The Battle of the Falkland Islands 12

The Battle of the Falkland Islands 12

Sailing on November 28th, on a lovely calm morning, Admiral Sturdee

must have indeed felt a proud man; after years of labour in his

profession, he had his ambition realised by the command of a powerful

squadron in war with a definite task before him. It consisted of

_Invincible_ (flag), _Inflexible_, _Carnarvon_ (flag), _Cornwall_,

_Kent_, _Glasgow_, and _Bristol_. The _Macedonia_, now on her way

back from Sierra Leone, was to join us on the voyage south.

 

On December 1st a report was received that "the German fleet was 400

miles off Montevideo" the previous evening, but no one believed it.

The next day we left dinner hurriedly; a signal was received, "Alter

course together" to starboard 60 degrees. We altered and stood by for

action, but it only turned out to be a British vessel--a false alarm

which, however, was excellent practice. Information came through on

the 3rd that the German tender _Patagonia_ left Montevideo during the

night with stores for the German warships; therefore presumably they

were not far off.

 

We arrived off Port Stanley on the morning of December 7th, and were

piloted into harbour through a channel in the line of mines, which

had been hastily constructed from empty oil-drums, and laid across

the entrance by the _Canopus_. As there were only three colliers

here, the ships were ordered to coal in turn; the remainder, under

convoy of the _Orama_, were following us down from the base.

 

The Falkland Islands number about two hundred only two of which,

East and West Falkland, are of any size. The coast line of both

these islands is deeply indented and much resembles one of the

Outer Hebrides. Devoid of all trees, the dark brown and green

moors, relieved here and there by patches of granite quartz, look

uninviting, but abound in penguins hares, and sheep. Some of us,

being unable to coal ship, landed on the day of our arrival and shot

some hares and geese--a welcome change for the larder. It was the

breeding season, and the penguin camps or rookeries were a striking

sight; on approaching them hundreds would stand up and waddle forward

in a threatening attitude, making a terrible din in order to protect

their eggs. So numerous are they compared with the inhabitants that

the Governor is locally called the "King of the Penguins."

 

The little town of Port Stanley, the capital, lies on the south side

of the inner portion of a harbour on the east coast of East Falkland,

and consists of two streets of houses, almost all, except Government

House and the cathedral, constructed of timber and corrugated iron.

It is very much like one of the new small towns of Canada. The

principal fuel is peat, which may be seen stacked as in Ireland. The

population numbers about a thousand, and another thousand--mostly

farmers and shepherds of Scottish origin--live out on the moors of

the islands.

 

During the summer the temperature averages about 48° Fahr., and it is

nearly always blowing hard, raining, hailing, or snowing. Situated in

a cold current from the Antarctic, the temperature only falls eleven

degrees in the winter; as a result, scarcely any of the inhabitants

can swim, it being too cold to bathe. Owing to the absence of sun and

summer heat, wheat, oats, and English vegetables do not thrive, but

the colony is none the less remarkably healthy.

 

[Illustration: STANLEY HARBOUR with PORT WILLIAM

 

The Mappa Co. Ltd. London

]

 

When the news of the Coronel disaster reached them, the islanders

were naturally much concerned for their safety. They had a volunteer

corps of a few hundred men, which took to training most assiduously

and quickly improved in efficiency. Every man was a good horseman

and proficient with the rifle, but the corps were not sufficiently

numerous to prevent a landing. A council of war was held by the

Governor, at which the position was fully discussed. It seemed

only too probable that the Germans would attack the Islands, and

arrangements were made to send away from Stanley the few women and

children. Stores of provisions were secreted within easy reach of the

town, and the public money, official documents, confidential books,

and valuables were either removed to a place of safety or buried.

 

This was the position when the _Canopus_ and the _Glasgow_ arrived on

November 8th. Sailing the same evening, the _Canopus_, when half-way

to Montevideo, was ordered by the Admiralty to return and guard the

colony.

 

On November 13th a warship was sighted from the signal station at

Port Stanley making straight towards the harbour from the eastward,

an unusual direction from which to approach. The volunteers were

called out by the church bells sounding the alarm, and every

preparation was made to resist a landing; the _Canopus_ on her part

could get no reply from the wireless station, so was only able to

conclude that Port Stanley had fallen into the enemy's hands. When

it was seen that the visitor was none other than the _Canopus_, the

feelings of joy and relief were universal and knew no bounds.

 

Most of the inhabitants buried all their worldly goods of any value,

some using their back gardens, which are lightly fenced off from one

another, whilst others even carried furniture some distance inland.

Several amusing stories resulted. One of these Scots, from the window

of his house, had watched his neighbour burying a tin box, and had

carefully noted its exact position. Being hard up, he scaled the

fence that night and dug up and forced the box. Finding it contained

sovereigns, he helped himself to a portion, replaced the box, and

covered it over carefully with earth. A few days later, temptation

getting the better of him, he paid his neighbour's garden another

visit; on the third occasion, however, he was caught red-handed. When

brought to book his defence was that as they were such friends he had

not taken the whole lot the first time, which would have been quite

easy to do, but only a little just when it was needed to tide him

over his difficulties.

 

The _Bristol_, _Glasgow_, and _Inflexible_ were ordered to coal

as soon as we arrived, the remainder awaiting their turn. The

_Carnarvon_, _Cornwall_, and _Bristol_ were allowed to put fires out

to clean boilers and make adjustments to the valves and machinery

of the main engines, in preparation for a protracted sea voyage.

The _Macedonia_ patrolled the entrance to the harbour, the _Kent_

being ordered to relieve her at 8 o'clock the following morning. The

_Bristol_ and _Glasgow_, being of light draught, proceeded into the

inner harbour, but the rest of the squadron anchored in the outer

harbour, Port William, as will be seen from the plan.

 

There is no telegraph cable to the Falklands, so that it was obvious

the first point of attack by the enemy would be the wireless

station. To protect this the _Canopus_ entered the inner harbour,

forced herself aground on the muddy bottom, and moored taut head and

stern in a position that would enable her to command the southern

approach. Here she was able to fire over the narrow neck of low-lying

land, that at the same time served partially to conceal her. An

observation station, connected with the ship by telephone, was set

up ashore, with an elaborate plan for obtaining the bearing and

elevation for the guns. Top-masts were housed, and the ship, masts,

and funnels were painted all the colours of the rainbow in great big

splodges to render her less visible. A look-out station was set up in

Sparrow Cove, and three 12-pounder batteries were hastily constructed

to dominate the approaches. The landing and placing of these guns,

together with the digging of the emplacements, called for a great

deal of hard work. Every credit is due to the _Canopus_ for the

admirable manner in which she dealt with the situation.

 

Major Turner, who was in command of the Falkland Island Volunteers,

was indefatigable in his efforts to prepare efficient land defences.

This corps gave valuable assistance to the _Canopus_, co-operating in

the work of preparing the coast defences. Prior to the arrival of the

_Canopus_, their only guns were a 12-pounder 8-cwt. field gun which

had been lent by the _Glasgow_, and a few very antique muzzle-loading

field guns.

 

 

 

 

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