Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 255
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[Page 255]
to be in full communication again with the outside world by nightfall. We borrowed the cable station medical officer Dr Ollerhead, and then steamed for North Keeling Island, about fifteen miles away, to fulfil our promise to come to the Emden and render assistance. She was still on the beach, and flying signals of distress. A boat's crew with an officer went across to interview Captain von Müller and to offer all assistance and a passage to Colombo provided he gave his parole. We were assured that it was impossible by the Kaiser's command for any German naval officer to give his parole; but when it was explained that all that was asked was a guarantee that the Germans would do nothing to imperil the Sydney, Captain von Müller readily agreed, and the work of succour began. The sea all around was strewn with bodies either blown or thrown overboard, and the sharks were busy with their horrid feast. Hundreds of sea-birds too floated round the ship, all killed one presumes by the blast of the guns. There was a nasty swell on, and the seas kept breaking over the Emden's poop, making doubly difficult the work of our boats. The transfer of the wounded began about eleven in the morning and went on all day. There were between sixty and seventy badly wounded men, and as each man had to be lashed into a bamboo and canvas stretcher on the Emden's deck, lowered into our boats, rowed across, and hoisted into the Sydney with a derrick, the work was necessarily slow.
The decks of the Emden were a shambles. The steel plates were rent and torn out of all recognition. There were