armament on to Mopan with Admiral Scheer firing warning shots from her secondary armament of SK C/28 guns, which exploded close to the freighter's bow. At 15:08, by use of a signal lamp, the Admiral Scheer ordered Mopan to heave to. Admiral Scheer then proceeded to hoist a flag signal stating "Take to your boats and bring your papers across." Krancke kept his guns trained on Mopans wireless transmission aerials on her masthead and accompanied this with an order that the ship's wireless was not to be used. This caused some rancour onboard Mopan with her wireless officer, James Macintosh, on more than one occasion pleading with Captain Sapsworth to ignore the request from Admiral Scheer and transmit the internationally recognised signal: R-R-R "(I Am Being Attacked By A Raider)," thereby affording Convoy HX 84 the ability to take some form of evasive action. However, with the guns of Admiral Scheer trained on the Mopan, and given the realisation that at any time his ship could be destroyed, Sapsworth chose to refuse Macintosh's requests and instead ordered his ship's company to abandon ship, upon when they would transfer to Admiral Scheer in order to be taken prisoner. The order was carried out in a measured and organised manner, something that was not lost on Krancke. Following the evacuation of Mopan, Admiral Scheer proceeded to sink the vessel. However, this proved to be a more difficult task than was initially envisaged. If he was to make a successful interception of HX 84 before nightfall, Krancke knew that time was beginning to run short. No prize crew was sent to Mopan, instead Admiral Scheer opened fire on the merchantman from a distance of approximately using a combination of her secondary armament of 15 cm guns and her main armament of SK C/28 guns. Vexed by the continued stubbornness of Mopan, Krancke ordered an increase in the rate of fire from the Admiral Scheers gunners in addition to which he requested the presence of Captain Sapsworth, who cautioned against the targeting of the aft end of his ship as it was where the ammunition for Mopans gun was stored. Mopan finally sank at 16:05. Interception Jervis Bay Almost two hours had been lost by Admiral Scheer having devoted time to Mopan and the onset of dusk arrived as the cruiser closed with the convoy, a situation that caused significant annoyance to Krancke. As