Notebook 2 of Vivian Agincourt Spence Little, 1914- Part 3

They already had their ships boats provisioned, preparing in preparation

to get away as they had abandoning her, ^having already opened the ship's sea cocks intending in order

to sink her. Lieut. Bill Salter, in charge of our party, found

that there the sea cocks had been damaged and could not be

closed. Nothing could be done about As nothing could be done it was decided to take the rest of the

crew onboard. Those were the remains of the original

ship's company viz, two Englishmen (cooks) and 18

Chinamen. Fearing that another German cruiser

may be near, the "Sydney" decided to sink the collier.

So eight shells were fired into her amidships near the

water-line. They quickly set her on fire. and to It was

an awful sight to see the effects of the shells as they

burst within the heart of the ship. Great clouds of black

smoke, lit up with long tongues of lurid flame leaped

up for 50 ft out of her 'midship passages and doorways.

The Chinese were a motley lot. They were dressed

in various rigs. Each had a few other rags and xxx

effects in a bundle. And in most cases, each man

carried a small biscuit tin of provisions. They sat

in a docile quiet way, about the deck and began to

 

 

eat ^their biscuits and rice. By the time we had taken off the

crew, the "Bursek" was healing over. She probably sank during

the afternoon.

Afterwards the "Sydney" steamed back to North Keeling Id

where the "Emden" was beached. She was still on fire

masses of flame being visible at times and clouds of light

smoke. But her flag still flew. The "Sydney" signalled

by Morse, "Do you surrender?" Two evasive replies were

made one of which stated "We have no signal book".

A red flag was waved from just beneath the bridge

whatever that was to signify. A no further reply was

forthcoming, "Sydney" opened fire and delivered eight

broadsides. Immediately her the "Emden's" flag was lowered. Soon

after "Sydney" made for Direction Id and anchored

there for the night.

Next morning Tues. 10^th, we proceeded to the wreck

and sent off boats to bring on board prisoners. There

was a heavy swell running which made embarkation

difficult. Eight officers, eight warrant officers and 179 men

including many wounded were taken onboard. From the

 

 

"Buresk" we took 3 officers 1 warrant officer, ^and 12 12 men which

formed the ^German prize crew, also 18 Chinamen and 2 Englishmen

of the collier's original crew. So that for some days we were

more of a combination of hospital ship and transport or

passenger ship than a warship. The Captain of the "Emden"

Von Müller, a tall rather thin in build, appeared to be

a decent fellow. He was generously healed by our captain

who xx entertained him in his own cabin. The officers

were messed by our wardroom and slept in the wardroom

flat. Our officers were also very kind in providing the

prisoners with beds, bedding, articles of clothing &c. Some

of these "Emden" officers were pleasant-mannered and

cultured men, others just the reverse. Amongst them

was a Hohenzollern Prince, a cousin of the Kaiser. He

was second torpedo-lieutenant and told us he was

in the torpedo flat when one of our shells pierced the

armour and flooded the flat. They therefore abandoned

it and took refuge in the fo'cstle. He escaped wounds

except for a scratch or two as none of our shells struck

the "Emden" forward of the bridge. 

 

 

Most of the German officers belonged to the Engineering Dept.

on There was one surgeon, the he had been in one of the

boiler rooms during the fight and so escaped injuries.

The other surgeon was located in the tiller flat. This was

struck by one of our shells - probably the hit which damaged

the steering gear - and he was injured. Later on, he swam 

or waded ashore after the ship was beached, and so we

were told, died from the effects of drinking sea water.

From survivors and the reports of our own officers who

boarded the "Emden", we learned a harrowing tale of the

effects of our fire. Early in the fight, our shells began

to play havoc with the "Emden's" Gunners. In a few

minutes the upper deck was cleared of gun's crews.

[To maintain fire, reserve stokers were driven up from 

[below at the pistol point to man the guns. But either

[* see before.! *] [their inexperience in gunnery or our gunfire prevented

[their doing us any further damage of note. We were

[told that one of the first shells which struck the "Emden"

[caused the flooding of the torpedo flat. As to whether

 

 

she fired a torpedo at us or not, we could not make quite 

sure as reports were contradictory. The Prince told us

that no torpedo was fired owing to the flooding of the flat.

It was about the same time that the steering was

damaged. This necessitated the use of the propellers in

steering the ship and in consequence her movements

were much impeded. Her speed, which before the

fight was about 24 Knots, so it one of the engineers said,

was reduced to 18 Knots by through the funnels having been shot

away. Again work in the engine room and boiler rooms

was made very difficult through the smoke which was

sucked in by the ventilating fans and driven down below.

One boiler room was so full of smoke as to be suffocating.

It became necessary to keep open the fire doors for ventilation.

This further lowered the steam pressure and consequently

the speed.

Soon after our shells began to strike, observers on

our ship noticed great clouds of smoke, white ^or cream coloured,

issuing from the Emden abaft midships. In a few

minutes the whole of the after part of the "Emden" was

 

 

one roaring inferno. Corticine, pitch, woodwork ^paint and

other inflammable substances contributed to the blaze ^and possibly

ammunition charges intensified it in places. So thick

[*see before*] was the smoke at one time during  First one funnel was

shot away, then followed portion of the bridge, which destroyed 

the system of communication with various parts of the ship.

Then another funnel went and afterwards the foremast.

While making the run to the island to beach herself,

the third funnel was carried away. Meantime

terrible destruction had been wrought along her decks,

especially from the bridge aft. So hot had been the

conflagration, that the paint had been burnt off the

outside of her exterior the plates of the ships sides, for half her length.

Those plates just appeared scorched and rusted. All

the wood-decking had been burnt in the same length.

Besides this destruction, the decks had been punctured

by shells, fragments of burst shells, distorted by

explosions within the ship, great holes torn and the

plates folded back like paper.

^※Those who boarded her, tell of the af awful scars they saw.

[*^※Her sides presented a pitiable appearance. They were simply

riddled with holes of many sizes. Two huge gaping holes

were conspicuous - one just beneath the bridge where the

armour had been smashed leaving a hole about 9ft by 4ft

and another, also in the armour about half that size.*]

 

 

The decks were one mess of wreckage, so much so that it

was only with difficulty one could pick a way amid

twisted metal, gaping holes in the deck and bodies of men.

One of the first objects one of our officers noticed was

a headless body lying on the deck. Below, in the after

part of the ship, was all one great compartments, all the

partitions and bulkheads being partially or wholly carried

away and rolled up in tangled heaps.

The decks were littered with bodies. Here and there they

were in heaps - some apparently uninjured but killed

by either the concussion or ^suffocated by the fumes from of  the explosion of

a shell - others dreadfully mutilated - one case, a skull

shot off clean, others, limbs shot off - others indescribable

injuries. In some spots it was a perfect shambles - on

the iron work being pieces of flesh, some with clothing attached.

other bodies were charred by shellfire, or by the conflagration.

Many bodies had been thrown overboard, - some were being

washed about by the surf. Several men were blown

overboard by shellfire - two were rescued by us, one of

them having been in the water about eight hours. Strange

 

 

to say he was not much worse for his long immersion.

The fire continued to burn all the afternoon and was

still smouldering next morning.

After the beaching of the "Emden", the engine room staff,

naturally came on deck. It so happened that they were

exposed to our second firing when surrender was

demanded. Survivors told us that 15 men were killed

by one shell which burst amongst a group of stokers. Many

others were killed and wounded. In fact the great majority

of wounded brought aboard were victims of this the second

attack. They were nearly all stokers, hardly any seamen

or gunners having survived. Had Capt. Von Müller

surrendered on our demand this slaughter would have

been prevented.

About 40 wounded were brought off to us on Tues 10^th.

and about four or five others on Wed. morning

early, the latter having got ashore somehow. and Our 

^landing party under Lieut Garsia rescued them after many

difficult experiences during the previous night spent

on the island. Those rescued were survivors from amongst

 

 

a good many who in one way or another ^escaped to landed on the island,

the others being either drowned in the heavy surf or dying through

drinking sea water ^there being no fresh water in the island. The night after the action must have

been a frightful experience for the majority on board. Imagine

well nigh 200 men on a wrecked ship, sunk and aground,

still on partly burnt out and still on fire, without fresh

water, for the tanks had been shot away, the ship a veritable

charnel house and hospital combined and added to this

the nervous shock after the strain of battle.

The majority of the wounded cases were in serious plight.

Most of them were injured in the limbs. Many were

scattered over by fragments of shell on face, limbs and

body, often 30 to 50 punctures of various sizes being

found on one man. Some had extensive wounds. One

had a wound on his thigh 9in long by about 6in broad

and 1½in deep. Besides this his face was laid open

and a piece of flesh over an inch long hung down

over his jaw. From the latter wound we extracted a piece

of either coal or charred wood the size of a cherry. His

wound was nearly septic and stank horribly. This was

 

 

the general condition of their wounds. Apparently though effected

36 hrs ago, hardly any attention had been given them, except in

a most amateurish manner. Many cases were done up roughly,

just a piece of wadding and rag jabbed upon the wound and

then tied up. Often the rag was a piece of clothing none too

clean. One had an artery cut in the humerus and the

arm very much inflamed. Another had a peculiar

wound on the fleshy part of the shoulder. A piece of shell had

cut a passage clean through, leaving intact a piece of

flesh midway between the holes of entrance and exit.

Two had ^their faces half shot away, one of these died and

the other was alive when seen in Colombo hospital.

A number were burned black by shell-fire.

Our men showed much kindness to their wounded

enemies. Several, as many as ^were needed, volunteered to form

an emergency sickbay party and their were exemplary

in their assiduity in meeting the necessities of the sick.

The attention and help shown by British to Germans and

vice versa, during the trying days of the voyage to Colombo

were both instructive and pathetic to witness. It showed