At Messina the Goeben and Breslau were again refused coal, and were ordered to be clear of the port within twenty-four hours. Italy was resolutely neutral; it was a severe blow. Upon the night of August 4th-5th had come another blow—a wireless message, picked up at sea, that England had declared war. The position of the Germans now appeared to be desperate, more so to them than even to us, for Admiral Souchon had already been warned by the Austrians not to attempt the passage of the Straits of Otranto, and had also received direct orders at Messina from Berlin to make a break eastwards for Constantinople. His prospects of eluding our Squadrons and of reaching the Dardanelles must have seemed to him of the smallest. It is of interest to note, as revealing the hardy quality of Admiral Souchon, that these orders from Berlin reached him at midnight upon August 3rd before he made his raid upon Phillippeville and Bona. He might have steamed off at once towards the east in comparative security, for England was not yet at war and our battle cruisers were not yet waiting upon his doorstep. But instead of seeking safety in flight he struck a shrewd blow for his country and set back the hour of his departure for the east by three whole days. He sent off a wireless message to Greece asking that coal might be got ready for his ships near an inconspicuous island in the Ægean. Admiral Souchon may personally be a frightful Hun—I don’t know, I have never met him—but, I confess that, as a sailor, he appeals to me very strongly. In resource, in cool decision, and in dashing leadership he was the unquestioned superior of the English Admirals, whose job it was to get the better of him.
Upon August 6th, a day big with fate for us and for South Eastern Europe, the Goeben and Breslau were at Messina with steam up. They had again obtained coal from compatriot ships and could snap their fingers at Italian neutrality. Watching them was the light cruiser Gloucester, which was no match at all for the Goeben, and strung out to the north-east, guarding the passage from Messina to the Adriatic, were the three English battle cruisers Inflexible, Indomitable and Indefatigable. The English armoured cruisers, Black Prince, Duke of Edinburgh, Defence and Warrior, were cruising to the South of Syracuse. It is not contended that these four vessels could not have been off Messina, and could not have met and fought Souchon, when at last he issued forth. The contention is—and since it has been accepted by the Admiralty as sound, one is compelled humbly to say little—that none of these cruisers was sufficiently armed or armoured to risk action with a battle cruiser of the Goeben’s class. It is urged that if Milne had ordered the armoured cruiser squadron to fight the Goeben, their Admiral, Troubridge, might have anticipated the fate of Cradock three months later at Coronel. Not one of them had a speed approaching that of the Goeben, and their twenty-two heavy guns were of 9.2-inch calibre as opposed to the ten 11-inch guns of the Germans. That they would have suffered serious loss is beyond doubt; but might they not, while dying, have damaged and delayed the Goeben for a sufficient time to allow the two Inflexibles and the Indefatigable to come down and gobble her up? It is not for a layman to offer any opinion upon these high naval matters. But ever since the action was not fought, and the Goeben and Breslau escaped, whenever two or three naval officers are gathered together and the subject is discussed, the vote is always thrown upon the side of fighting. The Soul of the Navy revolts at the thought that its business is to play for safety when great risks boldly faced may yield great fruits of victory.
The dispositions of the English Admiral were designed to meet one contingency only—an attempt by the Germans to pass the Straits of Otranto and to join the Austrians; he had evidently no suspicion that they had been ordered to Constantinople and took no steps to bar their way to the east. The handling of his two ships by Admiral Souchon was masterly. Until the latest minute he masked his intentions and completely outmanœuvred his powerful English opponents. Issuing from Messina on the afternoon of August 6th, he made towards the north-east as if about to hazard the passage to the Adriatic, and the small Gloucester, which most gallantly kept touch with far superior forces—she was some two knots slower than the Goeben, though rather faster than the Breslau—fell back before him and called up the battle cruisers on her wireless. Souchon did not attempt to interfere with the Gloucester, for she was doing exactly what he desired of her. He kept upon his course to the north-east until darkness came down, and then swinging suddenly eight points to starboard, pointed straight for Cape Matapan far off to the south-east and called for full speed. Then and then only he gave the order to jam the Gloucester’s wireless.
He did not wholly succeed, the Gloucester’s warning of his change of route got through to the battle cruisers, but they were too far away to interpose their bulky veto on the German plans. For two hours the German ships travelled at full speed, the Goeben leading, and behind them trailed the gallant Gloucester, though she had nothing bigger in her armoury than two 6-inch guns, and could have been sunk by a single shell from the Goeben’s batteries. Twice she overhauled the Breslau and fired upon her, and twice the Goeben had to fall back to the aid of her consort and drive away the persistent English captain. The gallantry of the Gloucester alone redeems the event from being a bitter English humiliation. All the while she was vainly pursuing the German vessels the Gloucester continued her calls for help. They got through, but the Goeben and Breslau had seized too long a start. They were clear away for the Dardanelles and Constantinople, and were safe from effective pursuit.
Vice-Admiral Souchon knew his Greeks and his Turks better than we did. He coaled his ships at the small island of Denusa in the Cyclades with the direct connivance of King Constantine, who had arranged for coal to be sent over from Syra, and ignored a formal message from the Sublime Porte forbidding him to pass the Dardanelles. He was confident that the Turks, still anxious to sit upon the fence until the safer side were disclosed, would not dare to fire upon him, and he was justified in his confidence. He steamed through the Narrows unmolested and anchored before Constantinople. There a telegram was handed to him from the Kaiser: “His Majesty sends you his acknowledgments.” One must allow that the Imperial congratulations were worthily bestowed. Souchon had done for Germany a greater service than had any of her generals or admirals or diplomats; he had definitely committed Turkey to the side of the Central Powers.
If of all words of tongue and pen
The saddest are “It might have been,”
More sad are these we daily see,
“It is, but hadn’t ought to be.”