Evening star., 1939-12-31

opened the battle at 940 am. with
rapid. accurate fire at the long
range of l0,500 yards. The Sydney,
however, hammered the German
raider to death; she staggered on,
sinking, and grounded on Keeling
Island at 1920 am. The Sydney
turned OF, caught and sank the
Buresk, and returned to the Emden,
calling upon her to surrender. The
Germans pretended to misunder-
stand the signals and finally re-
fused to answer. The Sydney again
opened fire at 4:30 pm. Five
minutes Of this was enough-the
Emder ran up the white flag. So
ended the career OF one of the
most destructive of all raiders.
Commerce raiding began imme-
diately after the declaration Of
war in August, 1914. One of the
first and most formidable of the
German converted commerce raid
ers, the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm
der Crosse, 14,000-ton giant armed
with 10 four-inch guns and having
speed of % knots, escaped from
Bremerhaven soon after war was
declared. Her conversion and arm
ing apparently had been started
prior to the formal declaration. She
first appeared off the South Ameri-
can coast and then took station on
the route of the British Cape
steamers off the African coast,
where she made number of cap
lures. Her career, however, was
brief. On August 27 the Kaiser
was hove to, coaling from one OF
two colliers which accompanied her,
somewhere north of the Cape Verde
Islands, when a strange warship
appeared over the horizon and ap-
preached under forced draft. Before
the Kaiser could cast off and get
up full steam, the battle was on.
Her opponent proved to be the
British 5,600-ton cruiser Highflyer,
slower by two knots but armed with
6-inch guns. The great Kaiser, no
match for her smaller opponent, was
sent to the bottom speedily.
Hard-Fought Battle.
One of the most famous duels be-
tween converted commerce raiders
was fought on September IA, 1914,
of the eastern South American
coast, by the Carmania, converted
British liner, and the German liner
Cap Trafalgar. OF about equal size
and strength, they fought it out for
nearly two hours, over ranges of
5000 down to only 5000 yards, when
the German capsized and went
down.
The German cruiser Karlsruhe
also proved a wolf of the seas, de-
stroying Is steamers within period
of less than two weeks early in the
war. The German cruisers Leipzig
and Nurnberg, from the Far Eastern
squadron, began ranging the Pacific
at the outbreak Of the war, with
their more famous sister, the
Emden. In the Atlantic the cruisers
Dresden, Strassburg and Bremen
harried commercial shipping.
On September ~ a wave Of in
dignation swept the world when the
German cruisers Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau, arriving of Papeeta,
Tahiti, sank a small French gunboat
and ruthlessly shelled the open
town.
Retribution was not long delayed.
Receiving word that a British flying
squadron was on their trail, the
Nurnberg, Dresden, Gneisenau and
Scharnhorst Joined forces, with the
latter as flagship. They met part
Of the British force on November l
in the battle of Coronel and,
smothering the British cruisers
under weight Of superior metal
8.6-inch guns against 6-inch-they
sank the British cruisers Good Hope
and Monmouth and badly battered
the Glasgow.
On December 8, however, the Ger
man squadron, with the Leipzig
added, encountered the main British
force under Vice Admiral Sir Fred
erick sturdee In the Falkland Is
lands. This British force included