About the sinking of the _Hawke_ there was less conjecture. This vessel had gained notoriety in times of peace by having collided with the _Olympic_ as the latter left port on her maiden voyage to New York. On the 15th of October, 1914, while patrolling the northern British home waters she was made the target of the torpedo of a German submarine and went down, but the _Theseus_, which had been attacked at the same time, escaped. Four German destroyers were to be the next victims of the war in European waters. On October 17, 1914, the _S-115, S-117, S-118_, and _S-119_ while doing patrol duty off the coast of the Netherlands, came up with a British squadron consisting of the cruiser _Undaunted_ and the destroyers _Legion, Lance_, and _Loyal_. An engagement followed, in which damage was done to the British small boats and the four German destroyers were sunk. Captain Fox, senior British officer, had been on the _Amphion_ when she sank the _Koenigin Luise_ and had been rescued after being knocked insensible by the explosion of the mine that sent the _Amphion_ to the bottom. The exploit of Lieutenant Commander Horton in the British submarine _E-9_ when he sank the _Hela_ has already been narrated. The same commander, with the same craft, during the first week of October, 1914, proceeded to the harbor of the German port of Emden, whence had sailed many dangerous German submarines and destroyers that preyed on British ships. He lay submerged there for a long period, keeping his men amused with a phonograph, and then carefully came to the surface. Through the periscope he saw very near him a German destroyer, but he feared that the explosion of a torpedo sent against her would damage his own craft, so he allowed her to steam off, and when she was 600 yards away he let go with two torpedoes. The second found its mark, and the _S-126_ was no more. He immediately went beneath the surface and escaped the cordon of destroyers which immediately searched for him. By October 7 the _E-9_ was back in Harwich, its home port. On the 31st of October, 1914, the cross-channel steamer _Invicta_ received the S. O. S. signal and went to rescue the crew of the old British cruiser _Hermes_, which had been struck by two torpedoes from a German submarine near Dunkirk. All but forty-four of her men were saved. The next victim of a German submarine was the gunboat _Niger_, which, in the presence of thousands of persons on the shore at Deal, foundered without loss of life on November 11, 1914. But one of the German submarines was to go to the bottom in retaliation. On the 23d of November the _U-18_ was seen and rammed off the Scotch coast, and some hours later was again seen near by. This time she was floating on the surface and carrying a white flag. The British destroyer _Garry_ brought up alongside of lier and took off her crew, just as she foundered.