Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 293
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[Page 293]
problem arose how it was to be done. This programme meant a speed of something in the neighbourhood of twenty knots, a not inordinate task for a ship like the Sydney built to do twenty-five and more; but with every knot over sixteen the coal consumption goes in bounds, and we had the option of arriving with almost empty bunkers and the possibility of fighting an action where our maximum speed would be desirable, or of slowing down and turning up late for the party. However, we pushed on and risked it.
The weather was hot, we had had no mail for months, there was nothing to read on board, and it rained every night; so we sweated and cursed and tried to sleep while the ship hurried south. On the night of the 18th we crossed the equator and entered the Southern Hemisphere again, and the Southern Cross was a friendly sight in the sky. The next night, only for the urgency of our mission and the shortage of coal, we might have taken the Bangor, a ship suspected of carrying stores for the enemy; but fortunately she was held up and searched a few days later by the Bristol south of the River Plate, found to be stuffed full of stores for the Dresden - the only ship which had got away from Sturdee, - and taken it into the Falklands as a prize. All the night of the 19th the air was stiff with the Telefunken wireless - the German brand - and the scent seemed pretty hot; but when we arrived all hair and teeth at the rendezvous early next morning we found nothing except the lonely barren circle of reef. There was not a sign of smoke on the horizon, and the Sydney had done her sprint in vain.