As far as the (real) Goa mission, Operation Creek, is concerned, the Calcutta Light Horse embarked on the barge "Phoebe" at Calcutta and sailed around India to Goa. After the German ship "Ehrenfels" was sunk in March 1943 by the team of British saboteurs, British intelligence dispatched an open message over the air, warning (falsely) that the British intended to invade Goa. The crews of the other two German merchant ships in the harbour, the "Drachenfels" and "Braunfels", received that message and scuttled their ships in Goa's harbour in the belief that they were protecting their ships from capture by the British. Italian ships in the harbour were also destroyed.