There were six armoured cruisers, _Jules Ferry_, _Leon Gambetta_, _Victor Hugo_, _Jeanne d'Arc_, _Aube_ and _Marseillaise_. These were all heavily armed and armoured vessels, all of them capable of manoeuvering at a speed of over twenty knots. A dozen smaller protected and unprotected cruisers hung on each flank, and a score of destroyers and torpedo boats lurked in between the big ships. The _Ithuriel_ ran quietly along the curving line of battleships and cruisers, turned and came back again without exciting the slightest suspicion. Erskine would have dearly loved to sink a battleship or one or two cruisers, just to show his lordship how it was done, but the Admiral forbade this, as he wanted to get the Frenchmen, who still thought they were going to easy victory, entangled in the shallows of the narrow waters, and therefore with the exception of rolling over and sinking three submarines which happened to get in the way, no damage was done. The British Channel Fleet, even not counting the assistance of the terrible _Ithuriel_, was the most powerful squadron that had ever put to sea under a single command. The main line of battle consisted of the flagship _Britain_, and seven ships of the _King Edward_ class, _King Edward the Seventh_, _Dominion_, _Commonwealth_, _Hindustan_, _New Zealand_, _Canada_ and _Newfoundland_; all over sixteen thousand tons, and of nineteen knots speed. With the exception of the giant flagships, of which there were five in existence--the _Britain_, _England_, _Ireland_, _Scotland_ and _Wales_--and two nineteen thousand ton monsters which had just been completed for Japan, these were the fastest and most heavily-armed battleships afloat. The second line was composed of the armoured cruisers, _Duke of Edinburgh_, _Black Prince_, _Henry the Fourth_, _Warwick_, _Edward the Third_, _Cromwell_, all of over thirteen thousand tons, and twenty-two knots speed; the _Drake_, _King Alfred_, _Leviathan_ and _Good Hope_, of over fourteen thousand tons and twenty-four knots speed; and the reconstructed _Powerful_, and _Terrible_, of fourteen thousand tons and twenty-two knots. There was, of course, the usual swarm of destroyers and torpedo boats; and in addition must be counted the ten cruisers, ten destroyers, and fifteen torpedo boats, which had escaped from Spithead and the Solent. These had already formed a junction with the left wing of the British force. For nearly two hours the two great fleets slowly approached each other almost at a right angle. As the grey dawn of the November morning began to steal over the calm blue-grey water, they came in plain sight of each other, and at once the signal flew from the foreyard of the _Britain_, "Prepare for action--battleships will cross front column of line ahead--cruisers will engage cruisers individually at discretion of Commanders--destroyers will do their worst." CHAPTER XV THE STRIFE OF GIANTS