Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-11-10
.EMDE|V DESTROYEDBY
AUSTRALIAN CRUISER
War Craft Which Menaced British
Shipping Is SheIled
and Burned
LOSS OF LIFE IS HEAVY
German Cruiser Sank twenty-five
Ships Before Being Put
Out of Business
LOSS OF LIFE IS HEAVY
BY .4stocinte6 Pre.,

! London. Nov. 10. 1851 p. Mt
was officially announced in London
to-day that the German cruiser Emden
has been driven ashore and burned.
! The losses among the officers and
crew of the Emden are reported to
have been very heavy.
! The Emden was destroyed by the
Australian cruiser Sydney. She was
driven ashore on an island the Cocos,
or Keeling. group. southwest of Java.
in the Indian Ocean.
The Sydney sighted the Emden yes
terday morning. With superior speed,
she at once closed in and gave battle.
The German boat could not escape.
There was running fight, at the end
or which the Emden, burning from the
shells of the Australian boat. was
beaChed.
The casualties on the Sydney are
said to have been slight.
The Emden has contributed to the
history of the war one of its most re-
markable chapters. For sheer audacity
and success it has few parallels-cer-
tainly none since the Alabama, the
famous old Confederate warship.
ro9med the seas. Twenty-Five ships
4
one has been captured by the German
II cruiser.
Since early in August the Emden
has been at work. Most of the time
she was proving on British shipping
in the Indian Ocean. but late last
month she suddenly appeared at Pc
nang, on the Malacca straits. 1t was
here that the Emden performed her
most daring feat. A fourth smoke
stack was rugged on her deck and a
japanese flag run up. Thus disguised
she steamed boldly into the harbor
passing unchallenged under the Brit
ish guns of the fort. and fired tor
pedoes which sank the Russian cruiser
Jemtchug and French destroyer
\ Then she took to her heels and es-
capped unscathed through the straits.
Speed Greatest Asset
The vessels destroyed by the Emden
had total value of about $4,000, coo
( exclusive of their cargoes. The EN-
den's largest guns are only 4.1-inch
/ OF these she had ten. Her speed of
24.0 knots was her greatest asset as
she was able to run down merchant
/ ships with ease and then escape from
] larger but slower vessels that pursued
/ her. British. Russian and Japanese
/ warships in the East had been at.
tempting for weeks to put an end to
/ her career
! 1t has been more or less a mystery
to naval men how the Emden has been
able to keep at sea month after month
without running short of coal and sup
/ plies. 1t is assumed. however that
she has obtained sufficient food and
fuel to meet her needs from captured
ships.
Carries 36I Men
The Emden had a complement of
36l men. Her armament consisted of
ten 4.1-inch guns, eight 5-pounders
and four machine guns. She also was
equipped with two submerged l Z. 7-inch
torpedo tubes. The cruiser displaced
$500 tons. She was 2S7 feet long and
had beam of 43 y feet.
The Australian cruiser Sydney car
ries a main battery of eight 6-inch
guns against the Emdens ten Al, thus
giving her heavy advantage over the
German ship. While the speed of the
two warships was theoretically equal.
| that of the Emden being 24.5 knots
as against the Sydneys 24.7, the for
mer probably was foul and her engines
badly racked from her three months of
almost constant cruising in southern
waters, chasing and being chased, with
no port for retitting or repairs.
The Keeling, or Cocos, Islands are
a group in the Indian Ocean belonging
to Great Britain. They are about 500
miles southwest of the western end Of
| the Island of Java and have cable con-
Injections.