The Admiralty announcement regarding the end of the Dresden reads somewhat as though this German commerce-destroyer had been caught either short of coal or else damaged in some way: the action of only five minutes indicates that an overwhelming fire was poured into her, and, considering the useful turn of speed which she possessed in normal circumstances, it is unlikely that she could have allowed herself to be placed in the position to which this swift end points, had she had her normal freedom of movement.
If our surmise is correct, it is probable that, of the two alternatives, shortage of coal was her undoing; there is reason to believe that all movements of German colliers from the Chilean ports wore, to all intents and purposes, stopped about the time of Admiral Cradock's action off Coronel; if the Dresden could not draw—he supplies of coal from the States the western coast of South America. her existence must have been a precarious one. She could not look, as the German ships on the east coast of South America can. to welcome and useful captures of British ships laden with coal, for these are very rare on the west as compared with the east; and it 1s more than probable that she has been compelled to this account, ever since she was able to recoal after escaping during the Falklands battle.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.