Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 252
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[Page 252]
The ship then steamed off, and was put into fighting trim lest the Telefunken wireless which had been filling the air should prove to be from the Kõnigsberg, a German cruiser which, had we known it, was then safely tucked away up the Refugi [Rufiji] River in German East Africa. The Germans from the Buresk had admitted under cross-examination that a landing party was ashore at Direction Island destroying the wireless and cable station, and its strength was given as one officer and twelve men; so in the early morning the Sydney stood in to the island to investigate. An armed boat's crew from the ship, with the first lieutenant in charge and a maxim in the bows, put in to the little cove which does duty as a harbour. The remaining German officer on board the Sydney steadfastly refused to go ashore and act as interpreter, and for a very good reason as it afterwards turned out; for the German landing force resolved itself into two officers, forty men and four maxims, a nasty handful for our one boat's crew to meet; and no doubt the Hun on our quarterdeck was chuckling at the thought of what was awaiting that unsuspecting boat's crew as it neared the beach. To his chagrin however nothing happened, and our people got ashore to find that the Germans had commandeered the Ayesha, the cable station schooner, and in the dusk of the previous evening had put to sea. It was a merciful escape for our men, for with four maxims hidden near the landing stage it is doubtful if any in our crowded boat would have made the beach alive.