was again hit by a shell that destroyed her mast and caused more casualties; Graf Spee continued to the south-west. Pursuit The battle now turned into a pursuit. Captain Parry of Achilles wrote afterwards: "To this day I do not know why the Admiral Graf Spee did not dispose of us in the Ajax and the Achilles as soon as she had finished with the Exeter". The British and New Zealand cruisers split up, keeping about from Admiral Graf Spee. Ajax kept to the German's port and Achilles to the starboard. At 09:15, Ajax recovered her aircraft. At 09:46, Harwood signalled to Cumberland for reinforcement and the Admiralty also ordered ships within to proceed to the River Plate. At 10:05, Achilles had overestimated Admiral Graf Spees speed and she came into range of the German guns. Admiral Graf Spee turned and fired two three-gun salvoes with her fore guns. Achilles turned away under a smoke screen. According to Pope, at 11:03 a merchant ship was sighted close to Admiral Graf Spee. After a few minutes, Admiral Graf Spee called Ajax on W/T, probably on the international watchkeeping frequency of 500 kHz, using both ships' pre-war call-signs, with the signal: "please pick up lifeboats of English steamer". The German call-sign was DTGS, confirming to Harwood that the pocket-battleship he had engaged was indeed Admiral Graf Spee. Ajax did not reply but a little later the British flagship closed with SS Shakespeare with her lifeboats still hoisted and men still on board. Admiral Graf Spee had fired a gun and ordered them to stop but when they did not obey orders to leave the ship, Langsdorff decided to continue on his way and Shakespeare had a lucky escape. The shadowing continued for the rest of the day until 19:15, when Admiral Graf Spee turned and opened fire on Ajax, which turned away under a smoke screen. It was now clear that Admiral Graf Spee was entering the River Plate estuary. Since the estuary had sandbanks, Harwood ordered Achilles to shadow Admiral Graf Spee while Ajax would cover any attempt to double back through a different channel. The sun set at 20:48, with Admiral Graf Spee silhouetted against the sun. Achilles had again closed the range and Admiral Graf Spee opened fire, forcing Achilles to turn away. During the battle, a total of 108 men had been killed on both sides, including 36