At 7.40 the British warship was only 3000 yards off, and slightly altered course to bring her enemy broader on the beam and get the broadside into battle. Five minutes later a succession of 6-inch hits from the British guns caused a great explosion in the German ship, and from under the base of her fourth funnel rose a dense cloud of steam, followed by the glow of fire through the gathering darkness. A minute later the _Kronprinz Wilhelm_ stopped, and the chase was over. She hoisted the white flag, while her captain opened her sea-valves, to send her to the bottom. But the British destroyers were too quick for him; a boarding party dashed on board from the _Camelopard_, and closed the Kingston valves before enough water had been taken into the double bottom to endanger the liner. In this brief action between two very unequally matched ships, the Germans suffered very severely. They had fifty officers and men killed or wounded out of a crew of 500, while in the British cruiser and the destroyers only fifteen casualties were recorded. The _Kincardineshire_ stood by her valuable prize to secure it and clear the vessel of the German crew. The _Kronprinz Wilhelm_ was on fire in two places, and was badly damaged by the British shells. One of her boilers had exploded, and her fore-compartment was full of water. But she was duly taken into Milford next morning, to be repaired at Pembroke Dockyard, and hoist the British flag. Meantime, the _Lion_ had been attending to the other German vessels. After taking part in the destruction of the _Kaiser Wilhelm_ she had turned north and chased them, aided by the _Selkirk_. Five of the ocean-going destroyers and the ten Devonport destroyers had already proceeded to keep them under observation and harry them to the utmost. They were still going north-west, and had obtained about twenty-five miles’ start of the two big British cruisers. But as they could only steam twelve or thirteen knots, while the British ships were good for twenty-one, they had little chance of escape, the less so as the 14,000-ton-protected cruiser _Terrific_, the flagship of the torpedo flotilla, was fast coming up at twenty knots from Kingstown, and at 6 p.m. had passed the Smalls, reporting herself by wireless telegraphy, and taking charge of the operations in virtue of the fact that she carried a rear-admiral’s flag. The approach of this new antagonist must have been known to the Germans by the indications which her wireless waves afforded. On the way she had received the news of a serious British defeat in the North Sea, and her Admiral was smarting to have some share in reversing that great calamity.