The operators of these stations made their reports regularly through various channels to the Embassy. There the messages were sorted, and it is safe to say that Count von Bernstorff was cognizant of the position of every ship on the oceans. He was in possession of both the French and British secret admiralty codes. In the light of that fact, the manoeuvres of the British and German fleets in the South Atlantic and Pacific became simply a game of chess, Germany following every move of the British fleet under Admiral Cradock, knowing the identity of his ships, their gun-power, and their speed. When she located the _Good Hope_, _Monmouth_, _Glasgow_ and _Otranto_ off Coronel, Berlin, through von Bernstorff, gave Admiral von Spee the word to strike, with the results which we have observed: the sinking of the _Monmouth_ and _Good Hope_, and the crippling of the _Glasgow_ and _Otranto_. Throughout August, September and October, 1914, the system operated perfectly. Bernstorff and Boy-Ed were confronted with the problem of keeping the German fleet alive as long as possible, and inflicting as much damage as possible on enemy shipping. Allied merchantmen left port almost with impunity, and were gathered in by German raiders who had been informed from Washington of the location of their prey. But the defeat off Chile apparently was conclusive proof to England that Germany knew her naval code, and the events of November and December indicate that England changed her code. It was while engaged in escort duty to the first transport fleet of the Australian Expeditionary Force that the Australian cruiser _Sydney_ received wireless signals from Cocos Island shrieking that the _Emden_ was near by. The _Emden_, having been deprived for some time of news of enemy ships, had gone there to destroy the wireless station, having in the past three months sunk some $12,500,000 of British shipping. Even while the island's distress signals were crashing out, the _Emden_ had her own wireless busy in an effort to drown the call for help, or "jam" the air. On the following morning, November 9, the _Sydney_ came up with the enemy. A sharp action followed. The _Sydney's_ gunfire was accurate enough to cause the death of 7 officers and 108 men; her own losses were 4 killed and 12 wounded; the _Emden_ fled, ran aground on North Keeling Island, one of the Cocos group, and ultimately became a total wreck.