Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 291
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[Page 291]
Admiral, - and the official account gave out was that Rear Admiral Meurer and Admiral Beatty had a conference on board the "Queen Elizabeth" on Saturday [Nov 16th] evening at 10 P.M. or rather terminating at 10 PM – Ten minutes later the German Admiral and the three officers who accompanied him emerged from below and passed out over the gangway and as they done so they acknowledged the salutes of the officers who escorted them to the side, - with their backs to the dense fog that hid from view the wide waters of the silent Firth of Forth, and facing the great aft turret with its 15 inch guns, and as the quartermasters pipe shrilled them, they passed in order down to the waiting barge and so on to the chill and darkness beyond, - and thus in the midst of those last days the German dream of sea power and sea domination had come to a humiliating end –
The last act of this sea drama was when Rear Admiral Sinclair flying his flag in H.M.S. Cardiff on Friday [15th] morning moved with his Light Cruiser Squadron from its moorings in the river, out to its rendezvous at sea followed closely by its attendant destroyers, - there to meet the German