, one of Boedicker's screen ships, sighted British ships in a west-southwest direction. Tyrwhitt reported the sighting of four battlecruisers and six cruisers to the Grand Fleet. He turned away south, attempting to draw the German ships after him away from Lowestoft but they did not follow. The four battlecruisers opened fire upon Lowestoft at 04:10 for 10 minutes, destroying 200 houses and two defensive gun batteries, injuring 12 people and killing three. The ships then moved off to Yarmouth but fog made it difficult to see the target. Only a few shells were fired before reports arrived that a British force had engaged the remainder of the German ships and the battlecruisers broke off to rejoin them. When he found he could not draw the German ships away, Tyrwhitt had returned and engaged the six light cruisers and escorts but broke off the action when seriously outgunned after the battlecruisers returned. The light cruisers Rostock and had tried to lead the British ships into the waiting guns of the battlecruisers but upon sighting the German capital ships, the British cruisers turned south. The German battlecruisers opened fire, causing severe damage to the cruiser , the destroyer and slightly damaging one light cruiser. Conquest was hit by a shell, which reduced her speed and produced 40 casualties. Boedicker failed to follow the retreating ships, assuming they were faster and probably concerned whether other, larger vessels might be about. The Germans ceased fire and turned north-west towards the rendezvous off Terschelling Bank, hoping the British cruisers would follow, which they did not. During the bombardment of the two coastal towns, the light cruiser sank an armed patrol steamer, while the leader of Torpedo-boat Flotilla VI, sank the trawler King Stephen, of the earlier King Stephen Incident. The crews were rescued and taken prisoner and around 07:30, the German Naval Staff passed on reports from Flanders of intercepted wireless transmissions instructing British ships to coal and then proceed to Dunkirk. Tyrwhitt attempted to follow the German squadron at a distance. At 08:30, he had located smoke from the ships, but was ordered to abandon the chase and return home. The Grand Fleet had encountered heavy seas and made slow progress coming south, leaving its destroyers behind because of the weather. At 11:00, the Admiralty ordered the chase to be abandoned, at which point the main part of the fleet was behind the