Inscribed by the artist, lower left, with the German ship names 'Scharnhorst', 'Dresden', 'Gneisenau', 'Nürnberg' and 'Leipzig'; and signed by him, lower right. This finished 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. 102. depicts the chase of Admiral Maximilian von Spee's Pacific Squadron by Vice-Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, off the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. The time is shortly after 12.50, with the British battlecruiser 'Inflexible' on the far right and Sturdee's flagship, the battlecruiser 'Invincible', at centre right. The latter has opened fire on the retreating German ships, seen on the left horizon in the order (left to right) given in Wyllie's inscription. Only the light cruiser 'Dresden' escaped from the battle but was cornered by a British cruiser squadron at Juan Fernandez Island in the Pacific in March 1915 and, after a brief action that set her on fire, was abandoned and scuttled after surrendering but before the British could take control of her.