 To keep the German high command informed, on 8 September Spee detached Nürnberg to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries. Nürnberg returned with news of the Allied capture of German Samoa, which had taken place on 29 August. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sailed to Apia to investigate the situation. Spee had hoped to catch a British or Australian warship by surprise, but upon his arrival on 14 September, he found no warships in the harbor. Spee decided against attacking the Allied troops ashore, since doing so would risk killing Samoans and damaging German property. On 22 September, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron arrived at the French colony of Papeete. The Germans attacked the colony, and in the ensuing Battle of Papeete, they sank the French gunboat Zélée. The ships came under fire from French shore batteries but were undamaged. Fear of mines in the harbor prevented Spee from seizing the coal in the harbor. Spee then continued across the Pacific, passing through the Marquesas Islands, where his ships acquired supplies including fresh meat by barter, purchase, or confiscation. On 12 October, the squadron reached Easter Island, where it was reinforced by Leipzig, Dresden, and four more colliers. Spee's ships were off the coast of Chile by 1 November, when he learned that the British cruiser Glasgow was moored in Coronel, ostensibly alone; he decided to try to sink the ship.
