China Squadron was almost wholly engaged in her pursuit in the East Indies. The station boundaries had entirely broken down under the stress of war.
In Australia the same influences had been at work. At the outbreak of war Rear-Adml. Patey had decided to take up a position at Port Moresby in the Gulf of Papua, covering Australian waters and not too far from the enemy's two princi- pal harbours, Rabaul (or Simpsonhafen) in New Britain and Friedrich Wilhelmshaven in New Guinea. Like the commander- in-chief on the China station he thought rightly that it was useless to search in the spaces of the Pacific for an unlocated enemy, but in his case demands for convoy began even sooner to dislocate his plans. New Zealand's expedition to Samoa was ready on Aug. 18 and the Admiralty approved of its starting, telling Patey on Aug. 13 to give it naval support. But he was at sea at the time with poor wireless connexion, and only received news of the expedition on Aug. 16. No sooner had he arranged to meet it with the battle-cruiser " Australia " and the cruiser " Melbourne " 450 m. south of Fiji on Aug. 24, than the Australia Navy Board complicated matters by asking that their New Guinea expedition should be taken first. Finally it was decided to take it second, and that the " Sydney " in the mean- time should take the New Guinea force as far as the Barrier Reef and then wait for the " Australia " and " Melbourne " to return from Samoa. The " Australia " arrived at Samoa on Aug. 29, the force was landed, the British flag hoisted and she left the next day to join the New Guinea force. But now the demands of the European convoy came cranking in and upset Patey's plans. On Sept. 3 the Admiralty ordered the " Mel- bourne " and " Sydney " to be detached for it, and on Sept. 10 asked for the " Australia " as well. She was then engaged with Patey in the New Guinea operations. Rabaul was occupied on Sept. 13 but German forces still remained active, and Patey, not liking to leave, suggested that the China squadron should help in a search for von Spec. Then on Sept. 15 came the important news of von Spec's appearance at Samoa, clearing up the situation. The " Australia " and " Montcalm " were left to cover the New Guinea operations while the " Sydney " joined the " Minotaur " and "Ibuki" to escort the Australian troops to Europe and to cause the " Emden's " destruction.
While these events were happening in Australia and the East Indies, Cradock had gone on to the southward, and by Sept. 28 his ships were in the Magellan Straits, searching the gorges of Tierra del Fuego. On Oct. 3 the " Glasgow " and " Monmouth " went on to the W. coast in accordance with the Admiralty telegram of Sept. 16, but the " Good Hope " remained in the Falklands area, waiting for the " Canopus." Von Spec had been reported off Tahiti in the Society Is. on Sept. 22, and on Oct. 5 was again located by an intercepted wireless to the " Dresden," which stated that he was on the way to Easter Island. No shadow of doubt could remain that he was on his way across, and the Admiralty sent word to Cradock to be prepared to meet him, adding that the " Canopus " should accompany the " Glasgow " and " Monmouth " and " Otranto " in their search. It was not a practicable idea. The " Canopus" could go only 12 knots, and the conception of a cruiser squadron relying for its safety on a slow old battleship was both tactically and strategically unsound.
Cradock received the message on Oct. 7 1914, and on the 8th sent a message to say he was concentrating at the Falklands, and suggesting the formation of a strong second squadron on the E. coast to intercept the German squadron if it should succeed in evading him. The telegram reached the Admiralty on the nth, and steps were immediately taken to carry out the Admiral's proposal by the dispatch of the " Defence " and " Kent " to reinforce Adml. Stoddart on the E. coast. The First Lord (Mr. Winston Churchill) was also in favour of postponing Cradock's cruise to the W. coast, but the reply actually sent to him merely took the form of a concurrence in the " concentration " of his vessels " for combined operations." The concentration at the Falklands never materialized. The " Good Hope " left for the W. coast (via Cape Horn) on Oct. 22,
leaving the " Canopus "to follow with her colliers (via Magellan). Cradock's intentions will never be precisely known. He probably felt it incumbent on him to support the " Glasgow " and " Monmouth." There was a vagueness at both ends of the wire. Cradock spoke of concentrating at the Falklands when half his squadron had already been sent to the W. coast. The Admiralty expressed their concurrence in his concentration there for combined operations (whatever that might mean). But their readiness to reinforce Stoddart at Cradock's suggestion indicates that they would have been equally ready to reinforce Cradock himself if he had pressed for it. But neither in his telegrams nor in his letter of Oct. 12 did he suggest, much less definitely state, that his squadron was too weak to face the foe. There was one vessel which could have saved the situation, namely the " Australia," if Cradock had been told to wait for her, but she had been retained off Fiji to guard against von Spee's possible return, and was left there straining on her leash.
Von Spec was now at Mas-a-fuera (Oct. 18-26), a small island 450 m. from the coast of Chile, and the two squadrons were approaching one another, for Cradock had joined the " Glasgow," " Monmouth " and " Otranto " at Vallenar in the Chonos Archipelago on Oct. 27. The two forces met off Coronel towards evening on Nov. i. The battle had been von Spee's for over a month. Cradock's flag, still flying gloriously, went down into the Pacific. The " Monmouth " sank with the " Good Hope." The " Glasgow " and " Otranto " got away. The " Canopus " was 300 m. off, toiling northward at 12 knots (see CORONEL).
The news arrived in England in the morning of Nov. 4, and fell on the country like a thunderclap. Lord Fisher was now First Sea Lord and every effort was made to redeem the situation. The battle-cruisers " Invincible " and " Inflexible " were taken from the Grand Fleet, and sailed on Nov. n, with Vice-Adml. Sir Doveton Sturdee, late chief of the war staff, in command. Rear-Adml. Stoddart waited for him at Abrolhos Rocks with the "Carnarvon," "Cornwall," "Defence," and '"Kent." The West Indies Squadron went off to watch the Panama Canal. Von Spee meanwhile had visited Valparaiso, and, unaware of the thunderbolt launched at him, was on his way southward. The " Canopus " had returned to the Falklands and was organizing the defences there.
Adml. Sturdee coaled at Abrolhos Rocks, and rushed on with his ships (" Inflexible," " Invincible," " Carnarvon," " Cornwall," " Kent," " Glasgow," " Bristol," and " Orama ") to the south, arriving at Port Stanley, Falklands, in the forenoon of Dec. 7. Meanwhile the " Australia " had been unleashed, and was speeding across the Pacific, and a Japanese squadron had moved down to Fiji to take her place. Von Spee had passed the Horn in bad weather at midnight on Dec. i. The next day his squadron met a three-masted Scottish barque, the " Drum- muir," with 2,800 tons of coal on board, and put back into- Picton I., near Beagle Channel, to transfer her coal. On Dec. 6 the work was finished. The " Drummuir " was sunk, and with her sank von Spee's hopes of getting home. He had decided at Picton I. to make a raid on the Falklands. On Dec. 8 1914 at dawn the islands were in sight, and the " Gneisenau " and " Niirnberg " were sent in towards Port Stanley. In the battle which followed (see FALKLAND ISLANDS BATTLE) the " Scharn- horst," " Gneisenau," " Leipzig " and " Nurnberg " were sunk, and von Spee and his two sons perished. The battle stands- out as one of the great beacons of the war at sea, for it marked the collapse of German naval power beyond the seas.
The " Emden's " career in the East Indies had already come to an end, with a tale of 15 ships. She had ranged the Bay of Bengal from Sept. 7-25, bombarded Madras oh Sept. 22, worked in the approaches to Colombo till Oct. 21, coaling in the Maldives and at Diego Garcia, and raided Penang on Oct. 28. The " Hampshire " and " Chikuma," " Empress of Asia " and " Yarmouth," had searched for her in vain, though the latter on Oct. 9 had sunk her two supply ships at Pulo Tapak on the west coast of Sumatra. At dawn on Nov. 9 she appeared off the cable station at Cocos Keeling I., and the operator flashed the
