There were two distinct engagements, though the German account prefers
either to run the two into one, or else to deal only with one and be silent about the losses in the other. In any case, the German account does not fit the facts, and may safely be rejected on the evidence, and not merely because it comes from a naturally suspect source. In the first action, " not far from the Dutch coast," between our light forces and the German flotilla, one of the German destroyers was sunk and the rest scattered after suffering " con- siderable punishment." Darkness prevented the full results of the action from being observed. The second action took place, near the Schouwen Bank, " between German destroyers and our own destroyers." During this action one of our destroyers was torpedoed. She did not sink as a result of the explosion, but three officers and forty-four men were killed. She was afterwards sunk by our own gunfire, no doubt because she could not be towed.
