Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 50
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[Page 50]
entered Penang without opposition and on going right up the Harbour found the small Russian cruiser Zhemchug. A torpedo into her stern practically finished the Russian, but she pluckily opened fire till a second torpedo right amidships blew her to pieces. The Emden now turned to leave the harbour and encountered the French gunboat D'Iberville. Then the French destroyer Mousquet appeared out at sea and the Emden steamed fast past the D'Iberville & engaged the Mousquet. A few salvos reduced the latter to fragments. The Emden stopped to pick up the few survivors and then put out to sea and made for Cocos where she met her fate.
The foregoing is a rough outline only of the Emden cruisers gained pursuits in course of conversation with our German prisoners.
Two days after leaving Cocos the Sydney was met at sea by the Empress of Asia, one of the C.P.R. [Canadian Pacific Railways] liners, which had been taken over by the Admiralty as an armed merchantman. She had been sent out from Colombo to relieve us of such wounded as were fit to be moved. Both ships hove to in mid ocean and all the walking cases and most of the prisoners were transferred. Captain von Müller however still remained as the Captain's guest. The French crew of the Empress were at no pains to conceal their joy at having the handling of German prisoners. Memories and stories of 70 were still with them.
Congratulations soon began to pour into the ship by wireless from all corners of the earth and from all classes of people from the King downwards. The Emden had caught the public eye and had caused consternation and distress in the shipping world, and her great success as a will o' the wisp, catching ships first here and then there all over the ocean, had undoubtedly dealt a blow at our maritime prestige. For three months and more in spite of the crowd of sleuths on her trail she had eluded capture, and it was only sheer bad luck that her path and ours crossed at Cocos.