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For the sources of authentic history such items as private diaries, personal narratives, letters, and actual conversations with those who played the principal parts in their great events, are not merely of permanent value but the most reliable of all material.

The following pages of naval history, dealing with outstanding features of recent occurrence, may seem at times to be fiction and incredible: yet they are plain, uncoloured truth derived almost exclusively from the four sources just indicated. Here, indeed, are faithful records with the thrill left in. The background is the sea and modern ships, the chief characters are still happily alive, their memories keen and fresh. The result is that we have a personal illumination of unforgettable incidents, and no amount of self-effacement can prevent the revelation of a veritable galaxy of gallantry. These battles of brains and bravery, the narrow escapes from death, the exciting adventures, are remarkable for their test of grit, good judgment, coolness, courage; but they are so full of curious twists and surprises, that it would have been a pity not to have collected the stories before death has closed eloquent lips, or time’s rude hand has destroyed priceless documents already yellowing with age.

Here, for example, we get at the reason why the Goeben and Breslau escaped; the cause of the Coronel disaster: the thrilling chase and sinking of Nürnberg at the Falklands are given by the principal eye-witness, whose mind directed the very operations. Similarly, the first-hand narrations of the smaller ships’ duels, which occasionally read (as one distinguished Admiral expressed it), “like fairy tales,” are more full of dash and action than any imaginative writer would dare to place in a novel. Had we waited a little longer, it might have been too late. There is so much humanity, so much that is a lesson for posterity, contained in these chapters that it seemed highly to be desired there should be even a reopening of closed doors for the admittance of new evidence and a flooding light.

I have to acknowledge the valuable and courteous assistance in regard to information and permission to use illustrations obtained from the following, to whom I would offer my fullest gratitude: Admiral F. W. Kennedy, C.B., Admiral John Luce, C.B., Vice-Admiral J. D. Allen, C.B., Captain F. E. K. Strong, D.S.O., R.N., Lieutenant-Commander G. C. Steele, V.C., R.N., Lieutenant-Commander F. Capponi, R.I.N. (the Italian Naval Attaché in London), the Imperial War Museum (particularly for many of the photographs), and Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., Ltd.

The map of the Cameroon estuary is reproduced by kind permission from The Great War in West Africa, by Brigadier-General E. Howard Gorges, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O.