This news caused the Admiral to leave twenty-four hours earlier than he had intended.
3. Consequently each of the six different sections of the squadron steamed off separately in turn, and reached the North Sea independently of each other in the order mentioned in Admiral Rogestvensky's report; this general officer commanding in person the last section, composed of the four new battleships, Kniaz Suvaroff, Imperator Alexander III., Borodino, Orel, and the transport Anadyr.
This section left Skagen at 10 p.m. on October 7/20.
The first two sections were ordered to proceed at a speed of 12 knots and the following sections at 10 knots.
4. Between 1.30 and 4.15 on the following afternoon, October 8/21, all the sections of the squadron were passed in succession by the English steamer Zero, the captain of which vessel examined the different units closely enough for them to be recognised from his description of them. Moreover, the results of his observations are in general agreement with the indications given in Admiral Rogestvensky's report.
5. The last vessel passed by the Zero was the Kamchatka, according to the description which the captain of the Zero gave of her.
This transport, which at first formed part of the same group as the Dmitri Donsköi and the Aurora, was, therefore, at the time alone and about ten miles
