This show, as most of you know, covers the first world war week by week, so each episode
covers mostly large events on the battlefields or the decisions and tactics behind them.
We sometimes cover individuals, particularly in our bio specials, but today it's going to
be a little bit different; today is about a group of individuals. Today I’m going
to tell you a story, the story of the final voyage of the Emden.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about the final voyage of the Emden.
The SMS (Seiner Majestät Schiff = His Majesty’s Ship) Emden was a Dresden class light cruiser
in the German Imperial Navy, commissioned in 1906. With 18 officers and a crew of 343
men, she could reach a top speed of 23,5 knots and had a range of 3,760 nautical miles. Each
of her ten 40-caliber quick-loading cannons had a range of over 12 kilometers or 7,5 miles
and was provided with 150 shells each. The Emden could also lay mines and launch torpedoes.
When the war broke out, the Emden was based in Tsingtao, which was territory leased and
occupied by the Germans, and it was the only German cruiser there, and commanding officer
Karl von Muller figured it would be wise for the Emden to relocate, so he headed toward
the Mariana Isles to join the rest of the German East Asia Squadron under
Admiral Maximilian von Spee.
Now, von Spee was taking the squadron to South America and then hopefully back to Germany,
but when von Muller suggested that the Emden remain behind to harass British shipping,
Spee agreed. At the beginning of September the pirating Emden intercepted the Greek Pontoporros,
carrying ammunition and supplies for the allies, captured five other ships, and sank a further
four. A week later another steamer was captured and two British ships sank. Official German
archives describe the Emden’s mission like this:
“She wanted to disturb the British supply lines like a wolf breaking into the sheepfold;
doing as much damage as she could, while avoiding superior enemy naval forces. "
On September 22nd, the Emden entered Madras harbor and shelled the oil tanks of the Burma
Oil Company, setting them ablaze. The Emden slipped away before the British could react.
And when they did react they did this: drastically reducing shipping to prevent capture or destruction.
So, for a short time, the Emden reduced the value of shipping between India and the Suez
Canal by an estimated 60 percent.
Soon, the Emden headed for the harbor of Diego Garcia, a British colony administered from
Mauritius, 1,700 kilometers off the tip of India. Since news that there was a war on
hadn't reached the small colony, they provided the Emden with a warm welcome. They repaired
some small damage and stocked her up with coal.
Okay, the Battle of Penang. Penang, off the coast of Malaysia, was a British colony. As
the Emden approached on October 28, 1914, the Russian warship Zhemchug was there for
repairs. The Emden entered the harbor disguised with a false smokestack to resemble a British
cruiser. Once in the harbor, she opened fire on the Zhemchug. The Emden spun and headed
toward the far side of the channel, bringing her broadside guns to bear. When they were
abreast and around 150 meters apart there was a huge explosion from the Zhemchug. After
a second detonation it broke in two and quickly sank. The explosions had been torpedoes from
the Emden. 89 men died and 143 were wounded. Before leaving Penang, the Emden also sank
the French destroyer Mousquet, killing 88 and wounding 121. By this time, the Emden
had sunk or captured 25 civilian vessels as well.
But the Emden was just one ship and its luck couldn’t hold out forever. Von Muller headed
toward Direction Island, midway between Australia and Sri Lanka. As they arrived, he sent a
shore party under first officer Helmuth von Mucke to disable communications. They did
not encounter any resistance, but a distress call had been sent out, and the Australian
light cruiser HMAS Sydney was nearby; it arrived just after 9 AM. The Sydney had superior main
guns and armor. The Emden fired first and its initial salvo went well beyond what British
intelligence thought the ship capable of and killed four seamen, but that was about all
the damage the Emden did. The Emden itself took close to 100 hits and enormous damage.
In the end, only one gun was still able to fire, one of the funnels was blasted off,
and there was a fire in the engine room. Nearly half of the crew was killed; the Emden was finished.
Von Müller ordered the remnants of the ship to be steered on a sand bank near the beaches
of North Keeling Island, where it ran aground. That afternoon, the Sydney opened fire again,
destroying the helpless wreck completely. The surviving Germans were eventually taken
on board; Von Müller and other officers were held on Malta while the crew was held in Singapore
or other Australian POW camps. Von Müller would return to Germany later as a war hero,
being honored with the Iron-Cross First Class.
So that’s it, right? Nuh-uh, not even close. This is when the story really begins.
Von Mucke and his men were still ashore; ready to face a landing party with rifles and machine
guns, but that landing never came. The Sydney left, and the Germans manned the last vessel
remaining, an old schooner called Ayesha. Now, this ship was old and rotten, and certainly
couldn’t survive a long ocean journey, right? Wrong. They loaded up with food and sailed
the ocean, drinking rainwater they caught with a stretch of sail and relied on the shifting
winds. Von Mucke later wrote:
“...We gathered up all our rifles, and... stowed them away below decks... The wildest
looking of the sailors and myself were the only ones who remained in sight. That we both
belonged to the Imperial Navy no one would ever have imagined, as our clothing was so
scant that we would much more readily have been sized up as belonging to the war fleet
of one of the island kingdoms of the Pacific.“
They anchored at Padang December 27th. Yep, they made it to Indonesia, and that Dutch
colony was neutral. They left the following night. They dodged British steamers, sailed
through fog, rain, and vicious thunderstorms, and finally caught up with the Austrian steamer
Choising and the German were welcomed aboard.
„The loss of the brave little ship touched us deeply. Although our life on board had
been anything but comfortable, we nevertheless all realized fully that it was to the “Ayesha“
we owed our liberty. For nearly a month and a half she had been our home. In that time
she had carried us 1709 nautical miles. We all stood aft at the stern railing of the
“Choising“ and watched the “Ayesha´s“ last battle with the waves.”
But where next? Tsingtao had fallen. But the crew of the Choising told the Germans that
the Ottoman Empire had entered the war and were now allies, so they made for the strait
of Bab-el-Mandeb, hoping the Ottomans still controlled southern Arabia. They landed near
Hodeida, which is now in Yemen, and headed through the desert, but were soon confronted
by a group of armed nomads.
„We pointed at the eagle, but it did not seem to suggest anything to them. Then I pointed
at the head of the Kaiser. This met with instant response... Among their ejaculations we distinguished
the word „Aleman“. This... could mean nothing other than “German“. Instantly...
we all shouted at the top of our voices, „Aleman! Aleman!“ ... a tremendous and enthusiastic
roar of response instantly arose among the Arabs.“
Their escort got them safely through to Hodeida. The Turkish governor provided them with supplies
and they again marched off through the desert. However, men got fevers, dysentery, and typhus
and were forced to return to Hodeida. The only other way to Europe was to try to run
the English blockade and enter the Red Sea. This they did and made it to Al-Qunfudhah,
from where they again headed out across the desert to Jeddah. It was now March. A Bedouin
group, which was paid and equipped by the British, attacked and besieged them for two
days, where they had to take cover between dead camels and makeshift sand-trenches. Only
a Turkish relief column from Mecca saved the otherwise doomed men. Once through the desert,
they took the Hejaz railway to Damascus, Aleppo, and finally Constantinople, arriving May 23rd,
1915. Von Mücke met the chief of the German Mediterranean Division, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon,
in typical military form:
“I report the landing squad from the “Emden“, five officers, seven petty officers, and 30 men strong."
You know, that story could actually have been three times as long, but I had to edit it
down. Amazing what people can accomplish. Now, I’m telling this story at Christmas
time, but a lot of people die in the story, so it’s not really a Christmas story, but
this is modern war, and YOU must realize- there are no Christmas stories here. But forget
stories for a moment, and take a moment to give your Christmas wishes to the soldiers
all over the world who fight, ideally so that you and I never have to, who may be wounded,
may die, and may never see their families again. Just ten seconds (take a ten second
pause). War is hell. Merry Christmas.
If you’d like to see what happened to Maximilian von Spee and his East Asia Squadron, click
here for our biography episode.
A big thanks goes to Lynn Davis who made a brand new map of Asia for our show. She actually
is very passionate about historic maps and if you want to see more of her work, check
out the link to her portfolio in the description below.
And if you want to see some more pictures from the pacific theatre of World War 1, follow
us on Instagram. See you Thursdays.