On 9 November 1914, the Royal Australian Navy light cruiser defeated "Emden" forcing her to run aground in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Battle of Cocos. Unaware of this, "Buresk" approached the islands to coal "Emden" again, then attempted to flee when she sighted "Sydney". "Sydney" chased her down, and her crew was in the process of scuttling her when a "Sydney" boarding party came aboard. The boarding party found that her inlet valves had been opened and irreparably damaged. "Sydney" then sank her with gunfire.