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Diegogarcia

Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarized atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to find it and it was then settled by the French in the 1790s and transferred to British rule after the Napoleonic Wars. It was one of the "Dependencies" of the British Colony of Mauritius until the Chagos Islands were detached for inclusion in the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965.

Diego Garcia in "Last Flight of the Swan of the East"[]

When the German leviathan SMS Emden visited Diego Garcia on 9 October 1914, the island's only inhabitants were an English plantation manager and his assistant. They didn't have a wireless, and didn't know about the Great War. While Britain was still neutral, the Emden's commerce raids had irritated the British, and they wanted the Emden captured or destroyed. Thus, Karl von Müller, the Emden's captain, ordered his crew to revealing the truth to the Englishman.

The Emden stayed at Diego Garcia for a few days. There were no women, but there was plenty of beer, and the beaches were lovely. After a few days rest, the Emden took off again.[1]

References[]

  1. Leviathans: Armored Skies, pgs. 332-333, loc. 4795-4816, ebook.
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