Admiral von Spee is said to have now made this signal to his ships: "The armoured cruisers will engage the enemy _as long as possible_, the light cruisers are to use every endeavour to escape." Acting on this, at 1.20 P.M. the _Dresden_, the _Nürnberg_--which one of our battle-cruisers claimed to have hit--and the _Leipzig_ turned away to the southward, the positions of the ships being roughly as shown in the plan (p. 94). The _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ will be seen turning to port to engage the battle-cruisers, which altered simultaneously on to a parallel course, whilst the remainder of our squadron, except the _Carnarvon_, which presumably had orders to proceed with the Commander-in-Chief, turned and gave chase to the _Dresden_, _Leipzig_, and _Nürnberg_. The _Carnarvon_ was, of course, unable to keep up with the big ships, and did not get into action until later; she was now 10 miles astern, and altered course to port to cut a corner and join the Flag. [Illustration: ROUGH DIAGRAM OF ACTION OFF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS 8^{TH} DECEMBER, 1914. ] All this while the "County" cruisers were coming along with all possible speed. The _Glasgow_ was stationed clear of the battle-cruisers, which were followed by the _Kent_, _Cornwall_, and _Carnarvon_. When the action commenced the crews of these ships had the most perfect view of a modern naval engagement fought at long range. As an officer in the _Kent_ described it: "We were spectators in the front row of the stalls, as it were, so close that we could almost touch the actors on the stage, yet so far that no stray missile disturbed the comfort of our view. The best seats in the house at a performance of one of the few remaining spectacles which cannot be bought for money." Imagine a calm, smooth sea, the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, the ship steaming at something over 23 knots, and the men crowded on the turrets and in every available corner, tier upon tier, for all the world as if looking on at a cup tie at the Crystal Palace.... It was a wonderful sight. The big ships buried their sterns in the sea, throwing up the seething water in their wakes as they dashed onwards. The bright flashes of their guns showed up strikingly, followed successively by the dark brown puffs of cordite smoke; the seconds were counted until the reports were heard and huge columns of water thrown up by the splashes were seen. Many of the men had had friends in the _Good Hope_ and _Monmouth_ whose fate was fresh in their minds. "Give 'em one for the _Monmouth_!" and "Go on, boys, give 'em hell--let the blighters feel what it's like!" were shouted quite unconsciously, punctuated by loud cheers when a salvo pitched perilously close to the enemy ships. Of course, the majority realised our superiority, but those in authority must have felt a pride in such men who gave the impression they would face odds with intrepidity.