Early on the morning of 28th October the Emden was ten miles outside Penang, in the Straits Settlements,[140] and the carpenters were set to work rigging up a dummy funnel, to make her look like a British cruiser. She then hoisted British colours and entered the harbour, in which several ships could be seen, with an unknown cruiser well in front of them. When the Emden entered the harbour she discovered that this cruiser was the Russian ship Jemtchug. Mistaking the Emden for a British man-of-war, the Jemtchug did not attempt to prevent the German cruiser from getting between her and the land. The Emden then let fly two torpedoes, the first of which struck the Russian cruiser just under the after funnel. The other torpedo, fired at closer range, struck her below the bridge, and caused a terrible explosion. Meanwhile the Emden was firing salvo after salvo at the Jemtchug, which made but a feeble reply; all of her shots missed, but some of them hit ships in the harbour behind.
As the Jemtchug sank the Emden turned and left the harbour at full speed. Thirty miles out she fell in with the British steamer Glenturret, which had signalled to the shore for a pilot, who had just reached her in his launch. The Emden had swung out her boats to take possession of the prize when a warship appeared on the horizon. The Emden immediately recalled her boats and made off, as the warship appeared to be a large one. This, however, was only the effect of the early morning mirage.[141] At about 6,000 yards distance the newcomer was found to be the French destroyer Mousquet.
The Emden opened fire, and the Mousquet replied, though, of course, the destroyer was quite outclassed by the cruiser. The first few shots from the Emden hit the Mousquet's engine-room, and apparently wrecked her. "Cease fire" was then ordered, to enable the French destroyer to surrender; but instead of doing so she showed fight once more. A few more shots from the Emden were sufficient to sink her, bows first. About thirty-six of the crew were rescued. While this merciful work was going on, another destroyer was seen approaching from Penang; whereupon the Emden steamed off at full speed for the Indian Ocean. The destroyer chased her for three hours; but a heavy rainstorm came on, and the Emden escaped.
There was a good deal of discontent in England when news arrived that the Emden had sunk ship after ship, and had not been brought to account. The Admiralty explained that searching for the Emden over vast expanses of ocean was no easy task, and that the many thousand islands of the East Indies afforded her plenty of hiding-places, and the straits between them numberless avenues of escape. To catch the raider was a matter of time, patience, and good luck. The Germans were highly delighted that their ship had proved such a will o' the wisp, and one of their papers contained a caricature showing the Emden as a Jack-in-the-box that continually popped up to the annoyance of John Bull. It was inscribed, "Emden über Alles," and underneath was the following rhyme:—
"When you think you have him tightly, He springs forth again so lightly."
We are soon to hear how, by a stroke of good luck the Emden was caught tightly and destroyed.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE LAST OF THE "EMDEN," AND THE SEA FIGHT OFF CORONEL.
If you look at a map of the Indian Ocean, you will see, some 700 miles south of Sumatra and 1,200 miles south-west of Singapore, a group of about twenty atolls,[142] known as the Cocos-Keeling Islands. They are covered with palm groves, and they export cocoa-nuts and copra. The "king" of the islands is Mr. Sydney Ross, a descendant of the Captain J. C. Ross who settled on them in 1825. It was to these remote islands that Captain von Müller brought the Emden in the early days of November. His object was to destroy the important British wireless station established on Direction Island.