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uring the period of tension, has proved so accurate in essential points of fact, that their insertion seems justifiable. [Sidenote: Achievements of the raiders.] [Sidenote: Supplies hard to obtain.] [Sidenote: The question of neutrality.] [Sidenote: Chile's neutrality.] [Sidenote: Falklands a possible base.] [Sidenote: _Gneisenau_ and _Nuernberg_ fire on wireless station.] [Sidenote: Germans are surprised.] The Graf von Spee had, meanwhile, after the Battle of Coronel, been devoting himself to harrying maritime commerce. The Falklands could wait for the present. Since the beginning of hostilities the work of his light cruisers had been moderately successful. The _Nuernberg_ had cut the cable between Bamfield, British Columbia, and Fanning Island. The _Leipzig_ had accounted for at least four British merchantmen, and the _Dresden_ for at least two more. The armed liner _Eitel Friedrich_ had also achieved some success. Several traders had had narrow escapes. The Chilian coast was in a state of blockade to British vessels, the ports being crowded with shipping that hesitated to venture forth into the danger zone. The Germans were masters of the Pacific and South Atlantic trade routes. The Straits of Magellan and the Horn formed a great waterway of commerce, which for sailing vessels was, indeed, the only eastern outlet from the Pacific. But completely as he had the situation in hand, von Spee was experiencing increasing problems and difficulties with regard to supplies of coal and provisions. Without these he was impotent. He had been employing German merchantmen to great advantage for refueling. But trouble was brewing with the Chilian authorities. Many signs were leading the latter to suspect that, contrary to international law, German traders were loading at Chilian ports cargoes of coal and provisions, contraband of war, and were transferring them at sea to the German warships. There were other causes of complaint. Juan Fernandez, the isle of romance and of mystery, the home of the original of Robinson Crusoe, was said to have been degraded into use as a base for apportioning the booty, coals and victuals, among the belligerent vessels. The island was a Chilian possession. It was practically certain that von Spee's squadron had stayed there beyond the legal limit of time. A French merchantman had, contrary to rule, also been sunk there by the _Dresden_, within Chilian territorial waters. Inquiries in o
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