Keeling Cocos Islands and the Destruction of the German Raider Emden in 1914. Facsimile reprint. With a note P. Kratoska
C. Clunies-Ross’s undated typescript of 10 November 1914, reprinted here as a facsimile with an editor’s note by Paul Kratoska in JMBRAS (2025), provides a rare civilian eyewitness account of the Battle of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, in which the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney destroyed the German raider SMS Emden. Written from the vantage point of the cable station on Direction Island, the document captures the immediate aftermath of the engagement—the medical evacuation, the surrender ceremony, the funeral at sea, and the long-term fate of the wreck—offering a ground-level perspective that complements the official naval narrative.
Summary
The document is a three-page typescript bound into a photograph album of the Emden taken shortly after the action. Clunies-Ross, a civilian resident of the Cocos Islands (which had been granted to his family by Queen Victoria in 1886 and were part of the Straits Settlements from 1903), was called upon by Dr. Illerhead of the cable station to serve as a medical assistant when the Sydney arrived seeking help for the Emden’s wounded crew. His account traces his movements from the moment the Sydney anchored at 9 a.m. through the transfer of the German crew, the surrender of Captain von Müller on the quarterdeck, and the subsequent steaming westward to avoid the German cruiser Nuremberg, which was believed to be in the area.
The narrative then shifts to Clunies-Ross’s observations of the battle itself, which he watched from the roof of the cable bungalow some 25–30 feet above sea level. He records the range at which the action commenced and closed, the volume of shells fired by each side, and the remarkable fact that most of the Emden’s shells failed to explode despite striking the Sydney. He also recounts the behaviour of the Emden’s landing party, which had been sent ashore to destroy the cable station’s communications facilities, noting that they asked permission before taking clothing and did not appropriate personal property or money.
The account concludes with the long-term disposition of the wreck. Clunies-Ross records that during 1916–17 the wreck was dismantled and the guns salvaged for the Australian Government, and that by 1920 only boilers and a portion of the hull remained visible at low tide, the rest having been destroyed by the heavy rollers of the Indian Ocean. The document is thus both an immediate wartime record and a longitudinal observation spanning roughly six years.
Key Findings
- The Sydney fired approximately 560 rounds of 6-inch shells; the Emden fired nearly 900 rounds of 4.6-inch shells and one torpedo, which narrowly missed the Sydney (p. 93).
- The Sydney suffered 3 killed and 11 wounded (including one officer, Lt. Hampden); the Emden lost nearly three-quarters of her complement killed, with half of the remainder wounded, some severely burned (p. 93).
- The action commenced at a range of approximately 10,000 yards and closed to 4,500 yards under bright morning conditions with a light easterly breeze and smooth sea (p. 93).
- The Emden’s first shot struck the range finder on the Sydney’s bridge, completely wrecking it and killing the petty officer operating it, but the shell passed through the canvas screen and overboard without exploding—a pattern repeated by numerous subsequent hits (p. 93).
- During 1916–17 the wreck was dismantled and the guns salvaged for the Australian Government, reportedly installed in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane; by 1920 only boilers and a portion of the hull were visible at low tide (p. 93).
- HMS Cadmus, a China Squadron gunboat, arrived to search the Emden’s wreck and buried a number of bodies washed ashore on Keeling Island in a single grave (p. 93).
Conclusion
Clunies-Ross’s account is significant as one of only two recorded instances in which civilians were spectators to a naval battle (the other being the action off the Falkland Islands). His perspective as a resident of the cable station—simultaneously a medical volunteer, a bridge observer, and a rooftop spectator—provides a granular, human-scale record of the engagement that official dispatches do not capture, particularly regarding the conduct of the German landing party and the physical aftermath of the wreck over the following years.
Context
- The typescript was bound into a photograph album credited to C. (probably Cosmo) Clunies-Ross, which found its way into the History Department library at the National University of Singapore; when the university eliminated all department libraries in the 1990s, the album was among items left for staff to take (p. 91).
- Paul Kratoska’s editor’s note situates the document within the broader campaign of the Emden, including its 28 October 1914 sinking of the Russian warship Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet near Penang, and its 9 November destruction after the Sydney responded to a distress signal sent by the cable station’s radio operator before the German landing party arrived (p. 91).