NAVYS "LITTLE WARS"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2711, 4 March 1916, Page 13

NAVYS "LITTLE WARS"

EXPLOITS OFF THE CAMEROONS

THRILLING INCIDENTS

An. intensely-interesting account appears in a recent number of'"Blackivpod's" of the naval work dono at tlie outset of the Cameroons campaign, the conclusion : of which ha 6 just been announced. ; The vessels engaged for the greater part of the time were the cruiser Cumberland and a curious little flotilla of all sorts oft light .craft, tugs, yachts, lighters, • etc.j on which guns were mounted, and the story is typical . of the scouring done by the Navy, without any flourish of trumpets, m the early days of the war, which resulted in the complete suspension of Germany's.oversea trade.and the blockade of her colonies. ' The objective of the expedition was Duala, the capital of the German Cameroons, which lies some miles up the Cameroon. River,! in'' the midst of an extraordinary maze of river branches, and oreeks, all fringed with the densest tropioal growth; but what the Cumberland and her little consorts were mainlj concerned with at the ouset was tlio big German wireless station near the town, and the report that a number of German vessels were hiding in the creeks. After an account of the preliminary manoeuvres and' preparations, the account brings us to the entrance to the Cameroon' River. From the ships could bo seen the masts and funnels of several merchantmen showing above the water, leavnig us in no doubt that the ' inner channel had been successfully blocked.' We had,definite, -information that there were two armed vessels, the Nactigal and the Hertzegan Elizabeth, either at Duala or in tlje neighbouring creeks, but .oould not trace the wliere- . abouts of the two gunboats, Eber and Panther, both of which had been 'at Duala "shortly before the outbreak of war._ It was supposed that they Were lurking in the creeks below the blocked channel. ' "From the information obtained it was obvious that the idea of landing a force would liavo tq bo abandoned, and that a frontal attack on the/town would bo necessary. Before this scheme could become practicable, some of the obstructions in the niain' channel would have removed. Exploits of Sunken Ship Guard. 1 Altogether, nine vessels had ' been scuttled to block the' 1 channel, and any gaps had been filled by the lighters / with sand or concrete. The divers examined the hulls at slack water, and re- • ported the sluice, valves of all the ships open,' and in some cases holes knocked in the sides. With no salvage plant available, we could not hope to ralso them, but it appeared possible to blast a gap through one portion of- the chan- <- nel, where two lighters had been sunk. It was noticed that as . soon as our attempts to remove the barrier started, the Germans endeavoured to sink .additional vessels during the night; con- ' sequehtly it became necessary to es- ■ tablish what .was officially known as the Sunken'Ship'Guard, and the boat constituting the guard had a very strenuous time. On September 12 the picket boat .got above the barrier, and proceeded up river for four miles in pursuit of. a German launch,: which had been observed. The Hertzegan Elizabeth, however, coming from Duala at full speed forced her to retire asain on Ithe barrier. If any. further example of the joys of the Sunken Ship Guard vessel be required, the following incident which occurred on the night of September 13 should suffice/' - It is t'.ypkal of fieveral 'Echomes most ingenious in their conception, which were, brought to nought by their clumsy execution. ,< The Germans undoubtedly thought al this time that the harrier would prevent' anything larger than the Dwarf from getting within range of Duala. They knew, however, that she could do so, as she had proved it Iwo dm previously. They decided to doy.:*oy lier ' by torpedo. A steamboat was fitted "i i 6 vert ! ca l spars, secured over the bows,projecting to a depth of 12ft. A bracket capable of being slid >up and down the spars, carried two flasks (used for making soda-wateri, about 6ft. long and 4in. in diameter, filled with > dynamite. The flasks when in position were parallel to the fore and aft line of boat, and v»ero fitted with pistols carrying detonators arranged to act oh impact. The "instructions for use'' , were these: A full head of steam was t*j be raised in. the steamboat while a second boat proceeded to the off-side of the. target; to, Show . a light as a by which to steer ; a third was to remain handy to pick up the brave' who, having set the.tiller of the steantfroat to hit the' target, were to jump overboard in time to be -clear of the ensuing disturbance. The fee- • quence in which these operations took place-had a marked effect on the result ; in this instance the man jumped overboard before the tiller had been set, and when some distance from the target. The. boat that was to pick him up found • more pressing work to do when' the ■ Dwarf opened fire on the boat showing a light; 60 that thd .attack was in no way a success, and the "torpedo," having missed by 400 yards, cruised about j n -r j s ' oam down, when, it drifted on a mud bank, whence it was rescued by the Dwarf in the morning, ihe torpedo" was removed, and thereafter.ihe steamboat became a valuable , addition to. the surveying flotilla. The man who had been entrusted with the aiming of this infernal machine' swam u' o i ne . the sun^cn vessels, from which he was rescued in the morning, after having had ample time to revise ■ bis torpedo drill. When questioned, ho said he was a missionary trying "to do his bit '—rumour has it that lie: is now doing it as a prisoner at Dahomey. /Instances could be multiplied, but it must- suffice to say that the sunken -guard vessel was successful without incurring a casualty m preventing any further attempts a: sinking additional vessels m tho channel. , A similar attempt to that described above was made to torpedo us later on, but them torpedo ' ran amok, during- a nil! rehearsal, and, having seared the attendant boats to such an extent that they _ fled; it exploded harmlessly on striking the mangroves. Plckflt Boat v. Armed Merchantman. There was no longer any doubt that all creeks would have to be thoroughly scoured, and the work; was started at once. Olio or two examples will be sufficient „to show the kind pf work to be done. On September 14 a picket boat was sent away to destroy any launches,- boats, or depots, found in the creeks by Modeka Bay, and to try and find out from the natives the latest movements of tho Nacfcigal or the Eber. The.particular incident under sion is chiefly of interest, as it is the first, if not the only instance oil record of a picket boat fighting an armed merchantman. It occurred in this way. \\ line searching an island, a steamboat lull of Germans was observed entering a creek. This boat was promptly fired on bcrore it disappeared, with the picket boat in hot pursuit. The firing attracted the attention of tho Nactigal up a neighbouring creek, as on turning a <xl .y i ? r the picket boat found herself • within 500 yards of this vessel, which was unacr way, and steaming towards the mam river. _ Then started another 2hase, the- picket boat in this aase being the hare. Tho three-pounder nun is now right forward in these' boats, and therefore the arc of fire is limited to a few degrees abaft the beam on each side, making it useless if steaming Erectly away from an enemy, The Nactigal opened fire as soon as ttie

picket boat camo in sight, and the latter, by forcing every ounce of steam on the engine, and zig-zngging, was able to fire occasionally, and at the same iimo increase the distance which separated them. In this way three shells found billots in the Nactigal's hull, while' the picket boat was not hit, though several shots fell closo enough to splash her. The' excitement was intensified by the fact that the position of shoals was unknown to those in the pickot. boat, and had we been informed of their presence by the usual method'thero could liavo been only, one result. Tile narrowness of the creek and the high speed of the boat kept the helmsman fully occupied until the entrance of the bay was reached, and tho combatants came into view from, tho ship. Tip Nactigal gave up the chase soon after sighting the ship, Mid disappeared, up the creek again.. The loss of the picket boat would have been irreparable, and she was undoubtedly saved by the coolness of the officer in charge, coupled with the superhuman efforts of the two men in the stokehold and engine-room. Battle at Point-Blank Range. •For obvious reasons, the Nactigal. could, not be allowed to go unmolested for any length of time; her destruction is interesting also, as it forms the only modern example of two ships firing at each other at point-blank ranges. The only vessel we had at this time of light draught, well armed, with the little gunboat Dwarf. She was relieved by tho Nigerian Government yacht Ivy ao tho Sunken Ship Guard, and was ordered to go up the creeks to destroy all armed craft she could' find. She entered the creeks at Modeka Bay, and finding nothing all day, anchored for the night. At 10.30 p.m. the Nactigal §ot under way and steered seawards, ut on rounding the corner suddenly found the Dwarf only 50 yards away from her. The creek was narrow, and it was too late to do. anything but try, and ram. The Dwarf opened fire immediately tho Nactigal came in sight, and literally blew the latter's. foremost gun and crew into the water.l Be-, ing unable to slip her cable in time, the Dwarf could not prevent a collision, but !her guns were still firing as the impact occurred. All those on board the Natigai who had not keen killed jump, ed' overboard, and the vessel was last seen burning furiously and drifting seaward. The captain and several Germans were rescued; all were wounded, and gave graphic accounts of the'hell to -which they had been subjected from four guns firing at a range of ten yards. About a-dozen were killed, while-'tho Dwarf's casualties were nil.,At the base the flashes of the guns could be seen leaving no doubt something had been discovered. A wireless signal received from the commanding of the' Dwarf informed us, v that, "he had been rammed by an unknovm steamer •and forced to beacli his ship." This was serious, as we.could ill afford one single craft, and least of all the Dwarf, as there was still a great deal of work to be done. He supplemented his first signal, however, as follows:—"Am all right; return to base in the morning, . provision room holed and full of water. Nactigal completely destroyed." As a result of his first signal, which was made, en clair, the Germans at Duala sent a wireless signal, "offering to lend us a to repair our Dreadnought." For answer we considered' the supplement sufficient.

Arrival of tha Troops. Blasting operations had been in progress at the sunken ships for ten days before a channel was cleared. This work called for great skill and endurance 'on the' part of the two divers who accomplished it. ' On the morning of September 28 the i cruiser Challenger ; arrived, with sir transports, carrying 3500 black troops : with attendant carriers, and the French : a- s ci:uiser .escort arrived. on September;' 24',' J ' Senegalese troops, and the story of the 1 attack upon the town, and its prompt ' surrender in September 27, is already 1 well inowh. In addition to. the towns of Dual and 1 Bonaberri, nine large steamers, 40 or 50 lighters, motor boats, steam launches, etc., and a largo quantity of railway material came into our possession. About 400 prisoners: were taken, mostly ' women and children, as the men had - been all armed and sent away with the troops during the first night after the demand had been sent by the Ohal- } lenger. ' The Hertzegan Elizabeth was discovered above the town sunk in a creek, 1 while the floating, dock had also been sunk. Both were raised, and the Hert- v zegan Elizabeth, after being docked, 1 joined our flotilla as the Margaret r Elizabeth. A small stern-wheel gunboat completed the list of the booty, fjho ? total value of which was "over • £3,000,000. c