NOT FROM EMDEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 252, 23 October 1937, Page 9

NOT FROM EMDEN

Shells in Japanese Lugger THE STORY DOUBTED (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Received Oct. 22. 10.30 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 22. Naval experts are not impressed by the reports that the 400 unexploded six-inch shells that the police found aboard the Japanese fishing lugger at Singapore came from the wartime island cache of the Emden. The Japanese declare the shells were discovered buried on a beach on an island in the Indian Ocean. Marks on the casings appeared to confirm that the shells were from the Emden but experts declare that it is extremely unlikely that the Emden would part with a single round of ammunition when she was liable to go into action at any time. They also point out that her main armament consisted of ten guns of 4.1-inch calibre, whereas the shells in the present case are larger.

A cable from Singapore published yesterday stated that, following stories in circulation on the waterfront that a Japanese ship in harbour was carrying munitions, the police searched and found a 75-ton Japanese lugger with 400 unexploded six-inch shells aboard. The crew declared that the shells were found buried on a beach in the Indian Ocean. Marks on the casings confirmed that the shells were from the German warship Emden, destroyed at Cocos Island in the early days of the Great War. The Emden, the celebrated German raider, was destroyed by H.M.A.S. Sydney in an action off the Cocos Islands in November, 1914. The German cruiser was beached on North Keeling Island to save her from sinking.