Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 76
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[Page 76]
A few hours after we had left the convoy, smoke was observed ahead on the horizon, and ere long a large ship was observed hull down, - not knowing what ship this may be, and quite possibly we thought it may be the German cruiser "Konigsberg" our Captain ordered us to 'Action Stations', - everybody became very excited because we really thought our turn had arrived to do a bit, - shells were very hurriedly sent on deck hoses rigged and decks awash, guns fully manned and trained, everything ready for the order to open fire, but we suddenly received a shock when the Bugler sounded "Cease Fire" and return stores.
We went on deck to discover who may have caused all this alarm and found it to be the Auxillary Cruiser Empress of Asia now very near to us, and she reported as being on her way to Cocos Islands to salvage part of "Emden's" movable gear if possible and at 5 PM we passed another of her class of ships this time the "Empress of Russia" en route to escort convoy to Colombo
At 8 PM we met and passed H.M.S. "Hampshire"