Able Seaman Robert Croydon McComas (Montrose), HMAS Sydney: Is part of the crew of the HMAS Sydney when they engage in a naval battle with the German ship Emden. The enemy ship is run aground on the Cocos Islands and captured. He later writes to his family saying: ‘if ever I was proud to be an Australian it was the day we captured the Emden’.
Pte Archie ‘Smiler’ Williams (Lilydale), 8th Battalion: On board the HMAS Benalla, in a letter to his mother:‘We got a wireless that the Sydney, one of our convoy, had sighted the German cruiser Emden, which had been causing much trouble in the Indian Ocean. At 6.00am that morning she gave chase, and got within range at 9.50am and opened fire, and in twenty minutes the Emden was so disabled that she had to be beached on one of the Cocos Islands. Later in the day the Sydney captured a collier of the enemy’s and after taking off her crew, sank her’.
Pte Ralph Goode (Lilydale), 2nd Field Ambulance: On board the HMAS Wiltshire, from his diary – ‘A very exciting day ‘HMAS Sydney’ sailed west at full speed. 10am attack alarm sounded, our stern guns cleared ready for action. We are fifteen miles east of the Cocos Island.
11.00am message to say ‘HMAS Sydney’ in action, great excitement on board.
11.30am another message saying the ‘Sydney’ had smashed the boat, which had been beached on Cocos Island to save sinking. Another message saying boat is ‘Emden’, great rejoicing and cheering, also that two killed and thirteen wounded on ‘Sydney’, which put a damper on our celebrations.
It was a great sight when the Japanese cruiser, which is with us, sailed across our bows at full speed with all guns cleared for action to help the ‘Melbourne’ protect our west flank in case the ‘Sydney’ had more than she could manage. She was so close that we could see the men at the guns. There is another German cruiser about called the ‘Konigsberg’, so things are a bit exciting at night. We were approx two thousand miles from Australia’.