pretty conspicuous target, though all it did was to disturb the soil of a cabbage-garden, and excite the pursuit of several of our own air-craft, which lost their seaward-soaring quarry in the fog brooding over the Channel; while in the case of the Sheerness invader, on Christmas Day, which made its appearance just as the visitors at Southend over the water were about to sit down to their turkey and plum-pudding—­little dreaming of the extra dish of enjoyment which was thus to be added to their menu—­it was at once tackled, as at Dover, by some of our own airmen and pelted with shot, being hit three or four times; though this aerial intruder also managed, in the mist, to show a clean pair of heels, or wings, and make off eastward.  These were the German replies to our bomb-dropping raids on Duesseldorf and Friedrichs-hafen, and intended to be a foretaste of what we may expect in the shape of German “frightfulness” as prompted by the “insensate hatred” referred to by Mr. Churchill.

Daring enough in themselves, those German visitations seemed insignificant by comparison with the raids which were being carried out almost simultaneously on the other side of the sea by our own naval airmen.  For while the German aeroplanist was helping to dig a cabbage garden at Dover, one of our Squadron-Commanders—­R.B.  Davies, R.N.—­from a Maurice-Farman biplane was much more profitably engaged in dropping a dozen bombs on a Zeppelin shed at Brussels—­causing “clouds of smoke” to arise therefrom—­most probably from the flames of the incendiarised air-ship.

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THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—­[Part 21]—­5

[Illustration:  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.—­[Photos. by S. and G.]