded as a disaster to our arms.