At the outbreak of war, the East Asia Squadron was at sea and sailed eastwards across the Pacific to attack British and Allied shipping. He had with him , and and was quickly joined by "Nurnberg" and two auxiliary cruisers. "Emden" was dispatched on a solo raiding voyage in the Indian Ocean, which was highly successful and the East Asia Squadron headed for Chile to secure supplies of coal. At Easter Island in October Spee was joined by "Leipzig" and "Dresden" and at the Battle of Coronel in November Spee defeated a British squadron which was searching for the East Asia Squadron. In December Spee was surprised by the British at the Battle of the Falkland Islands when attacking Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands and the East Asia Squadron, save one ship was destroyed. Despite Spee's skill and courage, his mission to destroy Allied commerce where he found it, was a failure. Two British warships were sunk and one sailing ship in his five months' voyage before the East Asia Squadron was destroyed; his detached light cruisers, with one exception, also achieved little.