"If England hold The sea, she holds the hundred thousand gates That open to futurity. She holds The highways of all ages. Argosies Of unknown glory set their sails this day For England out of ports beyond the stars. Ay, on the sacred seas we ne'er shall know They hoist their sails this day by peaceful quays, Great gleaming wharves i' the perfect City of God, If she but claims her heritage." --ALFRED NOYES (_Drake_). Before attempting to give a description of the battle of the Falkland Islands, it is necessary to review very briefly the movements and dispositions of our ships, as well as the events preceding the battle, which include both the duel between the armed merchant cruiser _Carmania_ and _Cap Trafalgar_ and the action fought off Coronel on the coast of Chile by Admiral Cradock. Our naval forces were scattered in comparatively small units all over the world when war broke out. Ships in various squadrons were separated from one another by great distances, and, with the exception of our Mediterranean Fleet, we possessed no squadron in any part of the globe equal in strength to that of von Spee. Attention is directed to the positions of Easter Island, where the Germans had last been reported, Valparaiso, Coronel, Magellan Straits, Staten Island, the Falkland Islands, Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, and the Island of Trinidad off the east coast of South America, since they occur continually in the course of this narrative.[3] In the early part of 1914 Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, K.C.V.O., C.B., flying his flag in the _Suffolk_, was in command of the fourth cruiser squadron, which was then doing some very useful work in the Gulf of Mexico. On August 2nd he was at Kingston, Jamaica, and received information that the _Good Hope_ was on her way out to become his flagship, so he sailed northwards to meet her. On the way he sighted and gave chase to the _Karlsruhe_ on August 6th, as has been related. The _Suffolk_ and the _Good Hope_ met at sea ten days later, and the Admiral went on board the latter immediately and hoisted his flag. Turning south, he went to Bermuda, called in at St. Lucia on August 23rd, and thence proceeded along the north coast of South America on his way to take up the command of a newly forming squadron of British ships patrolling the trade routes and protecting the merchant shipping in South American waters. At St. Lucia Admiral Cradock would probably have learned of the sailing of von Spee's squadron from Ponape on August 6th, and this accounts for his haste in making south in order to meet and form his ships together.