LAST OF THE EMDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16272, 4 January 1915, Page 2

LAST OF THE EMDEN

SCENE ON COCOS ISLAND. THRILLING EXPERIENCES. By J. S. Tnir.Ga, one of the Cable Staff. OOCOS ISLAND, November 10. Was it only yesterday morning tho Emden wae anchored in tho entrance? Was it only yesterday morning wo saw the German flag- firmly planted in front of the quarters—idly flapping in an almost dead calm—which at least spared us a too frequent sight of the eagle,'; . Was it only yesterday wo wore prisoners of war under martial law? It seems a year—for it's still all a dreum. But it'a ono 1 must dream again—for your sakoe—and it's now I realise how hopeless it is—how inadequate, this poor pen (or pencil!) will he—ah, if only I could taflc to you for an hour—and even then it would be only half told. However, hero goes—help me with your imagination and understanding. One thing I will state now, so that you will not skip to the middle or the end to allay your friendly anxiety—we couldn't have met with better treatment from anyone, friends or enemies. I'd like a special note made of that—that the Emden, right up to her cruel end, had an unbroken, clean, honourable record And so now, back to yesterday morning, and at each incident or change of events it will be simpler if I try to give the time, TH3 AWAKENING, 6.5 a-m.—l was rudely awakonod by the bony ——{who was coming off night duty): nor, Triggs, get up; throe-funnelled cruiser in the entrance!" "Liar," said I, rolling over, fondly thinking of the next hour's sleep I was going- to have. But he remained ao insistent that I turned out just to prove him a liar, and stumbled up in my sleep on to the roof of our quarters. I awoke with a click. Here, not a mJlo away, over the cocoanut tops, were visible two tall masts, three grey funnels, and just aft of the foremast a. shoot, which, even at that distance, tooked exactly like a fourth funnel. In a daxed sort of way I turned towards the Jagoon—our peaceful lagoon—and there I saw a steamboat towing two large pinnaces, crammed with men who, with tho aid of my nne glasses, I could see were armed, and wore strango-loriking khaki topee of the helmf* fcpe- "My God, it's come at last," I we',' w , for J Can now toU y° u that wes been expoctmg the Emden since she two miles oft on tho evening of November L7£a X"***-** that was t e week we had Beveral waish ps round he e, and it tL PT , * 1 ,Vl wero vntemne wita two of them about that time. At any rate, S liXrS s f us P ici "witched out t rinA l ' ? ped , for a t l uarter of a" hour, turned round, and steamed off in a nor , - westerly d.rectiou. Tho theory was that she 32LST* 10U ° ff tiU flight, but although, needless to say, we were up of her. £his wae one of the scares we

As eoon as I realised we were g-oin°- to and *'V he r k u at last l down and yelled out what I had seen. That aSJ 00d j?rt and il; s P° aks well for the decision of the Superintendent and tho discxphno of the staff that advices were, got tO £°? h ' Wcltevreden, Singapore, Rodriquez, Durban, and Lon<ton and distress signals on wireless were sent out for 10 minutes, with the Emden naturally trying to jam us all the time. The last words were just going through the transmitter, and tho wireless operator was still sending, when the Germans dashed in. My first thought was my camera, so I rushed down to tho dark room to put some I" ,1 * m > and got out just in time to see the Germans coming up at the double in two bodies. Except for some scrub near the jetty, through which they dashed looking for ambush, they treated everything and everybody with supreme indifference, for the time being. Their object was soon evident. One detachment rushed the office and the other turned off for the wireless hut. After a few minutes of anxious waiting word mysteriously got round that we had to muster outside the office, and we stuck to our principle of being smart in all things! This would bo 6.40 a.m., which is an early hour to bo all together and- outside. So I must leave you to imagine the wonderful variety of g-artos— for we are- 29. We're rather careless of drees at the best of times, but this moning I was quite well dressed, for I had found time to jump into a singlet and a pair of shorts. After a few minutes our 29 were mustered, and a guard was put over us, but as the devastation of the office was now well on its way, and steps •wore being taken to blow up the wireless mast, we gradually edged off "in front of the quarters towards the beaoh. WITH AXE AND DYNAMITE. At first tho guards were inclined to be peremptory, but we gradually won them over to our way of looking at things, and soon they were quite friendly, and even answered some of our remarks. True, only in monosyllables to begin with, but shortly they were chatting away in an English that sounded very much like- their own language, and we were trying to make good guesses, and put "yes" and "no" in their right places! We finally took up our positions in and round about a boatshed, and there we had to remain during such time as it pleased the Germans to " break things." For during all this timo the axe and hammer had made an incessant din, and the continuous crash of banging reminded mo of a big fire, with its attendant noises of firemen's hatchets—walls falling in and windows smashing. After some time the first explosion at tho wireless mast took place. " Good old wireless," we murmured excitedly, for it hadn't felt the shock even. A second explosion proved somewhat more effective, for it swayed and tottered, but still stood. This made us quite excited, and took the last of our attention off a machine gun that had been glaring hungrily at us all this time. Shortly afterwards a tremendous bang brought us all round, and we saw a store near tho lower quarters enveloped in a mats of black smoke. All sorts of things were kept there—paint, engino gear, etc.—but some spare cablehad caused its downfall, and soon it was a roaring mas 9 of flame. All this time the din had continued in the office, and although we've all been pretty hard-worked lately, I think each crash wo heard gave us a fresh wrench. In the meantime the third charge had been put round tho wireless mast —and with an almost human shiver it started to fall slowly, gradually, quickening, but etill its fall was attended by no noise, as it had been broken by kindly cocoanut trees and scrub, so that now even it is only slightly cracked. "Good old wireless; it died hard" was the thought uppermost in all of us—and after events proved its worth. All this timo wo had been diverted by seeing straigers leaking a thorough examination of our room —spare cells being kicked over the verandah (for one bad been put in each bedroom as emergency), and with tho thought of all tho little valuables we might be losing wo found the spirit gradually going out of us, for this terrible inaction was the worst part of all. But a bright inspiration told us that the chief trouble was too much excitement on no breakfast and too many cigarettes, so we immediately proceeded to try to remedy this. True, wed had a littlo relaxation for five minutes when those of us possessing firearms had been ordered off to bring them ont, and I went off amongst the number to get nay Browning automatic-, which I had planted under a broken jar on a rubbish heap. Bat their search had been thorough, for they had found it, although they had overlooked the cartridges under an oil-drum near the same heap. I started taking these along, when I bethought mo discretion was the better part of truthfulness, as my explanation might sound ratner fishy, so I planted them again, and as I came up with the littlo knot of men talking over the booty, I began to hare great trouble with getting a cigarette to lisht (on a calm, tropical day) as thoughI'd never hoard the word firearms. No questions were asked. But to go to breakfast (save the mark!). Bearing out -what I said about our treatment, the guard proved amenable. They were evidently hungry themselves, as it turned out, and very soon a vision of two boys appeared bringing :uge of hot coffee and sandwiches. I managed to collar one in the rush, and a cup of offee, which almost gave me the feelmg of being on a picnic—or at any rato more of a man — although by this time it was very evident they intended no bodily harm. All this timo tho steame. launch gang had found our cables a tough proposition, for although they were easily located in this clear water, and it was fairly easy to dive down and hook them; putting them through was a different matter. However, axe and saw were gradually doing their work, and we had seen that apparently they were done for two, and. wero just after the third, when suddenly operations ceased, for - no apparent reason, except that the shoro detachment had finished their work, and evidently pretty thoroughly too. Certainly just then we heard the Emden's siren, but we associated nothing with that, except that probably the Germans were afraid of the result of our wireless and of outstaying

their welcome, for now it was 9 a.m. But whistles blowing and men quickly filing down to the jetty occupied all our attention, so that soon there was only om> officer left, and after tho superintendent and he had exchanged a few words, we wire released, and after rushing off for canierutf, etc., we all escorted him down to Ihe jetty to give the men a wave, for by tin* time we were convinced that the German ean Ik , far better than he is often painted, find although our feelings) wrre somewhat mixid, that of admiration for I his crew was, I think, uppermost in all, for they had only done what they considered i.heir duty against the Empire, but iuid even gone out of their way to respect the individual and person;)) belongings—no doubt at a great liw of time to themselves. Be that <ia jt may, we gave them ;i cheer, and then hurried b-iek. To sei> the Kmderi lying fit anchor was doubtless the main idea, of ail, and to do that we had to go lnon.fi to the We«t Point, about a mile away. H.M.A.S. SYDNKY TO THE UKF-Cli-:. But for the making of history it w,'uj not to be, for one man hud gone up on the roof, and his yell toid us exactly what had tautened, although no words were intelligible. A nwifts of black liinoko to the north-east showed us a ship was steaming full speed to i ngage the Kindeti, and by tho time we were up on the ruof the Emdeii was well out of the entrance, about half a mile away, steaming full speed in a nor'westerly direction, with the steam launch in mid-lagoon, just putting back to tho jetty, still towing its pinnaces with 48 men all told and four Maxims! But this latter fact was quite lost sight of, as all eyes were strained on the <jcea.ii— the huge stage of a lifc-and-death drama,,— soul-stirring, but cruel in ite imrncns.ty. For H.M.A.S. Sydney, steaming full-speed diagonally to intercept the German, was flying a signal to the effect, " Come out and fight"; and tho Eindcn, cornered at last, and so apparently not unwilling to join, fired' the first shot almost immediately she had cleared the islands, at a range of nearly six miles. But the distance was too great, and it was soon evident the Sydney's speed was superior. It then became a question of manoeuvres. In two minutes they were hard at it, the EnvLen often replying with six guns to the Sydney's four, and words are uscluee to convey any idea of the pandemonium on our quarters' roof. Blaspheming, cursing, groans, and ehrieking cheers filled the air, according to the nature of the shot and what its message, while some just stared or feebly pointed and gibbered. But the strain of watching and the excitement was terrific, and most of us dashed down on to tho barrier on the north side of tho island •in a vain endeavour to get nearer the scene.

On arrival here wo saw tho Sydney had every apnearanco of being on fire, totally enveloped ae she was in dense black smoke; but her aim, which from the outset had been erratic, had now settled down, which in itself wae sufficent to keep our spirits at shrieking point. But very soon there was almost dead silence, broken only by the dull boom of the tfuns, and all our attentions were centred; on looking for the spurts of flame a:xt to follow the result. Now the shells were falling all round the Emden, but the, lafcter's iruns, although fired well, failed to reach the Sydney. The moments were too tense for us to utter a sound, and a shell that raised the water higher than the Emden's masts—washing her sides in its aeoent—failed to evoke more than a deepthroated sigh. PRISONERS OF WAR.

But we, the silent onlookers of this terrible duel—oblivious as we had boon to all else, —were soon brought back with a thud to our own affairs, and made to realise we were by no means out of the wood. The landing boats had returnee', their guns in position, and tho German flag firmly planted in front of the quarters, ana we were made to go back to our weuy waiting placeprisoners of war, with very heavy hearts. For it ecemedi more than likely then that both boats were doomed. The Sydney still appeared to be on fire when wo left, and soon after our return we knew thp Emden's fore-funnel, foremast, and second funnel were shot away. The next tew minutes were the most anxious of all for U6, for with the tables bo unexpectedly turned on the landing parties it was quite impossible to guess how they would 1 act, especially in the case of the Sydney being victorious, and endeavouring in her turn to land a party. For it was more than evident that the Germans were determined to make a stand; their grim faces, so different from those of half an hour before, were sufficient indication of that. However, we were left to speculate, and the officers and some of the men in thmr turn scaled tho roof. But little of the fight was visible, after two of the Emden'e funnels and a mast were carried away—except tnat the boate were manoeuvring and circling about more. As it turned out, th-e captain of the Sydney wos very cleverly taking full advanage of his high speed, by darting in as soon as the Emden had got the range, and so upeetting her aim, at the same time givinc her a broadside before swerving cut again, so that the Emden's shots were- going over or ehort nearly all the time. The Sydney's speed was tremendous, and although there was no time to keep any records, tb<> opinion was that the boat had beaten all previous trials and paper records, so tbo Sydney having the appearance of being oa fire was accounted for. But none of this did we know at the train, for wo wore etill enduring the galling suspense of seeing - nothing and hearing nothins. Such email items ae we managed to elicit from our guards were meagre and unconsoling, jriointing to the probability that both would sink. At 11 o'clock only ono was visible, and by noon nothing was to bo seen Theories were rife, but the Germane remained stolid, and tho first officer proceeded to unfold hie plans to our superintendent. First and foremost we were allowed to leave our boatshed, and great was the ioy of the long-postponed bath. But events were etill moving too briskly to think of tiffin, and the greater part of us had practically nothine for 24 hours—till dinner that night. DEPARTURE OF THE GERMANS. The Germans' plans were these: If the Emden only came back they would rejoin her. If only the Sydney returned they would fight for it, having a great advantage over a landing party, in which case they gave us permission to take to our boats and make for one of the other ielands. If neither boat came 'back then they would commandeer the Ayesha, a 100-ton schooner belonging , to J. S. Clunies Ross (Governor of these islands), then at anchor in the lagoon. It was for this last contingency that they now started making preparations, and began well by asicing us for two months' and followed this up by " boing afraid they must eay how hard up they were for clothes, and how glad they would bo if any old ones wo could spare them. I have quoted this as bearing out the civil treatment we met with all through. Tho officer even went so far as to say that our stores would be returned at the first possible opportunity after they had reached a neutral port. Be that as it may, we saw the justice of their request, and eoon the island was a busy scene such as it is when our quarterly boat arrives— with two significant differences. The trolleys laden with stores of all descriptions —hams, flour, rice, biscuits, milk, etc., in sometimes unopened cases, were being run down to the jetty, and were being run by strange, unkempt foreigners instead of tho familiar Malay. All our best was taken, in some cases three months' supply for us, and we cheerfully looked on, or almost lent a hand. By half-past 4- they seemed to have left all that was useless to them, and an examination from tho roof showed no sign of any ship, although smoke -was faintly visible 15 miles away, which appeared to move and circle slightly, but came no nearer.

Sb preparations were now made to put sail on the Ayesha and to load her with stores. This done, all tins used for carrying water wero borrowed, some 50 or 60 altogether, and a raid was- made on the condensed # water for drinking purposes, which, serious though it might have been, made little or no difference, as an officer had given orders that our condenser and ice plant should bo eparod. The word "borrowed" is used advisedly, for the Germans were sporting right up to the end, and with great consideration returned tho tins, no doubt at the expense of timo which was now becoming precious. For the majority of tho men were aboard, and on tho return of tho remainder, with whom we exchanged final chcere, the whole crew rng into action, strikin-jr away mooring ns, making fast the two pinnaces aft, and the towing linn for'ard from tho steam launch, and eo at dusk the procoseion started, with an officer up in the rigging directing their exit throun-h the tricky, reefy channel. The Germans raised a rousing cheer when tho loimt lino of launch, schooner, and two pinnaces becran to move, the German flag flying, and in silonoe we watched them with very mixrd For only an could realise the indomitable pluck and cheerfulness of thrso men. in face of groat orMs —thoir ehip probably sunk, their comrades dead, and themselves forced to take to a small schooner which already had been condemned ns unseaworthy, and so fo take their dinners in tho broad Indian Ocoan. with, at the best, the outlook of making some part of Africa as they hoped to rln. if they rvnrfpd capture, and their crazy boat withstood the whims of tho elements. And at last in silence wo tiirnrrl. Fnri at. lioart, for we did not know oven the ipsue of tho fight, and made our way back to

the gloomy quarters from -where wo had boon accustomed to hoar the monotonous exhaimt of the engines ami see the cheerful twinkle of electrio lights. The absence of tho latter inconvenienced us little, as very few of us wuro visible after our long post(Kinod meal, tired out, a» we wore after our loajf and rather exhausting day. "BRITANNIA HULKS THE WAVES." Hix o'clock thi-s nioiiiaiii haw tlio island .•'•fi.iiii buying witt. excitement, for a lourlunriellcd cruiser bad been .sighted, cummy; full .'d, and very soon it w<ts evident that slr> was u)wiDg a liioboai,, but had no symptom) ui liavilig participated in a gruelling fig) t. By o.M a.m. .siio wai uuihored '.n tho Giiti'iiiice, and shortly aller-w.-irda two boats put oil', and began rowing tile intervening two miles to the jetty. With tlu' glasses tho letter- "Sy " wero visible, at the. btu.ru. and the common 9p«:ulition was that, it wua the Sydney, whitli had heard news of the fight, and had put in to sic that all was well. Tlio thought that 3hv3 was the survivor seemed too good to be true, as we stili thought it was the Newcastle that had been engaged. In addition to this, the appearance of the new arrival seemed too smart and trim—and yet—we hoped. Coming in. the first boat put up a white flag, and when about a quarter of a mile- off e.arne on by herself, the second no ctoubt waiting- to see what reception was forthcoming. But surely this was evident enough, by the excited behaviour of the little group of Britishers eagerly awaiting them. The first remark hurled at them, after three great rousing cheers, voiced our hope*, " Did yon flop tho s?" " Yes, rather —any Germans here''" "Not a drop, and "then all discipline went, and we were in antorig thorn, wrin&imr hands and drag-g-ing them up on to the jetty, while for some minutes an incoherent babel filled tho air. The great reaction had sot in, for not only wo know that the great menace of these waters was at an end, but wo al-io had another glimpse of the strength of our Empire, and hope beats high when wo see tho sons of the Motherland, many ot them totally untried, proving their love for her to such purpose, and their worth. Order woe restored after a time, and, with permission, we rushed one half ot the gallant lads up to the quarteas for a little refreshment they had so nobly earned, to be afterwards relieved by the remainder, and with all talking, shouting, and laughing at once, wo gradually gleaned the whole etory, varving slightly in details, but consistent in tho" main, that the Emden, after a gallant fio-ht, had been run on a reef lust oft North Keeling, 15 miles to the north of us, burning aft, and in a sinking condition, a battered mase of plates and twisted girders, .resembling rather a burnt-out factory than any sort of ship, except that her after mast still stood, from which were afterwards flying the two flags, N.C.—u curt but pathetic signal: "I need assistance." Tho details of the light and tho Admiralty report will no doubt have been made known long ere thie, so repetition will be useless. But many things were now explained to us: Tho appearance of the Sidney being on fire, tho duration of the actual engagement —80 the cause of tho rather erratio aim of the Sydney at the outeet, owing to the main rangefinder having been carried away. But as the Sydney had fired 566 shots, one realised how many the Emden must have fired, which made it doubly hard to credit the little damage done and at what small cost. Would that tho lads that were taken could have tasted the fruits of perhaps their first engagement and triumph, but theirs was a noble end. In addition to all this tho great question wae answered: " Had our wireless signals got out?" and we found that another example of the inestimable value of wireless in tho caee of emergency had been added to history. For in spite of all" the Emden's ;.l tempts to jam >us, the Minotaur had heard us, but being further away, very sportingly had immediately detailed the Sydney to proceed to Cocos and engage the Emden. Now it is evident that the Germans made two fatal mistakes. Their humane policy forbade them to shell our wirelces before landing, and secondly—a thing which wae evident to us all, as our look-out place was so familiar —they omitted to station a sentry on our roof. Of their first oversight, or thoughtfulness, we were devoutly thankful, but avoiding the second misrht have still saved tho day for them.

The men spent very littlo time ashore, so we all followed down to cheer them off, and soon the Sydney wae steaming off to North Keeling, the E-mden's last resting -place, with the object of taking off the survivors. Ono memento she left with us —tho lifeboat they had towed in, the last relic of the Emden's collier Buresk. When the Sydney came up with her after the stranding of the Emden she found the sea-ccoks opened, and the collier in a sinking condition, so the crew were quickly taken off and a breadside put into her. It was after that we had seen the Sydney circling round looking for any survivors, and they were rewarded for their long search, for of the several they picked up the last had been in the water seven hours! AFTER THE FRAY. Little has been said so far of the office, but last night, when it was found only one cable of the three was cut, all was activity once more. To pause or think gave us very mixed feelings, for lighted by a solitary oil lamp the office presented a terrible spectacle. Silence now reigned where before had been the familiar note of different mechanical contrivances, and of the few tables left standing none showed more {han a few ends of wires and broken fragments, with gaping holes showing where instruments had been let through on to their pedestals. And only 12 hours before these tables had been studded with recorders, automat c transmitters, shunts, and the hundred and ono appliances neceesary for cable working. How different was tho work now —clearing away the wreckage to make room for tho ono recorder that had been buried some weeks ago! An hour after it was considered safe to bring it ur> —with temporal y leads and switches—we were speaking to Singapore, reporting all well, and the process was repeated on Rodriguez shortly after. The cable to Perth, which the Germans had succeeded in cutting, proved a tougher proposition, for it was a heavy ehoro end, and diving for and hauling up the severed ends, with only small boate to work in, proved no easy task. Eventually they were brought close together to enable tho collier's lifeboat to prove its utility, for it was used as a buoy, with an end of the cable moored fore and aft, temporarily connected, and this afternoon we reported "All well" to Perth— not 24 hours after the Germans had left. On this Adelaide has been working direct with Durban ever since, with autom&tio

relay at Perth and Rodriguez, and human relay here. All that was now needed wae another instrument to enable us to work witii Singapore, and go be in communication with all our usual stat ons again. To this end, one of our electricians, with great ingenuity, cjiFocttjrl a combination, chiefly of brokixn. or bent bits of other instruments, but th« end was accomplished. This instrument has ninety earned several nicknames, foremost of which is " Crazy Jane," but she works! Thu Germans were under the impression that they hud rut two oahlne, utkl wcro interrupted as they wcro starting on the tliini. But th<> second one they cut—of which they haulm! up and cut off some fathoms, to dump in mid-lagoon, was a, durrunv !

When the Sydney takes off the survivors, t.he last scene will be rune down oti tho "Battle of Oxos." Those "that fell had a grand end, fighting a groat, fight, in the full convict'on that during their connection with the shir) their records had been clean and honourable, and wo are glad to think the survivor? will receive the consideration they hive eo often rm-ted out to ethers. For ourselves, this historic incident will live long in the minds of nil, and for months to come w> shall have speaking evidence o f tho stirriner drama that was enacted neqr onr little island home,

" Whore the sea-eggs flame in the coral, and the long-backed breakers croon Their endless ocean legends to the lazy docked lagoon."