WHAT HOENED AT COCOS ISLAND
TEE EMDEN RAID
HOW THE: GERMANS BEHAVED
' [Special to The Dominion:]
f !CBy; 'J, Bcholefield Triggs, one of the :v:fe,f. ! ;.; ;. Staff.).. P , Cooos island, November. 10.' >' .'-.'Was fit-only .yesterday morning tie .Emden was anchored in the'entrance? . iWas it.Vonly yesterday morning .we saw ;■ the German Wag firmly planted in front ..of. the; quarters—idly'iSlapping in an. almost dead calm—which at least spared iusitoo frequent a sight of the eagle? .-iVyas it'ojily : yesterday we ,were.'prison- ; ors of war under martial law? It seems: .;a : year—for it's still all.a.dream. -But it's pno-! must-, dream again—for your . it's now I,realise how hopeJess, it is—how inadequate this poor pen (or pencil!) will if only I . could talk to you for an hour—and even ithen itjvould. be only half told. .'eyer, terefgoes—help me. with your lim- ■ agination;. aid understanding. One ~thing I will.state now, so that you will not skip to the middle or the end to : lallay your friendly anxiety—we couldn't .have, met: with better treatment from .anyone,'friends or' enemies..'l'd' like n special note made of that—that. the. '.:ißmabii.iright up.to her cruel end had on. unbroken, clean, honourable - tAiid 'so now, back to-yesterday morning, and at each incident or change of events it will be simpler if -1 try to ; give, the time. .'■:■
.'.' Its Come at Last, .;': 5).6 a.m.—l was rudely awakened by. 'jthe : burly —— (who was coming off night duty):- "Bey, Triggs, get. up; . tJireerfunnolled cruiser in the entrance!" : j"Liar,". said I, rolling over, .fondly itbinkmg of the next hour's : sleep! was ; /going to have. 'But; he remained so ■'/'insistent that I turned out just to prove ; ■ .Kni a liar,'and stumbled up in my sleep. I-: on '■■■to'.-the. roof ;of our quarters.- -' I- ■: awoke with a click. There, not ,'a mile '• away,, over the coconut tops, Were vis- . able two tall masts, three grey funnels,' . and-just aft'of the foremast, a schoot, :,-which .even at 'that distance lookted: exactly -'like.ii'fourth-, funnel.. In' ■a dazed sort of way I turned towards ithe lagoon.—our peaceful ,there T saw;a steamboat towing two large pinnaces, crammed with men who: .with..the. aid .of. my fine ; glasses,: I iebuldfsee.were armed, and wore stranger, looking -khaki-; topees of the helmet itypei-"""• '"My God, it's come'at last," ;■ il said. aloud—for ; I ■ can tell you that . ,we!ve Jbeen ..expecting. the Emden since .'.. Iphe/ was ; first .heard of, and it seems, - lnore.t'bak'Jirobable. that;the boat we : sighted about two miles off on the eventing of J September I.7.was ;tlie Emden— but thatpyas,the week, we had sevoral warships'-roiind-:here,: and it.'so, hap- • pefieii, we Were/ wirelessing with, two: of ithemxabouti this' time. . .-At any rate tU's;';strange;6'liip suspicioiisly switched :': out''-all -lights, stopped-for. a quarter ;-' of.a.hour, turned round, and steamed, off''in-a:nov!-we6tetly,'direction.':■! The . ..theory..'' was.; .that, she was going.to \ Iholavqff'-tilly':daylight,'/ but -lalthough ;.; needless\tb 'say.we>wefe up_;bright and earlyj we 6aw no further sighs of her.' / That was one of the scares-we had. -.;, But _:s6Vget back tOr.the roof. ':" 'As 'soon as I realised we were going fo /get -.it in the" heck'at .last I dashed.down
and yelled butwhafc I had seen;.', That , :.,vas goodjenough, and'it speaks well for '~ '•' the decision of the Superintendent and .; ..the 1 discipline .of the staff that advices ■ ...We're' got through to Perth) Adelaide, ■A • ■ IWeltevre'deit; Singapore,- - Rodriquez, London, and distress sig"Vjnals 'on, wireless 'were sent out. for ten -.-■'• 'minutes, with the,Emden naturally try-' . jihg.'to.'rjain us ; all.the time. The' last .•■ "pords were just going through the irans..f'jsnftte'rirand the wireless operator was; \Btill sending, when the, Germans dash- '.■■" r ed : in.; ■'My first thought was- my camera, so I rushed down to the darkroom to put. some plates : in, and got out just in time to see the L Germans coming up at the double in two'hodies. (Except for some' scrub near the jetty, ' which they dashed' looking for ■ombush.'they treated everything, and' .everybody with .supreme : indifference; Ifor the time being. Their object was ■'■■;'.-■ 'poqn evident. '.. One detachment rushed '. the office, and. the other turned< off for .. 'the wireless hut... After a few minutes ':"'..' of anxious waiting word mysteriously ".,-■..'-•ftpt' round that we had to muster outBide the office, and we stuck to our prin- , . ciple of being smart in all: things! •This would be 6.40 a.m.; which is an '• .early hour to be all together and out..'■"•>ide.'' So I must leave you to imagine the wonderful variety of garbs—for we are 29. We're rather careless of dress ; pt the best of times, but this morning \ :••! was quite well dressed; for si had : found time to jump into a, singlet- and , h, pair of shorta. After a. few minutes ■■;' jDiir 29 were mustered, and a guard was ' Jnit over. us, : but as the devastation of I- .the oftico was now well on. its way, and . Steps were.being taken:to blbw.up the ).".■ wireless mast, wo gradually edged off • in front of the quarters towards the '. .itieach.'.' ■ '• 'i '
Cable Staff Under Guard. !At first the. guards were inclined to be peremptory, but we gradually won them over to our way of looking at things, and 6oon they were quite friendly, and even answered some, of our remarks. : True,'• only, ■ in. monoByllauTes lo begin .with, but shortly they were chatting away in an English that sounded very much like their own language, and we were trying to make Rood guesses, and put "yes" and "no" in their.right places! Wo finally took Up our positions in and around about a boafehed, aud there we had to Temain during such', time as it pleased the Germans to "break things." * For during all this time the axe and hammer had
: inade an incessant din, ■ and the con-. i timious crash of banging reminded me ? of a big fire, with its attendant noises I of firemen's hatchets—walls falling in, : and windows smashing. After somo time tho first explosion at the wireles3 mast took place. "Good old wireless," wo murmured excitedly, ; for it hadn'tfelt the shock even. A ■ second explosion proved somewhat more 'effective, for it .swayed and tottered, but still stood. This made us quite excited, and took tho last of our attention off a machine-gun that had been ; glaring hungrily at us all this time.. Shortly afterwards a tremendous bang on our right brought us ; round, and we saw a store near the lower quarters enveloped in a mass of black smoke. All [.'. 6orts of things were kept there —paint, engine gear, etc.—but some' spare cable ; had caused its downfall, and soon it ; was a- roaring mass of flame. All this ': time tho din had continued in tho v office, and although we've all been I pretty hard-worked lately, • I think each [ crash we heard gave us a fresh wrench. V In tho meantime the third charge had [ ■' • been put round the -wireless mast—and « : ' with an almost human-shiver it started ; to fall slowly, gradually quickening, but { still its fall was attended by_ no noise, \ as it had been broken by kindly cocoi"" nut tiees and scrub, so that now oven !'■'"■ it is only slightly cracked. "Good old i"'"' jvir'elaoa;. it..died hard jvas tho thought
IfipNG STWBTf ONE OF THE CABLE STAFF
THE SEA FIGHT AS SEEN; FROM THE ISLAND
uppermost in all of us—and afterevents "proved its worth. : All this time we had been diverted by seeing strangers making a, thorough examination of our room—spare cells being kicked over the verandah (for ono had been put in each bedroom as emergency), and with the thought of all the little valuables wo might be losing we found the'spirit gradually going out of ■us, for this terrible inaction was the worst part of all. But. a bright inspira- [ tipn told.ns that the chief trbublo was too much excitement on no breakfast and too many cigarettes, so we immediately proceeded to try to remedy this. True,_ we'd had a little relaxation for five minutes when those of ns possessing firearms had been ordered off to bring them out, and I went, amongst the number to get my Browning automatic, which I had planted under a broken jar on a rubbish heap. But their search had been thorough, for they had found it, although they had overlooked the cartridges under an oildrum near the same heap.- I started talcing .these along, when I bethought Ime discretion "was the better part of truthfulness, as my explanation might Ijsoiind rather fishy, so I planted them again, and as I came Tip with the little knot of men taking over the booty, I began.: to have great trouble | with getting a cigarette to light (on a calm tropical day I) as though I'd never heard tho word firearms. No questions were asked. ■ -." I Appearance of the Sydney But to go on to breakfast (save the mark!) Rearing out what I said about our .treatment, the guard proved amenable. : They were evidently hungry themselves,; as it turned out, 'and very soon a vision of two boys appeared bringing jugs of hot coffee and sandwiches/. 1 managed to collar one in the rush, and a cup of coffee, which almost gave me .the feeling, of being on a picnic—or at anyrate more of a man —although by this time it was very evident they; intended- no bodily harm. All this time the steam launch' gang had found our cables a tough proposition, for/although they were easily located in this clearwator, and it wasji fairly easy matter to divo down' and hook them; cutting them through was a different matter.' However, axe and saw' were gradually doing their work, and wo had seen that apparently they had.done for two, and were just after the third, When suddenly operation* ceased, for no apparent reason, except that the shore detachment had finished their work, and evidently pretty thoroughly .too.. Certainly just then W§ heard the Emden's. siren; but we associated nothing with that, except that .probably the Germans were afraid of the result of pur wireless and of outstaying, their welcome, for now it was 9: a.m. But whistles, blowing and men quickly Sling down to: the jetty- occupied all our' attention, so that soon there-was only one officer left, and "after, the superintendent,and he had exchanged a few words,, we were released,' and after rushing off for cameras, etc., we all escorted him down to the jetty, to give tho men a' wave, for by this time we were convinced that tho Germancan be far better than he is often painted, and although our feelings were somewhat mixed, that of admiration for this crew was, I think, Uppermost in all, for they had only done what they .considered their- duty against the_ Empire, but had even gone out of their way to respect the individual" and personal belongings—no no doubt at a.'great loss of time to •themselves. Bo that as it may,- we gave thorn a cheer, and then hurried back. To see tho Emden lying at an-' chor was doubtless the main idea of all, and to do tihat we had ,to go along to the West Point, about a mile away. But for tho making of history it was not to be, for'one man had gone up on the roof, and his screeching yell told up exactly what had' happened, although no words were intelligible. A mass of black smoke to: tfhe north-east showed us a ship was steaming full speed_ to engage the Emden, end by the time we wore up on the -roof the Emden-was well out of the entrance, about half a mile away/ steaming full speed in a nor'-wosterly direction, with tho steam lajunch in mid-lagoon, jnst putting back to the'jetty,, still towing its pinnaces with forty-eight men all told, and four Maxims! ■■'•■'
"Come Out and Fight." _ But this, latter fact was quite lost sight of, aB all' eyes were strained on the ocean-—the huge stage of a life and death drama—soul-stirring, out cruel in" its immensity.■'• For H.M.A.S. Sydney, steaming full speed diagonally to intercept the Germany was flying' a signal to tho effect, "Come out and fight," and the Emden, cornored at last, and so apparently not ■ unwilling to join, fired the first shot, almost immediately she had cleared the islands, at a_ range of nearly six miles.. But the distance was too great, and it was soon evident the Sydney's speed was superior.
It then became a question of manoeuvres. In two minutes they were hard at it, the Emden often replying with six guns to the Sydney's four, and words are useless to convey any idea' of {he pandemonium on our quarters Toof! Blaspheming, cursing, groans, and shrieking cheers filled the air, according to the nature of the shot an 3 what its message. Whilo some just stared, or feebly pointed and gibbered: But the strain of watching and the excitement was terrific, and most of us dashed down on to the barrier on tho north sido of the island, in a" vain endeavour' to get nearer the scene.
On arrival theTe wo saw tho Sydney had every appearance of being on fire, totally enveloped as she was in dense, black smoke, but her aim, which from tho outset had been erratic, had now settled down, which it itself was sufficient to keep our spirits, at shrieking point.. But very soon there was almost dead silence, broken only by the dullboom of the guns, and all our attentions were centred on looking for the spurts of flame, and to follow tho result. Now the. shells were falling all r ouhd the Emden, but the ' latter's guns, although fired well, failed to reach the Sydney. ' The moments were too tense for us to utter a. sound, and (i shell that raised the water higher than the Emden's masts—washing her sides in its ascent—failed to evoke I more than a deep-throated sigh.
Watching a Terrible Duel, Biie wo, tho silent oulookors of this terrible duel—oblivious as we bad been to all 'else—wcro soon brought back with a thud to our own affairs, and made to realise wo were by no means out of the wood. Tho'landing boats had returned, their guns in position, and, Ae /Jerman firmly Ranted jn
front of the quarters, aud. wo wore made to go back to our weary waitingplace—prisoners of war, witli very heavy hearts. For it seemed more than likely then that both boats wore doomed. Tho Sydney still appeared to be on fire when we left, and soon after our return wo know the Emden's fore-funnel, foremast, aud second funnel were.'shot away. The next few minutes were the most anxious of all for us, for with tho tables so unexpectedly turned on the landing parties, it was quito impossible to guess how tliey would act, especially in the case of tho Sydney being victorious,. and endeavouring in her turn to land a party. For it was more than evident the Germans were determined to make a'stand; their grim faces, so different from those of half an hour before, were sufficient indication of that.
However, we were left to speculate, and the officers and some of the men in their turn, scaled the roof. But little of the light was visiblo, after two of the Emden's funnels and a mast were carried away—except that the boats were manoeuvring and oiroling about more. A 6 it turned out the captain of the Sydney was very cleverly taking full advantage of his high speed, by darting in as soon as tho Emden had got the range, and so upsetting her aim, at the same time giving her a broadside before swerving out again, so that the Emden's shots were going, over or short nearly all the time. The Sydney's speed .was tremendous, and although there was no timo to keep any. records, the opinion was that the boat had beaten all previous trials and paper records, so the Sydney having the appearance of being on fire was accounted for. _ But none Of this did we know at the time, for we were still enduring the galling suspense of seeing nothing and hoanng nothing. Such small items as we managed to elicit from, our guards were meagre, and unconsoling, pointing to the probability that both would sink. At eleven o'clock only one was visible, and by noon nothing was to be seen. Theories were rife, but the Germans remained stolid, and the first officer proceeded to unfold his plans to our superintendent. First and foremost, wo were allowed to leave our boatehed, and great was the joy of the long-postponed, bath. But events were still moving too briskly to think of tiffin, and the greater part of us had practically nothing for 24 hours—till dinner that night.
German Plans on the Island. The Germans' plans wero these. If the Emden only came back, they would rejoin her. If only,the Sydney 'returned, they would fight for it, having a great advantage over a landing party, in which case they gave us permission to take to our boats and make for ono of the other islands. If neither boat camo back, then they, would commandeer the Ayesha, a 100-ton schooner belonging to J. S. Clunies-Ross (Governor of these islands) then at - anchor in the lagoon. It was for this lost contingency that they now started making preparations, and began well by asking us for two months' provisions—and followed this up by "being afraid they must say how hard -up thoy were for clothes, and how glad they would be of any old ones we could spare them." I have quoted this as bearing out the civil treatment We, mot with all through. The officer even went so far as to say. that our stores would be returned at the first possible opportunity after they , had reached a lieutrarport! Bo that as it may, we saw the justice of their request, and soon the island was a busy scene such as it is when our quarterly boat arrives—with two significant differences. The trollej'S laden -with stores of all descriptions—hanls, flour, rice, biscuits, inilk, etc., in som× unopened cases, were being run down to the jetty, and wore being '■ run by strange, unkempt foreigners, instead- of the familiar Malay. All our best was taken, in some cases three months' supply for us, and wo cheerfully looked on, or almost lent a hand. By half-past four they Beemed to have left all that was useless to them, and an examination.from the. roof showed no sign, of any ship, although smoke was faintly visible fifteen miles away, which appeared to move and circle slightly, but came no nearer.
So preparations were now made to put sail on the Ayesha and to load heT < with stores. Tliis done, all tins used for, carrying water were borrowed, some fifty or sixty altogether, < and a raid was made on the condensed water for drinking purposes, which, serious though it might have been, made little or no difference, as an officer had given orders that our condenser and ice plant should_ be The word .''borrowed" 'is used advisedly, for the Germans were sporting right up to tho end, and with great consideration returned the tins, no doubt at the expense of time which was now becoming precious. For the majority of the men were aboard, and on the return of the remainder, with whom we exchanged final cheers, the whole crew sprang into action, striking away mooring chains, making fast the two pinnaces aft, and the towing line for'ard from tho steam launch, and. so at dusk the procession started; with an officer up In the rigging directing ' their exit through the tricky, reefy channel. The Germans raised.a rousing cheer when tho long line of launch, schooner, <inii two pinnaces began to move, the German flag flying, and in silence we watched them with very mixed feelings. For only an eye-witness could realise the indomitable pluok ' and cheerfulness of these men, in face of great odds—their ship probably sunk, their comrades dead, and themselves forced to take l to a small schooner which had already been condemned as unseaworthy, and so to take their chances in the broad Indian Ocean, with, at best, the outlook of making some part of Africa, as they hoped to do, if they evaded capture, and their crazy boat withstood the whims of tho elements. ■'; ' ■ '
And so at last in silence we turned, sad at heart, for wo did not know oven then the issue of the fight, and made our way back to the gloomy quarters from where we had been accustomed to hear the monotonous 'exhaust of tho engines and see the cheerful twinkle of electric lights. _ The absence of tho latter ; inconvenienced us little, as very few of us were visible after our long-postponed meal, tired out as we were after our long and rathor exhausting day.
Sydney the Survivor. Six o'clock this morning saw tho island again buzzing with excitement, for a four-funnelled cruiser had been sighted coming full speed, and very soon it was evident that sho was towing a lifoboat, but had no symptoms of having participated in a gruelling fight. By 6.30 a.m. she was anchorod in the entrance, and shortly afterwards two boats put off, and began rowing tho intervening two miles to tho jetty. With tho glasses the lotters "Sy" were visible at the stern, and tlio common speculation was that it was tho Sydney, which, had heard news of tho fight, and had put in to seo that all was well. The thought that she was the survivor seemed too good to bo true, as wj still thought it was the Newcastle that bad been ongaged. In addition to this, flie appearance of the now arrival seemod too smart and trim—and yot— wo hoped. Coming in, tho first boat put up a white flag, and when about a quarter of a. milo off came on by horself, the second no doubt waiting to see what, reception was forthcoming. But surely this was evidont enough, by the excited bobaviour of the little group of Britishers eagerly: awaiting them. The first rqmark_ hurled at them, after thrco great rousing cheers, voiced our hopes: "Did you flop tho s?" "Yes, rather—any Germans hero?" "Not a drop," and then all discipline went, and wo were in among them, wringing hands and dragging them up on to the jetty, whilo for somo minutes jiu jflMherpi pafael Ped....the flir A Tie
groat reaction had sot in, for not only did wo know that the great menace of these waters was at an end, but wo also had another glimpse of the strength of our Empire and liopo beats high when we see tho sons of the Motherland, many of them totally untried, proving their lovo for her to such purpose, _ and their worth. Order.was restored after a time, and, with permission, we rushed one half of the gallant lads up to the quartets for a little refreshment they had so nobly earned, to be afterwards relieved by the - remainder, and with all talking, shouting and laughing at once, we gradually gleaned the whole story, varying slightly in details, but consistent urthe main, that the Eraedn, after a gallant fight, had been run on a reef just off North Keeling, 15 miles to the north of us, burning aft, and in a sulking condition, a battered mass of plates and twisted girders, resembling raithor a burnt-out factory than any sort of ship, except that her after mast still stood, from which were afterwards flying the two flags, N.C.—a curt but pathetio signal: "I need assistance." The detaDs of the fight and the Admiralty report will no doubt havo been made known long ere this, so repitition will b© useless. But many thing 6 were now explained to us: The appearance of the Sydney being on fire, the duration of the actual engagement—eighty -minutes—and the cause of the rather erratic aim of tho Sydney at the outset owing to the main rangefinder haviu" been carried away. But as the Sydney had fired 5C6 shots one realised how many the Emden must havo fired, which made,it doubly hard to credit the little damage done and at what 'small cost. Would that the lads that were taken could have tasted the fruits of perhaps their first engagement and triumph, but theirs was a noble end. In addition to all this, the great question was answered, "Had our wireless signals got out?" and we found that another example of the inestimable value of wireless in the case ol emergency had been added to history. For in spite of all the Emden's attempts to jam us, the Minotaur had heard ns, but being further away, very sportingly had immediately detailed the" Sydney to proceed to Cocoa, and engage the Emden.; Now.it is evident the Germans made two fatal mistakes. Their humane policy forbade them to shell our wireless before landing, and secondly—a thing which was evident to. us all, as our look-out pJace was so familiar— they omitted to station a sentry on our roof. Of their/ first oversight, or fchoughtfulness,. we were devoutly thankful, but avoiding the second might have still saved the day for them. Tho men spent very little timo ashore, bo we all followed down'to cheer them off, and soon the Sydnoy was steaming off to North Keeling; the Emden's last resting-place, with,the object of taking off the survivors One memento She left with us—the lifeboat they had towed in, tho last relio of the Emden's collier Buresk. When the Sydney came Up with her after the stranding of tho Emden, she found the sea-cocks opened, and the collier in a sinking condition, so the crew were quickly taken off and a broadside put into her. It was after that we had seen the Sydney, circling round looking for any survivors, and they were .rewarded for their long' search, for of cthe several they picked up, the last hod hoen. in tho water seven hours!
Little has been said so far of the office, but la6t night, when it was found only one cable cf the three was cut, all was activity once more. To pause or think gavo us very mixed feelings, for lighted by a solitary, oil lamp the office presented a terrible spectacle. Silonce now reigned where before had been the familiar note of different mechanical contrivances, and of the few tables left standing, none showed more than a few ends of wires and broken fragments, with gaping, holes showing where instruments had been let througn on to their pedestals. And only twelve hours before these tables had been studded with recorders, automatic transmitters, shunts,' and the hundred and ono appliances necessary for cable working. How different was the work now—clearing away the wreckage to make room for tho one recorder that had been buried some weeks ago! An hour after it was considered safe to bring it. up—with temporary leads and switches we were speaking to Singapore, reporting all well, and the i>Tncess was repeated on Rodriguez shortly after'. The cable to Perth, which the Germans had succeeded in" cutting, proved a tougher proposition, for it was a heavy shore end, and diving for and hauling up the severed ends, with only small boats to work in,- proved no easy task; Eventually they weTO brought close together to enable the collier's lifeboat to prove its utility, for it was used as a' buoy, with an end of tho cable moored fore and aft, temporarily connected, and this afternoon we reported "All well" to Perth—not 24 limirs after the Germans had'left; On this Adelaide has been • working direct | with Durban ever since, with automatic relay at Perth and Rodriguez, 1 j.and human relay here. All that was now needed was another instrument to enable us to work with Singapore, and so be in communication with all our usual stations again. To this end; one of our electricians, with' great ingenuity, effected a combination, ■ chiefly of broken or bent bits of other instruments, but the end was accomplished. This instrument has already earned several nicknames, foremost of which is "Crazy Jane," but she works! The Germans were under the impression they had cut two cables, and were interrupted as they were starting on the third. But the second one they cut— of which they hauled up and cut off some fathoms to dump m mid-lagoon, was a dummy I When tho Sydney takes off the survivors, tie last scone will bo rung down on the "Battle of Cocos." Those that fell had a grand end, fighting a great fight, in the full conviction that during their connection with tho ship, their records had been clean and honourable, and we are glad to think the survivors will receive the consideration they have so often meted out to others. For ourselves, this historic incident will live long in the minds of all, and for months to come we will have speaking, evidence.of 1 the stirring drama that was enacted near our little island homo.
"Whore tho sea-eggs ■ flame in tho coral, and tho long-backed breakers croon, Their endless ocean legends'to the lazy locked lagoon." In a postscript our correspondent adds: — On Wednesday, November 11, the Sydney camo back here about 9 a.m., and landed our doctor, who had been off to lend a hand, and had been working practically all night. They had taken off about 140 from the Emden, and about 30 wounded, so ait loast half the ship's 'company had porished. Tho Sydney then had to go back for two who had been overlooked on the island, and after that her intentions were to transfer tho prisoners to the Empress of Asia, and to continue, I suppose, her convoy work which, had been so rudely interrupted. But bn . Friday morning (November 13) we woro greetol with tho sight of a huge three-fun-nelled steamer right in tt'he entrance, which although dark grey and with a cruiser stern, was palpably a converted warship. So it proved—she uas the Empress of Russia, a 20-knot boat of 15,000 tons —which had been given orders by tho Yarmouth to proceed down hero at onco to see that all was well, and to look out for the escaped schooner. She got orders on Tuosday morning, and she was down hore three days afterwards! Thoy have a crew of 200 comprising almost every nationality—a company of Pathans for sentry work, and tho R.G.A. to man tho guns. But she was a welcome visitor, and is patrolling the islands until about Wednesday, the 18th, when the Cadmus is expected hero and will anohor, stationed inside .the. laesflS* Jaiur^gft.,^i«a^
mg, the 14th, she again put into tho entrance and lowered a boat to put in for telegrams. She was in again yesterday (Sunday) for tho samo purpose,' but left a signalman ashore to signal any further wires. I didn't lose half so much as'l migjhit have, but they collared my dear little tvrist-wateh; they made a haul of about 10. All the time tho Maxim was staring at us I was thinking.of my fieldglasses, for they took them down from tho wall evidently, for they were lying on the long chair, still thero!
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 8
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5,170WHAT HOENED AT COCOS ISLAND Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 8
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