_SHIPWRECK_
Our return to Sanaa was accomplished in the same manner as we had
traveled thither, and without hindrance of any kind. In order to make
arrangements for our onward journey by sea, I had taken a few of my men
with me and hurried on ahead of the caravan. In this way I succeded in
getting to Hodeida a day and a half ahead of the others. It took the
caravan eight days to get there. To be sure, our little advance guard
had spent both day and night in the saddle, the only halts being made
when we changed animals.
As the _Choising_ had been sent on, and there was nothing in the way of
steamboats to be had at Hodeida, there was but one thing left for us to
do,--to continue our journey in zambuks. A zambuk is a small sail-boat
much in use all along the Arabian coast, and is provided with a dhow
sail.
I procured two such boats in Hodeida, each about fourteen meters long
and four meters wide. These two zambuks I sent to Yabana, a little bay
to the north of Hodeida. Because of the French armored cruiser, still
sleepily rocking at anchor, a departure from the harbor of Hodeida
was out of the question for me. The Frenchman might accidentally have
a spell of wakefulness. As I was aware that the country was swarming
with English and French spies, I took pains to spread abroad the report
that it was our intention to sail from Isa Bay on the thirteenth of
March. It happened just as I had foreseen. On the afternoon of the
twelfth of March the little and out-of-the-way Isa Bay, where no
house, nor tree, nor bush is to be seen, and where there is hardly any
water, was honored for the first time since the beginning of the war
by the presence of an English gun-boat, which hunted for us with its
search-light all up and down the shore. The poor fellows! How they must
have wondered where we were!
On the fourteenth of March, at five o'clock in the afternoon, my fleet
sailed from Yabana. The Imperial war flag flew proudly at the masthead
of my flagship, and with three cheers for His Majesty, the Emperor,
we began our onward journey. The flagship of the second admiral was
in command of Lieutenant Gerdts. We made up for the total lack of any
further ships in the fleet by our absolutely correct discipline. As the
second zambuk was somewhat larger than mine, the sick were put aboard
of it. Malaria, dysentery, and typhus were still prevalent among the
men, of whom there were always one or two so ill as to cause us the
gravest anxiety. Under no circumstances, however, would I have been
willing to leave any of them behind, for their only hope of improvement
lay in a change of climate.
With regard to the English I had kept myself posted up to the last
minute as best I could, and I was aware that an English blockade was
being maintained by two gun-boats together with the auxiliary cruiser
_Empress of Russia_, in a line extending from Loheia across Kamaran,
Jebel Sebejir to Jebel Soghair. My problem now was how I could run this
blockade with my sail-boats. To avoid the possibility of both boats
being captured at the same time, I gave Lieutenant Gerdts orders to
separate from me. A meeting place farther to the north was appointed,
where we were to wait a while for each other.
Soon the other zambuk was lost to sight in the darkness of the
approaching night. Now, for the first time, our lucky star forsook
us, for, as the day dawned, the wind died away entirely, and, after
the sun had risen, we discovered to our extreme discomfiture that we
were exactly where we had no wish to be, namely, right in the middle
of the English blockade line. We expected at any moment to see the
masthead of an English ship appear above the horizon. Our frame of mind
was not of the happiest. The absence of wind detained us more surely
than the most superior of foes could have held us. But it had not been
without a good reason that I had delayed our departure to the end of
the week. I was sufficiently familiar with English customs to know that
the gentlemen are disinclined to work during week ends, that is, on
Saturdays and Sundays. And nothing did, in fact, come in sight during
the entire day.
The breeze, which set in during the course of the afternoon, helped
us onward considerably, and by evening, soon after sunset, we could
go to rest with the comfortable assurance that with two sail-boats,
and making but little headway, we had succeeded in running the English
blockade.
With my flat-bottomed zambuks it was possible for me to shape my
further course so as to keep within the coral reefs of the Farsan
Bank. This is a dangerous and very long coral bank having an extent
of about three hundred and fifty nautical miles, and near which large
ships dare not venture. It is not wholly free from danger even for
small craft. In the course of the following day, my second zambuk came
in sight, and received orders to keep by me.
Life on the zambuks was rather pleasant and quite cozy. An abundance of
room we did not have, of course. Including the interpreter, the pilot,
and the Arabs we had taken with us for service with the sails and the
ships, we numbered thirty-five men to each zambuk. With a length of
fourteen meters, and a width of four, it can be readily seen that but
little space could be allotted to each man. Moreover, a large part
of each boat had to be devoted to the storing of provisions, water,
ammunition, and the machine guns. To protect ourselves, in a measure at
least, from the burning rays of the sun, we stretched woolen blankets
across the ship so as to be able to keep our heads in the shade. Our
culinary department was not run on a lavish scale. In each zambuk there
was a small open fire-place lined with tin. Here the meals for thirty
persons had to be cooked. We tried to make our meals as varied as
possible with the limited means at our disposal. Thus, for instance, if
we had tough mutton with rice and gravy on one day, we would have rice
with gravy and tough mutton on the next, and on the third day, there
would be gravy with tough mutton and rice, and so on.
Our boats made but very slow progress. Oftentimes we were becalmed, and
there were frequent struggles with head winds and opposing currents.
Nor were these troubles from without our only ones, for there were
conflicts within our boat as well. These raged most fiercely at night,
for then the cockroaches, bedbugs, and lice were especially active.
All articles of clothing that were not in use had to be tied fast to
something for fear they might run away. In the morning, as soon as
the sun was up, every man of us pulled off his shirt, and the general
"early louse hunt" was begun. The record number for one shirt was
seventy-four.
On the seventeenth of March I signalled to my fleet: "I intend to
anchor in the evening." According to our pilot, we were getting into
a vicinity where the reefs made it unsafe even for our small craft to
sail at night. By six o'clock in the evening we were drawing near to
the island of Marka, where we were to anchor. Our pilot was conducting
us to our anchorage. My zambuk led the way. The second one followed
at a distance of two hundred meters. There was a pretty stiff breeze
blowing, with correspondingly high seas, and we were looking forward
with eagerness to getting a little rest in the lee of the sheltering
island. But we had made our reckoning without our host in the person
of our capable Arab pilot. He directed our course so skilfully that
my boat suddenly struck a coral reef. A second and a third time she
pounded so hard that I had grave fears for the safety of the boat. The
next moment we were free of the reef, however, and in deeper water. I
dropped anchor at once. Then, in order to keep the boat behind us from
running aground upon the same reef, I quickly gave her captain orders
by signs and shouts to hold off. This he did, but his boat was already
so in the midst of the reefs that, in the endeavor to avoid one reef,
he struck another. In a moment more I saw a flag run up, a sign that
something had happened. The next instant the boat dipped slowly. From
the motion of the mast, I knew that the boat was pounding. Suddenly it
disappeared,--only the top of the mast could be seen rising on a slant
out of the water. It was now just before sundown.
Night sets in very suddenly in these southern latitudes. Ten minutes
after the sun has set, it is absolutely dark. There was no moon at
the time. Instant help was therefore necessary. Up went the sail on
our zambuk. All hands set to work. The anchor was pulled up, and by
a difficult manoeuvre in which we came near running aground again,
we got away, and hastened to the relief of our comrades. I took my
boat as close to the submerged zambuk as possible, and cast anchor
again. But on account of the reef I was obliged to keep at a distance
of four hundred meters. We had no small boats that we could send back
and forth. Each zambuk carries but a single dugout,--a very small and
narrow paddle boat, made from a single tree trunk, and capable of
carrying no more than two men at the most. With the high seas running
at the time, their usefulness was a matter of doubt. Nevertheless I
sent mine out at once.
In the meantime it had grown dark. We had a lantern aboard our
zambuk, but all the many attempts we made to light it, in order to
show our ship's position, failed, as the strong wind that was blowing
extinguished the light again and again. "Torch-lights!" was my next
order. We had taken with us a few torches from both the _Emden_ and the
_Choising_ for possible cases of emergency. These were now brought out
and nailed up. The fuses worked all right, but the torches refused to
burn. They had grown too damp in the many months that we had carried
them about with us.
Suddenly, out of the darkness of the night, I heard voices rising from
the water just behind us. The first men from the foundered zambuk had
reached us, and, unable to see us in the darkness, they were swimming
past us. By shouting, by whistling with the boatswain's whistle, we
tried to call them back, and, after some anxious moments, we succeeded
in doing so. The men had swum away from the other zambuk, and, having
nothing else to guide them, they had followed a star that shone down
from the direction of our boat. How many of the men were in the water
we had, of course, no means of knowing. My anxiety for them was great,
knowing, as I did, that the water in this vicinity is full of sharks.
My greatest concern, however, was for the sick, and I wondered what had
been done for them, for many of them were too weak to help themselves.
That which was needed above all else now, was for us to show a light.
As every other means had failed us, I had the men bring wood, pile it
together, pour petroleum on it, and, with little care for the danger we
ran of setting our boat afire, we set it in a blaze. In the fire thus
kindled, we held our torches until they were dry enough to burn. At the
same time we set off a few white fire balls that we had with us, and
which, thank God, were still in good condition, although by firing off
these rockets, we revealed our presence to other ships for miles about.
At last the two dugouts returned. They were rowed by one man, and
in each one lay one of the sick. The others who were too ill to do
anything for themselves were either brought aboard our boat in the
same way, or else they were tied to one of the dugouts, and towed
along in the water. Meanwhile, all those who could swim were arriving
from every side. The men who could not swim--and there were a number
such--had put on life-preservers, and were paddling along as best they
could. One after another they came aboard. Soon there were fifty of us
in my little zambuk, and then it settled so low in the water that it
was evident it would hold no more. I therefore ordered everything that
could possibly be spared, including provisions and water, to be thrown
overboard, in order to lighten the boat sufficiently to carry us all.
Finally, all that was left us was our arms, ammunition, and food and
water sufficient for three days.
In the meantime our torches had burned low, and I was filled with
anxiety lest their light would not hold out until the last man from
the wrecked zambuk had come aboard. At last all were accounted for
except the officers, and, with the arrival of the last one of these,
the last torch died out. So, for the present at least, all were safe.
The wrecked zambuk, according to the reports of the officers in command
of it, lay hard aground on an abruptly descending coral reef, and we
had reason to be grateful that at least the mast had remained above
water. It might have happened quite as well that the zambuk had slipped
down the side of the reef, and vanished in the deep. In that case all
the sick would surely have been lost, and most likely some of the men
who could not swim would also have been drowned.
Near us lay another zambuk, which belonged to the Idriss tribe. The
Idriss are an Arab race that is not very friendly to the Turks, and is
especially averse to European influence of any kind. From this zambuk a
canoe had been sent to the rescue when my second zambuk stranded. But
as soon as it was discovered that we were Europeans--a circumstance
which was revealed by the tropical hat worn by our doctor--the canoe
turned back, and left our men to their fate. To continue our journey in
my one greatly overladen boat was a very precarious undertaking,--there
were now some seventy persons aboard of her--and especially so in
consideration of the very meager supply of provisions we had with us.
Therefore, just before sunrise, I sent our Arab interpreter to the
Idriss zambuk to offer those in charge of it a large sum of money for
the use of their boat for a few days. They refused my offer flatly,
however, saying that, should I offer them a hundred thousand pounds,
they would do nothing for dogs of Christians. It would, of course, have
been an easy matter for me to have made myself master of the desired
zambuk by force, and, indeed, it had been my intention to do so as soon
as it should be fully day. I was very averse to such a proceeding,
however. It might have had some very unpleasant consequences
politically, for it involved the use of armed force against allies,
even though these allies were but a race of wild and uncivilized people.
But the day brought us better fortune; our lucky star was once more
in the ascendant. A stiff southerly breeze was blowing, which made it
possible for me to sail even with my overloaded boat, as I could run
before the wind. It gave us the promise of rapid progress during the
day. So I left the Idriss boat in peace.
We now hurried to save what we could from the wrecked zambuk. We wanted
most of all to recover our arms. The zambuk had sunk still lower during
the night. The mast was broken off, and the ship lay on the bottom,
tilted downward. By diving, we succeeded in recovering the two machine
guns, a few pistols, and a part of the ammunition. Everything else, our
provisions, our clothing, and the like, was lost, and, unfortunately,
our entire medical outfit as well.
The stiff breeze from the south carried us in a single afternoon over a
distance which it would have taken us about six days to cover under the
previously existing conditions.
By evening we had arrived at Coonfidah. Here we were given a most
friendly welcome. As there had been no opportunity to make special
preparation for our coming, a genuine Turkish meal was quickly made
ready for us, and we ate it according to the local custom, without the
use of plates, forks, or knives. A whole sheep, boiled and stuffed
with rice, was placed on the table. With eager hands we set to work to
denude the bones of the meat that was on them, and with our fingers we
put the rice into our mouths. At Coonfidah we met a Turkish government
official and his wife, who were also on their way to Constantinople,
and who became our traveling companions. In the further course of our
journey this official rendered me good service as dragoman, that is, as
interpreter.
It was our good fortune to find a large zambuk while we were in
Coonfidah. We chartered it, and so were enabled to continue our journey
all together in one boat. Without meeting with further difficulties
of any kind, we reached Leet on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth
day of March. This town marks the northern extremity of the Farisan
Bank, between the coral reefs of which we had so far found safety from
pursuit by our English foes. Our further course by water would now take
us out into the open sea. It was evident that the English would do all
in their power to capture us there. While in Leet, chance placed in my
hands a letter that had come from a merchant in Djidda. He wrote that
Djidda was closely blockaded by English warships, and that not even
a zambuk was allowed to enter the harbor without inspection by the
English.
This prohibited our further journey by sea. There was therefore but one
way open to us, and that lay overland. We remained in Leet two days,
just long enough to get together the animals needed for our caravan, to
provide ourselves with the required amount of water, and to make all
other necessary preparations for our onward march.
In Leet occurred the first death in our number. One of our seamen,
Keil, had been suffering from a severe attack of typhus ever since our
sojourn at Hodeida. The hardships of the shipwreck had proved too much
for his already exhausted body, and, as our medical stores had all been
lost, we could not even give him medical aid as we journeyed on. He
died on the twenty-seventh of March, at three o'clock in the morning.
Two of his comrades watched at his bier, as they had at his bedside
throughout his illness. We made a row-boat ready, sewed the body in
sailcloth, and weighted it with stones. The war flag was then draped
over it, and on this was laid the hat and bared sword of the dead.
After a brief religious service, we laid the body of our comrade in the
boat, and, taking it out to where the water was deep, we committed
it to its last resting place. Three volleys resounded over his watery
grave. We did not deem it wise to give our dead a burial on land, as,
in all likelihood, the wild and fanatical people of the country would
have disturbed his last sleep.
On the twenty-eighth of March we began our onward journey.