On the night of August 18-19, the cruiser's radio room picked up messages from a nearby German mail steamer, Princess Alice. Eager for news, Müller arranged for a rendezvous in the Palau Islands the next day. Captain Bortfeld of Princess Alice advised him that Japan had issued an ultimatum to Germany on August 15, demanding, among other things, that Germany withdraw all warships from East Asian waters. Müller correctly interpreted Japan's ultimatum as a prelude to war, but he would have to avoid Japanese ships until war was declared.

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Müller's second-in-command, 33-year-old Hellmuth von Mucke, had joined the navy as a cadet in 1900 and served in a series of assignments on shore and with torpedo boats. Like his captain, he had made a favorable impression on the naval staff in Berlin. He had joined Emden late in 1913 and had been made executive officer in June 1914. The outgoing Mucke and his reserved skipper were comfortable in their roles and made an effective team.

Müller was eager to avoid the usual steamer routes lest his ship be spotted before it reached its operational area. He navigated carefully through the numerous islands of the Dutch East Indies, heading for the Malacca Strait. To reinforce his captain's desire for anonymity, Mucke raised the possibility of a disguise for Emden. Since most British men-of-war had either two or four funnels, Mucke suggested that Emden erect a dummy fourth smokestack. Müller approved, and with wooden framing and sailcloth the ship's carpenters created a funnel that, Mucke thought, made their ship closely resemble the British Yarmouth.

Fueled and ready, Emden reached the Indian Ocean on September 6. Müller began to patrol the sea lanes, using his radio as well as lookouts to watch for ships. Several frustrating days followed. They found no ships, but false sightings brought the German cruiser's crew to action stations all too often.

At 10 p.m. on September 9, Emden's war began in earnest when Müller's lookout spotted the lights of a single-funnel steamer. The German cruiser moved closer and then fired two blank shots. When the stranger stopped, an Emden signals officer used a lamp to send a warning to the ship not to use its radio. Müller then began the standard procedure for a war on commerce at sea: He sent his prize officer, Julius Lauterbach, with an armed party to examine the stranger's papers.

The first report was disappointing. The ship in question was a Greek collier, Pontoporos, and as such was a neutral vessel. However, Lauterbach, an old merchant seaman, was well versed in maritime law. In examining the prize's papers, he discovered it was carrying more than six thousand tons of British coal to Calcutta. This made the cargo contraband of war, and Pontoporos subject to seizure or destruction. Müller had only the half-empty Markomannia as a source of fuel, and the prospect of adding another collier was too good to pass up. Equally important, keeping Pontoporos under German control meant that it would not be able to tell the world that there was a German cruiser loose in the Indian Ocean.

Müller called the Greek skipper onto Emden's bridge to discuss his situation, offering to hire his ship on contract. The Greek could hardly refuse, and Emden now headed a three-ship flotilla. Its presence still unknown to the enemy, Emden resumed its search. The fox was in the chicken coop.

On September 10, Müller stopped the thirty-four-hundred-ton Indus, which turned out to be a horse transport on its way to Bombay for cargo. The Germans relieved Indus of various supplies, notably soap and beer, before sinking it with shellfire. The following afternoon Emden stopped a larger horse transport, Lovatt. Like Indus, it was in ballast. When it proved difficult to sink the transport by opening its seacocks, Müller sank Lovatt with shellfire.

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