The Royal Navy was well aware of "Seeadler" general location and set a trap consisting of the armed merchant cruisers "Otranto" and "Orbita" and the armoured cruiser HMS "Lancaster" at Cape Horn. However, a severe storm blew "Seeadler" considerably further south, before she entered the Pacific Ocean on 18 April and sailed north along the Chilean coast. By early June, "Seeadler" was east of Christmas Island and learned that the United States had entered the war. "Seeadler" therefore turned her attention to American shipping, sinking the 529-ton "A. B. Johnson" of San Francisco on 14 June, the 673 ton "R. C. Slade" the next day, and the schooner "Manila" on 8 July. By this time, "Seeadler" needed to be laid up so that her hull could be scraped clean. She put into the small island of Mopelia, also known as Maupihaa, a coral atoll some 10 km (6 mi) in diameter in the Society Islands, some 450 km (280 mi) from Tahiti.