Older Light _Encounter_ _Askold_ Cruisers _Pioneer_ _Zemchug_ _Pyramus_ _Psyche_ _Ships on fixed patrolling beats not available for offensive action_:-- Armed Merchant _Prince _Empress of Cruisers Eitel_ Asia_ _Friedrich_ _Empress of Japan_ _Cormoran_ _Empress of Russia_ _Himalaya_ Gunboats _Geier_ _Cadmus_ _Kersaint_ _Clio_ _Zélée_ The New Zealand convoy to Australia. The Australian and New Zealand convoy from Australia to Europe. The convoy of the British Far Eastern garrisons to Europe. The convoy of Indian troops to relieve our Far Eastern garrisons. The expedition to Samoa. The expedition to New Guinea. All these were in addition to the general trade, which continued uninterruptedly. Admiral von Spee, the German Commander in the Pacific, had therefore no lack of objectives. He had only to hide and to strike. The vastness of the Pacific and its multitude of islands offered him their shelter, and, once he had vanished, who should say where he would reappear? On the other hand, there were considerable checks on his action and a limit, certain though indefinite, to the life of his squadron. With the blockade of Tsing Tau he was cut from his only base on that side of the world. He had no means of docking his ships or executing any serious repairs, whether necessitated by battle or steaming. The wear and tear on modern ships is considerable, and difficulties multiply with every month out of dock. To steam at full speed or at high speed for any length of time on any quest was to use up his life rapidly. He was a cut flower in a vase; fair to see, yet bound to die, and to die very soon if the water was not constantly renewed. Moreover, the process of getting coal was one of extraordinary difficulty and peril. The extensive organisation of the Admiralty kept the closest watch in every port on every ton of coal and every likely collier. The purchase of coal and the movement of a collier were tell-tale traces which might well lay the pursuers on his track. His own safety and his power to embarrass us alike depended upon the uncertainty of his movements. But this uncertainty might be betrayed at any moment by the movement of colliers or by the interception of wireless messages. Yet how could colliers be brought to the necessary rendezvous without wireless messages? There existed in the Pacific only five German wireless stations, Yap, Apia, Nauru, Rabaul, Angaur, all of which were destroyed by us within two months of the outbreak of war. After that there remained only the