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The False Grayling (Arethusana arethusa) is a butterfly of the family Satyridae found in steppes in southern and central Europe and western Asia.
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Frederick Chamier was an English writer of fiction. He was born in 1796 and died in 1870. He entered the Navy and served in the last campaigns against the French and distinguished himself in the American War of 1812. He retired in 1833 at the rank of Captain. Among his works are 'The Life of a Sailor' and 'Ben Brace', 'The Arethusa', 'Jack Adams' and 'Tom Bowline'.
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In Greek mythology, Arethusa was a daughter of Nereus and Doris. She was a nymph changed by Artemis into a fountain to enable her to escape the pursuit of Alpheus.
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The Battle of Heligoland was a naval engagement between the British and the Germans, on August the 28th, 1914, during the Great War. On the outbreak of war, British submarines were sent to watch German naval movements in the bight of Heligoland, and acting on the information they supplied, the British Admiralty determined to carry out a sweep. The original intention was to operate mainly with light cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, supporting them only with the two battle cruisers, HMS Invincible and HMS New Zealand, against attack by the heavy German ships.
Fortunately Sir John Jellicoe, on learning of this plan, made 'urgent representations as to the necessity of supporting the force with battle cruisers' of Sir D. Beatty's battle-cruiser squadron; and on August the 27th, 1914, on his own responsibility he ordered Sir D. Beatty with the three other available battle cruisers and Commodore Goodenough's 1st light cruiser squadron to take part in the operation. Of this aid most of the other British vessels engaged were not aware, and thus at first they took Beatty's and Goodenough's ships for enemies.
Early in the morning of August the 28th, Commodore Tyrwhitt with the light cruisers HMS Arethusa and HMS Fearless, and 33 destroyers, and Commodore R. Keyes with eight submarines, searched the bight, manoeuvring to cut off the German light craft from their bases. The Germans were completely surprised, and it was low water, so that their heavy ships in port could not put to sea. Nine destroyers of the 1st German flotilla were on guard, disposed in a semicircle about 20 miles from the Elbe mouth, with the light cruisers Hela, Stettin, Frauenlob, and Ariadne supporting them.
The British broke into the destroyer cordon and engaged Frauenlob and Stettin, which came up to the destroyers' aid. The German destroyer V 187 was disabled by the British fire, and had to be sunk by her crew to avoid capture. Two British destroyers were damaged, and HMS Arethusa was hit 35 times by Frauenlob, with a loss of 12 killed and 20 wounded, before she drove the German cruisers back.
About 8.30 a.m. Commodore Goodenough's light cruisers arrived and attacked further to the west, but had to fall back owing to danger from the British submarines. Observing that the British light craft were apparently unsupported, the Germans made an effort to cut them off. The German light cruisers Ariadne, Frauenlob, Strassburg, Stralsund, Mainz, and Coin closed on the vessels under the command of Tyrwhitt and Keyes, and the position became so serious that Tyrwhitt signalled by wireless to Beatty that he was hard pressed.
At this moment ships of the 1st British light cruiser squadron re-entered the fight and checked the Germans. HMS Birmingham and HMS Nottingham concentrated a superior fire on Mainz, which stopped her attack. At 11 a.m. the battle cruisers HMS Lion, HMS Queen Mary, HMS Princess Royal, HMS Invincible, and HMS New Zealand avoided a submarine attack (probably British submarines were mistaken for German ones, as all the U-boats in the area of operations are stated by the German official history to have been-in port), and, steaming at full speed, sighted Mainz at 12.30 and opened fire on her with crushing effect, leaving her helpless and sinking.
A little later Coin was sighted and shelled until she burst into flame. At this point Ariadne intervened, and was left in shattered and sinking condition after two salvoes from HMS Lion. Coin was sighted a second time and sunk at 1.35 by two more salvoes from the same ship, the whole of her crew being killed except one stoker. From Mainz the British rescued 350 men, 60 of them badly wounded. The Germans saved most of Ariadne's crew. The German loss was thus 3 light cruisers and 1 destroyer, with 712 killed, 149 wounded, and 379 captured. The British casualties were 31 killed and 52 wounded, while HMS Arethusa was much damaged but was quickly repaired.
The German official history blames the defensive tactics of the German main fleet for this severe reverse, which, it states, produced a bad moral effect in the German navy; it also criticises the British dispositions.
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HMS Arethusa was a British Arethusa Class cruiser of 5220 tons displacement launched in 1934. HMS Arethusa carried a crew of 450 and was powered by four Admiralty 3-drum type oil fuelled boilers providing a top speed of 32 knots. Armaments consisted of six 6-inch guns; eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns; two 3-pdr guns and seven smaller guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes arranged in two triple mounts. One aircraft was also carried.
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HMS Arethusa was a British Leander Class frigate of 2500 tons displacement built by J Samuel White and Company and launched in 1963. She was decommissioned in 1989. She was armed with two quad Seacat missile launchers; two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns; one Ikara and one Limbo anti-submarine mortar. She carried a Wasp helicopter and carried a complement of 257.
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HMS Aurora was a British improved Arethusa Class cruiser of 5220 tons displacement launched in 1934. HMS Aurora carried a crew of 450 and was powered by four Admiralty 3-drum type oil fuelled boilers providing a top speed of 32 knots. Armaments consisted of six 6-inch guns; eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns; two 3-pdr guns and seven smaller guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes arranged in two triple mounts.
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HMS Galatea was a British Arethusa Class cruiser of 5220 tons displacement launched in 1934. HMS Galatea carried a crew of 450 and was powered by four Admiralty 3-drum type oil fuelled boilers providing a top speed of 32 knots. Armaments consisted of six 6-inch guns; eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns; two 3-pdr guns and seven smaller guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes arranged in two triple mounts. One aircraft was also carried. HMS Galatea was sunk in December 1941.
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HMS Penelope was a British improved Arethusa Class cruiser of 5270 tons displacement launched in 1935. HMS Penelope carried a crew of 450 and was powered by four Admiralty 3-drum type oil fuelled boilers providing a top speed of 32 knots. Armaments consisted of six 6-inch guns; eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns; two 3-pdr guns and seven smaller guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes arranged in two triple mounts. One aircraft was also carried. HMS Penelope was sunk in March 1944.
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