Insurance Scheme had a great steadying influence on British
trade, but over all the four seas the Admiralty was confronted
with the problem of reconciling the squadron system, which was
intended to hunt down enemy cruisers, with insistent demands
for convoy which could not be denied. These demands arose all
over the world, for a great imperial concentration was bringing
the legions of the Dominions home at the very time when an
attack on the German oversea possessions was sending them
farther afield. In the east the convoys from India absorbed the
whole of the East Indies Squadron; in the west the Canadian
convoy in Oct. 1914 took away Rear-Adml. Wemyss and all his
four cruisers (Force G) from the mouth of the English Channel.
The expeditions to New Guinea and Samoa monopolized the
whole Australian Squadron for a time. The Cape, Cameroon,
and British East Africa all made similar demands on the squad-
rons, and the system was constantly threatening to break down.
When war broke out the " Karlsruhe " had just relieved the " Dresden," and both were still in the West Indies. In New York, too, were several fast German merchant cruisers, but the " Kronprinz Wilhelm " was the only one which actually put to sea. On Aug. 6 the " Suffolk " (Cradock's flagship) came suddenly on the " Karlsruhe " arming the " Kronprinz Wilhelm," some 120 m. N.E. of Watling I. (off Cuba), but after a long chase and an action in the moonlight with the " Bristol " the " Karlsruhe " got away. Then came news of her and the " Dresden " to the southward, and on Aug. 22 Cradock, who had transferred his flag to the " Good Hope," went off after them and began his fateful journey to the south. The " Karlsruhe " remained in the West Indies and South Atlantic. The " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," which had succeeded in slipping out of the North Sea on Aug. 5, was trying to get in touch with her, but on Aug. 26 was caught by the British cruiser " Highflyer" (Capt. Henry T. Buller), coaling at Rio del Ore, a desolate anchorage on the Sahara coast, and after a short action was sunk. The " Karlsruhe " (Capt. Kohler) continued to disturb British trade for some months, and had sunk 15 ships up to Nov. 4, when she suddenly blew up in the West Indies, leaving the survivors to get home to Kiel in the " Rio Negro."
The depredations of the " Karlsruhe " and " Dresden " led to Rear-Adml. Sir Christopher Cradock being appointed in command on the south-east coast of America on Sept. 3. He was given the three armoured cruisers " Good Hope," " Mon- mouth," and " Berwick," the light cruisers " Glasgow " and " Bristol," and the armed merchantmen " Otranto," " Carma- nia" and " Macedonia." Then ensued a hunt down the coast for the " Dresden." The " Carmania " (Capt. Noel Grant) went off to Trinidada, a tiny islet 600 m. out in the South Atlantic, and, though she did not find the " Dresden," she came upon an armed merchantman, the " Cap Trafalgar," coaling there on Sept. 14. An action ensued, the " Cap Trafalgar " was sunk and the " Carmania " limped back to Gibraltar to repair damages. Meanwhile the " Dresden " (Capt. Liidecke) had been joined by the German s.s. " Baden " with 13,000 tons of English coal, and had coaled at the Rocas Is. and Trinidada. Then with the " Baden " and " Santa Isabel " she sped southward to a little harbour, Orange Bay, hidden among the glaciers of Hoste I. in the vicinity of Cape Horn. There she lay from Sept. 5-16 before she ventured into the Pacific. In the Atlantic she had sunk only two ships, and allowed five to go on. Cradock was still on the south-east coast. The menace of von Spee had begun to loom in the west, and the British armoured cruiser " Defence " (Troubridge's late flagship) had been ordered to join him from the Mediterranean, but was detained there with defects.
Von Spee had been last located at Ponape in the Carolines on Aug. 9, and on Sept. 15 a message arrived from the Admi- ralty definitely informing Cradock, then at Santa Caterina (Brazil), that there was strong probability of the German squad- ron proceeding to Magellan, and that the " Defence " and " Canopus " were being sent to him. He was to concentrate a squadron strong enough to meet von Spee, then search Magellan Straits, break up German trade and destroy the German cruisers. The fact that his force could only muster 2 9-2-in. against von
Spee's 16 8-2-in. was apparently lost sight of. Hardly had the telegram been sent than another followed on Sept. 16 to say that von Spee had appeared off Samoa on Sept. 14, that the situation had changed, Cradock need no longer concentrate his cruisers, and German trade on the W. coast was to be attacked at once. This second telegram was the beginning of a chapter of misfortunes, and its motives remain obscure. The situation had indeed changed, but in a sense precisely opposite to that intended. Concentration and reenforcement were more necessary than ever, but someone had apparently become obsessed with the idea that von Spee was making for North America (apparently on the sole ground of his very commonplace ruse of steering N.W. when he left Samoa), and the Admiralty abandoned their original opinion that he was making for Magellan. The order for the " Defence " to proceed to the S.E. coast was cancelled, though Cradock was not even informed of this, and remained under the impression that she was on her way out to reinforce him. For another reason Sept. 15 is a red-letter day in the story of cruiser warfare, for on it the news arrived of the German cruiser " Emden's " incursion into the Bay of Bengal, which immediately reacted on the China and Australian squadrons.
Von Spee's memorable journey can only be described here in the briefest terms of place and time. When war broke out he was at Ponape, the German capital of the western Carolines. Thence he went to Pagan in the Mariana Is., where he was met by the " Emdcn " and a dozen supply ships, the latter leaving for her great venture in the East Indies on Aug. 14. Thence the squadron proceeded eastward to Enivetok, another atoll in the Marshall Is.; then on to Majuro in the same group, arriving on Aug. 26. There von Spee had heard (probably by wireless via Honolulu and Nauru) of Japan's entry into the war, and abandoned all thought of return. His next port of call was Christmas I., a small islet right in the middle of the Pacific, where he arrived on Sept. 7. On his way he had heard of the capture of Samoa, and after coaling at Christmas I., proceeded on Sept. 9 straight to Samoa, where he arrived at 3 A.M. on Sept. 14, hoping to surprise a British naval force there, but found the harbour empty. A landing was out of the question, and he withdrew. The report of his visit went out by wireless to Suva in Fiji, and thence by cable to New Zealand and London. The squadrons directly and immediately affected by the news, besides Cradock's, were the China and Australian, for in China it left Adml. Jerram free to hunt the " Emden " down, and in Australia it relieved Adml. Patey's mind as to the expedition to New Guinea and the homeward-bound Australian convoy.
A short survey of events on these two stations will now be given. In China Rear-Adml. Jerram's effective force con- sisted of the old battleship " Triumph," the armoured cruisers " Minotaur " (4 9-2-in., 10 7'5-in.) and "Hampshire" (4 7'5-in., 6 6-in.), and the light cruiser " Yarmouth " (8 6-in.). Japan's entry into the war on Aug. 23 secured the China seas, and Rear- Adml. Jerram took his force south, to bar any attempt on the part of von Spee to break back into the East Indies. The Admiralty ordered him on Aug. 23 to proceed in search of the " Scharnhorst " and " Gneiscnau," and keep in touch with Rear-Adml. Patey in Australia, but there was no news of von Spee, and accordingly on his arrival at Singapore on Aug. 30 the British admiral sent his cruisers to search the Dutch East Indies, where 22 German merchant ships had taken refuge. This search lasted till Sept. 13, but already demands for convoys were beginning to dislocate his plans. On Sept. 8 the Admiralty ordered him to send the " Minotaur " and " Hampshire " to meet the Australian convoy, due to leave Fremantlc for Europe on Oct. 3. The commander-in-chief decided to send the " Minotaur " in the meantime with two Japanese ships, the " Ibuki " (4 i2-in., 8 8-in.) and " Chikama" (8 6-in.), to Rabaul in New Britain, to cover Australia, when suddenly the situation was changed on Sept. 15 by the news of von Spee's appearance at Samoa, and more imperatively by the simultaneous appearance of the " Emden " in the Bay of Bengal. Till the " Emden " was finally run down by the " Sydney " at Cocos I. on Nov. 9 the
