Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 84
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[Page 84]
to await the coming of the colliers from the east which eastward which were now due.
We anchored in the shelter of the reef which lies in a sort of horseshoe with a deep channel at the open end.
Once inside we could only get out one way.
We were nearly out of coal and could not have moved had any an enemy appeared, whiffs of German wireless still came over the sea, and we trained our guns out and prepared to put up as good a scrap as possible tho we felt like a sitting rabbit on a grass bare plain.
To help us and ease our minds, that first evening within the reef we got a wireless from the Admiral 700 miles further South saying that he had reason to believe the German squadron was making North again and would we please take all necessary steps.
Our steps consisted of sitting like fools without coal, unable to move and praying that if the Germans saw us they would run.
Next day there were still no signs of our colliers and one began to think that the Huns had collared them. They were two funny old buses which could neither fight nor run.
We still lay helpless within the reef and were now in constant communication with the flagship Carnarvon. Rear Admiral Stoddart, who lay some hundreds of miles with his squadron at Abrolhos rocks some seven hundred miles to the south, just east of Rio.
Every hour almost we got fresh rumours of the Germans and were beginning to feel unhappy. The Carnarvon could not help us she had hit a sunken rock and lay aground with an 80 ft hole in