August 20:
Spee's squadron puts into Eniwetok for coal. SMS Nurnberg is sent to Honolulu for supplies.
SMS Emden arrives at Palau Island intending to rendesvous with a collier, but expected collier is not there and Emden is forced to use some of the precious supply on board Markomannia. That same day the mail packet Princess Alice arrives, and supplies are exchanged. That evening Emden, Markomannia and Princess Alice depart Palau. In the night Princes Alice falls behind with boiler problems. Von Müller attempts to tell Spee's squadron about the Japanese attitude via wireless. They get no answer from Spee, but are surprised to receive a reply from the old small cruiser SMS Geier. Geier had been at Singapore when the war started, and her commander, Korvettenkapitan Grasshof, had been hoping to meet with Spee's squadron. Von Müller instructed Grasshof to meet Emden, which was closer. They were close enough that they expected to find each other the next day.
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“Never do anything you can't take back.”
—Rocky Russo
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