t seldom. At 6.20 P.
M., at a distance of 13,400 yards, I turned one point toward the enemy,
and at 6.34 opened fire at a distance of 11,260 yards. The guns of both
our armored cruisers were effective, and at 6.39 already we could note
the first hit on the Good Hope. I at once resumed a parallel course,
instead of bearing slightly toward the enemy. The English opened their
fire at this time. I assume that the heavy sea made more trouble for
them than it did for us. Their two armored cruisers remained covered by
our fire, while they, so far as could be determined, hit the Scharnhorst
but twice, and the Gneisenau only four times. At 6.53, when 6,500 yards
apart, I ordered a course one point away from the enemy. They were
firing more slowly at this time, while we were able to count numerous
hits. We could see, among other things, that the top of the Monmouth's
forward turret had been shot away, and that a violent fire was burning
in the turret. The Scharnhorst, it is thought, hit the Good Hope about
thirty-five times. In spite of our altered course the English changed
theirs sufficiently so that the distance between us shrunk to 5,300
yards. There was reason to suspect that the enemy despaired of using his
artillery effectively, and was maneuvering for a torpedo attack.

"The position of the moon, which had risen at six o'clock, was favorable
to this move. Accordingly I gradually opened up further distances
between the squadrons by another deflection of the leading ship, at
7.45. In the meantime it had grown dark. The range finders on the
Scharnhorst used the fire on the Monmouth as a guide for a time, though
eventually all range finding, aiming and observations became so inexact
that fire was stopped at 7.26. At 7.23 a column of fire from an
explosion was noticed between the stacks of the Good Hope. The Monmouth
apparently stopped firing at 7.20. The small cruisers, including the
Nuremburg, received by wireless at 7.30 the order to follow the enemy
and to attack his ships with torpedoes. Vision was somewhat obscured at
this time by a rain squall. The light cruisers were not able to find the
Good Hope, but the Nuremburg encountered the Monmouth and at 8.58 was
able, by shots at closest range, to capsize her, without a single shot
being fired in return. Rescue work in the heavy sea was not to be
thought of, especially as the Nuremburg immediately afterward believed
she had sighted the smoke of another ship and had to prepare