HX 84 appeared before Admiral Scheer Captain E.S.F. Fegen of Jervis Bay sailed clear of the convoy and attacked the raider so as to cause as much delay as possible, and to allow the convoy to scatter. Incensed with the earlier delay and the approach from the Jervis Bay, Krancke was determined to sink the British vessel. Jervis Bay was sunk after 20 minutes of fighting with the loss of 190 of her crew. Nevertheless, their sacrifice allowed the convoy to begin to escape. Beaverford The merchant ship , armed with only two guns, engaged Admiral Scheer in a cat-and-mouse gunnery duel that lasted for over four hours before Beaverford was sunk with all hands. This allowed most of the convoy to complete their escape. However, given that the convoy ships were scattering in all directions, it is unlikely that anyone on another ship could have reliably seen all of this. The story is also contradicted by the account Admiral Scheers captain wrote after the war. Krancke paid generous tribute to the courage of Jervis Bay, and of a small burning freighter that fired back just before she sank (this must have been Kenbane Head). He did not mention any battle with Beaverford, which he records only as a ship carrying a deck cargo of timber that Admiral Scheer caught up with as it fled at speed far to the south of the main action. When finally caught, Beaverford proved hard to sink by gunfire, and was therefore torpedoed to save ammunition. There is no mention of any fight or any return fire from Beaverford, and far from being a four or five hour battle, Beaverford was attacked only 50 minutes after Kenbane Head and about an hour before Admiral Scheer caught up with Fresno City. There was no time for any such battle. The sinking of Beaverford was witnessed from Fresno City, also fleeing south. Her captain's log recorded: "The Beaverford, bearing 110 degrees East South East was attacked and set on fire, distant about 10 miles". Other ships Maiden, Trewellard, Kenbane Head, and Fresno were sunk and the tanker damaged, but failing light now allowed the rest of the convoy to escape. San Demetrio was abandoned by her crew, but two days later some of the crew, now in lifeboats, sighted San Demetrio, still afloat and still ablaze. They reboarded her, got the engines running, and brought her