force elsewhere, did not do; it sent Cradock orders to search and protect trade, with the ships then under his command: the armoured cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow, and the armed merchantman Otranto, reinforced by the old battleship Canopus, mounting four 12-inch guns, which was being sent to join him. He at once pointed out that this addition was of no use, as it reduced the speed of his squadron to twelve knots, and so made the first part of his orders impossible of fulfilment. The Admiralty’s instructions were in any case very ambiguous; Admiral Cradock understood them as an order to seek out the enemy and fight, and this he now proceeded to do. Taking his squadron to the west coast of South America during the latter part of October, he arrived off Coronel on 31 October, having assigned to the Canopus the duty of escorting the colliers of his squadron. Meanwhile, a new board of Admiralty had been appointed with Lord Fisher as first sea lord. They at once telegraphed to him that he was to keep his squadron concentrated and form a junction with the Defence—a powerful armoured cruiser which had been ordered out from home—and that he was not expected to fight without the Canopus. The new orders never reached him. At 4.20 in the afternoon of 1 November he fell in with Admiral von Spee’s squadron consisting of the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig, Dresden, and Nurnberg; a force which outmatched him in gun power, armour, and speed. Cradock was quite unable to adjust the balance, as the Canopus was still 250 miles away; and, deeming it his duty to engage at once he formed his squadron in line of battle and endeavoured to close. Until sunset he still had the advantage of the light; but Admiral von Spee, making skilful use of the higher speed of his force, kept between Cradock’s squadron and the land until after sunset. It was not until about 7 o’clock p.m. that the action began. The German ships were then almost invisible with the land behind them, and the British cruisers were sharply silhouetted against the glow in the western sky. In spite of a very heavy southerly sea, the German fire was extraordinarily good, their broadside was heavier, and by eight o’clock all was over. The Good Hope sank with all on board at 7.35; the Glasgow, after taking such part in the action as was possible with her light armament, withdrew and, joining the Otranto, made good her escape; and the Monmouth succeeded, for a time, in getting away. Her condition was, however, almost hopeless, as she was making water badly and every gun was out of action. At about 9 o’clock whilst the captain was struggling to keep his vessel afloat she fell in with the Nurnberg, which had been too far behind to take part in the action. Though incapable of resistance, Captain Brandt refused to surrender, and his ship went down with all hands.
When the news of the engagement arrived in England, public opinion was critical of the action of the British admiral. The disaster was imputed to recklessness, in engaging a squadron superior to his own, and to his disregard of the orders he had received. Later investigations showed that it was impossible for him to carry out the orders sent to him and, at the same time, keep his squadron concentrated on the old and slow battleship Canopus which had been sent to him as a reinforcement. More than that, his messages home and the Admiralty’s replies proved that he had pointed this out; and that the new board of Admiralty had realized the difficulty of his position and the ambiguity of his orders.
When, later on, a memorial to Cradock was unveiled in York Minster, Mr. (afterwards the Earl of) Balfour, who was then first lord of the Admiralty, recounted the circumstances of the action and paid tribute to the memory of the admiral and his companions. ‘Admiral Cradock could only judge by the circumstances which were before him, and if he judged that his squadron, that himself and those under him, were well sacrificed if they destroyed the power of this hostile fleet, then I say that there is no man, be he sailor or be he civilian, but would say that such judgement showed not only the highest courage, but the greatest courage of unselfishness, and that Cradock, by absolute neglect of personal interest and personal ambitions, had shown a wise judgement in the interests of his country.’
Cradock is represented in Sir A. S. Cope’s picture ‘Some Sea Officers of the Great War’, painted in 1921, in the National Portrait Gallery.
[Sir J. S. Corbett, Official History of the Great War. Naval Operations, vol. i, 1920.]
CRANE, WALTER (1845-1915), artist, the second son of Thomas Crane, of Chester, portrait painter, by his wife, Marie Kearsley, was born in Liverpool 15 August 1845. Two months later his parents moved
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