Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 263
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[Page 263]
CHAPTER 5.
From Cocos to Gibraltar
While the Sydney had been busy at Cocos, the convoy in charge of the Melbourne had been steadily pushing on towards Colombo where it was due on the morning of the sixteenth. The Sydney hurried on at eighteen knots to rejoin, and Captain Gordon Smith signalled the request that she should pass through the convoy in daytime to enable the ships to make a demonstration; but out of respect for the many maimed and wounded enemies on board and our defeated prisoners, Captain Glossop asked that there should be no cheering, and the Sydney slipped through the transports before the dawn of the sixteenth and made Colombo just after breakfast. The New Zealanders, having the faster ships, had already arrived, and in spite of orders the soldiers climbed the rigging and cheered madly. The Germans, seeing our troops for the first time, remarked "Poor wretches, they will all soon be killed, they will never stand up to our Prussians;' and these were the men who afterwards became the famous Anzacs!
Colombo harbour seemed full of ships, though we were