le cruisers, 4
armored cruisers, and 4 light cruisers of Great Britain. Early on
August 4, as he was about to bombard the French bases of Bona and
Philippeville in Algiers, Admiral Souchon received wireless orders
to make for the Dardanelles. Germany and England were then on the
very verge of war. Knowing the British ships to be concentrated near
Malta, and actually passing the _Indomitable_ and the _Invincible_ in
sullen silence as he turned eastward, the German commander decided
to put in at Messina, Sicily.

At the end of the 24 hours granted in this port, the prospects
for the German ships appeared so desperate that the officers, it
is said, made their final testaments before again putting to sea.
Slipping eastward through the Straits of Messina at twilight of
the 6th, they were sighted by the British scout _Gloucester_, which
stuck close at their heels all that night and until 4.40 p.m. the
next day. Then, under orders to turn back, and after boldly engaging
the _Breslau_ to check the flight, Captain Kelly of the _Gloucester_
gave up the pursuit as the enemy rounded the Morea and entered
the Greek Archipelago.

The escape thus apparently so easy was the outcome of lack of
coordination between French and British, slow and poor information
from the British Admiralty, and questionable disposition of the
British forces on the basis of information actually at hand. Prior
to hostilities, it was perhaps unavoidable that the British commander,
Admiral Milne, should be ignorant of French plans; but even on August
5 and 6 he still kept all his battle cruisers west and north of
Sicily to protect the French troop transports, though by this time
he might have felt assured that the French fleet was at sea. At
the time of the escape Admiral Troubridge with 4 armored cruisers
and a destroyer force barred the Adriatic; though he caught the
_Gloucester's_ calls, he was justified in not moving far from his
station without orders, in view of his inferior strength and speed.
Not until August 10 did British forces enter the AEgean; and at
5 p.m. that day the two German ships steamed uninvited up the
Dardanelles. Since the Turkish situation was still somewhat dubious,
Admiral Souchon had been ordered to delay his entrance; but on
the 10th, hearing British wireless signals steadily approaching
his position in the Greek islands, he took the decision into his
own hands. Germany had "captured Turkey," as an Allied diplomat
remarked upon