Or the dog star.<\/p>\n
A beautiful day here in Stanley; a clock calm.<\/p>\n
In the morning sky to the east, a bright shining star \u2014 Venus.<\/p>\n
This night, cold, clear and calm. High in the SE sky, an orange star. It must be Mars. Sky guide<\/a> concurred with me. The more I looked, the more stars appeared. Sirius, the dog star was to the south. Another bright star twinkled \u2014 Canopus1<\/a><\/sup> \u2014 how appropriate<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n an out of date pre Dreadnought battleship that was beached in Stanley harbour and fired the first shots of the Battle of the Falklands in 1914.<\/p>\n With the distance to their objective steadily decreasing, the German captains were unaware that they were being tracked by Canopus\u2019 guns and at 0920hrs, as the two cruisers rounded Wolf\u2019s Rock in order to engage the wireless station, the ageing battleship\u2019s forward turret belched flame. At a range of around 11,000 yards the two 12in. shells raced towards their target, ultimately falling short. It was enough. Turning sharply to the south-east the raiders raised their battle ensigns and prepared for action, followed by another two shells from Canopus. The elderly warship might have been considered too much of a liability in an engagement at sea, but her participation in the opening phase of the battle of the Falkland Islands had diverted the enemy from his course and had almost certainly given Sturdee the warning and time necessary to get his ships to sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
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