SMS Emden (1908) - The Battle With The Sydney

The Battle With The Sydney

Captain von Müller took the ship through the Sunda Strait towards the Cocos Islands, where he planned to destroy the Eastern Telegraph Company wireless station at Direction Island, thereby crippling Allied communication in the Indian Ocean. He aimed to make for Socotra afterwards and plague Allied merchant shipping on the Bombay-Aden route. However, this was not to be.

By now, no fewer than sixty Allied warships were combing the Indian Ocean in the search for the Emden. She reached Direction Island on 9 November 1914. Müller decided to send a landing party ashore under First Lieutenant Helmuth von Mücke to destroy the station's radio tower and equipment. Fifty seamen with rifles and machine guns were sent ashore. The British civilians, aware of the gallant conduct of the Emden's captain and crew, did not resist. The Emden's landing party even agreed not to knock the radio tower down over the island's tennis court.

Unfortunately for Emden, Superintendent Dover Farrant of the Eastern Telegraph Company had seen Emden's lack of a fourth funnel and had sent out a general call of a strange warship in the area. The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, armed with eight 6 inches (150 mm) guns, was dispatched at 0630 hours from an Australian troop convoy en route to Colombo. Being a mere 55 miles (89 km) north of Direction Island, she arrived there in about three hours.

When lookouts on Emden spotted the Sydney approaching, Captain von Müller had no choice but to raise anchor, leaving his landing party on Direction Island, and engage the Australian cruiser. Sydney was larger and faster than Emden and outranged her, but still the fight went on for nearly an hour and a half. Early on, Emden managed to knock out a gun on Sydney and destroy the Australian ship's rangefinder. However, Emden herself suffered serious damage, being struck over 100 times by shells from Sydney. Her firing dwindled and Captain von Müller beached Emden on North Keeling Island at 1115 hrs to avoid sinking.

At this point, Sydney left the scene to pursue a collier that had been supporting Emden. Returning at 1630 hours to the beached cruiser, Sydney's commander, Captain John Glossop, saw that Emden was still flying her battle flag, denoting her intention to continue resistance. A signal requesting surrender was sent, but was not answered. Sydney re-opened fire, causing further casualties before Emden finally struck her colours. Glossop later said that he "felt like a murderer" for ordering the last salvoes, but had no choice under the circumstances. German losses were 131 dead and 65 wounded. Captain von Müller and the rest of his crew were made prisoners of war. The officers were, however, allowed to retain their swords as a mark of honour. Sydney then steamed to Direction Island to verify the state of the wireless station and the cable. However, since it was already too dark to make a landing by then, Captain Glossop had to lie off until the next morning.

In the meantime, Lieutenant von Mücke had hoisted the Imperial German flag, declaring the island a German possession, putting all Englishmen under martial law and making arrangements for the defence of the beach, installing machine guns and having trenches dug. Having observed the battle between his ship and the Sydney, he commandeered a sailing vessel, the 123-ton, three-masted schooner Ayesha, and gave the order to sail. Although she was old and rotten, von Mücke had her repaired so well that, before sunset, all of the German landing party with their weapons boarded her and departed, navigating shallow and reef filled waters to reach his destination (Padang, Sumatra) without a single chart.