The task of the British cruisers was a simple one. It was to destroy the German vessels with their powerful ordnance, keeping at such a distance that the German projectiles could do them no serious damage. At 9.10 the fight began, and the _Lion_ and _Selkirk_ opened with their entire broadsides upon the _Cormoran_ and _Falke_. The Germans gallantly replied to the two great cruisers, and for some minutes kept up a vigorous fire. Then the _Cormoran_ began to burn, and a few minutes later the _Falke_ was seen to be sinking. The British ships turned all their guns upon the three remaining vessels. The _Meteor_ blew up with a terrific crash, and went to the bottom; the _Sperber_ and _Schwalbe_ immediately after this hoisted the white flag and made their surrender. The battle, if it could be called a battle, was over before ten, and the officers and men of the British ships set to work to rescue their enemies. The British casualties were again trifling, and the German list a heavy one. Of the officers and men in the five German cruisers over a hundred were drowned, killed, or wounded. Thus the British Navy had made a speedy end of the raiders in the Bristol Channel, and, owing to the vigorous initiative of the Devonport commander and the Rear-Admiral in charge of the torpedo flotilla, had practically wiped out a German squadron. Only the _Deutschland_ had got away to sea, but the Portsmouth armoured cruisers had been instructed to proceed in search of her, co-operating with the cruisers of the Channel Fleet. The Channel Cruiser Squadron during the afternoon of Sunday had been ordered to deflect its movement and steer for Queenstown, so as to get across the line of retreat of the German ships. Constant communication with it was maintained by the great long-distance naval wireless station at Devonport, one of the three such stations for which funds had been obtained with the utmost difficulty by the Admiralty from a reluctant Treasury. Its value at the present juncture was immense. As night came down, Rear-Admiral Hunter, in command of the Channel Cruiser Squadron, was informed that a large German liner had escaped from the Bristol Channel. His most advanced ship was now in touch with Queenstown, and about sixty miles from the place. The rest of his force was spaced at intervals of ten miles between each ship, covering eighty miles of sea. The two protected cruisers of the Devonport Reserve Squadron, _Andromache_ and _Sirius_, ships of 11,000 tons and about nineteen knots sea speed, had taken station to the north of the Scillies, with one of the battleships of the Devonport Reserve supporting them. The other battleship was posted between the Scillies and the Longships. Off Land’s End a powerful naval force was fast assembling, as ships and torpedo vessels came up one by one from Devonport as soon as they had mobilised.