In this way we cleaned up the whole region from Ceylon to Calcutta.
In addition to our old companion, the _Markomannia_, we were now
accompanied by the Greek collier _Pontoporros_, which, in the
meanwhile, had relinquished the rôle of "junkman" to the _Cabigna_.
The latter was an English steamer carrying an American cargo, the
destruction of which would have resulted in nothing but unnecessary
charges.
The _Cabigna_ continued with us for several days, although she, the
_Markomannia_, and the _Pontoporros_ were not the only companions
of the _Emden_ during that night. We had captured more prizes,
whose destruction, however, was deferred to the following day in
consideration of the passengers, because of the darkness, and the high
seas running. All told, we had six attendants that night. Three of
these disappeared in the sea on the coming morning, and the _Cabigna_
was discharged to land her passengers.
Aboard the _Cabigna_ were the wife and little child of the captain. The
position at sea, where the other steamers had been sent to the bottom,
was so far distant from the nearest shore that it would have been quite
impossible for any boats to have reached land. Before the captain of
the _Cabigna_ had been told that he would be allowed to proceed, and
in the assumption that his ship also was to be sunk, he begged that he
might be allowed to take a revolver with him for the protection of his
wife and child....
When the captain was informed that it was not our purpose to destroy
his ship, he was overcome with joy. I, myself, was aboard his ship for
several hours, and he could not find words sufficient to express his
gratitude, begging me to convey his thanks to our Commander, and
finally handing me a letter to deliver to him.
I had a long conversation with the captain's wife, also, and she
expressed sentiments much like those contained in her husband's letter
to our Commander. When she discovered, from something I said, that my
oil-skins were going to pieces, she pressed me to accept her husband's.
Besides this, upon learning that our supply of smoking tobacco was
getting low, she urged us to take as many cigarettes and as much
smoking tobacco with us as we could carry. These, she declared, were
but trifling gifts in comparison with the gratitude she felt. It is
hardly necessary to say that we took with us neither the tobacco nor
the oil-skins.
At the time that the _Cabigna_ was discharged, her deck was full of
passengers, all people from the steamers we had captured. At our order,
"You may proceed!" three cheers--"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"--rang back
to us, one for the Commander, one for the officers, and one for the
crew of H. M. S. _Emden_, in which every person on the crowded deck
joined.... There were, at the time, about four hundred persons aboard
the ship.
In the further progress of our activities we never failed to get three
cheers from our discharged "junkmen," as they departed with their
collection of passengers from captured steamers....
This seems a fitting place to speak about the attitude taken by the
Englishmen when we captured their ships. Most of them behaved very
sensibly. After they had recovered from the first shock of surprise,
they usually passed into the stage of unrestrained indignation at their
government, at which they swore roundly. With but one exception, they
never offered any resistance to the sinking of their ships. We always
allowed them time enough to collect and take with them their personal
possessions. They usually devoted most of this time to making certain
that their precious supply of whiskey was not wasted on the fishes. I
can say with truth that seldom did we send off a wholly sober lot of
passengers on any one of our "junkmen."
* * * * *