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[Page 60]
1914
H.M.S "Lancaster" stationed at Jamaica, & then transmitted to us by wireless telegram, the message of course, always being in code.
Dec. 8
One night a strange light was descried well off the starboard beam & "Newcastle" was at once despatched to investigate. It was found that the light belonged to the British steamer "Trafalgar" bound from Glasgow to Melbourne, via Panama, & she was allowed to proceed. The "Trafalgar" must have been greatly surprised by "Newcastle", for the night was very dark, & "Newcastle" approached her with no lights showing, &, creeping up alongside her, at a short distance suddenly brought all her searchlights to bear on the "Trafalgar". About this period the nights were very starlight, & often rising stars on the horizon were temporarily mistaken for ships' lights. In one case the moon rising behind two small clouds was mistaken for two ships. So realistic was it that every gun was actually trained in readiness- a really practical instance of "shooting the moon". The days were distinctly hot now, the sun beating down with great fierceness.
Dec. 9. The day before we got to our destination we received a communication from the Admiralty that our ships "Invincible" "Inflexible" "Defence" "Carnavon" & "Glasgow" had sunk the German cruisers "Scharnhorst" "Gneisnau" & "Leipzig" off the Falklands Islands on the morning of December 8th; [Battle of the Falkland Islands] The "Nurnberg" & "Dresden" escaped. Thus our prospective enemy had been snatched out of our hands.