In a letter to his mother Lieutenant Dimmer wrote a brief account of how he won the V.C. on November 12, 1914, at Klein Zillebeke. He says: "Here is how it all happened. On Thursday last, at about one o'clock, we were suddenly attacked by the Prussian Guards. They shelled us unmercifully, and poured in a perfect hail of bullets at a range of about 100 yards. I got my Maxims going, but they smashed one up almost immediately, and then turned all their attention to the gun I was with, and succeeded in smashing that too; butbefore they completed the job I had been twice wounded, and was finally knocked out with the gun. My face is spattered with pieces of my gun and pieces of shell, and I have a bullet in my face and four small holes in my right shoulder. It made rather a nasty mess of me at first, but now that I am washed and my wounds dressed I look quite right."
Lieutenant Dimmer's commanding officer declared that by holding on to his gun after he had been shot five times, he saved the whole battalion, if not the whole line, on at least three occasions.
I have told you Lieutenant Dimmer's story thus fully because it shows very clearly how a man of grit and ability and devotion can win his way by sheer merit in the British army. In the German army, as you know, only men of a certain social class are appointed as officers. Major Dimmer (to which rank he was subsequently promoted) is only one of thousands who have risen from the ranks to distinction in the service of Britain. The story of his career and of how he won the highest award of valour sets a fine example to all young soldiers.
Bandsman Thomas Edward Rendle, 1st Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. In time of war bandsmen serve as stretcher-bearers, and their duty is to convey the wounded from the field of battle to the dressing stations and ambulances. How Bandsman Rendle won the Victoria Cross on 20th November, at a village about a mile and a half west of Messines, is best told in the words of an officer of the Cornwalls:—
"Two shells pitched into the trench only about thirty yards from me, and blew ten men to pieces. They also blew down the front part of the trench, and the earth filled up the dug-out part. This was very annoying, as it divided our trench into two parts, and made it impossible to get from one half to the other without running across this open piece of ground, about five or six yards wide. Of course, the Germans realized this at once, and put up a machine gun to cover this space, so that any one who crossed it carried his life very much in his hands.
"Lieutenant Colebrook was shot that afternoon, in that part of the trench which had no communications. He asked for me, so I went along to him. This meant that I had to cross the gap, but luckily they failed to hit me. We decided itwas quite impossible to move him until dark, as there was no way of getting him across the gap; so I sat down to chat with him, when suddenly the Germans started again with their shells.
"The first two went over the trench, but the next one pitched just in front and buried me with mud. This I thought was a bit too much, so I said that Colebrook must be got away. I was called away to the other end of the trench for a few minutes. In the meantime Bandsman Rendle, one of the stretcher-bearers, lay on his stomach in the gap under fire, and tried to clear the earth out of the original trench to get a safe path for Lieutenant Colebrook to pass. But another shell came that decided him to risk it. So he took Colebrooke on his back, and wormed his way across the open space on his stomach, getting him to the right half of the trench, where it was all plain sailing, and from which Colebrook was sent back to battalion headquarters."
Naik[118]Darwan Sing Negí, 1st Battalion, 39th Garhwal Rifles. Less than a month after Sepoy Khudadad won the Victoria Cross, another Indian soldier proved himself so supremely brave that the highest award of valour was given to him. On the night of the 23rd-24th November, near Festubert, the Garhwal Rifles were engaged in retaking trenches and clearing the enemy out of them. Naik Darwan Sing Negí greatly distinguished himself in this work. He was one of the first to push round each successive traverse, and though wounded in two places in the head and also in the arm, he fought on in spite of severe fire from bombs and rifles at the closest range. Great was the naik's delight when his Majesty himself pinned the cross to his breast.
Lieutenant Frank Alexander de Pass, 34th Prince Albert Victor's Own Poona Horse. Near Festubert, on 24th November, Lieutenant de Pass entered a German sap[119]and destroyed a traverse in the face of the enemy's bombs. Subsequently he rescued under heavy fire a wounded man who was lying exposed in the open. Unhappily this gallant officer lost his life on the same day in a second attempt to capture the sap, which had been reoccupied by the enemy.
About the year 1880 the rulers of Germany began to think of founding a colonial empire. There were many reasons why it seemed to them advisable that they should extend their dominion overseas. Germany had become a great manufacturing nation, and she needed new markets in which to sell her surplus goods, and tropical lands which would give her large and cheap supplies of the raw material for making them. Further, many of her people, anxious to better themselves, were emigrating to America,[120]where they were lost to Germany. It was thought that, had she possessed colonies, Germans would have settled in them instead of going to America, and thus would not have reduced the strength of the Fatherland. Many patriotic Germans wished to see their country a great naval power, and they knew that colonies could neither be obtained nor maintained without a big navy. They, therefore, were in favour of colonial expansion, becauseit would force Germany to become powerful on the seas.
About this time the attention of the world was specially directed to Africa. The travels of Livingstone[121]and Stanley[122]and other explorers, British, French, German, and Italian, were revealing the "Dark Continent" as a new sphere for the expansion of the European Powers. Almost immediately they began to "peg out their claims." A number of clever writers in Germany began to point out to their fellow-countrymen that unless they set up a colonial empire they would be left behind in the race. Before long they had persuaded the people that overseas trade, ships of war, and colonies were the three things that Germany must provide herself with, or be content to continue as a second-rate Power. Most of the writers thought that colonies could be obtained in a lawful way, but a historian[123]who had great influence on the ruling classes taught openly that the best method of winning a colonial empire was to defeat and despoil Britain. This teaching suited the German mind exactly, and gradually it gained such ground that it became almost a national policy.
In 1886 what is known as the "great scramble for Africa" began, and Germany played her part in it. In Eastern Africa her explorers had made many important discoveries, and as far back as 1860 one of them said, "I am persuaded that in a short time a colony established in East Africa would be most successful, and after two or three years would become self-supporting." Not, however, until 1884 was an attempt made to set up a German colony in this part of the world. In that year three German political agents, in the disguise of needy travellers, crossed over from Zanzibar to the mainland, and began making treaties by which the local chiefs signed away their country.
Some of these treaties were not worth the paper they were written on, for the chiefs were vassals of the Sultan of Zanzibar, who was under British protection. Nevertheless, a German fleet was sent to Zanzibar, and the Sultan was forced, at a price of £200,000, to yield up his territory on the mainland from Cape Delgado to a line drawn from the mouth of the Umbe River to the Victoria Nyanza. The British afterwards proclaimed a protectorate over the remainder of the Sultan's African dominions.
At the beginning of the present war German East Africa covered an area of 364,000 square miles—that is, it was almost double the size of Germany, and had an estimated population of over 7½ millions, the whites numbering a little over 5,000. From the low-lying coast lands it rises to lofty and irregular mountains, which form the outer buttress of a plateau some 3,000 or 4,000 feet in height. From the middle of this plateau streams are thrown off north to the Victoria Nyanza,[124]west to Lake Tanganyika,[125]and east to the Indian Ocean. Parts of this plateau are mere desert, waterless and scrub-covered, with loose shingle, dried-up water-courses, and bare, fantastic rocks. Other parts are well watered and fertile, and in these favourable regions the Germans have developed agriculture greatly. Prior to the war, rubber, copal, bark, fibre, teak, mahogany, coffee, tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, etc., were largely grown and exported; gold, coal, graphite, iron, salt, and precious stones were mined; and ivory was obtained from the elephants, which still roam the forests in large numbers. When the war began, German East Africa was making good and steady progress.
The Germans did not win the colony without considerable fighting with the natives, and one of the risings which took place in 1904 cost East Africa the lives of about 120,000 men, women, and children. The Germans have no genius for dealing with natives; their brutal, blustering methods are certain to provoke strife wherever they obtain a foothold. They have, however, a genius for organizing, and this is seen in thetowns which they have built, and the eight fairly good harbours which they have constructed on the coast. The name of the capital, Dar-es-Salaam, means "the harbour of peace;" it is a good port and a delightful place. German East Africa suffered a great shock when the Uganda railway was built by the British and the trade of the lake region was thus captured. The Germans replied by building two lines which gave the quickest access to British Central Africa and to the Southern Congo.
The most valuable colonies of Germany, however, were established in West Africa. Third in order of size, but first in commercial value, is the colony of Kamerun,[126]which forms a rough wedge between British Nigeria and French Congo, with its point at Lake Chad. The colony of Kamerun has an area of 190,000 square miles, and an estimated population of 3½ millions, whites numbering less than 2,000.
The country was going a-begging when the Germans in 1884 sent an expedition which took it over. When the British agent arrived five days later he found the chiefs bound to the German Empire. He, however, declined to agree to this arrangement, and came to terms with the tribes on the British frontier; but the Home Government would not support him, and thus the Germans were allowed to become masters of Kamerun. Many of the natives refused to be taken under the wing of the German eagle, and were only persuaded to acknowledge their new masters by means of rifles and big guns. After thirty years the proud Fula[127]tribes in the hinterland still remained unreconciled to German rule.
Kamerun is a rich and largely unexplored territory, very similar in character to the southern part of our colony of Nigeria. The Germans have spent much time and money in developing the country, and have built excellent towns, good roads, and some railways. Along the coast and in the deep, long valleys between the mountains the oil palm abounds; and in the forests, which are full of elephants, there is a wealth of ebony and other valuable timber. There are great mineral resources, too, but they have not so far been largely worked. Kamerun was very rapidly advancing when the war broke out, because the traders were backed from the Fatherland, and the officials were ready and eager to do everything that would advance its interests. It must be confessed that in the work of colonial development the Germans showed an energy and resource which put Britain in the shade.
In 1883 the only unclaimed strip of West African territory between the Gambia and Nigeria was Togoland, which lies between British Ashanti and French Dahomey, and is in all respects similar in character to these countries. The coast line is but thirty-three miles in length, and the Germans having secured it, laid claim to a huge expanse of hinterland—an area of 33,000 square miles. Britain and France, after much discussion, allowed the claim, and thus Germany became possessed of Togoland, her smallest but by no means her least valuable colony. She has spent much money on roads and railways, and in building the fine town of Lomé, one of the best in all West Africa. For the last twenty years Togoland has been self-supporting. When the war began Togoland possessed one of the greatest of all German wireless stations at Kamina.[128]It could communicate direct with Berlin, and was one of an important chain which linked up the Fatherland not only with Togoland but with Kamerun, East Africa, and South-West Africa.
We now turn to German South-West Africa, which has an area of 322,450 square miles and a native population of about 80,000. The whites number nearly 15,000, of whom 12,000 are Germans. In 1884 Great Britain seized Walfish Bay, the only good harbour, and also some of the guano islands off the coast. Further, Cecil John Rhodes,[129]who had constantly urged the British Government to take over the territory, had obtained mining rights from the local chiefs.
Less than fifty years ago German missionaries, in the territory then known as Damaraland, appealed to the British Government to annex the country. The appeal was rejected. In 1883 a Bremen merchant, F. A. E. Lüderitz, whose name has been given to the settlement at Lüderitz Bay, set up a trading station under the sanction and approval of Bismarck. On the strength of Lüderitz's trifling commercial claims Germany annexed the country. It is said that when Rhodes heard the news he threw the papers signed by the local chiefs into a safe and slammed the iron door, with the remark, "Let them lie there until the country is British." The extent of Germany's trading interest in her new possession may be gathered from the fact that the little steamer employed by Lüderitz was known as "The Bottle Mail," because she imported full bottles of beer for the German trader, and carried back the "empties" as exports!
Germany rejoiced in her new possession, but she had hard work to occupy it. For five or six years the Hottentots fought hard for their independence, and until they were put down there was scarcely any attempt at settlement. In October 1904 the brutal methods of the officials led to a great rising of the Hereros, the bravest of the native peoples. During this revolt the Germans did many of those deeds of shame and horror which afterwards covered their name with infamy in Belgium. It took 19,000 Germans to put down the Hereros, and they were not completely subdued until 1908.
German South-West Africa is not an inviting land. Much of it is waterless desert, but there are large areas of splendid grass land very suitable for grazing, and upon them the Herero raise huge herds of cattle. Sheep thrive well, and so do goats. Many Boers from Cape Colony have settled in the country, and their flocks and herds have prospered greatly. It was these Boers from Cape Colony who "made" German South-West Africa.
The Germans have done much to foster agriculture, and have opened up the country by good roads, and by railways which in 1913 had a total length of 1,304 miles. They have also bored largely for water. Despite all their efforts, however, the colony did not pay its way until 1912, when diamonds were discovered in the Lüderitz Bay district. Copper was also found and mined, and before the war some 27,500 tons of this metal were exported annually.
When the great struggle began in Europe, the German Empire overseas covered an estimated area of over 1,000,000 square miles, of which nearly 90 per cent. was in Africa, and by far the bulk of the remainder in certain islands of the Pacific Ocean. Of the fourteen islands comprising the Samoan group, which lies 1,600 miles to the north of New Zealand, Germany held eight of the best, and America the remainder. To most people the mention of Samoa recalls Robert Louis Stevenson,[130]the sweet singer and stirring romancer who spent the last years of his life at Vailima, in a deep cleft of the mountains near Apia, in the fertile island of Upolu, the largest island of the Samoan group. Here he wrote several of his books, and workedhard at clearing the rank tropical jungle and at making roads. He died in his island home Dec. 3, 1894, and was buried on the summit of a mountain. Thanks to his descriptions,[131]the Samoans and their beautiful sunny islands are familiar to the readers of English books all the world over.
Apia, near to which Stevenson lived, was the capital of the German islands; it has an excellent harbour. On March 19, 1889, when the harbour was full of shipping, including German and American men-of-war and H.M.S.Calliope, one of the disastrous hurricanes which occasionally sweep over the islands of the Southern Seas began to blow. The only possible way in which these ships could escape wreck was to put to sea and there ride out the storm. All the ships tried to leave the harbour, but the only one that was able to make headway against the fearful wind and sea was theCalliope. All the other ships were wrecked, and many lives were lost. When King George V., then Prince of Wales, visited Wellington, the seat of the New Zealand Government, he passed under an arch of coal with this inscription: "The coal that saved theCalliope."
The German Samoan islands were acquired in 1899. The two largest of them have a united area of 1,000 square miles; the total population of the islands is about 35,000, and the annual trade was reckoned at £120,000. Amongst other Pacific possessions of Germany when the war began were the southern islands of the Solomon group, an archipelago of high wooded mountains, lying to the east of New Guinea. The Bismarck Archipelago, to the west of them, the coral reefs of the Carolines, Pelew, and Marianne (or Ladrone) Islands,[132]and the Marshall Islands still farther north, were also in German hands. On Neu-Pommern, one of the Bismarck group, there was a powerful wireless station.
By far the largest island possession of Germany was a portion of New Guinea. This huge, lizard-shaped island—the second largest island in the world—lies about eighty miles north of Australia, and stands like a stepping-stone between that continent and Asia. The Dutch held the western half, and the remainder was divided between Germany and Britain, the south-east part being ours and the remainder German.The German portion was known as Kaiser Wilhelm Land, and had an area of 70,000 square miles. Most of it is unexplored, but there is no doubt that it is exceedingly rich in wild tropical products, and that it possesses great mineral wealth. The Germans have not made much headway in Kaiser Wilhelm Land or in the "Spice Islands," already mentioned; but they spent much money in developing the country and in fostering trade.
The Australians have long feared that the possession of part of New Guinea by an unfriendly Power would be a danger to them, as it would afford an enemy a base for operations against the island-continent. The Queensland Government tried to get a footing in New Guinea about thirty years ago, but the British Government would not then lend its support. A few years later the home authorities were brought to see the necessity of occupying that part of New Guinea which faced Australia, and in 1887 it was added to the British Empire. It is now governed by the Australian Commonwealth.
Germany had only one other possession besides those which I have mentioned. This was Kiao-chau, on the east coast of the Chinese province of Shan-tung. Germany obtained it by force and fraud, as you shall hear. In the autumn of 1895 Japan emerged as victor from a war with China, and by the treaty of peace she was to hold certain parts of the Liao-tung peninsula. The Kaiser professed to fear the growing power of Japan, and he had a picture[133]painted to point a moral to the Powers of Europe. It showed the European nations confronted with what is called the "Yellow Peril," and called upon them to defend their holiest possessions.
The German view of the Japanese has been put as follows: "It is for Europe to look continually eastward. There is a yellow cloud rising there which betokens a coming storm. Who are these Japanese who desire to control the teeming millions of China? The Japanese are highly-educated barbarians. They have fresh minds, and they are the most imitative beings on earth if one excepts the smaller species of monkeys; they are not a civilized people. You may put a clever savage into a European dress or into a European-built battleship, but he remains a savage. Races do not become civilized in twenty years. Europe cannot allow the Japanese to control the Chinese millions, for the Japanese are without a soul." Well might the Japanese retort that if the Germans represent civilization with a soul, it would be to the benefitof the world if mankind remained savage.
Professing to stand forth as the champion of soulful civilization, the Kaiser persuaded France and Russia to join with him in robbing the Japanese of the fruits of their victory. He only needed an excuse to interfere, and an excuse is easily found if you set yourself to look for it. In the autumn of 1897 two persons, said to be German missionaries, were murdered somewhere in the heart of China. At once the Kaiser was filled with righteous indignation; he shook his "mailed fist," and sending his brother, Prince Henry, to China with a couple of old ships which broke down on the voyage, bade him "declare the gospel of your Majesty's hallowed person." With these ancient craft the Kaiser seized a piece of Chinese territory for himself, and demanded that it should be leased to him with sovereign rights for ninety-nine years. In this way he obtained Kiao-chau, his Asiatic "place in the sun."
The protectorate of Kiao-chau has an area of about 200 square miles; it contains thirty-three townships and a native population of about 192,000. The whites number about 4,500, the greater part of them being Germans. Before the war, Tsing-tau, the port, was a powerful fortress, a first-class naval station, and a great entrenched camp, strong both by land and sea, equipped with the latest type of forts, and defended by a strong garrison. Twenty millions of money had been spent on the harbour, fortress, and naval station. The colony was very dear to the heart of the Kaiser, and he spoke of it as "a model of German culture." From Kiao-chau German influence was to radiate throughout the Far East, until the yellow peoples stood in awe of the Kaiser's name.
The great struggle which I am describing in these pages has been well called "the World-wide War." Immediately the Kaiser flung down the gage of battle in Europe the Allies began to attack his colonial possessions in Africa, Asia, and the Southern Seas. The German fleet was bottled up in its ports; no German transport dared cross the ocean; no help could come to them from the Fatherland. The German forces in each possession had to fight their own battle with such resources as they then possessed. It was clear to everybody that without sea power Germany could not hope to hold any of her colonies very long; they were bound to fall, and fall rapidly.
The Australian navy, assisted by our China squadron, put to sea immediately, and scoured the Pacific for German cruisers. A force of New Zealanders set sail from Wellington on 15th August, and, under the escort of H.M.S.Australia, H.M.S.Melbourne, and the French cruiserMontcalm, crossed the sixteen hundred miles of sea between them and Samoa. They reached Apia on the 28th, and the islands surrendered without a blow being struck. Before the war was a month old Robert Louis Stevenson's body was lying in British soil.
The next attack was on Neu-Pommern, the chief island of the Bismarck Archipelago, where, you will remember, there was an important wireless station. On 11th September a British force arrived at Herbertshohe, the port at the northern end of the island. A party of sailors landed at dawn and pushed through the bush towards the wireless station. The roads had been mined, rifle pits had been dug, and snipers were hidden in the trees. The British fought their way for six miles, losing ten officers and four men; but when they reached the wireless station the whole enemy force surrendered. The German flag was hauled down, the Union Jack flew triumphantly in its stead, and thus the Bismarck Archipelago was lost to the Kaiser.
Two days later our troops sailed for the Solomon Islands, which were captured without difficulty and without bloodshed. A force was then sent against Kaiser Wilhelm Land, where it was thought that the Germans would show fight. Again there was a bloodless victory, and the British flag was hoisted above the chief port, which was left in the possession of British troops. Early in November the Japanese occupied the Marshall Islands and some of the other northern groups.
By this time the Pacific possessions of Germany had vanished, save for a few small and unimportant islands, and her wireless stations had been destroyed. These rapid successes were largely due to the Australian navy, which had worked with the highest speed and efficiency. H.M.S.Melbourne, for example, covered no less than 11,000 miles of sea in the first six weeks of the war.
Togoland was the first of Germany's African colonies tofall. Its geographical position made it easy of attack and very difficult to hold. You will remember that it had British and French territory on its flanks, and that its sea coast was open to bombardment by British ships. So situated, and held by military forces which did not number more than 250 whites and 3,000 natives in all, it was certain to fall quickly and easily.
Soon after the outbreak of war the cables connecting Togoland with Germany were cut by the British, so that only by means of wireless telegraphy could the colony communicate with the Fatherland. Native troops were rushed down from Kumasi[134]to the Gold Coast, and all Britons in Accra[135]were sworn in as volunteers. On 6th August a British advance guard pushed across the western frontier, and a few days later was followed by the main column, under Colonel Bryant. Meanwhile the French made a similar movement from Dahomey, on the eastern frontier. When the British advance guard reached Lomé, it found the town deserted, and the Germans retiring northwards along the railway line. On the arrival of the main column arrangements were made for an advance on Kamina, where the great wireless station had been established. There were two or three skirmishes on the way, but no engagement of any particular importance. On the river, south of Nuatja, the enemy was found to be strongly entrenched, and fighting continued from early morning until after dusk. During the night the enemy abandoned Nuatja, and at daybreak the British marched in. Our losses in this engagement, including those of the French troops from Dahomey, were very high.
Two days later the advance was continued towards Kamina, near the Government station of Atakpame, at the railhead. Here the enemy had dug trenches, built blockhouses, laid in provisions, and made other preparations to stand a siege. During the advance our men spent two or three nights in the mud huts of filthy native villages. Several rivers, swollen into rushing torrents by the heavy rain, impeded the advance, for the Germans had blown up the road and railway bridges. Meanwhile the advance guard pushed forward, and as they did so the enemy sent two men with a flag of truce to Colonel Bryant, offering to surrender on certain terms and with the usual honours of war. Colonel Bryant told them that they were not in a position to ask for terms, and that they must surrender unconditionally. Next day (10th August) the enemyagreed to do so.
A telegraphist with the Togoland Field Force thus describes the surrender: "I rode in with the Headquarters Staff, and, arriving at Kamina, found the Germans, all white men (their native troops having deserted), drawn up in front of the acting Governor's residence, with himself, a smart-looking man, at their head, and all their rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and other weapons of war piled in front of them.
"We formed up on the other side in the shape of a triangle—the British troops on the right, French on the left, guns at the apex, and Headquarters Staff in the centre. Our adjutant, with the Union Jack in one hand and the French flag in the other, accompanied by a native soldier of each nation, planted the two flags in front of the massed troops, who all presented arms. We saluted, and in that brief half-minute, while we were at the 'present,' Togoland, which had been a German colony for over thirty years, passed into the hands of Britain and France. It was most impressive, and something I am not likely to forget. We took at this place alone 206 white German prisoners, three machine guns, hundreds of rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
"The Germans had destroyed their powerful wireless station—a tremendous place, three miles long, with nine masts 250 to 410 feet high—two days before we arrived; otherwise I might have been able to get into communication with Whitehall direct, instead of sending the news of the surrender to the Secretary of State on a little field buzzer set, tapped in on the telegraph wire by the side of the road.
"This town, Atakpame, is in the half of Togoland allotted to the French, so the British troops have left the place. It is now occupied by Senegalese (French native troops, and fine fighting men). . . . This is a magnificent country, and Atakpame is beautifully situated up in the hills. . . . This letter leaves by the last English mail out of Atakpame, which has been under three different flags in less than three weeks—German, British, and French.
"Quick work, eh?"
By this time Kamerun, German South-West Africa, and German East Africa had been attacked. I will tell you how they resisted later on, when we come to the period at which they were finally conquered.
When the war broke out there was a German squadron of ships of war in Eastern waters, its base being Tsing-tau. Admiral von Spee, who commanded it, did not attempt to go to the rescue of the Pacific islands when the British attacked them, but departed with most of his ships for the west coast of South America. Two of his smaller cruisers—theKönigsbergand theEmden—were, however, detached to prey on British commerce in the East. You have read[136]how theKönigsbergcaught H.M.S.Pegasusunawares, in Zanzibar harbour, and disabled her. I shall tell you later how this vessel was finally destroyed. In this chapter we will learn something of the career of theEmden.
A ship of war can do as much mischief amongst peaceful merchantmen as a cat among pigeons. Ordinary trading ships are entirely at the mercy of a fast cruiser armed with big guns. They have no means of resisting, and must surrender when called upon to do so. During the American Civil War a ship, afterwards known as theAlabama, was built at Birkenhead for the Southern States. By some mistake she was allowed to leave the Mersey and proceed to the Azores, where she was fully equipped as a vessel of war. In August 1862 she began to prey on the merchantmen of the Northern States, and by June 1864 she had captured and destroyed about sixty-eight of their ships. By hoisting the British flag she decoyed them within reach of her guns, and then they were obliged to yield.In the end theAlabamawas chased by a Northern ship of war to the English Channel, and a fight took place off the French shore near Cherbourg. In an hour theAlabamawas shattered, and her career was ended for ever.[137]Up to the time when theEmdenleft Kiao-chau, in August 1914, theAlabamawas the most successful commerce-raider of history. The Emden, however, soon deposed her from that pride of place. In two short months she did more damage than theAlabamadid in two years.
TheEmdenwas a light cruiser of 3,544 tons displacement, and she dated from 1908. She had a speed of 25 knots, and her armament consisted of ten 4.1-inch guns, four 2.1-inch guns, and four machine guns, as well as two torpedo tubes. Her captain, was Commander Karl von Müller, who has thus been described: "Picture a young man of about thirty, tall, clean-shaven, with closely-cropped hair and keen eyes, a neatly-proportioned figure, a man with the manners of a drawing-room, possessed of a keen sense of humour and an extensive knowledge of the sea and its affairs." As the story proceeds you will learn that Commander Müller was a man of quick, ready, and inventive mind, and that for two months he played a successful game of hide-and-seek with the many Allied ships of war that were bent on his destruction.
TheEmden'sadventures began almost before she was out of sight of Kiao-chau. She knew that Japanese men-of-war were near at hand, and that she was more than likely to fall in with one of them. Sure enough, a Japanese vessel was sighted; but it was not the three-funnelledEmden, under the black, white, and red flag of Germany that passed the enemy warship, but a vessel of four funnels flying the British white ensign. The Japanese were completely deceived, especially when theEmden'screw lined the rails and greeted them with three hearty British cheers. By means of this clever trick theEmdengained the open sea unmolested.
What she did up to 10th September we do not know. Just when the first Indian contingent was leaving for Marseilles she appeared in the Bay of Bengal and began her career of destruction. Inside four days she had seized and sunk five ships, and before seven weeks were over had destroyed seventeen vessels of 70,000 tons burden, and worth more than £2,000,000. Captain von Müller fell in with some of these ships; others it is said that he decoyed by sending out the S.O.S. signal[138]in defiance of the rules of war which Germany had signed at the Hague. His practice was to close in upon his victim very quickly, destroy its wireless apparatus before the alarm could be given, put the crew on board one of his prizes, take what coal and provisions he required, and then with a mine or a few shots send the captured vessel to the bottom. It is said that when he overhauled theKabingahe discovered that the captain's wife was on board, and released the ship. The captain's wife, on taking leave of him, hoped that he would soon be caught, but that his life would be spared. Commander Müller was generous to his prisoners, and in no case were they treated harshly.
On 22nd September theEmdenwas off Madras, that great straggling seaport which fronts a strand on which the sea foams in unceasing billows. One of theEmden'screw had worked in Madras, and he pointed out to the captain the position of the oil tanks at the entrance to the harbour. At 9.30 that night theEmdencrept in, turned her searchlights on the tanks, and fired two broadsides to find the range. Then the searchlights were turned off, and salvos were fired which set the tanks on fire. While great flames were shooting skyward and making the night as bright as day, theEmdenretired full speed northward. The shore batteries opened fire, but their shells fell short.
Next day theEmdenturned her nose north-east, to give the impression that she was sailing for Calcutta, but when out of sight of land turnedsouthwards. Off Pondicherry[139]she paused, but perceiving that the town was defenceless, refrained from firing a gun. She then ran past the east coast of Ceylon to the island of Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, a group of low coral islands between Mauritius and Ceylon. Diego Garcia was reached on 10th October. The few European families on the island had not yet heard of the war, as they are only visited by a steamer once in three months. TheEmdencoaled at Diego Garcia, and took on board supplies of cocoa-nuts and fish.
About the middle of October she lost her attendant collier, and with it her reserve of ammunition, coal, and food. By this time it was clear that her course was practically run, and that she had better do what mischief she could to the warships and war material of the enemy before meeting her doom.
Early on the morning of 28th October theEmdenwas ten miles outside Penang, in the Straits Settlements,[140]and the carpenters were set to work rigging up a dummy funnel, to make her look like a British cruiser. She then hoisted British colours and entered the harbour, in which several ships could be seen, with an unknown cruiser well in front of them. When theEmdenentered the harbour she discovered that this cruiser was the Russian shipJemtchug. Mistaking theEmdenfor a British man-of-war, theJemtchugdid not attempt to prevent the German cruiser from getting between her and the land. TheEmdenthen let fly two torpedoes, the first of which struck the Russian cruiser just under the after funnel. The other torpedo, fired at closer range, struck her below the bridge, and caused a terrible explosion. Meanwhile theEmdenwas firing salvo after salvo at theJemtchug, which made but a feeble reply; all of her shots missed, but some of them hit ships in the harbour behind.
As theJemtchugsank theEmdenturned and left the harbour at full speed. Thirty miles out she fell in with theBritish steamerGlenturret, which had signalled to the shore for a pilot, who had just reached her in his launch. TheEmdenhad swung out her boats to take possession of the prize when a warship appeared on the horizon. TheEmdenimmediately recalled her boats and made off, as the warship appeared to be a large one. This, however, was only the effect of the early morningmirage.[141]At about 6,000 yards distance the newcomer was found to be the French destroyerMousquet.
TheEmdenopened fire, and theMousquetreplied, though, of course, the destroyer was quite outclassed by the cruiser. The first few shots from theEmdenhit theMousquet'sengine-room, and apparently wrecked her. "Cease fire" was then ordered, to enable the French destroyer to surrender; but instead of doing so she showed fight once more. A few more shots from theEmdenwere sufficient to sink her, bows first. About thirty-six of the crew were rescued. While this merciful work was going on, another destroyer was seen approaching from Penang; whereupon theEmdensteamed off at full speed for the Indian Ocean. The destroyer chased her for three hours; but a heavy rainstorm came on, and theEmdenescaped.
There was a good deal of discontent in England when news arrived that theEmdenhad sunk ship after ship, and had not been brought to account. The Admiralty explained that searching for theEmdenover vast expanses of ocean was no easy task, and that the many thousand islands of the East Indies afforded her plenty of hiding-places, and the straits between them numberless avenues of escape. To catch the raider was a matter of time, patience, and good luck. The Germans were highly delighted that their ship had proved such a will o' the wisp, and one of their papers contained a caricature showing theEmdenas a Jack-in-the-box that continually popped up to the annoyance of John Bull. It was inscribed, "Emdenüber Alles," and underneath was the following rhyme:—