Strangely enough, that very element of chance that the German Chancellor claimed to have eliminated became most pronounced. For weeks past the prevailing winds had been from an easterly or north-easterly direction; now without warning they backed to the westward. By midnight it was blowing with almost the velocity of a hurricane. Consequently the German aircraft, especially the Zeppelins, made a comparatively slow voyage.
Now it happened that the British fishery-protection gunboat Onyx was cruising off the sou'-west tail of the Dogger Bank, and the attention of the officer of the watch was called to a peculiar buzzing sound overhead that was plainly audible during a lull in the wind.
Bringing his night glasses to bear the officer made the discovery that a number of seaplanes were battling against the wind, their direction being due west.
Fortunately the lieutenant did not attempt to train a searchlight upon the aircraft, nor did he offer to enter into communication by means of a flashing-lamp; but he promptly got in touch with Scarborough wireless station:—
"From Onyx, lat. 54° 17' 20" N., long. 2° 9' 30" E. Sighted seaplanes, numerous, nationality unknown, steering due west."
With commendable promptitude this information was transmitted to the Admirality, and since it was known that none of the British seaplanes had left their respective bases that night, it was taken for granted the aircraft were of German nationality. Orders were immediately given for the east-coast defences to be on the qui vive, and for the Nore, Harwich, Rosyth, and Dundee flotillas of destroyers and submarines to put to sea.
Dawn was just breaking when the belated German seaplanes came in sight of the leading British vidette boats from Harwich. The aircraft, battling against the furious wind, were rocking and pitching so much that the attention of their pilots was directed towards the maintenance of stability.
Presently one of the German seaplanes dropped a bomb. It exploded harmlessly at a distance of more than two hundred yards from the British destroyer Lynx.
From that moment all doubts as to the intentions of the aerial fleet were set at rest. The destroyers instantly opened fire, and, in spite of the high seas that were running, made excellent results. Whether the seaplanes were two hundred or two thousand feet in the air their destruction was no less certain; few could resist the explosion of the highly charged shrapnel. It was, to use the words of a first-class petty officer, "like knocking over a lot of partridges".
In ten minutes the few aircraft that still escaped damage turned tail and fled before the wind.