on Admiral Graf Spee.Admiral Graf Spee entered Montevideo in neutral Uruguay, dropping anchor at about 00:10 on 14 December. This was a political error, since Uruguay, while neutral, had benefited from significant British influence during its development and it favoured the Allies. The British Hospital, for example (where the wounded from the battle were taken), was the leading hospital in the city. The port of Mar del Plata on the Argentine coast and south of Montevideo would have been a better choice for Admiral Graf Spee. Also, had Admiral Graf Spee left port at this time, she would have encountered no British warships in the area except for the damaged Ajax and Achilles. Trap of Montevideo In Montevideo, the 13th Hague Convention came into play. Under Article 12, "belligerent war-ships are not permitted to remain in the ports, roadsteads or territorial waters of the said Power for more than twenty-four hours". Under Article 14, "[a] belligerent war-ship may not prolong its stay in a neutral port beyond the permissible time except on account of damage". British diplomats duly pressed for the speedy departure of the Graf Spee. Also relevant was Article 16, of which part reads, "A belligerent war-ship may not leave a neutral port or roadstead until twenty-four hours after the departure of a merchant ship flying the flag of its adversary". In accordance with their obligations the Germans released 61 captive British merchant seamen who had been on board. Langsdorff then asked the Uruguayan government for two weeks to make repairs. Initially, the British diplomats in Uruguay – principally Eugen Millington-Drake – made several requests for Admiral Graf Spee to leave port immediately. After consultation with London, which was aware that there were no significant British naval forces in the area, Millington-Drake continued to demand that Admiral Graf Spee leave. At the same time, he arranged for British and French merchant ships to steam from Montevideo at intervals of 24 hours, whether they had originally intended to do so or not, thus invoking Article 16. This kept Admiral Graf Spee in port and allowed more time for British forces to reach the area. At the same time, the British attempted to feed false intelligence to the Germans that an overwhelming British force was being assembled, including Force H (the aircraft carrier and the battlecruiser ) by broadcasting a series of signals, on frequencies known to be intercepted by