CHAPTER XIX
A Reverse and a Victory
"Through the fog of the fight we could dimly see,
As ever the flame from the big guns flashed,
That Cradock was doomed, yet his men and he,
With their plates shot to junk and their turrets smashed,
Their ship heeled over, her funnels gone,
Were fearlessly, doggedly, fighting on.
. . . . . . . . . .
"We could see by the flashes, the dull, dark loom
Of their hull as it bore toward the Port of Doom,
Away on the water's misty rim—
Cradock and his few hundred men,
Never, in time, to be seen again.
"While into the darkness their great shells screamed,
Little the valiant Germans dreamed
That Cradock was teaching them how to go
When the fate their daring, itself, had sealed,
Waiting, as yet, o'er the ocean's verge,
To their eyes undaunted would stand revealed;
And snared by a stronger, swifter foe,
Out-classed, out-metalled, out-ranged, out-shot
By heavier guns, but not out-fought,
They, too, would sink in the sheltering surge."
John E. Dolson. (In an American Newspaper.)
A sad but glorious day in the annals of the British Navy has now to be referred to—the defeat of Sir Christopher Cradock's squadron off the coast of Chile, with the loss of the Good Hope and Monmouth with all hands. Sad because of the defeat and the loss of so many gallant officers and men—glorious on account of the way they fought and met their deaths. It is the only thing approaching a naval victory scored by the Germans up to the time of writing.
The German squadron, which was commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee, consisted of the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Dresden, Nürnberg, and Leipzig. The two former had been on the Chinese station and were big armoured cruisers of 11,600 tons, dating from 1907. They were sister ships, each mounting eight 8·2-inch, six 6-inch, and several smaller guns. The Scharnhorst (flag) was the crack gunnery ship of the German fleet. The other three ships were third-class cruisers of between 3000 and 4000 tons, similar to the Emden, and carried ten 4·1-inch guns apiece, firing 34-pound projectiles. They had been carrying on various separate commerce-raiding operations in the Pacific, had bombarded the French port of Papeete in Tahiti, and now, when the numerous cruisers of the allied Powers were beginning to make the Pacific Ocean "unhealthy" for them, had apparently concentrated off the Chilian coast with the view of slipping out of it into the Atlantic in hopes of doing further mischief, after capturing the Falkland Islands as a base, or possibly of eventually attempting to find their way back to a German port.
On 1st November at 2 p.m. a British squadron consisting of the Good Hope (14,100 tons), Monmouth (9800 tons), Glasgow (4800 tons), and Otranto (12,100 tons) were at sea to the westward of Coronel, in Chile, when it was reported that there were enemy's ships in the neighbourhood. The two first-named ships were armoured cruisers of large size, but not too well gunned for their displacement. The Good Hope had a couple of 9·2-inch guns and sixteen 6-inch guns, the Monmouth fourteen 6-inch guns. The Glasgow was a light cruiser with two 6-inch and ten 4-inch guns, while the Otranto was merely a big mail-boat, belonging to the Orient line, armed as a mercantile auxiliary.
At 4.20 the smoke of hostile ships was made out on the horizon, and about a quarter to six the British squadron was formed in line ahead in the order in which their names have been already noted. The enemy came in sight about this time at 12 miles distance, but kept away as long as the sun was above the horizon, as it showed them up well to our gunners and was in the eyes of their own. As soon as it dipped, the light was entirely in their favour. The grey forms of their ships were but dimly discernible, whilst ours were silhouetted black against the ruddy glow of the sunset.
The following account of the action is from the pen of one of the crew of the Glasgow:[94] "By 6 p.m. we were steaming abreast each other. The Monmouth, as she passed us close on our port side, gave us a few cheers, which were readily returned. Everyone was stripped and ready, and all seemed satisfied to think that we had found the enemy after searching for nearly three months. The sea was still very rough, and the ships were washing down forward. The enemy's squadron seemed to be going faster than we were, and were getting on our port bow. The sun was setting in the west, and we must have made very nice targets for the Germans, as we were between them and the sun. They had some dark clouds behind them and were difficult to see even then. As soon as the sun had set they altered course towards us, and we turned slightly towards them, the Otranto going away off our starboard quarter and taking no part in the action. As soon as the enemy were within 14,000 yards they opened fire, each of the armoured ships firing at the Good Hope and Monmouth, while the two smaller ships concentrated their fire on the Glasgow, although they did not open fire until the fourth ship had joined them and they had got much closer than when the armoured ships opened fire.