During the night of 8–9 November, "Emden" sailed to Direction Island. At 06:00 on 9 November, the ship anchored in the Cocos lagoon, deployed a steam pinnace (to tow a 50-strong landing party in two boats, led by "Emden"s first officer, Hellmuth von Mücke, ashore), and transmitted the coded summons for "Buresk". The ship was spotted by off-duty personnel at the cable and wireless station, and although the ship was initially suspected to be "Minotaur", the station's medical officer observed that the foremost funnel was false, and informed superintendent Darcy Farrant that it may be "Emden" in the bay. Farrant ordered the telegraphist on duty (already alerted by the German's coded signal) to begin transmitting a distress call by wireless and cable. "Emden" was able to jam the wireless signal shortly after it began, while the cable distress call continued until an armed party burst into the transmission room. "Minotaur" heard the wireless call and acknowledged, but von Müller was unconcerned, as the signal strength indicated that "Minotaur" was at least 10 hours away. Von Mücke instructed Farrant to surrender the keys to the station's buildings and any weapons, which the superintendent handed over, along with news that the Kaiser had announced awards for "Emden"s actions at Penang.