About 3.30 the wireless waves came in so strongly from the north-east that the captain of the _Lion_, who was in charge of the cruiser division, became certain of the proximity of the German force. The signals could not be interpreted, as they were tuned on a different system from the British. The Germans must have also felt the British signals, since about this time they divided, the three fast liners increasing speed and heading west, while the rest of the detachment steered north-west. The older German vessels were delayed some fifteen minutes by the work of destroying the four colliers, which they had carried off forcibly with them from Cardiff, and removing their crews. Delay at such a moment was most dangerous. Soon after 3.45 p.m. the lookout on board the _Lion_ reported from the masthead, smoke on the horizon right ahead. The _Lion’s_ head was set towards the smoke, which could be only faintly seen, and her speed was increased to twenty-one knots. The _Kincardineshire_ altered course simultaneously--she was ten miles away on the port beam of the _Lion_, and in constant communication by wireless with the _Selkirk_, which was still farther out. Ten minutes later the _Selkirk_ signalled that she saw smoke, and that with the ten destroyers accompanying her she was steering towards it. Her message added that the Irish Sea destroyers were in sight, coming in very fast from the north, nine strong, with intervals of two miles between each boat, still keeping their speed of thirty knots. The cordon was now complete, and the whole force of twenty-two cruisers and torpedo craft turned in towards the spot where the enemy was located. At 4.5 the lookout on the _Lion_ reported a second cloud of smoke on the horizon, rather more to starboard than the one first seen, which had been for some minutes steadily moving west. This second cloud was moving very slowly north-westwards. The captain of the _Lion_ determined to proceed with his own ship towards this second cloud, and directed the _Kincardineshire_, which was slightly the faster cruiser, to follow the movements of the first-seen smoke and support the _Selkirk_ in attacking the ships from which it proceeded.