Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 322
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[Page 322]
chapter. It was dusk and there was a heavy sea, and the flagship soon disappeared in a sheet of flame. The Glasgow, badly hit, received orders from the crippled Monmouth to get away if she could. She escaped to the Falklands. In the Falkland Islands action the Glasgow engaged the Leipzig, which was one of her former enemies and the ship which is alleged to have torpedoed the helpless Monmouth and left her people to drown. The Leipzig was sinking and hauled down her colours. The Glasgow ceased fire, lowered what remained of her boats, and prepared to save the survivors. Just as the boats got away the Leipzig opened fire again, and the Glasgow sank her immediately. This treachery or misadventure cost the Germans many lives, for only thirteen were subsequently saved. The prisoners' stories varied. One said the gun had gone off by accident, another that the flag had been struck without orders and the ship had not really surrendered; but wherever lay the truth, the Germans paid dearly. The Dresden apparently was completely trapped. She lay inshore out of coal and provisions and, after her two engagements, probably short of ammunition. The Huns put up the feeble bluff about Chilian [Chilean] neutrality, but when they saw that Captain Luce meant business they bolted for the beach and were subsequently interned in Chili [Chile]. Technically perhaps the Glasgow's action in firing on a ship in neutral waters was wrong; but in a sparsely inhabited island lying far off the mainland of a weak naval power there