'Invincible and Inflexible steaming out of Port Stanley in Chase'- the start of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 December 1914 RMG PW1879

'Invincible and Inflexible steaming out of Port Stanley in Chase': the start of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 December 1914
Signed by the artist, lower left, this watercolour was reproduced (in colour and with the title quoted here) in his and M.F. Wren's 'Sea Fights of the Great War' (1918) f. p. 98. It shows the early stages of the pursuit of Admiral von Spee's Pacific Squadron off the Falkland Islands, with Sturdee's battle-cruisers heading out from Port Stanley on 8 December 1914. His flagship, 'Invincible', is leading with the 'Inflexible' off her starboard quarter (viewer's left) and the armoured cruiser 'Kent' to port (viewer's right). One of the other cruisers is following in the distance but not identifiable. It is notable that in his 'Sea Fights' book - which only covered the first nine months of the war- Wyllie included no image of the Battle of Coronel, the comparatively catastrophic British loss that of the Falkland Islands victory avenged - so this image is the first of a major action included there.