S. _Melbourne_, at 6.30 a.m.
on Monday, Nov. 9th, a wireless message from Cocos was heard reporting
that a foreign warship was off the entrance. I was ordered to raise
steam for full speed at 7.0 a.m. and proceeded thither. I worked up to
twenty knots, and at 9.15 a.m. sighted land ahead and almost immediately
the smoke of a ship, which proved to be the H.I.G.M.S. _Emden_ coming
out towards me at a great rate. At 9.40 a.m. fire was opened, she firing
the first shot. I kept my distance as much as possible to obtain the
advantage of my guns. Her fire was very accurate and rapid to begin
with, but seemed to slacken very quickly, all casualties occurring in
this ship almost immediately. First, the foremost funnel of her went,
secondly the foremast, and she was badly on fire aft, then the second
funnel went, and lastly the third funnel, and I saw she was making for
the beach on North Keeling Island, where she grounded at 11.20 a.m. I
gave her two more broadsides and left her, to pursue a merchant ship
which had come up during the action.
Pages:
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429