After this the officers had something else to do than make entries in a diary. Boats had been lowered from the Invincible and the Inflexible, life-buoys and ropes were thrown into the water, and about 300 men were saved, “including their captain—a tall man with a black beard.”
Meanwhile the Glasgow and the Cornwall had fought and sunk the Leipzig. Like the other German ships, she took fire fore and aft, and as the shades of night were closing in she turned over on her port side and disappeared. The Cornwall began to lower boats when the Leipzig was settling down, but the British Captain leant over the rail of the bridge and said, “It’s no good; she’s going.”
While this was going on the Kent was dealing with the Nürnberg, after a desperate chase with only a small amount of fuel to rely upon. When the engineers had done their best and worked up the speed well above the rate which the Kent could do “officially,” they reported that their coal was almost used up. Then the captain suggested that the boats might prove useful in such a case! No sooner said than done! The boats were promptly broken up, the pieces smeared with oil, and packed by the stokers into the furnaces.
This use of the boats had suggested other means of providing fuel, and soon the men were hurrying to the furnaces with officers’ armchairs, chests, ladders, and anything which would burn. So the speed limit was much further exceeded, the Nürnberg was caught and sunk, but not before she had put up a stiff fight. Fire was stopped on the Kent when the German hauled down her colours, and every preparation was made to save life. As the ship sank the British sailors saw a group of men waving a German ensign fastened to a staff. Only five Germans were rescued alive from the doomed ship.
Only one of the German ships, the fast cruiser Dresden, escaped from the battle, the clouds which overcast the sky in the evening assisting her in getting clear away. The darkness closed in, but near midnight Admiral Sturdee received a message from H.M.S. Bristol to the effect that during the action two enemy transports had been destroyed near the Falklands, their crews being removed before the ships were sunk. So ended a memorable day in British naval history.
DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR THE CHÂTEAU DE MONDEMENT DURING THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”