CHAPTER X

ENEMY IN SIGHT

"And from the crow's nest of the Golden Hynde A seaman cried, 'By God, the hunt is up!'"

--ALFRED NOYES (_Drake_).

December 8th, 1914, was apparently to prove an exception to the general rule in the Falklands, where it usually rains for twenty-one days during the last month of the year, for a perfect mid-summer's morning gave every promise of a fine day to follow. The prospect of a busy day coaling, and taking in stores, brought with it thoughts of the morrow when we were to set forth on our quest after the enemy. The colliers went their round from ship to ship, and the rattling of the winches hoisting the coal inboard never ceased.

At 7.56 A.M. the _Glasgow_ fired a gun to attract the attention of the _Invincible_, who was busy coaling, to the signal of the _Canopus_ reporting smoke in sight to the south.

Shortly after 8 A.M. the officers in the _Cornwall_ were all sitting at breakfast when the Chief Yeoman of Signals entered with a beaming face, full of news, to report that cruisers were in sight to the southward. The general opinion was that some Japanese cruisers were probably coming to join us, and attention was again turned to breakfast.

About 8.15 A.M. came a signal from the flag ship: "Raise steam for full speed, report when ready." Rumour had been so rife of late that we still remained sceptical until a few minutes later news came from the signal station on Sapper Hill that two hostile men-of-war were approaching from the southward, and shortly after that smoke was visible beyond these vessels.

It afterwards transpired that a lady named Mrs. Felton, the wife of a sheep farmer living near Point Pleasant, in the south of the Island, sent her maid and house-boy to the top of a ridge to report everything they saw whilst she telephoned the sighting of the enemy's ships to the nearest signal station, from which it was passed to Port Stanley. She continued to send messages reporting every subsequent movement of the German ships. The three German colliers, two of which were sunk, were also first sighted by her and duly reported. She afterwards received a silver salver from the Admiralty in recognition of her prompt action, and her maid a silver teapot, whilst the signalman at Sapper Hill, Port Stanley, received £5 from Admiral Sturdee--a fact we had cause to remember later on, when frequent reports of "hearing distant firing," "sighting smoke," resulted in one or two wild-goose chases!

"Enemy in sight." What a thrilling message for us all! We could scarcely believe our ears. "What a stroke of luck!" was the general comment. But this was no time for ruminating; deeds, not words, were required. At last "the Day" for which we had prepared had dawned. In very truth the hunt was up. The magic news travelled round the ship's company like lightning, and they fell in in record time--in spite of having to forgo some of their breakfast. The _Invincible_, _Inflexible_, and _Carnarvon_ were in the middle of coaling. Colliers were cast off, and all ships prepared for action in case the enemy appeared off the entrance to Port William.

As several of our ships had one engine down at six hours' notice, the bustle and activity in the engine rooms may well be imagined. We on deck naturally enough were soon ready, and chafed at the delay.

The _Kent_ went out of harbour to reconnoitre, to report on the movements of the enemy, and to relieve the _Macedonia_. The enemy's two leading ships--the _Gneisenau_ and _Nürnberg_--were in sight and were approaching the wireless station, intending to wreck it. When near the Wolf Rocks they stopped engines and turned to the north-eastward. The bearing and elevation of the enemy ships having been telephoned from the observation station, the _Canopus_, finding that they could get no closer, opened fire over the low neck of land at 9.20 A.M. with her 12-inch guns, firing five rounds at a range of 12,000 yards (_see_ page 83). It was the first time that most of us had heard a shot fired in a naval action, and it brought home very forcibly the fact that we should soon be tackling the job to which we had looked forward for so long. Hoisting their colours, the enemy turned away S.E. to join the main squadron, which headed out to the eastward. It afterwards transpired that the Germans had seen the tripod masts of our battle-cruisers over the land, which probably decided von Spee in turning away from his objective. In one moment all his hopes of destroying our Fleet--supposed to consist of _Carnarvon_, _Cornwall_ and _Bristol_, and possibly the _Canopus_ and _Glasgow_--the wireless station, and then capturing the colony, were dashed to the ground. From survivors it appears that one of the _Canopus's_ shells had ricocheted, striking the _Gneisenau_ at the base of her after funnel; it was also claimed that a piece of another hit the _Nürnberg_--good shooting by indirect fire at such a range, with guns of an old type and improvised fire-control arrangements.

Officers of the _Canopus_, who were in the observation station ashore, saw through the telescope of their theodolite the men on board the _Gneisenau_ fallen in on deck; they could be distinguished, quite plainly, dressed ready for landing, in order to capture the wireless station under cover of their ship's guns. But when the _Canopus_ opened fire with her first two projectiles they lost no time in scuttling away to their action stations.

An amusing incident occurred on board the _Canopus_ when the enemy first hove in sight. The stokers off watch climbed up inside the foremost funnel to see what was going on and sat round the edge, feeling quite secure as they knew the ship was ashore--hard and fast. They very soon came down, however, when they were informed that the boilers of that funnel were being lit up and the ship going to sea.

At 9.40 A.M. the _Glasgow_ went out to join the _Kent_ in observing the enemy's movements. Five minutes later the squadron weighed, with the exception of the _Bristol_, who had all her fires out to clean boilers. She was ready three-quarters of an hour later, however, which must have constituted a record for ships of her class. The _Carnarvon_, _Inflexible_, _Invincible_, and _Cornwall_ proceeded out in the order named, the _Inflexible_ ramming a sailing pinnace belonging to the _Cornwall_, half full of stores, on her way through the line of mines; fortunately a barrel of beer belonging to the wardroom officers had previously been rescued! The _Macedonia_ was ordered to remain behind in Port William. It was very clear with a slight north-westerly breeze--ideal conditions for a long-range action.

The last of our line cleared the harbour about 10.30 A.M., when the five enemy ships could be seen hull down on the horizon to the S.E., 12 to 13 miles off, steaming off in the hopeless attempt to escape. The signal "General chase" was flying from the _Invincible_, and the magnificent spectacle of our ships, each with four or five white ensigns fluttering in the breeze, all working up to full speed, will always live in the memory of those who witnessed it on that eventful day.

The surprise and horror of the Germans at seeing our two battle-cruisers for the first time was testified by the survivors, who said, "They tried not to believe it." It must have been an awful moment finding themselves suddenly face to face with almost certain destruction. First of our ships came the little _Glasgow_, dashing along like an express train, then the two huge battle-cruisers going about 25 knots, belching forth volumes of dense black smoke as they made use of their oil fuel to quicken their fires, followed by the _Kent_, _Carnarvon_, and _Cornwall_ doing about 22 knots.

The Admiral reduced speed for an hour to 20 knots at 11.15 A.M., to allow the "County" cruisers to catch up, for it was evident that we were rapidly gaining on the enemy, as we sped along on an easterly course. The _Glasgow_ was ordered to keep three miles ahead of the _Invincible_. There was now an opportunity to get out of coaling kit and have a hasty wash. The ship's companies were consequently sent to dinner early, acting on the good old maxim that a man always fights better on a full stomach; but the excitement was too intense for most men to have more than a bite, and they were mostly to be seen crowding about the ship's decks munching a hastily made sandwich.

At 11.27 A.M. the _Bristol_ reported that the smoke of three steamers, enemy transports, had been sighted from the signal station at Point Pleasant to the southward of the Island, whereupon the Commander-in-Chief ordered the _Bristol_ and _Macedonia_ to destroy them. They arrived to find only two, both big colliers, the _Baden_ and _Santa Isabel_; the _Bristol_ took off the crews and then sank the vessels. Half an hour later the _Bristol_ learnt the news of the result of the action, and that the sacrifice of their valuable cargoes had been unnecessary. The _Macedonia_, who was first upon the scene, sighted smoke on the horizon, but could see no ship. Rumour had it that this third ship was the _Seydlitz_, and that she had a landing party of armed men and field guns on board, but this has never been substantiated in any way.

The _Glasgow_ was ordered back, and at 12.20 P.M. the Commander-in-Chief decided to attack the enemy with the battle-cruisers, whose speed was increased to 25 knots. The enemy were steaming in two divisions in quarter-line, first the _Gneisenau_ and _Nürnberg_ on the left of the line, then the _Scharnhorst_ (flag), _Dresden_, and _Leipzig_; the latter being astern of the remainder of their ships, who were on the starboard bow of our squadron, became the first target. "Action" was sounded, and at once not a soul was to be seen about the decks, each man being busy at his appointed station. The Admiral hoisted the signal "Open fire" at 12.47, and eight minutes later the _Inflexible_ fired at the _Leipzig_ the first round of the action; the _Invincible_ followed almost immediately afterwards. Both ships were now going their full speed, nearly 27 knots, and firing slowly and deliberately at the great range of 16,000 yards (over nine land miles). The huge columns of water, over 150 feet high, thrown up by our 12-inch projectiles, which weigh 840 lb., sometimes completely blotted out the enemy target at this distance. Owing to the German ships being end-on, it was difficult to get the direction, but our shots were falling very close to them at times, and soon produced a drastic change in their movements.

Admiral von Spee is said to have now made this signal to his ships: "The armoured cruisers will engage the enemy _as long as possible_, the light cruisers are to use every endeavour to escape." Acting on this, at 1.20 P.M. the _Dresden_, the _Nürnberg_--which one of our battle-cruisers claimed to have hit--and the _Leipzig_ turned away to the southward, the positions of the ships being roughly as shown in the plan (p. 94). The _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ will be seen turning to port to engage the battle-cruisers, which altered simultaneously on to a parallel course, whilst the remainder of our squadron, except the _Carnarvon_, which presumably had orders to proceed with the Commander-in-Chief, turned and gave chase to the _Dresden_, _Leipzig_, and _Nürnberg_. The _Carnarvon_ was, of course, unable to keep up with the big ships, and did not get into action until later; she was now 10 miles astern, and altered course to port to cut a corner and join the Flag.

All this while the "County" cruisers were coming along with all possible speed. The _Glasgow_ was stationed clear of the battle-cruisers, which were followed by the _Kent_, _Cornwall_, and _Carnarvon_. When the action commenced the crews of these ships had the most perfect view of a modern naval engagement fought at long range. As an officer in the _Kent_ described it: "We were spectators in the front row of the stalls, as it were, so close that we could almost touch the actors on the stage, yet so far that no stray missile disturbed the comfort of our view. The best seats in the house at a performance of one of the few remaining spectacles which cannot be bought for money."

Imagine a calm, smooth sea, the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, the ship steaming at something over 23 knots, and the men crowded on the turrets and in every available corner, tier upon tier, for all the world as if looking on at a cup tie at the Crystal Palace.... It was a wonderful sight. The big ships buried their sterns in the sea, throwing up the seething water in their wakes as they dashed onwards. The bright flashes of their guns showed up strikingly, followed successively by the dark brown puffs of cordite smoke; the seconds were counted until the reports were heard and huge columns of water thrown up by the splashes were seen. Many of the men had had friends in the _Good Hope_ and _Monmouth_ whose fate was fresh in their minds. "Give 'em one for the _Monmouth_!" and "Go on, boys, give 'em hell--let the blighters feel what it's like!" were shouted quite unconsciously, punctuated by loud cheers when a salvo pitched perilously close to the enemy ships. Of course, the majority realised our superiority, but those in authority must have felt a pride in such men who gave the impression they would face odds with intrepidity.

The battle now divided itself into two separate engagements, the battle-cruisers and the _Carnarvon_, which were engaging the two enemy armoured cruisers, and the _Cornwall_, _Kent_, and _Glasgow_, which gave chase to the light cruisers. Later, a third action developed when the _Kent_ went after the _Nürnberg_. Each of these will be taken in turn and described separately.