Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/1/1 - October - December 1914 - Part 9

November 22   68.  
the confusion I should have got in amongst
the fleet. I would have sunk half of the transports,
I think - before your escort came up. I should
have been sunk in the 2nd, I expect, - I always
expected that I should be sunk in the end. I had
good luck to begin with but my luck was out
that day. " He never knew it ws the Sydney till after the fight. 
He was not ready when she found him - she came on very fast & he had no time to prepare
He sd there was no truth in the story that he
wired wirelessed to Calcutta offering to take their mails
for them - a lot of false stories get about.
(His sailors also say that he never sailed
under any foreign flag as he was reported
to have done at Penang - that was by night
anyway.) Penang was his first fight when
he sank the Jemchug (ship about his own size)
He had been looking for the Askold at one time 
- the ship he was supposed to have sunk & been sunk
by - but never found her.
He had bn 18 months on the station & was
due home in another 6 months. I
Most of these Germans can speak a little
English - one German seaman speaks it excellently.
The prince speaks chiefly French. He was
asked if they had any difficulty in arranging about

November 22.    69.              
coal. "Oh no" - he said - "Your admiralty
provided us with most excellent coal!"
The British Govt Admty seems to have lost the
Emden ever since she left Penang (on Oct. 28?)
until we stumbled onto her at Cocos. I see
in the _^ Ceylon papers the Admiralty says the Melbourne &
Sydney "were engaged in searching for her".
Today the Hampshire, which has been
constantly visiting various parts of the fleet, stopped
close alongside of us. The General, Col. White,
Capt. Gordon Smith RN., & Parker (naval secretary)
went over to a lunch confab in her. The General drops
off the ladder on the ships side as easily as
a pilot would - he used to do a lot of sailing
in Sydney. Parker is a great chap, an
old Cheltenham boy of Dare Salter's time,
who was in the Navy but lately took up with
a partner an irrigation area at Rochester in
Victoria. He came back for this job & is
(with Schuler) quite the cheeriest soul on board.
The General & the others returned
about lunch time & at tea we stopped again -
all this in mid-ocean - & transferred to the

November 22.       70
Hampshire five carcases of frozen mutton.
They have no refrigerator there (except a cooling
plant for the magazines) & as they have been
at sea since the beginning of the war with
never more than 2½ days in any port
they are getting pretty sick of salt junk.
One doesn't realise that they have probably
to go without butter fresh meat & any except
tinned vegetables except tinned ones.
The captain has a boil two inches
square just above his wrist in consequence.
They were asking if you could be innoculated
for boils.
The Hampshire keeps two men on
the look out all day at the very top of
her foremast - standing on the wireless
yard, with glasses, one facing one way,
the other another way. They wd probably
see a smoke 40 miles away. They are
relieved by _^ two fresh men others  every hour.
The Captain of the Hampshire Emden was
allowed to go amongst his men this
morning to question them as to details
of the fight. Casey was present.

November. 22. 23.                 71.
A ½ bottle of claret tonight at dinner to drink mother's 
health.
Funnel. [Shorthand ], shell in eng room
Monday Nov. 23rd:
Pick up daily a few more facts about the Emden engine
room. The Emdens false funnel was made of canvas
painted grey. She sailed all round the Cocos that night
(so Schuler hears); & after putting off her three boats, began
to take the funnel down as being of no more use.
It looks as if they took it down just too soon.
The Captain (who is writing an account of the
fight) inquired today if the his men. He asked _^ that if they
were all well & comfortable got leave yesterday to see his men. They were all drawn up at the stern.
He said: "Gut morgen!" They answered like one man : "Gut
Morgen, Kapitan." He asked them if they were comfortable. The answered
again: "Ja, mein Kapitan". Then he asked if he could
dismiss them & speak to some of them separately.
He sat down with his notebook & spoke first to
one who had been in the Engin steering _^ gear room with
flat where the stearing gear is & asked him why
he cd not communicate with him. The man
sd a shell had burst which drove twisted a large
portion of armour (? protective deck) back onto
the steering gear communications & made them
useless. The man then left that flat & went
up to a gun in the Zwischen deck (? waist of

November. 23.               72.  
the ship). This was afterwards hit _^ in the breech by a
shell which killed every man except himself.
The Captain then called up other men
& asked them what had happened to some of
their comrades. Some, they sd, were killed;
some drowned; the when asked about others
they shrugged their shoulders.
One of their men, when asked by Carter
if he wd like was glad to be out of it said: "I wd like
to be in Germany, fighting for my country.
I would like to see Australians all dead" -
he said it with a smile. They firmly
believe their country must win.
We Again transferred one day's meat to Hampshire
today. We have 400 tons of it on board.
It is said the Wiltshire is sending on a
boat doctor to the Indian contingent just
ahead of us (?) to replace one who has
jumped overboard. May be true or not.
Hampshire intercepted a wireless about
Portugal declaring war & passed it on to us.
De Bucy told the Capt. of the Emden he had very
bad news for him. He looked grave at once. When he

November 23.                 73.
heard that it was to the effect that
Portugal had declared war he was highly
amused. Began letters for papers &
posted diary up to Nov. 17^th. as letters
are not to be censored. Sent it to father
marked confidential & only to be shown to
close relations who are not likely to repeat
what they read there.
Little Isabel Maclagan on deck today after being seedy for three two weeks.
This night is perfect - a beautiful half
moon, perfect sea, soft breeze (made by
the ship herself I fancy). We still have the 
lights subdued - half power, not more. The
fleet can be seen - two divisions; red & green
lights one after the other, astern of us;
green lights & a few cabin lights to port.
There goes 8 bells (12p.m.) & the distant
cry of the watch in the bows - "all's well".
And so, I think, it is - if these prisoners
are properly looked after. Some people think
the skipper will give trouble & even try to
take the ship. I shouldn't wonder; but
the guard ought to be far too strong for him.
De Bucy told the prince, the other day,
that he & I (as far as I know the only two)

November 23.                75.
packed our valuables (mine consisted mainly
of this diary) into handy bags on the night
of Nov. 8^th so as to be able to snatch them
up & possibly save them if we got into a
boat. He laughed & said: "Ce n'etait pas
ma faute!" - he meant - not his fault that he
had missed us.
Passed Socotia today - going to North of it. Wondered if we cd see houses habitations there
but didn't.
Orders have been given that all
men sleeping on deck must have their
lifebelts with them & must sleep in their
stations for the boats.
12p.m. Moon down. It We are moving through
a perfect sea - no more noise, even out when
you lean over the rail, than wd be made
by the bath water tumbling in to a big 
plunge bath - The ship forces the water
to break a little as she pushes through it 
- but tonight the break sounds mellow, like
the break of _^ hot soapy water - A mile ahead
on our port bow the one little stern light spark
of the Hampshire. The second division, a
mile over the water to port - 6 green lights, one no
- the sternmost - those masthead lights - was the green lights of the three furthest
- the sternmast - those astern can only just be guessed
by a sort of haze.

There are a few additional details about the Emden:
The Engineer & Prinz Hohenzollern are said to have climbed
out of a hole in the ship's side when she was beached at the end of the
fight. The crew must have spent part of their time, after she ran
ashore, in getting their valuables & kit. They were found to have
a big s an extraordinary collection of money on them - Mexican
dollars, English silver, Japanese, Russian, German 5 mark pieces - 7800
marks in all. These were mostly badly burnt and had clearly been caught the Emden
in some of the fires in the Emden. Most of this money was
obviously taken from captured ships & divided up amongst
the Emden's crew - but it is being kept for the men. It has
been temporarily taken away & is in the Purser's charge. The
Germans have been selling some of the Emden's canteen coins,
& Kiau Chau money to soldiers on board & possibly some of the
hat ribbons from their caps - though I'm not sure of this.
It is said as much as £1 has been given. Two of these
ribbons were reported as having been stolen last night.
from them one night on board. The guard company on guard
November 24.                76.    
Tuesday Nov. 24^th. This day about 8 oclock in the
morning we pushed out ahead of the fleet in order
to get into Aden in time to water & coal & leave by
with the time the others came up.
Spent the whole most of the day (except for half an
hour when I was reading a French naval novel with M. de
Marigny on deck) in writing up the Emden fight for the papers. Our prisoners
I find amon include: 44 men; 3 _^ warrant officers; & Capt. von Muller, D^r Luther,
Lieut. Hohenzollern, & Lieut. Fikentseber. The warrant
officers was have till 7 a.m. to come from their cabin. Then they
have Breakfast _^ down at the stern. The men exercise _^ from 11.30 to 12.30. The
Officers _^ have their portion of the deck from 12 to 1. No one is allowed on that portion
of the deck from 6 pm to 6 a.m. except the sentries & officers in charge of prisoners.
X
Penang [Shorthand - went in at night] They were signalled [Shorthand - who are you and replied asking for a pilot
they were surprised to get within 400 yards of the J without being seen.  The ship appeared
to be asleep.  Cap says he only used his own flag.
Mousq. came out at them on hearing the firing and fired a torpedo but
it missed and the E sank her.  Took up some of her men and steamed out.
Said to be from Ts. T. just before the start of the war.
Gave up their money Mex dollars, English silver, Jap. yen,
German 5 mark pieces.  (It was looted money).  Most of the men were
burnt in the E.     7800 marks.
H's sister married [[Manack?]] of [[?]]
Capt said he "wasted" 3 summers

was, I hear, searched, but nothing else could be
done - & I dont know that a theft can be proved.
The Captain & crew have been provided with clothes
from by officers in this ship, & by the Hampshire which I
believe sent some on board; & some of the Red + shirts
worked by ladies in Melbourne have be given to
them - the Captain has one. The crew is men are very
much surprised at this & _^ appear grateful. They are
astonished at the physique of our force & have
been asking if the Australians in it were not 
all enlisted in the country.
Their attack on Penang was carried out
in the early morning - before while it was still yet
night. They shipped a 4th funnel & steamed in.
They were seen & signalled to at the entrance:
"Who are you?" They replied asking for a pilot.
The pilot boat was quite close to them but
did nothing. They were surprised to get within
400 yards of the Russian Cruiser Jemtchug
without any alarm being raised. The ship appeared
to be asleep - & the captain says emphatically
that he used no foreign flag to approach her; he
only sailed under his own. They torpedoed the
Jemtchug twice & poured in 4 salvoes & then turned
November 24                77.   
no alternative then.
Same [Shorthand - shell blew a chair into the sea out of the lower deck.
A man tried to secure chair but the line was caught in coral.
Salt water in wounds.
Capt. has a flannel red + shirt
Pilot boat was quite close to them at Penang.
G. morng.  G m. cap.
Capt says 1500 shells now have been fired.
Says more like 600. Syd's shell burst still on [[shorthand?]] [[shorthand?]].
Capt told the officer guarding him "No possible chance to escape at sea
[[shorthand?]] him [[shorthand?]]."
3 Chinese servicemen killed by the Sydney's fire.
2 Emd hat cords & a cap stolen.
Fick. had landing. finder.]
at once. As they were going out the French destroyer
Mousquet came at them. She fired a torpedo
but it missed, & the Emden sank her. They rescued
some of her crew & steamed out. The Emden was
at Tsing Tan before the beginning of the war.
A few additional points of interest in the
Emden fight are: A shell which blew so exploded below the after deck
blew the crew of a gun from that deck into the
sea. The seaman who had be was picked up
by the Sydney after 8 ½ hours in the water

November. 24             78. 
had been partially supported by a chair. That
chair was blown into the sea from one of the
lower decks by the same explosion which
threw him into the sea.
As to that "flag question" again: When the Sydney returned after the sinking the
collier and made signals to the Emden asking
"Have you surrendered?" these signals were apparently 
not understood - the Captain _^ I believe says they th were made
by morse, semaphore & flag - but he had lost his
code books & he had no one on board who could
read the Morse or semaphore. (There were only 12
deck hands left alive - the remain and many of the specialists
had been sent off with the landing party to
Cocos - presumably because they would understand
the instruments etc.) The Captain says he thought
the Sydney was going to lower a boat (although
it strikes one that this would have been a
mad proceeding with his flag still flying; - & he being The flag so long
as it flies means definitely "I intend to go on fighting - & this captain
was a man who might well be expected to fight to
the last ditch). He put up no white flag -
& although the flag was halyards had been cut
away (or else the flag was wired - _^ as to which accounts differ)
& the mainmast was difficult to approach
on account of the heat & the condition of the