, and letting the _Arethusa_ escape from the range of the
light cruiser _Koeln_, they went for the German, which, overpowered,
fled toward Helgoland. While the chase was on the _Ariadne_ again
made her appearance and came to the aid of the _Koeln_, but the
light cruiser _Ariadne_ carried no gun as effective in destructive
power as the 13.5-inch guns of the _Lion_, and she, too, had to
seek safety in flight. The British ships then finished the _Koeln_;
so badly was she hit that when the British small boats sought the
spot where she quickly sank they found not a man of her crew afloat.
Every man of the 370 of her crew perished.

The afternoon came, and with its advent the mist, which had kept
the guns of Helgoland's forts out of action, had cleared off the
calm waters of the North Sea. By the time the sun had set only
floating wreckage gave evidence that here brave men had fought and
died. By evening the respective forces were in their home ports,
being treated for their hurts. The Germans had lost the _Mainz,
Koeln_, and _Ariadne_, and the _Strassburg_ had limped home. The
loss in destroyers and other small craft in addition to that of
the _V-187_ was not known. The loss on the British side had not
entailed that of a large ship, but the _Arethusa_ when she returned
to her home port was far from being in good condition, and some
of the smaller boats were in the same circumstances.

Admiral von Ingenohl was committed more strongly than ever, as a
result of this engagement, to the belief that the best policy for
his command would be to keep his squadrons within the protection
afforded by Helgoland and that the most damage could be done to
the enemy by picking off her larger ships one by one. In other
words, he again turned to the policy of attrition. He immediately
put it into force.

On the 3d of September the British gunboat _Speedy_ struck a mine
in the North Sea and went down. It was only two days later that the
light cruiser _Pathfinder_ was made the true target of a torpedo
fired by a German submarine off the British eastern coast, and she,
too, went to the bottom. But the British immediately retaliated,
for the submarine _E-9_ sighted the German light cruiser _Hela_
weathering a bad storm on September 13 between Helgoland and the
Frisian coast. A torpedo was launched and found its mark, and the
_Hela_ joined the _Koeln_ and _Mainz_. Up to this point the results
of attrition were even, but the Germans scored heavi