The murder of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and of his wife, the alleged cause of this war, took place at Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, two days after this man was called up by German Admiralty orders, namely, on Sunday, June 28th, 1914. A German newspaper, in speaking of the success of Admiral von Spee at Coronel, also admirably sums up the issue of the battle of the Falkland Islands: "The superiority of our fleet in no way detracts from the glory of our victory, for the very essence of the business of a strategist is the marshalling of a superior fleet at the right place and at the right moment." "Not unto us," Cried Drake, "not unto us--but unto Him Who made the sea, belongs our England now! Pray God that heart and mind and soul we prove Worthy among the nations of this hour And this great victory, whose ocean fame Shall wash the world with thunder till that day When there is no more sea, and the strong cliffs Pass like a smoke, and the last peal of it Sounds thro' the trumpet." ALFRED NOYES (_Drake_). CHAPTER XVII THE PARTING OF THE WAYS "Now to the Strait Magellanus they came And entered in with ringing shouts of joy. Nor did they think there was a fairer strait In all the world than this which lay so calm Between great silent mountains crowned with snow, Unutterably lonely From Pole to Pole, one branching bursting storm Of world-wide oceans, where the huge Pacific Roared greetings to the Atlantic." ALFRED NOYES (_Drake_). The failure to round up the _Dresden_ directly after the battle was naturally a great disappointment, but our recent success prevented anyone from feeling it too keenly. Hearing that the _Dresden_ had suddenly put into Punta Arenas (Magellan Straits) to coal, Admiral Sturdee immediately ordered the _Inflexible_, _Glasgow_, and _Bristol_ to go in pursuit of her in that direction. Sailing at 4 A.M. on December 13th, the _Bristol_ arrived there the following afternoon to find that the _Dresden_ had left the previous evening at 10 P.M., steaming away westwards. It was tantalising to have got so close to her, for she was not heard of again for months after this. All our ships now joined in the search, during which every possible bay and inlet was thoroughly examined. A glance at a large-scale map of this locality will show the difficulties that had to be surmounted. There were thousands of possible hiding-places amongst the channels and islands, many of which were quite unsurveyed; and, at first sight, it appeared nearly impossible to investigate all of these in anything short of a lifetime.