"All the time we were going at 25 and sometimes as much as 26 knots. We had the speed of the _Emden_ and fought as suited ourselves.... Best of all was to see the gun-crews fighting their guns quite unconcerned. When we were last in Sydney, we took on board three boys from the training-ship _Tingira_ who had volunteered. The captain said: 'I don't really want them, but as they are keen, I'll take them'. Now the action was only a week or two afterwards, but the two out of the three who were directly under my notice were perfectly splendid. One little slip of a boy did not turn a hair, and worked splendidly. The other boy, a very sturdy youngster, carried projectiles from the hoist to his gun throughout the action without so much as thinking of cover. I do think that for two boys absolutely new to their work they were splendid.... Coming aft the port side from the forecastle gun, I was met by a lot of men cheering and waving their caps. I said: 'What's happened?' 'She's gone, sir, she's gone!' I ran to the ship's side and no sign of a ship could I see. If one could have seen a dark cloud of smoke it would have been different. But I could see no sign of anything. So I called out: 'All hands turn out the life-boats; there will be men in the water'. They were just starting to do this when someone called out: 'She's still firing, sir,' and everyone ran back to the guns. "What had happened was, a cloud of yellow or very light-coloured smoke had obscured her from view, so that looking in her direction one's impression was that she had totally disappeared. Later we turned again and engaged her on the other broadside. By now her three funnels and her foremast had been shot away, and she was on fire aft. We turned again, and after giving her a salvo or two with the starboard guns, saw her run ashore on North Keeling Island. So at 11.20 a.m. we ceased firing, the action having lasted one hour forty minutes. Our hits were not very serious. We were 'hulled' in about three places. The shell that exploded in the boys' mess-deck, apart from ruining the poor little beggars' clothes, provided a magnificent stock of trophies. For two or three days they kept finding fresh pieces. The only important damage was the after control-platform, which is one mass of gaping holes and tangled iron, and the foremost range-finder shot away. Other hits, though 'interesting', don't signify." As for the _Emden_, she was a perfect shambles. Her voice-pipes had been shot away early in the action, and, with the exception of the forecastle, everything was wrecked on the upper deck. The German party on shore seized a schooner, the _Ayesha_, and contrived to escape to sea.