In this way, by the end of the first week in September, we had got as
far as the Bay of Bengal. For a period of about five days an English
man-of-war, most likely the _Minotaur_, kept a course close beside
our own, which we learned from the frequent wireless messages that
we caught up. Gradually, her messages became less distinct, and then
ceased altogether. At no time had she come within sight of us.
It was not until the night of September tenth that our work began in
real earnest. A steamer came in sight, and we approached her very
cautiously, so as to give her a closer inspection. Quietly, and with
lights screened, we crept up behind our intended victim. Our Commander
ordered an approach to within one hundred meters of the steamer, which
was peacefully and unsuspectingly proceeding on her course, and,
after the manner of merchantmen, was paying little heed to anything
except what was ahead of her and showing lights. Suddenly, through the
stillness of the perfectly calm night, rang out our challenge through
the speaking trumpet:
"Stop at once! Do not use your wireless! We are sending a boat!"
The steamer did not seem to realize what was meant by this order.
Perhaps she did not expect, here in the heart of Indian waters, to run
across an enemy's man-of-war. Or she may have thought it the voice of a
sea god, and therefore no concern of hers. At any rate, she continued
on her way undeterred. So, to explain the situation, we sent a blank
shot whizzing past her. This made an impression, and, pell mell, her
engines were reversed--we truly regretted the start we had given her
dozing engineers--and with her siren she howled out her willingness to
obey our order.
One of our cutters, with a prize crew in it, glided swiftly to
water, and thence to the steamer, of which we thus took possession.
An unpleasant surprise was now in store for us, for soon there came
flashing back to us a signal given by one of the men of our prize crew:
"This is the Greek steamer, _Pontoporros_." ...
The _Pontoporros_ was loaded with coal from India, the very dirtiest
coal in the world....
I had, in jest, entreated our Commander to capture, as our first prize,
a ship loaded with soap, instead of which we now got this cargo of
dirty Indian coal. My disappointment was so great that I could not
refrain from reproachfully calling our Commander's attention to it,
and, with a laugh, he promised to do his best toward providing us with
the much-needed soap. And he kept his word.
On the morning of the eleventh of September, only a few hours after we
had made the first addition to our squadron, there appeared, forward,
a large steamer, which, in the supposition that we were an English
man-of-war, manifested her delight at meeting us by promptly running
up a large English flag while still a long way off. We could not help
wondering what sort of expression her captain's face wore when we ran
up the German colors, and politely requested him to remain with us for
a while.
The steamer hailed from Calcutta, had been requisitioned to serve as an
English transport for carrying troops from Colombo to France, and was
fitted out with an abundance of excellent supplies....
We also found aboard the ship a very handsome race horse. By a shot
through the head, this noble creature was spared the agony of death
by drowning. But our sympathy was hardly sufficient to extend to all
the many mounts for artillery, which occupied as many neatly numbered
stalls that had been built into the ship. They had to be left to become
the prey of sharks a half hour later. The ship's crew was sent aboard
our "junkman."...
During the next few days our business flourished. It was carried on
in this way: As soon as a steamer came in sight, she was stopped, and
one of our officers, accompanied by ten men, was sent aboard her. It
was their duty to get the steamer ready to be sunk, and to arrange
for the safe transfer of the passengers and crew. As a rule, while we
were still occupied with this, the mast head of the next ship would
appear above the horizon. There was no need of giving chase. When the
next steamer had come near enough to us, the _Emden_ steamed off to
meet her, and sent her a friendly signal by which she was induced to
join our other previously captured ships. Again an officer and men
were sent off, boarded her, got her ready to be sunk, and attended
to the transfer of all hands aboard her, etc., and, by the time this
was accomplished, the mast head of the third ship had usually come in
sight. Again the _Emden_ went to meet her, and so the game went on....