On 12 January 1917, "Encounter" was ordered to New Zealand, where she met a convoy of Australian and New Zealand troopships. The cruiser remained with the convoy until a rendezvous point in the Indian Ocean, where responsibility was handed over to ships of the East Indies Station. On 6 July, "Encounter" assisted SS "Cumberland", which had struck a mine off Gabo Island. In August, the cruiser assisted in the search for the missing merchantman SS "Matunga"; it was not known until 1918 that she had been a victim of the German raider . The ship visited Mopelia Island in September 1917, to search for the wreck of the German raider .