"This town, Atakpame, is in the half of Togoland allotted to the French, so the British troops have left the place. It is now occupied by Senegalese (French native troops, and fine fighting men). . . . This is a magnificent country, and Atakpame is beautifully situated up in the hills. . . . This letter leaves by the last English mail out of Atakpame, which has been under three different flags in less than three weeks—German, British, and French.
"Quick work, eh?"
By this time Kamerun, German South-West Africa, and German East Africa had been attacked. I will tell you how they resisted later on, when we come to the period at which they were finally conquered.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE STORY OF THE "EMDEN."
When the war broke out there was a German squadron of ships of war in Eastern waters, its base being Tsing-tau. Admiral von Spee, who commanded it, did not attempt to go to the rescue of the Pacific islands when the British attacked them, but departed with most of his ships for the west coast of South America. Two of his smaller cruisers—the Königsberg and the Emden—were, however, detached to prey on British commerce in the East. You have read[136] how the Königsberg caught H.M.S. Pegasus unawares, in Zanzibar harbour, and disabled her. I shall tell you later how this vessel was finally destroyed. In this chapter we will learn something of the career of the Emden.
A ship of war can do as much mischief amongst peaceful merchantmen as a cat among pigeons. Ordinary trading ships are entirely at the mercy of a fast cruiser armed with big guns. They have no means of resisting, and must surrender when called upon to do so. During the American Civil War a ship, afterwards known as the Alabama, was built at Birkenhead for the Southern States. By some mistake she was allowed to leave the Mersey and proceed to the Azores, where she was fully equipped as a vessel of war. In August 1862 she began to prey on the merchantmen of the Northern States, and by June 1864 she had captured and destroyed about sixty-eight of their ships. By hoisting the British flag she decoyed them within reach of her guns, and then they were obliged to yield. In the end the Alabama was chased by a Northern ship of war to the English Channel, and a fight took place off the French shore near Cherbourg. In an hour the Alabama was shattered, and her career was ended for ever.[137] Up to the time when the Emden left Kiao-chau, in August 1914, the Alabama was the most successful commerce-raider of history. The Emden, however, soon deposed her from that pride of place. In two short months she did more damage than the Alabama did in two years.
The Emden was a light cruiser of 3,544 tons displacement, and she dated from 1908. She had a speed of 25 knots, and her armament consisted of ten 4.1-inch guns, four 2.1-inch guns, and four machine guns, as well as two torpedo tubes. Her captain, was Commander Karl von Müller, who has thus been described: "Picture a young man of about thirty, tall, clean-shaven, with closely-cropped hair and keen eyes, a neatly-proportioned figure, a man with the manners of a drawing-room, possessed of a keen sense of humour and an extensive knowledge of the sea and its affairs." As the story proceeds you will learn that Commander Müller was a man of quick, ready, and inventive mind, and that for two months he played a successful game of hide-and-seek with the many Allied ships of war that were bent on his destruction.