The remainder of the night passed without disturbance and as first light broke on November 11 the Automedon was some 250 miles off the north-western tip of Sumatra.

As the Automedon steamed on the outline of a ship came into view off the port bow. Captain Ewan was called to the bridge, after much deliberation it was surmised the vessel to be of Dutch origin, this was a fatal error of judgement.

Unfortunately for Auomedon, it was the infamous German Raider Atlantis, or as the Royal Navy knew her (Ship-16). 

A ship disguised as being a civil one, but with armaments that were concealed. In a matter of hours Automedon would be their next victim.

With Automedon at 2,000yds the Raider fired salvo after salvo into the Auotomedon, destroying her emergency dynamo house and causing damage throughout the ship, seconds later the Germans jammed the distress call.

The Germans wasted little time in boarding their prize. The leader of the party was First Lieutenant, Ulrich Mohr.

The crew of the raider went below decks and searched through the booty. They soon found the Despatch pouch.

The German raiders captain noting the contents of the Dispatch pouch and viewing their contents sent a highly detailed four-part cipher telegram to Naval H/Q Berlin.

After making copies of the COS Appreciation, he entrusted the original documents with a courier, who journeyed by train through Russia (then still neutral) onto Germany.

After scrupulous examination by relevant authorities a copy was sent to Captain Yokai, the Japanese Naval Attaché in Berlin.

On the 12^th December 1940 he despatched a summary of contents to the Chief of Third Section, Naval Staff in Tokyo which stated: 

From: Naval Attaché in Berlin.  To: Chief, Third Section Naval General Office Tokyo. 

I have received from the German Navy the minutes of a meeting of the British Cabinet held on 15 August this year dealing with operations against Japan. The document will be sent by the next courier; meanwhile here are the main points: