Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 76
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[Page 76]
of a life belt or two some clothing and an odd spar or two was not sufficient to allow us to presume her loss. At most it did not necessarily mean more than the loss of a boats crew & some damage caused by a heavy sea.
The best guide we had was the absence of ships reported missing. We had lost nothing in the middle and South Atlantic for nearly two months and if the Karlsruhe was still afloat she was probably well hidden up the Orinoco or Amazon doing a refit.
Still this ship was our raison d'etre in these waters and our lawful prey and we were bound to follow up every scent and the scent led us many trackless and fruitless miles as the story will show.
On the way to Trinidad the Sydney searched the coast of Venezuela looking into the numerous inlets and exploring the backwaters at the mouths of the Amazon and Orinoco but there was no sign or tidings of our enemy.
The mouth of the Amazon is a dreary waste of muddy water surrounded by marshes and the Sydney on more than one occasion went perilously near running ashore in the shallows. After combing the coast of the neighbouring islands and looking in at Marajo we arrived in Port of Spain Trinidad on Feb 10th.
The Harbour here is not good and deep sea ships lie a mile and a half off the town.
Trinidad as everyone knows is a biggish island off the mouth of the Orinoco and near the Venezuelan coast and across the strip of water which separates the places a live and bustling smuggling trade is carried on, by which the niggers earn their daily bread.
The island has gone ahead enormously lately