Forty men and three officers, with three machine
guns, were detailed by him as a landing party to destroy instruments
and cut the cables. But such a thing had been partially forestalled
by the British authorities, who had set up false cable ends. These
were destroyed by the deceived Germans. When the _Emden_ had first
made her appearance the news had been sent out by the wireless
operator on shore, not knowing what ships would pick up his calls.
This time luck was against Von Mueller, for it so happened that a
convoy of troop ships from Australia was passing within one hundred
miles. They were accompanied by the Australian cruisers _Melbourne_
and _Sydney_. The latter was dispatched to go to the Cocos Islands,
and by getting up a speed of 26 knots she reached them in less than
three hours. Von Mueller knew that escape by flight was impossible,
for his ship had been weeks at sea; her boilers were crusted, her
machinery badly in need of repair, and she had not too much coal.
He therefore decided to give battle, and went straight for the
_Sydney_ at full speed. His object was to meet her on even terms,
for her advantage was that her guns had much greater range than
those of the _Emden_. If he could get close enough he might be
able to use his torpedo tubes. But Captain Glossop of the _Sydney_
saw through this maneuver and maintained good distance between the
two ships. About the first shot from the _Emden_ killed the man
at the range finder on the fore bridge of the _Sydney_.
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