Page:The Invasion of 1910.djvu/448

 lookouts reported another very large ship with four funnels passing right across the line of his advance.

The strange ship, which was the British armoured cruiser Iphigenia, fired a gun and discharged two rockets in quick succession. Another half-minute and the beam of a searchlight from her rose skywards, signalling to her sister ships that here at last was the prey. Five other searchlight beams travelled swiftly over the water towards the Deutschland and caught the liner in their glare. Forthwith from south and north came the flashing of searchlights and the heavy boom of guns, and the whole nine cruisers of the Channel Squadron over their front of eighty miles began to move in upon the German vessel.

Her only chance was to make a dash through one of the wide gaps that parted each pair of British cruisers, and this was not a very hopeful course. The German captain had already recognised the British ships from their build, and knew that the two nearest were good for 23½ knots, and that they each carried four 12-inch and eight 9.2-inch guns. He steered between the Iphigenia and Intrepid, fearful if he turned back that he would be cut off by the British cruisers behind him in the Bristol Channel.

Observing his tactics, the two British ships closed up, steaming inwards till the gap narrowed to five miles. The Deutschland turned once more, and endeavoured to pass south of the Iphigenia and between her and the next vessel in the British line, the Orion; but her change of course enabled the Iphigenia to close her within 7000 yards and to open fire from the forward 12-inch barbette. Five shots were fired with both vessels racing their fastest, the Deutschland to escape and the Iphigenia to cut her off, and the fifth shell caught the German vessel right amidships, exploding with great violence. The starboard 9.2-inch barbette simultaneously hit her three times astern, just between her fourth funnel and the mainmast, but all these shells seemed to pass right through the ship. The Deutschland doubled yet again, to