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THE KÖNIGSBERG INCIDENT
AND THE GREAT WAR IN EAST AFRICA |
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Königsberg
Summary
On the evening of August 6, 1914, the lone cargo ship S.S.
City of Winchester was steaming southwest through the Gulf of Aden en
route to London. With her load of general cargo and the first of India's
seasonal tea crop, the City of Winchester represented a humble fraction
of Great Britain's merchant power. But on this particular evening, she entered
the history books both as the first merchant shipping loss of the First World
War, and as the first war time target of the German light cruiser S.M.S.
Königsberg. For as the City of Winchester's Captain George
Boyck was called upon by one of his officers to investigate an unidentified
vessel approaching their ship, searchlights stabbed out of the evening haze
followed by a rapid signal lamp query: 'what ship and nationality.' Captain
Boyck believed the approaching vessel to be a British cruiser and so he
dutifully replied to the inquiry with the ship's name and port of registry. He
was immediately ordered to stop his ship. It was only when a German naval
officer accompanied by an armed party of sailors climbed aboard that Captain
Boyck realized all was not right. His ship was commandeered by a 'prize crew'
from Königsberg and taken to the east coast of Oman, where she was
partially stripped of her cargo and scuttled. Thus began the war time portion
of the Königsberg Incident that had begun in Kiel five months
before, and which did not end until 1918. During the course of the Great War
this particular chapter in military history resulted in the loss of over a
dozen vessels, the deaths of hundreds of men and littering of the East African
plains, rivers and bays with relics of the fighting.
| Königsberg at Dar es Salaam |
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The story began before the war when
the German government decided to post a modern cruiser to their East African
colony. In 1913 this area of the continent, which today is the country of
Tanzania, was controlled by a surprisingly enlightened civilian administration.
They did not view the Africans as inherently inferior, and this not-so-subtle
distinction dramatically affected the course of war time events within the
colony. As a key component of colonial policy, Königsberg helped to
enhance the status of German East Africa with its capital of Dar es Salaam, and
reinforced the German Navy's ability to conduct commerce warfare in the case of
war. This last item was not lost on Great Britain, which was keenly aware of
the German colony's proximity to major shipping routes.
So it was that
Captain Max Looff was assigned command of Königsberg in April,
1914. There was a great deal of excitement stirred up by the new mission, and
by the time Königsberg departed Kiel on April 25, Looff had even
purchased a new 9mm rifle to use for big game hunting. But hunting prospects
aside, the seriousness of the assignment was clear. The ship's crew was
hand-picked for their stability and temperament, the journey would be long, and
tropical station required unusual stamina. With such a carefully selected team
it is not surprising that the Captain and crew departed for the Indian Ocean in
high spirits, ready for whatever adventure and travel awaited them. By the
middle of May, 1914, Königsberg stopped at Alexandria Harbor in
Egypt, and then passed through the Suez Canal on the way to Aden where Looff
dined with the British governor. The hostile events which would soon overtake
them were as yet unknown. Certainly Europe had been dancing along the brink of
war for several years. But when Captain Looff and his light cruiser made
landfall at Makatumbe, outside the port of Dar es Salaam on June 6, the
Austrian Archduke Ferdinand still had three weeks to live.
After
arriving, Königsberg had the easy job of playing host to the
innumerable Germans, Africans and other visitors curious to see her. The German
East African capital was a world away from the clammy North Sea coast and the
dusty red soil and sun-scorched docks packed with locals were overwhelming
reminders of this. East Africa was to be, for most of Königsberg's
crew, home and headquarters for what remained of their
lives.
Manoari wa bomba
tatu
During her peacetime stay on the African coast,
Königsberg was known as Manoari wa bomba tatu by the
Africans who believed a ship with three funnels to be more powerful than a ship
with two funnels. Within weeks Königsberg had sunk the two funneled
British cruiser Pegasus, but was later sunk by two single funneled river
monitors at her mooring in the Rufiji River Delta. |
On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke
Ferdinand was assassinated in Serbia, and as the political situation in Europe
slid toward open war, the authorities in German East Africa began to discuss
their own options. The civilian governor, Dr. Heinrich Schnee, stood against
military action which would certainly endanger his civilian projects. He was
already negotiating a neutrality agreement with the British. General Paul von
Lettow-Vorbeck, commander of the German Colonial Army, had no intention of
allowing the British in Africa to be used elsewhere and he was already taking
steps to prepare for war. Captain Looff's immediate and less controversial goal
was to make sure his light cruiser was at sea if war came. He knew that the
British were sensitive to his cruiser's presence on the East African coast, and
in case of war they would quickly blockade Dar es Salaam. So as the last half
of July passed, Königsberg finished a series of gunnery and torpedo
training exercises and steamed back into harbor for an overhaul to wartime
readiness. All wood furnishings were removed, lacquered paneling stripped away
and supplies poured into every empty space.
By July 30, all was nearly
ready and Captain Looff spent time ashore coordinating his plans with General
von Lettow-Vorbeck's deputy, Major Kepler. German freighters in the area had
been ordered to bring in their spare coal, and two were now in harbor. One of
them, the 2,500 ton Somali, was pressed into service as
Königsberg's seagoing supply depot. On July 31, the Deutsche Ost
Afrika steamer Tabora arrived with news that three cruisers of the
British Cape Squadron were due to coal at Zanzibar the next day. There was now
no more time for planning if Königsberg was to avoid being trapped
in the harbor. By 4:30 in the afternoon, she cast off and slowly made her way
out into the Indian Ocean twilight.
Königsberg was ten
miles out to sea and the night was already beginning when the officer in the
foremast called down "three ships approaching." The Cape Squadron had arrived,
only to discover Königsberg steaming out to sea. All three British
cruisers, HMS Hyacinth, HMS Pegasus and HMS Astrea
converged their courses on the Königsberg and took up station
around her. If word of war came now, Königsberg would be in serious
trouble. Captain Looff could only order steam for 22 knots and wait. Not long
after, a squall blew in from the southwest and blanketed Königsberg
with a driving warm rain, hiding all three of her unwanted escorts from view.
The German cruiser whipped into a 180 degree turn and sped back toward the
British ships. As she cleared the squall, Königsberg passed the
Hyacinth, which was already making heavy smoke as she tried to bring up
steam for full speed. Captain Looff turned south for one hour and then headed
at full speed out to sea for the rest of the night, burning tons of valuable
coal in the process. British Admiral King-Hall was left to his own fury at
letting the cruiser escape from under his very nose, and Captain Looff waited
for war in a cruiser already looking for more coal to fill her
bunkers.
| Somali in heavy seas |
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Six nights later,
Königsberg was pushing her way through heavy seas off Cape
Guardafui when she received the long anticipated order: EGIMA, the code word
meaning that Germany was now at war with England, France and Russia. In all the
long miles of the Indian Ocean, Königsberg was now alone and
hunted. But she herself was a hunter, and hunt she would, with British shipping
as her prey. After contacting several German merchant ships,
Königsberg headed for the main shipping lane which ran through the
Gulf of Aden. Within several hours of daylight she encountered three German
steamers, the last of whom tried to evade the cruiser thinking her to be
British. This short pursuit wasted more of the cruiser's coal, and none of the
German steamers had any to spare. After passing a Japanese freighter
Königsberg captured her first prize when she came upon the British
steamer City of Winchester.
By now Königsberg's coal
situation was becoming a concern. She headed for a rendezvous with her supply
ship Somali, bringing with her the City of Winchester, and the
German freighters Zieten, Goldenfels and Ostmark.
Eventually all five ships lay at anchor off the island of Hallaniya, the
largest of the Kuria Muria group on the Oman coast. Königsberg
transferred four hundred tons of supplies from City of Winchester and
then scuttled her. Looff then arranged for a second rendezvous with
Somali at Ras Hafun on the African coast as the Hallaniya anchorage was
obviously unsafe in the aftermath of City of Winchester's disappearance.
All of the German ships headed on their independent ways, with only
Königsberg and Somali remaining in the Gulf
area.
For several more days Königsberg searched in the
main east-west shipping lanes and found nothing. It was as if the desert had
extended out into the ocean, swallowing up everything. The British had reacted
swiftly to the disappearance of the City of Winchester by diverting all
ships away from the area. Also, the Japanese freighter of a few days before had
recognized the Königsberg for what she was and radioed British
authorities. So Captain Looff steamed up and down one of the most congested
shipping lanes in the world, unable to find a single enemy ship. While the
upheaval caused by his cruiser might have given him some comfort, his concerns
were increasingly focused on finding more coal and fresh water. Fortunately,
the second rendezvous with the Somali went mostly as planned, and by
August 24 the Königsberg was underway again with full coal
bunkers.
As his ship steamed down the African coast, Captain Looff
wondered what was going on at Dar-es-Salaam. Her radio had been silent since
war began, and he worried for news of events. He did not know that the German
land transmitter had been shelled and destroyed by the British on the first day
of war. Looff decided to steam south to Madagascar, where he hoped to catch
French shipping unawares. But early on the morning of August 29, the German
cruiser coasted gently into the bay at Majunga, only to find a Red Cross
station and no ships. As had happened before, the locals believed
Königsberg to be British, and only when she was steaming back out
of the bay without anchoring did the local radio send out alerts that the
Germans were in their harbor.
By now Königsberg's coal
supply was down to 200 tons, only a quarter of her normal full load. Careful
planning allowed her to meet Somali, this time off the Aldabra Island.
But the seas were too heavy, and the coaling effort was called off. Now the
situation was critical because Königsberg had to have her coal if
she was to avoid losing all power. It was finally decided that both ships would
head for the Rufiji River delta, which had recently been charted by survey
crews who had discovered this "unnavigable" river to have several deep-water
channels. So on the afternoon of September 3, 1914, Königsberg and
Somali passed the bar at the mouth of the Rufiji River and steamed
quietly up the Simba Uranga channel.
Once the German authorities at
the Salale customs station recovered from the shock at Königsberg's
unexpected arrival, messages were sent off to Dar-es-Salaam notifying them that
Königsberg was not sunk as the British had claimed, and that she
required coal and supplies. Captain Looff was also able to gather the latest
news on world and local events, the most important of which came on September
19. A coast watcher personally reported that he had seen a British cruiser
steam into Zanzibar Harbor. There was only one possible course to follow; head
immediately to Zanzibar and destroy the lone British cruiser. Judging by the
watcher's description of the British ship, Captain Looff and his officers
decided that it must be the Pegasus or the Astrea. In reality, it
was the Pegasus which had returned to Zanzibar for minor boiler
work. Go to Page
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