Governor, aided by a Colonial Secretary, and by an executive and a
legislative council. The Governor acts as Chief Justice, and the
Colonial Secretary as Police Magistrate. There is a local jail, capable
of accommodating six offenders at a time. Its resources are not stated,
however, to be habitually strained. Education is compulsory: the
Government maintains schools and travelling teachers. The inhabitants
are principally engaged in sheep-farming and seafaring industries. The
colony is prosperous, with a trade that of late years has grown with
extraordinary rapidity. The dividends paid by the Falkland Islands
Company might excite the envy of many a London director. Stanley's
importance has been increased by the erection of wireless installation;
and as a coaling and refitting station for vessels rounding the Horn,
the harbour, large, safe, and accessible, is of immense value.
[Sidenote: A raid expected.]
To this remote outpost of empire came tidings of war in August, 1914.
Great excitement and enthusiasm prevailed. News was very slow in getting
through: the mails, usually a month in transit, became very erratic. But
the colony eagerly undertook a share in the burden of the Empire; L2,250
was voted towards the war-chest; L750 was collected on behalf of the
Prince of Wales's Fund. Detached, though keen, interest changed,
however, as the weeks passed, to intimate alarm. The Governor, Mr.
Allardyce, received a wireless message from the Admiralty that he must
expect a raid. German cruisers were suspected to be in the
neighbourhood. Never before had the colony known such bustle and such
excitement. They, the inhabitants of the remote Falklands, were to play
a part in the struggle that was tugging at the roots of the world's
civilization. The exhilaration of expectancy and of danger broke
suddenly into their uneventful, though not easy, lives. But there was
cause for keen anxiety. The colonists were, however, reassured for a
time by a visit from three British warships, the cruisers _Good Hope_,
_Monmouth_, and _Glasgow_, with the armed liner _Otranto_.
[Sidenote: British warships arrive.]
[Sidenote: Search for German cruisers.]
The _Good Hope_ had, at the declaration of war, been patrolling the
Irish coast. She was ordered to sweep the Atlantic trade routes for
hostile cruisers. She reached the coast of North America, after many
false alarms, stopping English merchantmen on the way, and informing the
astonished skippers of the war and of their course in consequence. When
forty miles east of New York, Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock came
aboard with his staff, and hoisted his flag. The Admiral turned
southwards, sweeping constantly for the enemy. Passing through the West
Indies, he proceeded to the coast of Brazil. Here he was joined by the
_Glasgow_. The _Good Hope_ had picked up the _Monmouth_ previously. The
three ships, accompanied by the auxiliary cruiser _Otranto_, kept a
southerly course. The discovery at Pernambuco of twenty-three German
merchantmen snugly ensconced behind the breakwater, in neutral harbour,
proved very galling. The Straits of Magellan and the cold Tierra del
Fuego were at length reached. The squadron was on the scent of three
German cruisers, the _Leipzig_, _Dresden_, and _Nuernberg_. It was
suspected that they had gone to coal in this remote corner of the
oceans. Their secret and friendly wireless stations were heard talking
in code. The British made swoops upon wild and unsurveyed bays and
inlets. The land around was covered with ice and snow, and the many huge
glaciers formed a sight wonderful to behold. But the search had proved
fruitless. After rounding the Horn several times, the squadron had
turned towards the Falklands.
[Sidenote: Rumors of disaster.]
The inhabitants could not long rely, however, upon these powerful
guardians. The squadron, after coaling, departed, again bound for the
Straits of Magellan and the Pacific. Its strength was certainly adequate
to tackle with success the three German ships believed to be in the
vicinity. The colony could depend upon Admiral Cradock to protect it to
the best of his ability. But it was not improbable that the enemy might
evade the patrolling cruisers, and descend upon the hapless Falklands
without warning. The Governor saw the advisability of instant
preparation. On October 19, he issued a notice that all women and
children were to leave Stanley. Provisions, stores, and clothes were
hastily removed into the interior, which was locally termed the 'camp'.
The colony possessed a Volunteer Rifle Company, some 120 strong, and two
nine-pounder field-guns. Further volunteers were enrolled and armed.
Suddenly, on November 3, an alarming wireless message was received. The
_Good Hope_ and the _Monmouth_ were reported to have been sunk off the
coast of Chili. It was unsigned. There was no proof of its authenticity.
But the next day another message followed from the captain of the
_Glasgow_. The disaster was confirmed. The _Glasgow_, in company with H.
M. S. _Canopus_, was running with all speed for the Falklands. They were
probably being followed by the victorious Germans. Four days of acute
suspense followed. The situation seemed critical. The Governor passed
several nights without taking off his clothes, in expectancy of wireless
messages that needed instant decoding. People slept beside their
telephones. Early in the morning of Sunday, November 8, the two warships
arrived.
[Sidenote: The _Glasgow_ arrives.]
The _Glasgow_ was badly damaged. An enormous hole, three feet by nine
feet, gaped in her side. A shell had wrecked Captain Luce's cabin,
giving off fumes such as rendered unconscious several men who rushed in
to put out the fire. The vessel had escaped any serious outbreak,
however, and had suffered only four slight casualties. Warm tributes
were paid by the captain to the cool and disciplined conduct of both
officers and men. The _Canopus_ had not been engaged. But a narrative of
the preceding events may now be appropriate.
[Sidenote: German cruisers in Pacific.]
Vice-Admiral the Graf Maximilian von Spee was in command, at the
outbreak of hostilities, of the German China fleet stationed at
Tsing-tao. A successor, indeed, had been appointed, and was on the way
to relieve him. But just before war was declared von Spee and his
squadron steamed off into the open seas. To remain at Tsing-tao while
vastly superior forces were closing in upon him would be to little
purpose. Commerce raiding offered a field for rendering valuable service
to the Fatherland. The _Emden_ was dispatched to the southern seas. The
_Leipzig_ and the _Nuernberg_ proceeded across the Pacific, and began to
prey upon the western coast of South America. Half the maritime trade of
Chili was carried in English ships. Many of them might be seized and
destroyed at little risk. The Admiral, with his two remaining vessels,
the _Scharnhorst_ and the _Gneisenau_, successfully evaded the hostile
fleets for some time. On September 14 he touched at Apia, in German
Samoa, familiar to readers of Robert Louis Stevenson. It could be
remembered how, fifteen years before, this colony, shortly to fall
before a New Zealand expeditionary force, had been a bone of contention
between Great Britain and Germany. Captain Sturdee, whom von Spee was
soon to meet in more arduous operations, had on that occasion commanded
the British force in the tribal warfare. Eight days later, on September
22, the two German cruisers arrived off Papeete, in Tahiti, one of the
loveliest of Pacific islands. A small disarmed French gunboat lying
there was sunk, and the town was bombarded. The Admiral, planning a
concentration of German ships, then steamed east across the Pacific. He
got into touch with friendly vessels. By skilful man[oe]uvring he
finally brought five warships, with colliers, together near Valparaiso.
[Sidenote: Armament of cruisers.]
[Sidenote: Coal needed.]
[Sidenote: Drake's exploits.]
[Sidenote: Search for cruisers.]
The German ships were all of recent construction. The _Scharnhorst_ and
the _Gneisenau_ were armoured cruisers of 11,600 tons. The _Leipzig_,
the _Nuernberg_, and the _Dresden_ were light cruisers of about 3,500
tons. The armament of the larger vessels included eight 8.2-inch and six
6-inch guns. The smaller relied upon either ten or twelve 4-inch pieces.
Each ship carried torpedo tubes, and the speed of each was about
twenty-two or twenty-three knots an hour. The _Dresden_, however, could
go to twenty-seven knots. The squadron possessed all-important allies.
Several German merchant-marine companies, notably the Kosmos, plied
along the Chilian coast. The tonnage of their vessels, indeed, amounted
to no less than half that of the English companies. The advance of
German enterprise in Chili in recent years had been very marked. Von
Spee's great stumbling-block was coal. The laws of war prevented him
from sending more than three of his warships into a neutral port at the
same time, from staying there more than twenty-four hours, from taking
more coal than was necessary to reach the nearest German harbour, from
coaling again for three months at a port of the same nationality. But if
German merchantmen, hampered by no such restrictions, could constantly
renew his supplies, the difficulty of fuel could be to some extent met.
Provisions and secret information as to British movements could also be
obtained through the same source. Such employment of merchantmen,
however, being contrary to international law, would have to be
clandestine. The great Pacific coast offered numerous harbours and
abundant facilities for being utilized as a base under such conditions.
It showed many historic precedents for bold and adventurous exploits
which could not fail to appeal to an admiral whose family, ennobled by
the Emperor Charles VI, took pride in its ancient and aristocratic
lineage. The occasion seemed opportune, moreover, for the
accomplishment, by himself, his officers, and men, of deeds which should
inspire their posterity as British naval traditions, for lack of other,
at present inspired them. They could recall how, on this very coast, in
1578-9, Drake, the master raider, had seized a Spanish treasure-ship off
Valdivia, had descended like a hawk upon Callao, had pounced upon
another great galleon, taking nearly a million pounds in gold and
silver; and how the intrepid mariner, sailing off into the unknown
ocean, had circumnavigated the globe, while the furious de Toledo
waited, with eleven warships, in the Straits of Magellan. Why, indeed,
should not the Germans imitate, in the twentieth century, the deeds of
Drake in the sixteenth? If they preyed ruthlessly upon English
merchantmen, laden with the wealth of the West, if they made a descent
upon the Falkland Islands, if then they were to disappear into the wide
Pacific, a career of splendid adventure and of unbounded usefulness
would earn for them both the respect and the plaudits of the world.
Australian and Japanese warships were sweeping the eastern Pacific for
them. Many British vessels, called from useful employment elsewhere,
would have to join in the search for them. But so vast was the area that
they might elude their enemies for months.
British ships were already cruising near the Horn, possibly unaware that
a concentration of the Germans had been effected. It was not unlikely
that von Spee might be able to cut off and to destroy stray units of the
patrolling squadrons. The Graf could see many opportunities of serving
effectively the cause of the Fatherland. He must utilize them to the
full.
[Sidenote: Cradock near coast of Chili.]
[Sidenote: German cruisers sighted.]
Sir Christopher Cradock, meanwhile, had rounded the Horn once more, and
was cruising northwards up the coast of Chili. That coast, indeed, once
the haunt of corsairs and filibusters, was rich in historic associations
and in natural beauties. An element of grandeur and of mystery seemed to
hover around the countless ridges and peaks of the Andes, stretching,
with the gleam of their eternal snows, for four thousand miles, and
gazing down across the illimitable waters of the occident. Upon the
plateaux, miles above sea level, stood old stone temples and pyramids
which rivalled in massiveness and ingenuity those of Egypt and of
Babylon. The student of ancient civilizations could trace, in the mystic
deities of the Incas and Araucanians, a strange similarity to the
deities of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. Speculation upon this analogy
formed a fascinating theme. This coast, too, was sacred to memories that
could not but be dear to sailors as gallant and daring as Cradock, since
his services in China, in 1900, was known to be. Among other familiar
British names, Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, had won enduring glory in the
struggle for Chilian independence, nearly a hundred years before. The
conditions of naval warfare had, indeed, through the introduction of
armour and the perfection of weapons, radically changed since Cochrane,
in a series of singularly audacious exploits, had overcome the fleets of
Spain. Sea-fighting had become purely a matter of science. The object of
strategy was to concentrate faster ships and more powerful guns against
weaker force. The odds with which Cradock was to contend against the
Germans were greater in proportion, if less in bulk, than the odds with
which Cochrane had contended, with his peasant crews and his hulks,
against the Spanish "wooden-walls". Admiral Cradock now knew that there
were two more cruisers in the neighbourhood than had at first been
supposed. The _Canopus_ had accordingly been sent to join his squadron.
But she was a battleship, and much slower than the cruisers. She could
travel no faster than at eighteen knots. Cradock proceeded northwards,
ahead of the _Canopus_, made a rendezvous off Concepcion Bay for his
colliers, and went into Coronel and on to Valparaiso to pick up news and
receive letters. The squadron then returned to the rendezvous and
coaled. This completed, the Admiral directed the _Glasgow_ to proceed
again to Coronel to dispatch certain cables. Captain Luce duly carried
out his mission, and left Coronel at nine o'clock on Sunday morning,
November 1, steaming northwards to rejoin the other ships. A gale was
rising. The wind was blowing strongly from the south. Heavy seas
continually buffeted the vessel. At two o'clock a wireless signal was
received from the _Good Hope_. Apparently from wireless calls there was
an enemy ship to northward. The squadron must spread out in line,
proceeding in a direction north-east-by-east, the flagship forming one
extremity, the _Glasgow_ the other. It was to move at fifteen knots. At
twenty minutes past four in the afternoon, smoke was observed upon the
horizon. The _Glasgow_ put on speed and approached. Officers soon made
out the funnels of four cruisers. It was the enemy. The Germans, their
big armoured cruisers leading, and the smaller behind, gave chase.
[Sidenote: The squadrons approach.]
The _Glasgow_ swept round to northward, calling to the flagship with her
wireless. Von Spee, anticipating this move, at once set his wireless in
operation, in order to jamb the British signals. Captain Luce soon
picked up the _Monmouth_ and the _Otranto_, and the three ships raced
northwards towards the flagship, the _Glasgow_ leading. At about five
o'clock the _Good Hope_ was seen approaching. The three ships wheeled
into line behind her, and the whole squadron now proceeded south. Von
Spee, coming up from that direction in line ahead, about twelve miles
off, changed his course and also proceeded south, keeping nearer to the
coast. The wind was now blowing almost with the force of a hurricane. So
heavy was the sea that small boats would have been unable to keep
afloat. But the sky was not completely overcast, and the sun was
shining. Firing had not opened. The washing of the seas and the roaring
of the wind deafened the ear to other sounds. The warship of to-day,
when her great turbines are whirling round at their highest speed, moves
without throb and almost without vibration through the waves. The two
squadrons, drawing level, the Germans nearer to the coast, raced in the
teeth of the gale, in two parallel lines, to the south.
[Sidenote: British vessels.]
[Sidenote: Cradock orders attack.]
Sir Christopher Cradock could not but realize that the situation was
hazardous. He had three vessels capable of fighting men-of-war. The
_Otranto_ was only an armed liner, and must withdraw when the battle
developed. The _Good Hope_ displaced some 14,000 tons, and was armed
with two 9'2-inch and sixteen 6-inch guns. The _Monmouth_, with a
tonnage of 9,800, carried fourteen 6-inch pieces, but the _Glasgow_, a
ship of 4,800 tons, had only two of the 6-inch weapons. It was certain
that the German 8.2-inch guns, if the shooting was at all good, would be
found to outrange and outclass the British. Cradock was certainly at a
disadvantage in gun-power. His protective armour was weaker than that of
the enemy. Nor did his speed give him any superiority. Though the
_Glasgow_ was capable of twenty-six knots, the flagship and the
_Monmouth_ could only go to twenty-three. But there was another
consideration which the Admiral might weigh. Coming slowly up from the
south, but probably still a considerable distance off, was the
battleship _Canopus_. Her presence would give the British a decided
preponderance. She was a vessel of some 13,000 tons, and her armament
included four 12-inch and twelve 6-inch pieces. How far was she away?
How soon could she arrive upon the scene? Evening was closing in.
Cradock was steering hard in her direction. If the British, engaging the
enemy immediately, could keep them in play throughout the night, when
firing must necessarily be desultory, perhaps morning would bring the
_Canopus_ hastening into the action. It was possible that the Germans
did not know of her proximity. They might, accepting the contest, and
expecting to cripple the British next morning at their leisure, find
themselves trapped. But in any case they should not be allowed to
proceed without some such attempt being made to destroy them. It must
not be said that, because the enemy was in greater force, a British
squadron had taken to flight. Perhaps it would be better, since darkness
would afford little opportunity of man[oe]uvring for action, to draw
nearer and to engage fairly soon. It was about a quarter past six. The
Germans were about 15,000 yards distant. Cradock ordered the speed of
his squadron to seventeen knots. He then signalled by wireless to the
_Canopus_, 'I am going to attack enemy now'.
[Sidenote: At closer range.]
[Sidenote: Only gun flashes to direct fire.]
[Sidenote: The _Good Hope_ blown up.]
The sun was setting. The western horizon was mantled by a canopy of
gold. Von Spee's man[oe]uvre in closing in nearer to the shore had
placed him in an advantageous position as regards the light. The British
ships, when the sun had set, were sharply outlined against the glowing
sky. The Germans were partly hidden in the failing light and by the
mountainous coast. The island of Santa Maria, off Coronel, lay in the
distance. Von Spee had been gradually closing to within 12,000 yards.
The appropriate moment for engaging seemed to be approaching. A few
minutes after sunset, about seven o'clock, the leading German cruiser
opened fire with her largest guns. Shells shrieked over and short of the
_Good Hope_, some falling within five hundred yards. As battle was now
imminent, the _Otranto_ began to haul out of line, and to edge away to
the south-west. The squadrons were converging rapidly, but the smaller
cruisers were as yet out of range. The British replied in quick
succession to the German fire. As the distance lessened, each ship
engaged that opposite in the line. The _Good Hope_ and the _Monmouth_
had to bear the brunt of the broadsides of the _Scharnhorst_ and the
_Gneisenau_. The _Glasgow_, in the rear, exchanged shots with the light
cruisers, the _Leipzig_ and the _Dresden_. The shooting was deadly. The
third of the rapid salvos of the enemy armoured cruisers set the _Good
Hope_ and the _Monmouth_ afire. Shells began to find their mark, some
exploding overhead and bursting in all directions. In about ten minutes
the _Monmouth_ sheered off the line to westward about one hundred yards.
She was being hit heavily. Her foremost turret, shielding one of her
6-inch guns, was in flames. She seemed to be reeling and shaking. She
fell back into line, however, and then out again to eastward, her 6-inch
guns roaring intermittently. Darkness was now gathering fast. The range
had narrowed to about 5,000 yards. The seven ships were all in action.
Many shells striking the sea sent up columns of white spray, showing
weirdly in the twilight. It was an impressive scene. The dim light, the
heavy seas, the rolling of the vessels, distracted the aim. Some of the
guns upon the main decks, being near the water-line, became with each
roll almost awash. The British could fire only at the flashes of the
enemy's guns. Often the heavy head seas hid even the flashes from the
gun-layers. It was impossible to gauge the effect of their shells. The
fore-turret of the _Good Hope_ burst into flames, and she began to fall
away out of line towards the enemy. The _Glasgow_ kept up a continual
fire upon the German light cruisers with one of her 6-inch guns and her
port batteries. A shell struck her below deck, and men waited for the
planks to rise. No explosion nor fire, however, occurred. But the
British flagship was now burning brightly forward, and was falling more
and more out of line to eastward. It was about a quarter to eight.
Suddenly there was the roar of an explosion. The part about the _Good
Hope's_ after-funnel split asunder, and a column of flame, sparks, and
debris was blown up to a height of about two hundred feet. She never
fired her guns again. Total destruction must have followed. Sir
Christopher Cradock and nine hundred brave sailors went down in the
stormy deep. The other ships raced past her in the darkness. The
_Monmouth_ was in great distress. She left the line after a while, and
turned back, steaming with difficulty to northwest. She had ceased
firing. The vessels had been travelling at a rate which varied from
seven to seventeen knots. The _Glasgow_, now left alone, eased her speed
in order to avoid shells intended for the _Monmouth_. The Germans
dropped slowly back. The _Scharnhorst_ and the _Gneisenau_ now
concentrated their salvos upon the _Glasgow_. The range was about 4,500
yards. A shell struck the second funnel: five others hit her side at the
waterline, but fortunately not in dangerous places. Luce, her captain,
since the flagship was no more, was senior officer. He brought his
vessel round and moved rapidly back.
[Sidenote: _Monmouth_ in distress.]
[Sidenote: Enemy is signalling in Morse.]
[Sidenote: _Glasgow_ draws away.]
[Sidenote: The _Monmouth_ finally capsizes.]