Dr Geoffrey M. Miller dropped into Barry O’Keefe Library on occasion. I enjoyed our chats. Dr Miller’s WW1 medical findings appear in online journal articles. His findings on the on death of the Red Baron are used as an authoritative source.
1. Richthofen was shot by Captain Brown.
The postmortem examinations revealed entrance and exit wounds from a bullet which must have entered the body from the right, from the side, from behind and from below the body as it was sitting in the cockpit. Such a track means that the bullet would have passed through Richthofen’s heart. Although Captain Brown did approach from Richthofen’s right, it is difficult to see how, firing as he did from above, he could have inflicted such a wound unless Richthofen was steeply banking his triplane at the time that he was shot. For what it is worth, the newspaper article in the Chicago ‘Sunday Tribune’, attributed to Captain Brown, did not mention such a bank. In this article Brown referred to Richthofen looking back at him when Brown fired at him and a steep bank therefore seems most unlikely.
Be that as it may, there is ample evidence from eye witnesses that Richthofen continued to pursue Lieutenant May along the Somme valley for about a minute, firing his gun and concentrating on his target. This would have been impossible if Richthofen had been shot through the heart by Brown.
2. He was shot by Gunner Robert Buie.
Again the track of the bullet makes it very unlikely that Buie could have shot Richthofen. From the statement attributed to Buie by Titler, Buie was firing when the triplane: “was bearing frontal and just a little to the right of me” and he could not have inflicted the wound that entered the body from behind. Buie stated: ‘Still Richthofen came on firing at Lieutenant May with both guns blazing. Then just before my last shots finished at a range of 40 yards Richthofen’s guns stopped abruptly…” Therefore at no time did Buie fire at Richthofen from behind.
3. He was shot by Sergeant Popkin.
Bean and Carisella both came to this conclusion and this is supported by abundant eye witness evidence and by the track of the bullet Popkin first fired when Richthofen was approaching him from the Somme valley but he failed to stop Richthofen. After coming under fire from Buie and Gunner Evans, at the Lewis gun emplacement, the German aeroplane turned away from the gunfire and it was then, when the triplane was flying away from Popkin, that he opened fire with his Vickers gun for the second time.1 Popkin continued to fire while the triplane completed the turn, and actually flew towards the Vickers gun, but there is no doubt that Popkin could have inflicted a bullet wound that entered Richthofen from below, from the side and slightly behind, just as was found at the postmortem examination. Neither Captain Brown nor Gunner Buie could have inflicted such a wound and it is therefore more probable than not that it was indeed Popkin who fired the fatal shot.
I say “more probable than not” because it is impossible to exclude the fourth possibility.
4. Richthofen was shot by an unknown Australian soldier who fired his rifle at the triplane as it flew over him and who scored a lucky hit.
This can never be disproved as the .303 rifle bullet was used by the Lee-Enfield Service rifle as well as the Lewis gun and the Vickers machine gun.
All that we can be sure of is that the entry and exit wounds on von Richthofen’s body meant that the bullet passed through the heart, or great vessels, and he could not have remained conscious for more than about thirty seconds after being hit. The fatal bullet had therefore to have been fired at von Richthofen at the end of the pursuit and this is likely to have been at the time when the triplane was observed to turn away from the hill where the Lewis gun batteries were situated.
The Official post mortem examination report is, in all probability, flawed and it is most likely that the bullet track was along a line joining the entrance and exit wounds. In other words the bullet came from behind, below and lateral to von Richthofen. There is little doubt that the bullet penetrated his heart and was fatal. Neither Captain Brown nor Gunner Buie could have inflicted such a wound.
The only known gunner that could have done so was Sergeant Popkin when he opened fire for the second time when Richthofen was turning away from him. Richthofen then lost control of his aeroplane and crashed, he was dead when his aeroplane hit the ground.
From the evidence of the postmortem examination and from eyewitnesses it was therefore most probably Sergeant Popkin who fired the fatal shot, although a lucky shot from an unknown soldier firing his rifle can not be excluded.
Dr Millers findings echo Red Baron enthusiast and historian P.J. Carisella’s exhaustive research in the 1960’s. Carisella and Ryan concluded rather graphically about the catastrophic nature of the injury:
…the effects of the wound must have been violent and noticeable immediately. The machine-gun bullet, entering on the right side, below the armpit at the ninth rib, and passing through his chest cavity, must have—at the very least—punctured both lungs before exiting…Even if the big slug missed the heart or the aorta, it caused massive internal bleeding… Richthofen’s lungs must have become flooded with blood that rose through his trachea to his mouth, inevitably drowning him…Other pronounced reactions, he said, would have included: gasping for air, uncontrollable choking, and rapid and sharp clenching of his arms…the machine-gun bullet wound in the chest cavity resulted in an immediate response to the nervous system. No matter how intent Richthofen was on flying and trying to shoot down an Allied aircraft, his concentration would have been instantly interrupted…
Therefore the time window between being shot and hitting the ground would have been much less than 60 seconds. There is no way Brown had hit him more than a few minutes previous to this, and Richthofen had continued to engage in an extended chase of Roy Brown along the Somme, dodging local villages and tree-tops, up a steep embankment, before crash landing his aeroplane in a field.
Although the various authors have drawn different conclusions about who was responsible for Richthofen’s death, it is apparent that all previous accounts of the postmortem examinations made on Manfred von Richthofen have been taken from Bean’s account in Volume V of his Official History. It must be emphasised that Bean did not quote the reports in their entirety but left out some of the original text of the reports.
The original complete reports are in the Richthofen section of the Bean Papers (the Bean Papers) held in the research section of the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra2 and a consideration of these throws important new light on the controversy. There is also an unpublished letter from Popkin to Bean in the papers, clarifying an original newspaper report about Popkin that has been used by Titler and Carisella and Ryan in their books and by Markham in his article.
In addition to The Death of Manfred von Richthofen: Who fired the fatal shot? Dr Miller has also written other articles, including one on the Sydney vs Emden battle
Carisella, P. J and Ryan, James W, (joint author.) Who killed the Red Baron?: The final answer (1st ed). Daedalus Pub. Co, Wakefield, Mass, 1969.
Franks, Norman L. R and Bennett, Alan, 1929 The Red Baron’s last flight: an in-depth investigation into what really happened on the day von Richthofen was shot down. Grub Street, London, 2006.
1 Australian War Memorial Archives; AWM 38 30RL, 606 Item 270 (1). Richthofen Papers.
2 Popkin’s letter to Bean in the Bean Papers.
Souveniring history: Lt. E.C. Banks and the Red Baron’s last flight.
]]>Did you know May Gibbs of Nutcote published Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: Their Adventures Wonderful in January, 1918? Did you also know she made postcards to be sent to cheer up homesick volunteers? Maybe in these times, we can appreciate them just as much… Are we downhearted?
]]>Did you know May Gibbs of Nutcote published Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: Their Adventures Wonderful in January, 1918? Did you also know she made postcards to be sent to cheer up homesick volunteers? Maybe in these times, we can appreciate them just as much…
]]>Scottish emigre P.T. Taylor was very much a self-made man with an eye to civic duty and Mosman’s progress; from city-escape idyll to a modern suburb.
In 1893, the borough of Mosman split from North Sydney municipality.
Below is P.T. Taylor’s pitch to the voters in the newly minted suburb, transcribed here for the first time. (Keywords are highlighted if you’re keen to push on with the rest of the story):
BOROUGH OF MOSMAN. MUNICIPAL ELECTION. Mosman’s Bay, 1893.
FELLOW-RATEPAYERS,
‘In consequence of the separation of Mosman’s Ward from the Borough of North Sydney having taken place, it will be necessary (to enable me to sit as Alderman of the Borough of Mosman) to come before you for election. Since you did me the honor to elect me as one of your representatives. I have not thought it advisable to advocate any expenditure in our Ward, as I think we can get a better result for our money under our own management than as a Ward of North Sydney. I, therefore, devoted a very considerable amount of time to pushing our separation forward, recognising this to be a matter of great urgency. The result has now been attained, and I think it is a matter for congratulation that we are clear of the Gas Question and the probable responsibilities pertaining thereto. We have now a free hand in regards the lighting question and can make our own arrangements. I feel sure with competent and careful management, we can make a model of our new Borough.
My short experience in the Council of North Sydney has more fully convinced me of the advisability of the step we have taken in obtaining separation. In consequence of the late heavy expenditure of that Borough, had we remained part of it we would not expect to receive much expenditure for improvements for some time to come, and the ordinary maintenance work would no doubt been neglected. when we take into consideration the fact that, against our debt of £ 3400 odd, we have two very valuable assets – viz., overdue rates amounting to a large sum, and the rates now due to end of financial year- our position is a very strong one, and infinitely superior to that of our parent Borough.
During our first year of independence, I would strongly urge economy. It will take quite that time to acquire the requisite knowledge to enable us to judiciously administer our funds, and any immediate rush into heavy expenditure on what might appear on the face of it a great improvement means borrowing heavily, and possible disappointment at the result of our expenditure.
A matter which will require great consideration and attention at the hands of your representatives is the improvements of access and approaches to the ferry. I think a moderate sum should be expended in widening the Avenue Road sufficiently to allow of a footpath and a somewhat wider roadway from Ranger’s Gate downwards, and also forming the road to proper levels. I also think Musgrave street from Point Wharf, should be improved sufficiently to allow vehicular traffic and widened at the bottom; and the foot of Mosman’s Street should be made accessible for vehicles.
Our wharves should be improved, and the landing places made somewhat more attractive. We should urge upon the Government to continue the tramway, if not to the fortifications, at least to Buena Vista and also to the Spit.
With regard to water frontages, I think no more valuable asset could be obtained for our Borough than these, and wherever procurable they should be conserved. I succeeded in getting a motion passed in the North Sydney Council for a deputation to wait upon the Minister for Works, requesting him to cause to be constructed a stone dyke, 12 feet wide, from the wine shop to foot of Boyle Street, on the site of the present old bridge. this would be of great service to residents on the quarry side and would be the “thin end of the wedge” towards reclaiming that part of the bay, and also give a valuable water frontage. We are very much in want of a reserve for recreation purposes. As the Borough becomes more densely populated the difficulties in procuring this will increase, so I think it will be the duty of your representatives to move in the matter without delay.
A number of side-streets of the Borough, where many good houses have been erected of late, are greatly in need of improvement. I refer more particularly to the streets in the vicinity of the tram terminus, and also Spofforth, Boyle and Shadforth Streets.
I am in favour of giving access, if only by pathway, to every resident of our Borough. I think, if a man pays rates and builds a house, the council should enable him to reach his residence with some degree of comfort.
Baths at Balmoral Beach would be a great boon to the residents, and would, I believe, be a source of considerable profit to the council. I should advocate any early erection of these.
As a constituted Borough we will have more power in dealing with the ferry and bus services, and there are several matters in connection with both which require attention.
I would advocate the planting of trees in all our main streets. the expense is light and the benefits to be derived are many.
The question of drainage will before long have to engage attention, and with the natural facilities afforded to the great fall to the water on all sides, our Borough should be kept in a well-drained and healthy condition.
I would favour the Council feeing a firm of competent advising engineers, as the work could be done cheaper and better than having an unqualified engineer at a low salary.
In conclusion, I would say that if you decide to again return me as one of your representatives, I will do my utmost to fulfil the trust and work for the good of the district generally. I am a thoroughly independent candidate, not being tied to any party, and in offering you my services I do so believing that I can fulfil the duties pertaining thereto impartially, as my interest is purely a public one.’
faithfully yours,
PAT. T. TAYLOR.
The election was held on the 6th of June with votes cast at a skating-rink in Mosman. Whilst trawling trove, I noticed the sign ‘skating rink’ on this historic building in Mosman Bay – It was in this building that the meeting was called to decide on a split from North Sydney:
And the results after polls closed…
RH Harnett, Jr. Pipping Taylor by 11 votes.
Gavin Souter, Mosman historian notes that Pat Taylor and five other businessmen of one kind or another3 were elected. Other Councilors included the Librarian-in-charge of the NSW Public Lending Library, a Conveyancer, and a former North Sydney Alderman.
On nomination by MacAlpine, seconded by Taylor, [Richard Hayes] Harnett was unanimously elected Mayor for the balance of the year … At their next meeting, on 15 June, the aldermen began dealing with many of the inaugural matters that required attention. They resolved that there should be three standing committees (Works, Finance and General Purposes) and a Committee of the whole Council; that the position of Council Clerk, Treasurer, Inspector of Nuisances and Collector of Rates should be advertised at a salary of 75 pounds; that office furniture, a safe, cash box, stationery and copying press be purchased or rented at an initial cost of no more than 25 pounds; that a temporary bank overdraft of no more than 200 pounds be obtained; that two temporary maintenance men be employed to keep gutters clear; that a committee be appointed to report on the removal of nightsoil and garbage; and that Mosman’s financial position vis-à-vis North Sydney Borough be ascertained.4
At the second meeting a simple crest, seal and letterhead symbol was adopted, designed by Bulletin artist Livingston Hopkins, resident of Raglan Street, featuring a spouting whale surmounted on the horizon, backed by a rising sun. (The cannons and HMAS Sirius were added later in 1952.) A Mr White of Neutral Bay submitted the Latin motto Tutus in Undis which translates roughly to Safe amid the billows or Secure in the Waves. As historian Gavin Souter notes, the phrase was not to be found in any dictionary of Latin quotations, so its exact meaning remained ambiguous.5
In October, 68 street gas lights, lit by a horseman with a lamp-pole at dusk, were installed.6 (By 1916 they were replaced with electric lights.) Mosman was serviced by the North Shore Steam Ferry Co. It connected with the tramways running up Avenue Rd from Mosman Bay wharf, along Military Rd, through Spit Junction to Cremorne, Neutral Bay, and North Sydney. In 1916 the line was extended from Mosman Junction to Taronga Zoo, then down to Athol and the new wharf.
Mosman Council had outgrown its rented premises. It resolved to build council chambers at the corner of Spit and Military Roads at the cost of 1,100 pounds, which they did in 1900. This is the current site of the council, rebuilt in 1940 and 1988.7
In 1896 PT Taylor was voted in as Mayor. The work Taylor had promised and the new Council had committed to, quickened the development of the municipality.
The Sunday Times in 1896 described Mosman as a progressive borough, twenty minutes steaming distance from the hustle and bustle of the city. The council’s founding Aldermen and Mayor were borrowing and spending on capital works and encouraging economic and urban development, resulting in well-formed roads and handsome residences.
Main streets were connected to the city water supply and gas from the North Shore Gas company. Mosman was being transformed from an old-time sylvan and rustic village to a beautiful and salubrious suburb.
A description of Mosman would be incomplete without some reference to some of the older residents who have identified themselves with its rise and progress, such names, for instance, as Mr E. M. Sayers, the first returning officer of the municipality ; Mr R.Harnett, an extensive landowner, and one of the pioneers of the district ; Mr Alderman Cowles, and Mr P. T. Taylor, J.P., the present mayor …
Doubtless, many erstwhile admirers of Mosman will regret its transformation from a convenient rural pleasure resort to a pretty and flourishing residential district, but such a change was rendered inevitable sooner or later by its unrivalled position and proximity to the city…
… It should be the aim of the Municipal Authorities to preserve as far as possible the natural beauties of the foreshore which forms on three sides of their borough and thus secure for the place a widespread and permanent popularity …
It is somewhat significant that the awakening of Mosman and its remarkable progress has been subsequent to its separation from North Sydney and its creation into an independent Municipality a little more than three years since.8
1896 was also the year the world welcomed P.T. Taylor’s third, son Patrick Gordon Taylor, or ‘Bill’ was born at the family home in Raglan St.
When war broke out in 1914 the Taylor family did their bit. Bill Taylor recalled:
There were three sons in our family. Under the volunteer system of enlistment in Australia, it was decided as a family policy that my brother Kenneth and I would go to war. Since my father was already engaged in national work for the Government, our elder brother Donald would remain home to help maintain the family affairs. It was, we thought a fair allocation – two out of three to go.
Don served with the Merchant Navy. 2/Lt. Ken Taylor was killed in France when his artillery unit was cut off during a German attack. He was hit trying to get a message to HQ. In shock, Bill flew his fighter scout straight to Ken’s grave. He then took leave to console his mother in the UK. Neither of them got to say last goodbyes. The whole family was devastated.
Bill Taylor, restless after the war was not able to settle back into the family business, much to his father’s exasperation. By Bill’s own admission, Don was better suited to it. Instead, he followed up his passion for flying, becoming a pioneer aviator.
Patrick Taylor’s business and political interests continued through the war and after it. By 1896 he was already a major shareholder in the North Shore Steam Ferry Co.1
Taylor was a director from 1899 when the company was reconstructed as Sydney Ferries Ltd. From this basis in local shipping, he acquired interlocking directorships in steamships, gas companies (purchasing coke for his vessels), ice-works (using a gas works’ residual product, ammonia) and insurance. His business interests benefited from urban growth on the North Shore and from financial management involving share-splitting.2
The Scottish emigré had come a long way up in the world. He was now a prosperous man, a respected figure in the Sydney establishment and a member of the prestigious Union Club and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, with friends in high places.
In 1913 Pat Taylor had signed off on a deal with striking gas workers for better pay and conditions. Industrial unrest flared up again during the war:
After the gas works had become involved in the 1917 strike, Taylor arranged evening entertainments for the volunteers who replaced the strikers. He was one of the negotiators when W. A. Holman and his followers joined the Liberals to form the National Party. Taylor remained influential in the new party and raised funds for it. He was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1917. His gas company was allowed a remission of £14,000 for losses incurred in the 1917 strike and shortly afterwards was permitted to increase the price of gas.9
When not engaged as a director or member of NSW Parliament, Pat Taylor enjoyed sailing at Pittwater (where it is said he once owned Scotland Island) and farming at Hartley.10
Pats’ passion for sailing was passed on to all three sons. Bill Taylor recalled his older brother was a bit of a taskmaster when he was learning the ropes. Don’s son remembers him as someone who liked to do everything precise and correctly, when it came to taking to the water. Well served by his early experiences sailing Pittwater and Sydney Harbour, Bill piloted and navigated many types of flying boats large and small during his post-war flying career.
Pat Taylor died on 16 November 1922, aged 60 years. His funeral was well attended. His wife passed away in 1941. They were survived by their two sons, daughter, and grandchildren.
1 Heather Radi, ‘Taylor, Patrick Thomson (1862–1922)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, online accessed 05/08/2011 Published in hardcopy 1990
2 Ibid
3 Souter, Gavin Mosman: a History Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic 1994 p110
4 Ibid p111
5 Ibid p113
6 Ibid
7 Ibid
8 SYDNEY’S SUBURBS. (1896, September 6). Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930), p12. Retrieved June 17, 2016, from nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130401424
9 Heather Radi, ‘Taylor, Patrick Thomson (1862–1922)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/taylor-patrick-thomson-8764/text15361, published first in hard-copy 1990, accessed online 22 November 2018.
10 Ibid. Sailing was also a favourite past-time of his sons.
Raglan St. to RFC: Bill Taylor’s school days & calling to the skies.
Raglan St. to RFC: Pilgrimage to ‘the silent fields’
Raglan St. to RFC: Bill Taylor: boy mascot company commander avoids the Valentine’s Day mutiny
Fledgling wings: Lt. Taylor inspires Gunner Allport.
Bloody April, 1917: P.G. Taylor survives
]]>125 years ago founding Alderman Patrick Thomson Taylor was elected Mayor. In that year his third son, and future aviator Bill Taylor was born. Mosman in the 1890’s was transforming. From a weekend retreat to a bustling suburb. Mr P.T. Taylor was one of the civic, business-minded Councillors making it happen.
]]>For Emden’s survivors, their story did not end after the battle with HMAS Sydney
Some of Emden’s crew and their Captain Karl Von Müller made a daring escape across the globe1, and became decorated heros. Others were captured. They had survived the horrors of Emden’s twisted, burning wreck, to languish as prisoners in Australia. Sharing their internment with other German enemy aliens in concentration camps for the war’s duration.
Of all the camps Holsworthy was the harshest and resembled a prison in the true sense of the word. A strict regime of control was enforced by the camp authorities. Raids often turned up stills and grog making faculties.2
Internees were seldom allowed out of the camp confines and here boredom and melancholy took hold….The internees were not allowed to free range like those at Berrima or Trial Bay and were kept behind barb wire fences and watched over by guards with a mounted machine gun in a substantial watchtower on the southern perimeter.3
Colonel Sands was appointed to the role of ‘Commandant of the concentration camps of Australasia’ including Trial Bay, Berrima and Holsworthy. His connection with Mosman was that he later lived in Silex Rd, Mosman.
In early 1915 there were riots over rations and work duties that were subdued by negotiations between the camp commandant Colonel Sands and the Camp Committee. In order to keep the camp under control Sands ran the camp firmly. Troublesome internees were singled out and thrown into solitary confinement in the camp gaol. There were regular searches for contraband and weapons.4
The Black Hand gang held some sway over internees and control of the Camp’s Committee
On April 18, 1916 matters came to a head. Inmates rebelled against the gang’s stand-over tactics. Colonel Sands found himself in the midst of an ugly riot.
Ringleaders were beaten up and thrown over the compound’s main gate:
A crowd gathered at the gate yelling in English ‘these two men of the Black Hand Society have got what they deserved and there are more to come’. Colonel Sands and a group of police went into the crowd who were armed with home made batons and clubs, but no attempt was made to injure the police.5
Colonel Sands could have ordered his men to fire on the crowd, but allowed the vigilante action to continue:
Shortly after there was a ‘rush of Germans all over the compound’ who were looking for the other four main members of the Back Hand gang.6
The incensed crowd found the four other men and gave them the same treatment. Camp guards took the lynched thugs to the camp hospital. Later fourteen other Black Hand members were arrested and thrown into the camp jail. Two died in the melee:
and after that the Camp quietened down to the usual routine.7
The internees alleviated the atmosphere of confinement, deprivation of liberty and constant surveillance with literary, cultural and sporting activities. Physical outlets such as boxing, weightlifting and gymnastics alleviated boredom and melancholy.8 Cultural activities such as crafts (making wooden furniture, toys and models) and the performing arts (music and theatre) also constructively passed the time.
Life at the internment camps was captured by photographer Paul Dubotzki.
His photographic collection (discovered after his death) is a wonderful visual documentation of this otherwise forgettable part of Australian History. The digitised images are viewable at the NSW Migration Centre ‘The enemy at home’ site. A sample of his collection is provided below:
The the War Memorial and State Library of NSW also have interesting digitised photographic collections, This includes includes images of Emden’s crew (in and out of uniform) standing behind their scatch-built scale model Emden ships.
Described as an unassuming, middle-aged man, Mr Hans Heinz Harmes-Emden, of Shanghai, reviewed, at the request of the North China Daily News his experiences as an engine room petty officer of the famous German cruiser.
“HELL on the EMDEN” The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 – 1950) 10 November 1936: 5 (FINAL EXTRA). Web. 27 Oct 2017 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article85171194
Rear-Admiral Robert Witthoeft, of the German Navy, as told to Wayne Francis Palmer, in the American magazine ‘Liberty.’
It happened yesterday…years ago…
THE German cruiser Emden was the terror of the Pacific and Indian Oceans during theearly months of the World War.
Operating alone and without a base, and with half the world against her, she harried Allied shipping in one of the most daring sea raids of all time. Starting from China, where she was stationed when war was declared -in August, 1914, the Emden blocked the transportation of Anzac troops to France, shelled British oil reserves at Madras, and sank some ‘ £3,000,000 worth of shipping, after first removing non-combatant crews. In one typical raid she crept at dawn into the harbor of Penang and blew up a Russian cruiser with a sudden hail of shells that gave the doomed crew not even a chance to fight.
But on November 9, 1914, she was surprised in turn. While putting a landing party ashore to destroy the British cable station at Cocos Island, Captain von Muller, of the Emden sighted a hostile cruiser approaching.
One of the Emden’s officers here describes what followed:
‘The bugle blared. There was the tramping of feet as men rushed to their battle stations. Gun breeches banged. Then order and silence reigned as the Emden steamed out to meet the enemy.
‘It looks like the Newcastle,’ said the captain, as he squinted through the slit in the conning tower.
‘That’s not so bad. She may have a little more gun power than we but I’ve got the Emden’s crew! Full speed ahead.’!’
‘We were the first to open fire, at about 10,000 yards, on a course parallel with the mysterious British cruiser. Our third salvo struck her upper works and sent up a cloud of black smoke. First blood!’ Gunnery Officer Gaede yelled. ‘We’ve ‘got their range. Now let them have it.’!!’
‘Meanwhile, there was a flash of orange flame from the other ship as they gave us their broadside. We could actually pick up the shells as they came toward us, looking like so many bluebottle flies.They seemed to waver as they neared, and then we lost them as they moaned over us. Soon, however, great geysers began rising out of the sea so close to us that they brought tons of water crashing down on our deck.’
‘We’re in for trouble,’ Captain von Muller said quietly. ‘Those splashes are from a much heavier ship than I had thought.’
He turned to the navigating officer.
‘Closer, Gropius, closer,’ he ordered and the Emden edged over toward the enemy to reduce the range.’
‘Under the clouds of yellowish smoke that billowed the enemy, I saw our shells striking her time after time; but mean-while her shots were getting uncomfortably near us. Then with a crash the first shell came aboard us and burst in the wireless cabin. Instantly nothing was left but its twisted white-hot steel frame. Our faithful operators, who for so long had been our only link with the outside world, were destroyed.’
‘Immediately thereafter a shell burst with an appalling- noise directly in front of the conning tower. For the next few seconds everything was strangely silent. We missed the rapid bark of the forward gun, but in its place came the groaning of the wounded and dying. It was a frightful mess out there. Gaede called up a reserve crew; and the captain repeated his order: ‘Closer, Gropius, closer!’
‘But already we knew that we did not have a chance. They would run out as we tried to close in, and then with their longer range guns they would pound us unmercifully.’
‘The battle became a nightmare to me. Lieutenant Zimmerman, seeing that there was more trouble with the forecastle gun, dashed forward from the conning tower. Just as he arrived an explosion killed him and every man at the gun. That same shell got the captain and myself, but only slightly. Then forward smokestack was hit and collapsed. The foremast came down and slid off into the sea, carrying with it the foremast crew. Gropius dashed aft to see what was wrong with the rudder.’
‘There was now a slackening in our rate of gunfire, and Gaede left the conning tower to find out why. He hadn’t gone far before a shell splinter got him, and he fell dying to the deck, his white uniform drenched with blood. Our two remaining stacks were hit and took a cock-eyed tilt. Suddenly there was a ghastly concussion somewhere amidships as the deck folded up and buckled. A broadside gun hurtled up into the air. Men, steel plates, mess benches, and great splinters could be seen in the flying mass of debris.’
‘Everything seemed on fire at once. Gropius was caught aft with a few survivors from the poop gun. Intent on what they were doing, they didn’t notice that the flames were eating their way aft until a solid wall of fire confronted them.They tried to break through by, going to a lower deck, but down there it was like some terrible furnace.’
‘Step by step they were forced: to retreat, until they were, huddled together on the very stern. Swiftly the flames rushed at them; they knew the end was at hand. Gropius led three cheers for our Fatherland. But before they had finished a shell hit nearby and they were all blown overboard.’
‘Up in the conning tower, Captain von Muller and I were now alone. Our guns were silent our ammunition exhausted. Our ship was without a rudder. ‘It’s no use going on, Witthoeft,’ the captain said. ‘This is nothing but slaughter. I must save what men I can, and yet I won’t let them have my ship. See, there is North Keeling Island dead ahead. I’m going to try to put her there high and dry.’‘
‘While the British fairly poured their shells into us, we rushed full speed for the beach. We signaled the engine-room force to climb to safety. With a tearing impact the Emden slipped in between two large coral reefs, and there, about 100 yards offshore, our ship came to rest, a burning, sinking charnel house.’
‘Our cruise had ended. Captain von Muller told those of us who had collected around him on the upper deck that we might try to swim ashore if we wished. A few tried, but only five of them reached the beach. The others were crushed on the reef. The captain ordered all survivors up to the comparative safety of the forecastle.’ Half the officers were dead. The deck and gun crews were almost entirely wiped out. The engine-room and fire-room crews now made up most of our little band.’
‘Some us went below to look for the wounded. Of all the experiences of my life, that was the most ghastly and crushing. Here and there a single candle spluttered, but it only added to the horror. The stench of burning hammocks and1 burned human flesh nauseated us. Bodies, or what had been bodies, lay strewn about the guns and in the passageways. The mutilation of the dead was beyond belief. All was silent below decks, except the steady, muff led roar and crackling of the flames.’
‘On the forecastle the condition of the wounded was pitiful. They, cried for water, but the tanks had been shot away. As though our afflictions were not enough, a number of vicious sea birds settled down on the deck. As we lift one helpless wounded man to go to another, they would rush at him and tear at his eyes or at his wounds. We tried to beat them back with clubs. Never having seen any men before, they were without fear of us.’
‘Our situation was becoming unbearable and the shore seemed such a little way to go — only 300 feet. Our boats had been blown to bits or burned. We tried floating light lines attached to boxes to the men who had reached shore, but every, attempt failed.’
‘Meanwhile the enemy-we later learned it was the Australian cruiser Sydney — had steamed away to capture our landing party on Direction Island. We settled down to a night of hell, surrounded by, our wounded shipmates, for whom we could do nothing, all of us threatened with a fiery death from the still raging flames.’
‘At dawn we started our second day of torture. Many of the wounded were delirious. It was agreed if the Sydney didn’t return we would all be lost. In the afternoon, however, the Sydney was sighted. Good. Our wounded would have their chance.’
‘We thought the British were going to rescue us. But suddenly salvo after salvo came from the cruiser. Shells ploughed into the stricken Emden and exploded. Fires again sprang up everywhere. I saw a stoker sink down to the deck, a shell splinter driven into the back of his head. Another lad screamed in agony.The captain again gave permission to jump overboard. – Again a few tried it, only to be crushed on the reef. The captain, however, stood there among his men.’
‘His face showed that he was carrying the pain and suffering of all those about him. He looked at the enemy, and I believe that for an instant & look of supreme contempt passed over his countenance. Then he ordered that the German ensign be hauled down and a white flag hoisted. The firing ceased immediately.’
‘Later, two cutters were sent to us and the officer in charge stated that the Emden’s crew would be taken aboard the Sydney if Captain von Muller would give his word that none of his men would commit any unfriendly act. A boat was sent for the handful of men who had landed. They were brought back half mad from thirst and hunger. There had been neither water nor food on the island.’
‘On the Sydney the British sailors were all kindness. Our wounded were rushed to the operating room. Highballs revived us and we tasted the first food we had had in over 36 hours. That night our hosts, or captors, laid before us a wireless message containing editorial comment on the destruction of our ship.’
‘The London ‘Telegraph’ said: ‘It is almost in our hearts to regret that the Emden has been destroyed.’
In the 20 years that have passed, the verdict of the world has not changed, and the Emden has earned a niche in the hall of immortal ships.’
“LAST OF THE EMDEN.” Heytesbury Reformer and Cobden and Camperdown Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 – 1918) 25 December 1914: 3. Web. 27 Oct 2017 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152613086
‘//// Day A.B. on board the “Sydney,” and a relative of Mrs. Goodall of Cobden, gives the follow-ing thrilling account of the capture of the Emden: “On Monday morning we got a wireless from Coco Island station to say that a strange warship was blocking the entrance to the islands. We at once once raised steam on all boilers, and presently were streaming along at over 29 knots. The electrician came down and told me that the ship was in sight and that I could go and have a look, but he told me to come down again. Of course I was up on deck before you could “wisk(?) and away” ahead was an island, and between us and the island was a three funnelled cruiser, and she was steaming along to run out to sea.’
‘At the time we did not know that she was the Emden, but we were hoping and praying that she was. When we got within range, we turned and ran parallel to her, so that she was on our port side. We opened fire on each other, and the first shot that I saw fired by her hit the water about 20 yards short of us right in line with our bridge. Just after, I happened to be passing the foot of the bridge ladder, and saw two of our cooks’ mates struggling with something, and one of them beckoned me to them.’
‘It turned out to be an A.B.named Hoy, who worked the range finder on the upper deck. ‘A shell had struck the range-finder and carried it away, taking his left leg right off close to the body. He died just afterwards. A chap who was working with us at the ammunition hoist was struck in the chest with a piece of shell, and he die I on Wednesday. A shell burst near No. 2 starboard gun, and wounded all the gun’s crew except one man.’
‘The gunlayer died the next day, also an ordinary seaman. That made four fatalities and twelve injured. I finished up acting as one of the gun’s crew at No. I port, at the request of the gunlayer. You should have seen the Emden at this time. She was on fire aft, and only her main mast was standing, her funnels and foremast having fallen one at a time. Also she was getting very low in the water, and was evidently in a sinking condition. Her colours were still flying, from her main mast, arid as she was near an island, she headed and fast ashore.’
‘We ceased firing, and went off after a collier that was standing by the Emden. We took off all of the people from her, and then sank her. We then went back to the Emden, and signalled to her demanding her surrender. We’re received no reply, so opened fire again, but, after firing’ a few rounds, they waved a white flag, and one hand went aloft and took down her ensign. Our skipper sent off to the commander of the Emden that if he would guarantee good behaviour on the part of his officers and men, we would get his injured off, and take them all to Colombo. The Germans agreed, and we stood by them on Monday night, and on Tuesday we started to embark their wounded.’
‘One man; with his bead all bandaged, was brought aboard after dinner. On removing the bandages, we found that his right eye and all the right side of his face had been blown away. His nose was hanging down by a little bit of flesh, and his lower jaw was hanging by the left side. He had been like that for over 24 hours, and he lived till next night. Others were maimed in every conceivable place- broken arms, legs, parts of limbs blown off, and nearly every one of them was peppered with bits of shell and splinters.’
`She had no idea that there was any vessel of her own power in that part of the Pacific, and she came out looking for a fight – and she got it. She must have got a surprise when she found she had to fight the Sydney; and I got a surprise, too, I can tell you. When we were about ten thousand five hundred yards apart I turned nearly due north so as to run parallel with her, and I said to the gunnery lieutenant that we had better get a thousand yards closer before we fired.’
‘I knew the Emden’s four-point-one guns would be at their extreme limit at ten thousand yards, and I got a shock when she fired a salvo at ten thousand five hundred and two of the shells came aboard us. That’s modern gunnery for you. Fancy one ship, rolling about in the sea, hitting another ship – also rolling about in the sea – six miles away! She must have elevated her guns and fired in the air, for we were technically out of range; but it was great gunnery.’
`Her first salvo was five guns, of which two shells came aboard us. One shell burst and carried away the after-control, wounding all the men, including Lieutenant Hampden, but no one was killed. The other shell passed within six inches of the gunnery lieutenant and killed a man working a range-finder, but it never burst. There was luck again for me – I was in that control and if the shell had burst I suppose I would have been a goner.’
`There was a boy of about sixteen in the control working a telescope.When the shell landed he was stunned by the concussion and was lying under the body of the man that was killed. As soon as he came to himself he threw the man’s body off him and started looking for his telescope. “Where’s my bloody telescope?” was all he said. That’s the Australian Navy for you.’
`The whole thing didn’t last forty minutes, but it was a busy forty minutes. She tried to get near enough to torpedo us, but she could only do seventeen knots and we could do twenty-seven, so we scuttled out of range. The Emden had a captured collier called the Buresk hanging about, trying to get near enough to ram us, and I had to keep a couple of guns trained on this collier all the time. We hit the Emden about a hundred times in forty minutes, and fourteen of her shells struck us but most of them were fired beyond her range and the shells hit the side and dropped into the water without exploding.’
`When the Emden made for the beach we went after the collier, but we found the Germans had taken the sea-cocks out of her so we had to let her sink. They were game men, I’ll say that for them.’
`Then we went back to the Emden lying in the shallow water and signalled her “do you surrender”. She answered by flag-wagging in Morse “we have no signal book and do not understand your signal.” I asked several times but could get no answer and her flag was still flying, so I fired two salvos into her and then they hauled their flag down. I was sorry afterwards that I gave her those two salvos, but what was I to do? If they were able to flag-wag in Morse, they were surely able to haul a flag down. We understood there was another German warship about and I couldn’t have the Emden firing at me from the beach while I was fighting her mate.’
`We waited off all night with lights out for this other vessel, but she never showed up, and then we sent boats ashore to the Emden. My God, what a sight! Her captain had been out of action ten minutes after the fight started from lyddite fumes, and everybody on board was demented – that’s all you could call it, just fairly demented – by shock, and fumes, and the roar of shells among them. She was a shambles. Blood, guts, flesh, and uniforms were all scattered about. One of our shells had landed behind a gun shield, and had blown the whole gun-crew into one pulp.’
‘You couldn’t even tell how many men there had been. They must have had forty minutes of hell on that ship, for out of four hundred men a hundred and forty were killed and eighty wounded and the survivors were practically madmen. They crawled up to the beach and they had one doctor fit for action; but he had nothing to treat them with – they hadn’t even got any water. A lot of them drank salt water and killed themselves. They were not ashore twenty-four hours, but their wounds were flyblown and the stench was awful – it’s hanging about the Sydney yet. I took them on board and got four doctors to work on them and brought them up here.’
https://www.navyhistory.org.au/captain-glossop-rn-describes-emden-action-to-banjo-patterson/
The Sydney-Emden Fight (1917, July 24). The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1886 – 1942), p. 3. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125931278
A Mid-Richmond soldier, now in the Moree Convalescent Home, forwards the “R.R. Herald” the following interesting article written by Torpedoer Ayres, a fellow convalescent, and published in the “North-West Champion,” Moree :
‘On a, certain Sunday in November, 1914, the first contingent of the Australian Expeditionary Forces was convoyed by H.M.A.Ss. Minotaur, Melbourne, Sydney, Pioneer, and a Japanese battle cruiser. The convoy was steaming in three single lines ahead, with H.M.S. Minotaur right ahead, scouting for any possible enemy. The Sydney was on the left, or port, side of the convoy, the Japanese cruiser on the right, or starboard, side of the convoy; with the Melbourne and Pioneer bringing up the rear. Everybody proceeded smoothly, and it was an imposing spectacle to see this grand fleet of transports being convoyed by warships. We could not keep our eyes off the Minotaur— it was magnificent to see her right ahead. First she would be going straight ahead; then all of a sudden she would go full speed ahead in one direction, and then go full speed in another.It was very pretty to watch her, even to a man-of-war sailor. But she was not, however, to be in command for long, for she received a wireless to proceed elsewhere. The Melbourne then took command. The Pioneer had already dropped back with some defect in her engines.’
‘All went well until the morning of the 9th of November, when a wireless message was received by the Orvieto (transport) and the Melbourne, from the wireless station at Cocos Island, as follows, viz.: “ Strange warship at mouth of harbor.” There was great excitement in the lines of the convoy. The Melbourne immediately signaled to us: “‘Sydney investigate,’ and away we dashed, gathering speed as we went; but at the time we could not help thinking we were on another wild goose chase. Everything was ready for immediate action. We had hardly put the finishing touches on, when away flashed the wireless — “ Enemy sighted.” We could see a ship on the horizon, coming towards us, and our captain challenged her. The reply was a salvo of projectiles, which pitched just in front of us. Then the sport began.’
‘The Emden was very lucky in the first ten minutes of the action, as one of her broadsides carried the range-finder away on the forebridge, and took the leg off the man manipulating it. Captain Glossop, who walked the bridge throughout the action, had a very narrow escape, as he was only a foot away from the finder when the projectile put it out of action. Tho same broadside also put our control and all the men in it out of action; so we were having a decent couple of minutes. Then the Sydney’s gun-layers got to work, and it was “hell” for the Emden ! We poured one
continual stream of lyddite into her —first one funnel went, then another, and then the other, and they seemed, the way they had fallen, to make a tripod. Then her foremast went; so she and her “ jolly” crew seemed to be having a “happy” time!’
‘The action went on, both ships steaming full-speed and manoeuvring for all they were worth. One shell had smashed through our forecastle, and in consequence the boys’ mess deck was full of water; but still the Sydney was doing 29½ knots, and the Emden about 26 knots. The nearest we got to the Emden was 4500 yards; and then smacked a torpedo at her; but there was not much chance of torpedoing her, as she was very ‘slippery.’ After the action had lasted an hour and forty minutes, the Emden was seen to turn and make for the shore where von Muller put her, so as not to lose all his men. When we had seen her ‘‘safely’‘ on the beach, we proceeded after the collier, “Buresk,” which had a German prize crew aboard. We overhauled her as she was trying to get away, and put a shot across her bows, which made her heave to, and we took the crew off; but they had opened the Kingston valves, so we had to put a couple of shells into her and sink her. We then proceeded back to see how the Emden was getting on, and we saw that she still had her battle flag flying from the main truck.’
‘We thought von. Muller was still defiant, so we gave him a couple of broadsides, and then a white sheet was seen to flutter from the forecastle. We ceased firing, and left the Emden for the day and went in search of more trouble, as we thought the Konigsberg was acting in conjunction with the Emden; so we prepared to receive her and give her some of the same ‘rations’ we had given the Emden. Whilst cruising about we picked up two of the quarter-deck gun’s crew of the Emden – they had been blown clean over the side, and had been in the water for five hours. One was inside a life-buoy, and the other was being supported by him. We could not help giving him a cheer, and they shouted, “Thank you!” in good English. Nothing happened that night, and the next day we proceeded to get the wounded off the Emden.’
‘During the two days we were there, we had a trying time, for some of the Emden ‘screw swam through the surf and were roaming round the island (Keeling Island). We had to send a landing party to round them up. Some of them were found on the beach, dead — they swam through tho surf, only to die on the beach, and the crabs and scavenger birds had been feeding on them. After everything was ready, we proceeded full speed to Colombo, and got the wounded ashore, also the prisoners. We treated them with every kindness, and left on our way to Gibraltar, where we had a new control and range-finder put into the ship. We left Gibraltar on Xmas Eve, 1914, and made for the South Atlantic, where the German raiders were operating.’
‘The next news we got from tho outside world was in May, 1915, after the two Atlantic raiders had been accounted for. From August, 1914, till the end of December, 1915, the Sydney had covered 116,000 miles. Pte. Lawrence Brown, who has just returned to Grafton from France and Belgium, writes to the “ Daily Examiner” to say : I am astonished at the lack of interest shown by my fellow- Australians whom I, together with others, having been keeping in ease and comfort. It’s hard to keep going over there when your own kith and kin out here are turning you down. All the other chaps from Canada, South Africa, and other parts of the Empire get the backing of their mates at home — why don’t we get it? Some people say here that men are not wanted. God, what folly! Anybody who says such a thing is a fool and a liar. Men are wanted, and put the “men” in big letters. Half the reinforcements that we have been receiving are just mere boys, and they are being slaughtered because the men of Australia will not do their duty.
Will you listen to a man that has fought for you? Will you believe him when he tells you that unless men do come forward, the name of Australia will “stink” for all time?’
Follow the Sydney_Emden… story
After Cocos: Sydney-Emden memorial unveiled!
After Cocos: HMAS Sydney’s progress
After Cocos: Holsworthy Concentration Camp
Sydney v Emden, a century later
HMAS Sydney’s mast dedication, 80 years ago today
Sydney’s mast not destined for ‘Sow and Pigs’
Footnotes
1 50 of the landing party stranded on Direction Island made a daring and arduous escape.
2 NSW Migration Centre The enemy at home : German internees in World War 1 Australia; Holsworthy Internment Camp: retrieved online http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/enemyathome/holsworthy-internment-camp/index.html
3 Ibid
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Ibid
7 Ibid
8 Ibid
Children’s toys and model Fokker ‘Eindecker’, made by internees in 1916 and 1917, Trial Bay Gaol collection. Photograph by Stephen Thompson
]]>One book was her well known _Seven Little Australians_:
…and Jennifer J, with the dust jacket in near fine condition:
It is interesting to note that other rare books by Ethel Turner are part of the collection including two of her Lion and the Cub trilogy written during the war years
According to biographer Brenda Niall:
The Cub (1915), Captain Cub (1917) and Brigid and the Cub (1919)—is notable for its freedom from anti-German hysteria and for its sympathetic portrayal of a reluctant Anzac; the ideal of loyalty to Empire is combined with a strong sense of Australian nationalism.
The library also has a copy of the The Australian Soldiers Gift Book edited by Ethel Turner (Mrs H.R. Curlewis) and Bertram Stevens:
An illustration from the book (by Norman Lindsay) features in a previous article on the 1917 Strikes mentioning Ethel and her family.
These are just some of the interesting books held by the Local Studies collection for viewing in the library…maybe someone out there has the third book of the trilogy to donate?
Finally, here is an interesting photo I found online of an Ethel Turner Exhibition in 1994 at Mosman library.
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