PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAME NOT TO
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SIR,
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FALKLAND ISLANDS.
No. 54.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
(Received 21st April, 1915.)
Government House, Stanley, 8th March, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch Confidential of the 1st December,* requesting a connected report summarizing the steps taken in the Falkland Islands on the outbreak of war and the general condition, social and economic, of the Colony. I note that you desire that this report should be brought up to the 31st December
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2. The war telegram" was received in Stanley at about 4.30 a.m. (Stanley time) on the 5th August, and the Proclamation was read to the assembled Volun- teers, Members of Council, and others, at about 10 a.m., the Volunteers being immediately placed on an active service footing.
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3. The Executive Council had previously sat to consider the steps which an outbreak of war with Germany would necessitate, and, in accordance with Council's recommendation, the Falkland Islands Company's tug "Samson immediately despatched to Fox Bay, West Falkland, for the purpose of bringing into Stanley all Volunteers and others who desired to become Volunteers, together with Lieutenant Turner, the only commissioned officer then in the Colony.
4. The defence scheme was put into operation, with certain slight modifi- cations which the exigencies of the situation demanded, and on arrival in Stanley Lieutenant Turner was gazetted Major, with command of the Volunteer Force, and certain other gentlemen, civil servants and others, were given commissions and appointed to subordinate commands and to Transport, Veterinary, Commissariat, Medical, and other Departments.
5.
Before the outbreak of war the Volunteer Force numbered between 40 and 50, but so many of the colonists responded to my appeal for more Volunteers that the force now numbers over 160.
6. As you will see from Gazettes Extraordinary of 8th and 22nd August, various Proclamations and Orders in Council were published in accordance with the instructions contained in the preface to the defence scheme and in your telegrams from time to time.
7. Guards were placed at the wireless station, Sapper's Hill, Navy Point, and Engineer Point, and the guns then at our disposal were stationed in what appeared to me to be the most advantageous positions.
8. As was natural in the circumstances, the public works programme of the Government had to be cancelled almost in its entirety; this entailed the temporary abandonment of the erection of the lights at William Point and the Sea Lion Rocks, and very seriously handicapped the completion of the Town Hall. Never- theless, I have endeavoured to carry on with the inside work in the Town Hall by withdrawing the Government carpenters from their military duties when they could be spared, and, even with the small amount of labour thus obtainable, the Town Hall, though still far from completion, has been sufficiently far advanced to permit of several concerts and entertainments for the patriotic funds and charities being held in it.
9. The system of defences established on the outbreak of war was maintained with slight alterations until the arrival at Port Stanley of Admiral Cradock on the 9th October. The Admiral was able to replenish our very small stock of 303 ammunition and to make us a grant of a few additional rifles. On the departure of H.M.S. "Good Hope" and H.M.S. "Canopus" for the west coast of Chile, as you are aware, I warned heads of families resident in Stanley that considerable danger might be apprehended by those who remained in the township, and advised that women and children should be sent away to the camps forthwith. In the majority of cases my advice was followed, and within a week after Admiral Cradock's departure there could not have been more than twenty women in Stanley. 10. The presence of Admiral von Spee's squadron on the west coast, and the possibility of his being able to elude the British ships, required an added vigilance on the part of the Volunteers on outpost duty. A constant watch was kept from
* 88217: not printed.
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FALKLAND ISLANDS.
Sapper's Hill, the wireless station, Engineer Point, and the lighthouse, and thus the whole of the horizon from due north through east to west-south-west was kept under observation.
11. Apart from this, after consultation with Admiral Cradock, I decided, as I have already reported to you, to erect a peat barricade some 20 feet high around the building containing the machinery and receiving and transmitting gear of the wireless station, considering this to be the most vulnerable point of our defences, as well as the spot which, by reason of its importance and conspicuous- This work was ness and unprotectedness, would first attract the enemy's fire. undertaken at once by the men stationed there, assisted by as many men as I could conveniently draw from other outpost stations, under the general superintendence of the Colonial Engineer.
12. H.M.S. "Canopus" and H.M.S. "Glasgow " arrived at this port on the 8th November, after the action off Coronel, and the Volunteers were able to render them valuable assistance in coaling rapidly and effecting small temporary repairs to the "Glasgow." The ships left Stanley the same evening, and on the 12th of the month H.M.S. "Canopus" returned for the purpose of assisting in the defence of the Colony,
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13. In consequence of this step it was necessary immediately to reconsider our scheme of defence, and after consulting with Captain Grant, of H.M.S. Canopus," I decided to remove the Volunteer guard from Engineer Point and strengthen the headquarters division and the mounted company at the wireless station. Captain Grant landed his twelve-pound guns, and constructed and manned batteries at Engineer Point, Lake Point (on the south shore), Hooker's Point (close to the wireless station), and Sparrow Point (on north side of Port William), and also laid a field of observation mines in Port William.
14. An examination service was established, which was served by the Harbour Master in the Government launch "Penguin," in co-operation with the naval picket boat, and port regulations were made by the Governor in Council to deal with all entries to and exits from the port.
15. The telephone exchange was connected up with H.M.S. "Canopus" by cable, and Captain Grant strengthened the Volunteer signalling section by placing a yeoman of signals at the lighthouse and a leading signalman at the wireless station. The Volunteers maintained their signal stations at Navy Point and Sapper's Hill, and the batteries manned by naval men were provided with naval signallers; thus, although all the outposts, with the exception of Lake Point and Sparrow Point, were connected by telephone with the exchange, and thereby with Government House and H.M.S. "Canopus," a complete system of visual signalling was established between all points in order to obviate any difficulty which might arise through a breakdown of the telephone lines, an occurrence by no means uncommon in this tempestuous country.
16. From the beginning of October the harbour had been rapidly filling with colliers, and the work of the examination service was particularly arduous. The heavy increase of wireless communication, too, necessitated the establishment of a continuous watch on the part of the two operators, which entailed a severe strain upon them until I adopted Captain Grant's suggestion and asked him to lend an operator from his ship to assist our own. The Stanley wireless station made it its business to conduct all traffic with Cerrito, Monte Video, while that of H.M.S. Canopus" kept a watch for all signals other than those of Cerrito; thus very little in the range of either installation was missed. I may add in this connexion that the efficient working of our wireless station proved of the greatest use to the naval dispositions in these waters, as it enabled all naval signalling to be carried on by the land station as far as Cerrito (and thereby the United Kingdom) was concerned, while His Majesty's ships maintained a valuable silence.
17. Fortunately, the King Edward Memorial Hospital was practically com- pleted on the outbreak of hostilities, and the committee expressed the wish that Government should make what use of it they desired, as though it had been formally handed over. It was, on the arrival of H.M.S. "Canopus," placed at the disposal of the naval authorities. Staff-Surgeon Wernet and Surgeon Atkinson accordingly came ashore and took charge of the hospital, with the co-operation of the Colonial Surgeon. Bede were prepared and the theatre equipped. The existence of the hospital has proved of the utmost value, not only
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