of Robinson Crusoe Island; the unified Squadron then proceeded to the Gulf of Penas, arriving on 21 November. There, they coaled and prepared to make the long voyage around Cape Horn. The British, shocked by their defeat at Coronel, had meanwhile dispatched the powerful battlecruisers and , under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee, to hunt down and destroy Spee's ships. They departed Britain on 11 November and reached the Falkland Islands on 7 December, having been joined on the way by the armored cruisers , , and and the light cruisers and the battered Glasgow. Battle of the Falkland Islands On 26 November, the East Asia Squadron departed the Gulf of Penas, bound for Cape Horn and the Atlantic and reached the Cape on 2 December. While off the Cape, Leipzig took the Canadian sailing ship Drummuir as a prize; the ship was carrying of coal, which was transferred to the colliers Baden and Santa Isabel at Picton Island. On the night of 6 December, Spee held a conference with the ship commanders to discuss his proposed attack on the Falklands; Haun, along with the commanders from Gneisenau and Dresden, opposed the plan and favored bypassing the Falklands to wage commerce war off La Plata. Nevertheless, Spee made the decision to attack the Falklands on the morning of 8 December. The Germans approached Port Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, early on the morning of 8 December; the British quickly spotted them, and raised steam to go out and meet them. Spee initially thought the smoke clouds to be the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them. Upon realizing the presence of the powerful British squadron, he broke off the attack and turned to flee. The British quickly steamed out of the harbor in pursuit. By 12:55, the battlecruisers had caught up to the retreating Germans, and opened fire on Leipzig, the last ship in the German line, though she was not hit. Spee signaled "Leipzig released" at 13:15 and five minutes later instructed the other light cruisers to flee while Scharnhorst and Gneisenau turned on their pursuers, in the hope that he could cover their escape. In response, Sturdee sent his cruisers to chase down Nürnberg, Dresden, and Leipzig. Glasgow pursued Leipzig, and quickly caught up, opening fire by 14:40. After about twenty minutes of firing, Leipzig was hit; she turned to