That the old cruisers were able to steam close inshore
before they were sighted by the enemy, was due to the use of smoke screens on a very large scale. Commander Brock, under whose direction the coast from Zeebrugge to Ostend was enveloped in an artificial sea-fog, is unfortunately missing, but his clever plan succeeded. The Vindictive' came under the fire of the shore batteries only twenty minutes before she reached the shelter of the Mole, and in this brief but trying interval she escaped injury to her vital parts. though the stormers drawn up on deck suffered. But for the smell, screens the adventure would have been even more hazardous than it was, if not impossible. We cannot conceive of a German flotilla sailing into Dover Harbour on a clear night and landing men on the Admiralty Pier. Yet that is what our Navy did at Zeebrugge, within short range of hundreds of the most formidable guns that Essen can produce. Admiral Keyes has been knighted for his brilliant service, and Commander Carpenter, of the Vindictive,' has been promoted Captain.
