[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!