Upon August 6th, a day big with fate for us and for South Eastern Europe, the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ were at Messina with steam up. They had again obtained coal from compatriot ships and could snap their fingers at Italian neutrality. Watching them was the light cruiser _Gloucester_, which was no match at all for the _Goeben_, and strung out to the north-east, guarding the passage from Messina to the Adriatic, were the three English battle cruisers _Inflexible_, _Indomitable_ and _Indefatigable_. The English armoured cruisers, _Black Prince_, _Duke of Edinburgh_, _Defence_ and _Warrior_, were cruising to the South of Syracuse. It is not contended that these four vessels could not have been off Messina, and could not have met and fought Souchon, when at last he issued forth. The contention is—and since it has been accepted by the Admiralty as sound, one is compelled humbly to say little—that none of these cruisers was sufficiently armed or armoured to risk action with a battle cruiser of the _Goeben’s_ class. It is urged that if Milne had ordered the armoured cruiser squadron to fight the _Goeben_, their Admiral, Troubridge, might have anticipated the fate of Cradock three months later at Coronel. Not one of them had a speed approaching that of the _Goeben_, and their twenty-two heavy guns were of 9.2-inch calibre as opposed to the ten 11-inch guns of the Germans. That they would have suffered serious loss is beyond doubt; but might they not, while dying, have damaged and delayed the _Goeben_ for a sufficient time to allow the two _Inflexibles_ and the _Indefatigable_ to come down and gobble her up? It is not for a layman to offer any opinion upon these high naval matters. But ever since the action was not fought, and the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ escaped, whenever two or three naval officers are gathered together and the subject is discussed, the vote is always thrown upon the side of fighting. The Soul of the Navy revolts at the thought that its business is to play for safety when great risks boldly faced may yield great fruits of victory.