"Otranto" steamed out into the Pacific Ocean before turning south and rounding Cape Horn. On 4 November the Admiralty issued orders for the surviving ships to go to the Abrolhos Rocks, where a new force was being assembled. Rear-Admiral Archibald Stoddart, with the armoured cruisers and , were to meet them there and await the arrival of "Defence". Sturdee was ordered to travel with the battlecruisers and —then attached to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea—to command a new squadron with clear superiority over Spee.