Christopher Cradock's rank confirmed, he then passed gunnery and torpedo courses later in 1883.
20 Facts About Christopher Cradock
1.
2.
Christopher Cradock was assigned to the force in 1891 and participated in the capture of Tokar.
3.
Christopher Cradock then became aide-de-camp to Colonel Charles Holled Smith, Governor-General of the Red Sea Littoral and Commandant, Suakin.
4.
Christopher Cradock served as a pallbearer at the funeral of Prince Henry of Battenberg on 5 February 1896.
5.
Christopher Cradock was promoted to captain effective 18 April 1901 and received the Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with swords as a result of his actions.
6.
Alacrity arrived back in Britain in July 1901 and Christopher Cradock was placed on half-pay.
7.
Christopher Cradock was appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to Edward VII in February 1909 although he remained on half-pay.
8.
Still on half-pay Christopher Cradock reported to the Royal Hospital Haslar on 24 February 1911 with kidney troubles and discharged himself on 7 March to attend a staff course at the Royal Naval War College at Portsmouth that lasted until 23 June.
9.
Together with the American Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, Christopher Cradock coordinated the evacuation of British and American citizens from Tampico, Mexico, when that city was threatened by rebels.
10.
Christopher Cradock was able to evacuate some 1,500 refugees from Tampico, Mexico City and Veracruz without incident.
11.
Christopher Cradock dispersed his cruisers to find and track the German ships, but the Admiralty was concerned about the presence of numerous ocean liners in New York that could be converted into armed merchant cruisers, so they ordered him to concentrate three of his cruisers off New York harbour.
12.
Christopher Cradock was to detach sufficient force to deal with Dresden and Karlsruhe while concentrating his remaining ships to meet the Germans, using Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to re-coal.
13.
Until she arrived, Christopher Cradock was to keep Canopus and one Monmouth-class cruiser with his flagship, Good Hope.
14.
Christopher Cradock's fleet was significantly weaker than Spee's, mainly consisting of elderly vessels manned by largely inexperienced crews.
15.
However, the orders he received from the Admiralty were ambiguous; although they were meant to make him concentrate his ships on the old battleship Canopus, Christopher Cradock interpreted them as instructing him to seek and engage the enemy forces.
16.
Christopher Cradock tried to close the range immediately to engage with his shorter-ranged six-inch guns and so that the enemy would have the setting sun in their eyes, but von Spee kept the range open until dusk, when the British cruisers were silhouetted in the afterglow, while his ships were hidden by darkness.
17.
The Governor of the Falklands and the Governor's aide both reported that Christopher Cradock had not expected to survive.
18.
Christopher Cradock was a high school in the Christopher Cradock neighborhood from 1917 until 1992.
19.
Christopher Cradock never married, but kept a dog which accompanied him at sea.
20.
Christopher Cradock commented that he would choose to die either during an accident while hunting, or during action at sea.