THE AIR-RAID ON GERMAN WAR-SHIPS OFF CUXHAVEN: BRITISH SEA-PLANES, SISTERS TO THOSE WHICH TOOK PART IN THE BRILLIANT EXPLOIT.
The sea-planes came into great prominence, for the first time during the war, on Christmas Day, when seven of them attacked German war-ships lying in Schillig Roads, off Cuxhaven. The attack started from a point in the vicinity of Heligoland, and the air-craft were escorted by a light-cruiser and destroyer force, together with submarines. The enemy put up a fight by means of two Zeppelins, three or four bomb-dropping sea-planes, and several submarines. Six out of the seven pilots returned safely—three were re-embarked by our ships, and three were picked up by British submarines. Flight-Commander Francis E.T. Hewlett, R.N., was reported missing. In our first photograph a sea-plane is being conveyed to her parent ship; in the second and third, sea-planes are being hoisted aboard
