He opened fire with every gun he had; but here, as in the fight of the _Sydney_ against the _Emden_, and afterwards at Jutland, the German gunners, though highly trained, could not long keep their accuracy under British fire. The duel was practically decided in the first ten minutes: the _Gneisenau_ was badly hit by the _Inflexible_, the _Scharnhorst_ was set on fire and lost a funnel; both were staggering and smoking desperately. Sturdee seized his advantage, turned eighteen points, and crossed their wake; under his raking fire the _Gneisenau_ listed till her 6-inch guns could no longer fire, the _Scharnhorst_ lost all her funnels and all her port guns. Spee turned gallantly to bring his fresh broadside to bear, but at 4.0 his flagship ceased fire suddenly, and lay down on her beam ends; soon she heeled over, her stern rose steeply, and she went down head foremost. Admiral Sturdee’s chivalrous dispatch records that Admiral von Spee’s flag was flying to the last. None of the sinking crew could be saved, for the _Gneisenau_ was still fighting. The three British ships concentrated on her from three sides; at 5.8 her forward funnel fell, and her fire slackened; at 5.15 she hit the _Invincible_ with a single shell; at 5.30 she turned round and stopped dead. At 5.40 she ceased firing, and hauled down one of her two flags; at 5.50, while her three enemies were rushing in at 20 knots to save life, she lay down on her beam ends very suddenly and plunged. Of her complement of 800, some 200 were still alive, and nearly all of these were rescued: 166 recovered; 14 who died of exhaustion were buried next day with full military honours. Sturdee’s next thought was for Captain Luce and his ships. He gave them his own news by wireless, and asked for theirs. The _Glasgow_ replied that she and the _Cornwall_ were over 70 miles to the south, and the _Kent_ out of sight and hearing of them. It seemed not impossible that the _Nürnberg_ had disposed of her by throwing mines overboard during the chase. But this was not so; Sturdee’s good fortune was not to be broken. The _Dresden_, it is true, evaded him, but only because her superior speed and 12 miles’ start enabled her to abandon her squadron when she pleased. The other two light cruisers fought gallantly, but failed to escape destruction. In their flight they separated, and the two defeats must be separately described.