"We left the African coast in the afternoon and made our way eastward as fast as our engines would allow us to go. Twice we saw British ships scouting, but we managed to avoid being seen and coming to an engagement which would have brought all the united fleet against us in a few hours' time. Later on we met two more British ships, which started to chase us.
"We were far superior in speed, and would have left them behind us but for a third ship which appeared on the horizon down south. The only thing for us to do was to rush forward. We had to seek an asylum in the bay of Messina.
"The neutrality of Italy at that moment was not a certainty. Our move would really have helped her to take a decision, and to keep faithful to her allies as well as protect her own real interests. Our Government thought so too, but Italy did not move, so we found ourselves under the necessity of leaving Messina in daytime.
"The British fleet, sure of our capture, was waiting outside the Italian territorial waters. We really did not hope to get out of the Bay without engaging in a battle under very unequal conditions.
"The weather, which had been wonderfully fine for over a month, came to our help. In the afternoon it began to get cloudy, and at ten o'clock it was pitch dark. This was quite an exception in the Straits of Messina at that time of year.
"We can thank that darkness for our escape. With no light on board, we went right across the bay; on both sides we could see the lights of the British warships, and the searchlight often explored the sea at a few metres' distance from us. We were all on deck waiting to be discovered, and to engage in a fight which could not possibly result in our favour.
"At a certain moment a light, probably belonging to a fishing boat, attracted the attention of the British ships, and all the searchlights were concentrated on that spot. This almost certainly saved us. Slowly and silently we passed at a few hundred metres' distance from an Italian warship on sentinel near the Calabrese coast. If she had seen us we should have answered the signals, and that would have attracted the attention of the whole British squadron.
"We thought we were quite out of danger, but when the morning broke we discovered a British ship following us. We increased our speed, but the other ship seemed to be as fast as we were. Then we decided to get rid of her, and while we went on by the side of the Greek coast the Breslau got farther down in the open sea. The British ship stopped undecided; we opened fire on her, and she answered with a lot of shells, none of which reached either of our ships. Always fighting, we made our way forward.
"Near the Greek Island of Cerigo we must have hit the boat with one of our torpedoes, as she seemed to lose speed and then suddenly stop. We lost sight of her, but after a few hours we came in sight of a ship hoisting a French flag. Before she saw us we changed our route and hid ourselves behind one of the Cyclades Islands, in a sort of triangle of sea from which we could see, unseen, in every direction.
"We were very short of ammunition, coal, and everything else owing to the hurried departure from our base, and also to the long ride across the Mediterranean. There were also some urgent repairs to be done on board of our ship. The Breslau was untouched.