The light cruiser _Karlsruhe_, the fastest and most modern of the German ships on foreign service, was in the Gulf of Mexico at the commencement of the war. On her way to her sphere of operations in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco she was sighted on August 6th, whilst coaling at sea from the armed liner _Kronprinz Wilhelm_, by the British cruiser _Suffolk_. Admiral Cradock, who was then flying his flag in the _Suffolk_, immediately gave chase to the _Karlsruhe_, the _Kronprinz Wilhelm_ bolting in the opposite direction. During the forenoon Admiral Cradock called up by wireless the light cruiser _Bristol_, which was in the vicinity, and, giving her the position of the _Karlsruhe_, ordered her to intercept the enemy. The _Karlsruhe_ was kept in sight by the _Suffolk_ for several hours, but was never within gun-range, and finally escaped from her by superior speed. It was a beautiful moonlight evening when the _Bristol_ sighted her quarry at 8 P.M., and a quarter of an hour later opened fire, which was returned a few moments later by the _Karlsruhe_, but it was too dark for either ship to see the results of their shooting. All the enemy's shots fell short, so that the _Bristol_ incurred no damage. Both ships went on firing for fifty-five minutes, by which time the German had drawn out of range. Admiral Cradock signalled during the action, "Stick to it--I am coming"; all this time the _Suffolk_ was doing her best to catch up, but never succeeded in reaching the scene of the first naval action in the world-war. The German disappeared in the darkness, and was never seen again by our warships. In her subsequent raids on British commerce along the South Atlantic trade routes the _Karlsruhe_ was, on the whole, successful, until she met a sudden and inglorious end off Central America. Her fate was for a long time shrouded in mystery, the first clue being some of her wreckage, which was found washed up on the shores of the island of St. Vincent in the West Indies. Some of her survivors eventually found their way back to the Fatherland and reported that she had foundered with 260 officers and men--due to an internal explosion on November 4th, 1914, in latitude 10° 07′ N., longitude 55° 25′ W. (_See_ Map p. 5.) In all she sank seventeen ships, representing a value of £1,622,000. There remain three German armed merchant cruisers that claim our attention on account of their operations off South America. The _Cap Trafalgar_ only existed for a month before being sunk by the armed Cunard liner _Carmania_. A description of the fight is given in a subsequent chapter.