One of my favourite things is finding military related books in second hand book shops. I am often asked for pictures of slightly obscure ships, aircraft or land vehicle and it is always useful to have books to refer to. Partly because the information available online is not always correct and partly because for the more obscure subjects the information just isn't online.
On Saturday I was in one such second hand bookshop and came across a real gem. It caught my eye because one of the authors is W.L.Wyllie R.A. Those of you with an interest in maritime art might recognise his name; he was a prolific painter of maritime themes in both oils and watercolours. Born in 1851, his work includes an extraordinary painting of the Battle of Trafalgar which can be seen in the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. On a more personal note, he was the founder of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society of which I am now a member.
Anyway, back to the book. It is entitled "Sea Fights of the Great War" and is by W.L Wyllie R.A. and M.F. Wren. It includes remarkable descriptions of maritime engagements of WW1, along with paintings by Wyllie.
The stories in this book are all extraordinary, but I was particularly taken by a description of the "Battle of the Falkland Islands" which was written by an unnamed "witness of this combat" in HMS Kent. Here is the full transcription of his account, which is definitely worth taking the time to read.
"All was peace at Port Stanley, but we had mighty little coal in us, and thoughts of immediate battle were far from us when along came the signal from the look-out above the town that two German cruisers, one three-funnel, one four-funnel, were in sight to south'd. .At once Kent was told to proceed outside and prospect, and things seemed to hum. By the time we cleared the harbour mouth we found one four-funneller and one three-funneller (Gneisenau and Nurnberg) only 14,000 yards off, and three others who we knew must be Leipzig, Scharnhorst and Dresden, farther to the south. Why the Gneisenau didn't biff off at us is more than I can say,. but I take it the party she saw when she poked her nose round the point, combined with the splash of a few 12-inch projectiles from the old Canopus, in the inner harbour, was enough to make them decide to run for it, which they did without any further inspection of the Falkland Islands. So away we go after them, the old Kent bounding off at a most astonishing speed, leading the fleet into battle. Everything was for us : good weather for the chase, and many hours of daylight before us, as it was about 11 a.m. then, and it keeps light now until nine in the evening. Next after us came Glasgow, a smaller and faster ship than those of the 'County' class; then came Cornwall; and then, to our joy, as we disappeared round the corner, we saw the big ones Invincible and Inflexible) cast off their colliers and come pounding after us, and not far behind them Carnarvon and Bristol (same class as Glasgow). Away we all go, in a wild, strong chase towards the Polar regions. Bristol first is detached to chase and destroy the enemy's colliers farther to west'd, so we see no more of her that day, and it is six of us after five.
"On we go, Glasgow gets ahead of us, but we have worked up nov, and it takes a full hour for Invincible to overtake us, and a marvellous fine sight they were as they went by. Behind us now comes Cornwall and the old Carnarvon, rather lame duck, but digging out to keep up with us. On, on; we are all gaining slowly on them; we, perhaps, are 20,000 yards and Invincible 17,000 yards away from them.. Invincible about here opened fire on them, and Scharnhorst and Gneisenau steered off to east'd. Then Invincible turned parallel to them, and at once smoke and the splash of projectiles surrounded those four combatants. On go Dresden, Leipzig, and Nurnberg, still to the south' d, and on went Glasgow, Kent, and Cornwall after them. We had reached our top speed now, the old Kent going a lot faster than she had ever done in her life before - twenty-five knots, a very notable performance.
"Away we go; it has become two separate actions. We pass under the sterns of the big ones fighting their action, and it is liken football watch, the whole of our ship's company, except, of course, the engine room brigade, assembled on the forecastle cheering wildly every time the 12-inch guns go booming off. So we leave them waving defiance at each other - four splodges of smoke upon the horizon. On we fly, pursuers and pursued; the great southern birds, white albatross and the dusky 'mollyhawk' came with us - all bound south'd.
"And now you find life humming on board the ships this day. 'Prepare for battle', which we have so often exercised, has at last become a real thing to be done immediately. All the decks are swimming in water; all the delicate instruments and articles are stuck down below armour; all the ladders, the lockers, the hencoops, everything wooden except the boats, hacked to pieces and passed down to the furnaces to burn, you see - in fact, everyone enjoyed themselves with hatchets. Then to dinner - an extraordinary meal in the wardroom. There is four inches of water on the deck; it is very nearly dark, and everything is sopping. We eat bread and butter and great hunks of tongue with a good deal of wit flying round. This meal was early in the chase though, and we had all the afternoon to make our preparations to tune up the weapons, and to pop up as often as possible on to the bridge or shelter deck and see how the chase was getting on. At four we had cocoa and biscuits in my cabin, brewed by the electric kettle, and carried up cups to those who could not come down from the bridge, and then replete with good food we are ready for the fray. So to get back to our pursuit where we left it! The enemy are strung out in a sort of lop-sided V, Leipzig at the point nearest to us, Dresden ahead a long way and to west'd, and the Nurnberg ahead to east'd.
"Soon after Glasgow gets within range of Leipzig, and they start banging at each other, and once more the football crowd assemble on the forecastle to enjoy the fun. But the crowd soon had to disperse, for in another few minutes the old Kent has sounded off 'Action,' and the mob, with the loudest cheer of the duty, are up and off to their stations.
"There is nothing for me to do in the conning tower for the time, I knew, so I am deputed to go round the main deck and see that everything is snug, and there I found everyone very calm and collected, and all well, except that the baker says he must stay a little longer or his last few loaves will be spoilt in the oven, so we agree that he shall have a few minutes longer before going; below in order that he may complete this important duty. Then I visit the torpedo flat, and we all wish each other good fortune. By the time I reach the conning tower we are nearly within range of Leipzig , and soon biff off the fore turret at her, and some little tongues of flame', followed thirty seconds later by splashes several hundred yards away, show that she is returning the compliment. This goes on in a desultory sort of way for some minutes, and then Cornwall gets within range, and rather to our disgust suggests that we leave Leipzig to her and the Glasgow, and go off after Nurnberg whom, considering the distance ahead and reputed speed, we did not expect to catch. So we steer away to port and redouble our efforts in the stokehole. Slowly, slowly, we overtake her. The clouds have gathered and a cold wind sprung up to the west'd; it is not so clear now, and the sea is getting up a little. At last, by about 5.30, we are not more than 11,000 yards astern of her. 'Let's try a shot now from the fore turret,' says the skipper, and off she goes and the action has begun. At first desultory firing on both sides because the range is so long.
"Flash from her; twenty or thirty seconds interval, then 'Zipp-pp!' 'Bung!' comes the projectile, with a great splash in the sea near by, then she starts firing faster; she has us now nicely for elevation, but the shots are falling either side of us, quite close too. It is a strange and rather curdling fascination to see the flash and think - now she's coming, now, now; so we creep nearer to her, and it has been a perfect marvel how many shots could fall close round without hitting us badly. I'm watching through my glasses all the time to see us hit her, and once, twice, I catch a glimpse of that unmistakable little glow that means a shell had burst on board her.
"Well, well, I cannot trace out every turn and twist of the action, but when she was about 8,000 yards off she turned; we turned parallel to her, and we could both give each other broadsides, and did, as hard as we could.
"These were in the conning tower : The skipper, Hervey, myself - quarter-master, and on e seaman, and not much room to spare. Plenty of shells were hitting us now, but more of ours were hitting her, and it wasn't long before we could see we had the upper hand, which, of course, we undoubtedly ought to have had - we were a bigger ship with bigger guns. Still, you never know, because organisation and discipline are the main factors.
"After a time her speed dropped, and we were able to circle round her as we pleased. All the time we were pounding away, our own guns making far more deafening a noise than that of the bursting shells. All In the conning tower it all seemed very ordinary; just like the ordinary battle practice. Nothing seemed to burst very near us there; once I remember getting a mouthful of wood chips, and once or twice a biggish blast, but I believe it was our own guns as a rule. We found lots of splinters in the conning tower afterwards though, and a voicepipe a foot or two in front of our faces was cut in half. After an hour and a half we thought she had struck, and ceased firing, but found her ensign still flying, so opened fire again. Again we ceased fire, but still no sign of her ensign coming down. So this time we signal: 'Do you surrender?' and approach her again, firing, and after a minute or two down flutters her ensign, and we have got her. Poor miseries; they are in a bad way, the ship blazing in several places and rapidly sinking. A good many men have already jumped overboard.
"It is near dusk now, 7-30, and we have been two hours in action. Up comes everyone from below, from casemates and turrets to stare and rejoice: but they were all immediately hustled away to do what can be done to save life. All our boats are riddled, and none of them can be repaired for an hour. So we do what we can with lifebuoys and lumps of wood paid astern, but it's mighty little; it's a loppy sea and dreadfully cold. All this par was beastly. There were so many of them in sight, and we could do so little till our boats were patched. At last we could lower one cutter and the galley, and even then life-saving was no easy job. I was in the galley and plunged about for twenty minutes to get one man. Altogether we got on board about a dozen, five of whom were really 'goners' when we got them on board. The other seven have really flourished and are quite normal again now. Early in the life-saving operations Nurnberg hauled right over on her side and sank. They were a brave lot; one man stood aft and held the ensign waving in his hands till the ship went under.
"It was strange and weird, all this aftermath. The wind was rapidly rising from the west'd, and darkness closing in. Our ship heaving to the swell, well battered, fore top-gallant mast gone. Of the other nothing to be seen but floating wreckage, with here and there a man clinging, and the 'mollyhawks' - vultures of the sea - sweeping by; the wind moaned, and death was in the air. Then, see, out of the mist loomed a great four-master barque under full canvas - a great ghost-ship she seemed. Slowly and majestically she sailed by and vanished in the night. What a subject for a picture! It was dark by the time we got our boats up and turned our bows northwest'd. Six men were killed and about eight men wounded., and when one saw the number of shell splashes and holes about the ship it seemed marvellous there weren't more. No officers were damaged in any way. Well, well; it was a fair ship to ship engagement. A good chase and a good battering match at short range (less than 3,000 yards sometimes); all surprisingly like the days of old.
"Of the general results of the action you must by now be reading in the papers. Scharnhorst, Leipzig, Gneisenau, and Nurnberg sunk; Dresden escaped and Bristol sank her two colliers. A great victory for my old friend Admiral Sturdee. I'm awfully glad for him.
"We're coaling and repairing ourselves now, and will soon be off again. There's a fine shot hole through my cabin; I might try to preserve it.
"Owing to the damage to Kent's wireless she was unable to report her victory, and for some time there were fears that she might have been sunk by mine or torpedo. Bristol and Macedonia were ordered by wireless at 11.30 to go out and capture two colliers and an armed liner which had been reported to the south, and at 2.30 they saw smoke ahead and cleared for action. Half an hour later they discovered three ships - two almost in range, and the other on the horizon. The two first proved to be the four-masted ship Baden and the steamer Santa Isabel. The crews were promptly taken out of them, Baden being sunk by gun-fire and the Santa Isabel burnt. Meanwhile the armed liner slipped out of sight, and having the heels of us got clear away.
"In the action Invincible had several hits. One 8.2 bursting in the wardroom wrecked it, making a tremendous hole in the ship's side-armour. Two shells struck the after conning tower, bursting, but doing very little harm, though the fumes were noxious. There was a hole on the water-line. Also a shell coming down at a steep angle, knocking off the muzzle of a4-inch gun, went through the deck down a ventilating trunk, then through another deck and reached its final lodgement in a store-room without bursting. There was not a single casualty in Invincible.
Inflexible had only one man killed. She was hit twice, a shell landing on the top of a turret burst, scattering pieces everywhere. The commander got a small cut over one eye, and the officer in the armoured hood had his glasses bent whilst he was looking through them.
The other shell carried away the head of the main derrick, which fell, oddly enough, into the crutches of the first picket boat (the boat left behind at Port Stanley). By this shell the roof of the after turret was peppered with splinters, which sounded just like hail.
"The German officer prisoners began to revive during the evening, and gave some information of the damages their ships had suffered. During the first period of the action each ship was only hit a few times. At the commencement of the second period both of them were pretty severely knocked about, and when they turned sharp to port it was to bring their undamaged broadside to bear. After Scharnhorst had sunk, and both battle cruisers concentrated their fire on Gneisenau, the effect on that ship was appalling.
"The first salvo fired by Inflexible took the disengaged 8-inch casemate on the other side clean out of the ship, turret guns and all the men. One of the saved was in the shellroom underneath, and stated that he lookedu p and saw blue sky shining through where the gun had been mounted.
"Apparently, because the range was so great, our projectiles were falling almost vertically. The result was that parts of the upper decks were nearly blown away, then the main deck had some hard knocks, and ultimately the shells reached the engine-rooms and boilers, one after another.
"Early in the action also an armour-piercing shell went clean through all decks and finished up in the lower part of the ship. Just before the end about 150 men, most of them ore or less wounded, were collected on the upper deck and a 12-inch shell burst in the middle of them. They were scattered in pieces, and not one man was left alive.
"The officers stated that practically every British shell burst, whereas only about half of the German shells were effective. This was a small proportion to explode. Apparently the enemy found it very hard to spot the fall of shot, whilst our battle cruisers were often hidden by their own smoke. Besides Admiral Count von Spee, his two sons were killed, one in Gneisenau and the other in Nurnberg - all the male members of the family being lost. A widow and a daughter alone survive out of a once notable family of sailors.
"An officer writes as follows "Personally, I must say it did not seem a very awful experience, and our men were as cool as anything. There were at one time at least twenty stokers not actually required at the moment watching the show from the after superstructure, just as they do for battle practice".
"The following message was received from His Majesty:
"Heartily congratulate you and your officers and men on your most opportune victory. "George, R. I."
"The Admiralty sent :
"Our thanks are due to yourself and to officers and men under you for the brilliant victory you have reported."
"After the action Invincible and Inflexible went in chase of Dresden all round the Falklands and nearly down to Staten Island, but there was no sign of the escaped German cruiser, so on the morning of the 10th they arrived back at Port Stanley.
"In the afternoon an impressive service was held over our seven men who had been killed in the action, the governor of the islands, the Admiral, and all the captains attending. Cradock and his men were splendidly avenged, and the Pacific routes made comparatively secure.
