THE SYDNEY' AND THE

A DUEL to the death between two ships of war always captures IAA_ the imagination relatively more than an affair on a much larger scale between many ships. One need not look far for a reason ; a fight between two men in a ring is more exciting than a mob row in which many crowns are broken. The fate of nations may hang on a Fleet action, and one could never say that by any stretch of exaggeration of a naval duel Still, the fact remains that the duel has spectacular advantages, at all events for those who only read of the fight in history. We see, as it were, the personalities of the rival Captains engaged, and the worth of one ship matched against the worth of the other without any possibility of the event being affected by extraneous influences. It is for this reason that casual readers of history who have forgotten much about, the battles of Hawke and Blake, and even of Nelson, remember the duel between the Shannon' and the Chesapeake' in 1813. The ',Shannon' had only thirty-eight guns against the 'Chesapeake's' fifty, but in eleven minutes the Chesapeake' surrendered to the more skilful British fighter. It is true that the flattering duel came- just at the right moment to redress a certain humiliation in Britain which had been caused by the discomfiture of some of our ships by the enterprising American seamen. But people remember little of this adventitious setting of the picture. They simply look upon the affair as an example of a good fight won by the better man in unequal conditions. " The Shannon' was always an un- assuming ship," said her Captain by way of excuse when he refused the invitation to a public banquet in his honour. But the invitation stands on record to express the feeling of the public about a naval duel fought without favour and certainly without fear.

Much in the same way individual duels in the present war stand out : the destruction of the Wilhelm der Grosse' by the ' High- flier,' the destruction of the Cap Trafalgar' by the Carmania,, the destruction of the Pegasus' by the Konigsberg' in Zanzibar Harbour when the former was under repair and helpless, and the de- struction of the famous commerce-destroyer Emden' by the 'Sydney.' The nearest thing in this war to a duel under equal conditions Iris that between the Cunarder Carmania,' which had become an auxiliary cruiser, and the auxiliary cruiser ' Cap Trafalgar,' ill& used to belong to the Hamburg-Slid-Amerika line. The ' Cap Trafalgar' was sunk at the end of an action lasting an hour and three-quarters. But the duel between the '.,Sydney' and the Emden,' though the conditions were unequal, was the most important duel in the war, because it lasaught to an end the depredations of -the most skilful and ingenious German - Captain who sailed the great trade routes to our injury. In the December number of the Cornhill Magazine there is a detailed account of this action of exceptional interest by " Bennet Copplestone." It is not only written vividly ; it is written with intimate knowledge, and it supplies us with the very chart of the action which the victorious andthe vanquished Captains themselves drew when they fought their battle over again on paper in the cabin of the ' Sydney.'

It was a pure piece of luck which brought the Sydney' to the Cocos-Keeling Islands on November 8th, 1914, just- when the

Emden ' under the command of Captain von Muller was destroying the wireless station at Direction Island. A fleet of transports was coming from Australia under the charge of Captain Silver, of the Australian light cruiser Melbourne.' There were two other ships of war with the transports—a Japanese light cruiser and the Sydney,' commanded by Captain Glossop. A message reporting the appearance of an enemy ship came from the wireless station on Direction Island. For all the operators knew it was discharged across an empty ocean. But Captain Silver received it barely fifty miles away, and he at once sent Captain Glossop to the islands to see what was happening. As the Sydney' raced towards the islands another message was picked up. The enemy had sent a. boat ashore at Direction Island. The message suddenly stopped- Evidently the wireless station had been raided.

At twenty thousand yards from the island the ' Sydney' sighted the unmistakable three funnels of the Emden.' Certainly there was no comparison between the two ships now preparing for action.

The Sydney,' completed in 1913 for the Australian unit, is of five thousand six hundred tons, she can steam at twenty-five knotso and she carries eight six-inch guns which fire shells weighing a hundred pounds each. The Emden's ' ten guns were of 4-1 inchea.• and fired shells weighing only thirty-eight pounds. Moreover, the Emden' was foul from having cruised for over three months,

in warm waters and her utmost speed was sixteen knots. Never- theless the Emden' made a tremendous and most dashing bid for success.

Leaving her raiding party ashore, the Emden ' came straight out of harbour and made for the Sydney.' She astonished her opponents by opening fire at the very long range (for her guns) of ten thousand five hundred yards, or six land miles. Captain von Mailer's first salvo was only a hundred yards short. His next went oven With his third he began to hit—wonderful shooting..

His shells fell steeply at that range, but the Sydney's' ranges finder was wrecked -and the operator killed. Captain Glossop, who

had preferred to take his station on the upper bridge instead of in the conning.tower, was saved by a margin of six feet from giving place to his second in command, who, according to the usual pre- caution, was tucked away in comparative safety " like some precious egg in cotton-wool." Two or three shells hit the after control; wounded every one inside, and put it out of action. Captain Glossop fortunately had already found his range when his range-finder was wrecked, and his Gunnery Lieutenant was able to keep the.range by careful spotting and rate of change observations. The Sydney,.

having an absolute superiority in speed, was able to manoeuvre so as to keep out to about eight thousand yards and maintain an almost • constant rate of change. During the first quarter of an , hour she was hit ten times, but afterwards not at all. Captain von Mtiller's splendid challenge had failed. Afterwards it was only a question of knocking his ship to pieces.

We shall not summarize. all " Bennet Copplestone's " very precise narrative of the action. It should be read in full. Enough to say here that at the end of three-quarters of an hour the Emden' had lost two funnels and her foremast, and was so badly sure that

at times only the top of her mainmast could be seen amid clouds of steam and smoke. Her guns still fired occasionally, and their short yellow flashes could be distinguished from the long dark red flames of the bursting lyddite sent across by the ' Sydney.' Ulti- mately Captain von Muller put his ship ashore on North Keeling Island. In the course of the fight the ' Emden' had covered 'about thirty-five miles and the speedier Sydney' about fifty. Perhaps most people do not understand how very little one would see of • modern naval fight from land even if it began under one's eyes. We must quote the description of the end of the ' Emden' when she lay ashore :— " The foremast and funnels were gone, the brave ship was a tang1

of broken steel fore and aft, but the mainmast still stood and.upon it floated the naval ensign of Germany. Until that 'flag had been struck

the ' Sydney' could not send in a boat.or deal with the crew as sur- rendered prisoners. Captain Gloseop is the kindliest of men, it went against all his instincts to fire at that wreck upon which the forms of survivors could be seen moving about, but his duty compelled him .to force von Muller into submission. For a quarter of an hour he Dens messages by International code and Morse flag signals, but the German ensign remained floating aloft. As von Milner would not surrender he must be compelled, and compelled quickly and thoroughly. In order to make sure work the Sydney.' approached to within 4,000 yards. trained four guns upon the ' Emden,' and then when the aim was steady and certain smashed her from end to end. The destruction

must have been frightful, and it is probable that von obstinacy cost his crow greater casualties than the whole previous action. . . . The ' Emden was in a frightful state. She was burned out aft, her decks were piled with the wreck of three funnels and the foremast, and within her small space of 3,500 tons, seven officers and 115 mea had been killed by high-explosive shell and splinters."

Those who read the article in the Cornhill will find a pretty story of the chivalry of some of the ' Sydney's' company in rescuing to abstain from meat or anything else for the sake of our beloved country if once we were persuaded it was really necessary. But the pettifogging "suggestions " and " requests " leave us cold when we know that the great leakage, the worse than waste, is not in food at all but in drink! When we see the magnums of champagne and the liqueurs and cocktails disappear from every restaurant table and have total prohibition for the duration of the war and six months after—we will believe! Try us. And let the prohibi- tion extend to the British Army, where in many an officers' mess

young subalterns are being taught to drink.—I am, Sir, Sic., X.