[From THE NEW YORK TIMES Correspondent in Penang.]
Penang, Straits Settlements, Oct. 29.--The German cruiser Emden called
here yesterday and departed, leaving death and destruction behind her.
You will doubtless have learned long before this story of her visit,
carried by the slow mails of the Far East, is read in the United
States some account of the Emden's raid, but the cable can hardly
carry a detailed picture of the destruction wrought in a brief hour or
so yesterday in this busy harbor, and it seems worth while to describe
for you how this sudden vision of war burst on Penang.
For those who do not know, the City of Penang lies on the western
coast of the Malay Peninsula, just below the Siamese border. It is the
shipping point of the Federated Malay States, where 65 per cent. of
the world's tin is produced, as well as a great amount of rubber and
copra. With a population of 246,000, it is growing by leaps and bounds
and gives every indication of soon becoming one of the largest ports
in the Far East.
The thing that makes this city a point of importance in the present
war is the fact that it is the last port of call for ships going from
China and Japan to Colombo and Europe. As a result, it has been made
more or less of a naval base by the English Government. Large stores
of Admiralty coal have been collected and all vessels have been
commanded to stop here for orders before crossing the Bay of Bengal.
It was probably with the idea of crippling this base, from which her
pursuers were radiating, that the Emden made her raid here. Had she
found it temporarily undefended she could at one blow seriously have
embarrassed the English cruisers patrolling these waters and at the
same time cause a terrific loss to English commerce by sinking the
many merchantmen at anchor in the harbor.
It was early on Wednesday morning that the Emden, with a dummy fourth
funnel and flying the British ensign, in some inexplicable fashion
sneaked past the French torpedo boat Mosquet, which was on patrol duty
outside, and entered the outer harbor of Penang. Across the channel
leading to the inner harbor lay the Russian cruiser Jemtchug. Inside
were the French torpedo boats Fronde and Pistolet and the torpedo boat
destroyer D'Iberville. The torpedo boats lay beside the long
Government wharf, while the D'Iberville rode at anchor between two
tramp steamers.
At full speed the Emden steamed straight for the Jemtchug and the
inner harbor. In the semi-darkness of the early morning the Russian
took her for the British cruiser Yarmouth, which had been in and out
two or three times during the previous week and did not even "query"
her. Suddenly, when less than 400 yards away, the Emden emptied her
bow guns into the Jemtchug and came on at a terrific pace, with all
the guns she could bring to bear in action. When she had come within
250 yards she changed her course slightly, and as she passed the
Jemtchug poured two broadsides into her, as well as a torpedo, which
entered the engine room but did comparatively little damage.
The Russian cruiser was taken completely by surprise and was badly
crippled before she realized what was happening. The fact that her
Captain was spending the night ashore and that there was no one on
board who seemed capable of acting energetically completed the
demoralization. She was defeated before the battle began. However, her
men finally manned the light guns and brought them into action.
In the meantime the Emden was well inside the inner harbor and among
the shipping. She saw the French torpedo boats there, and apparently
realized at once that unless she could get out before they joined in
the action her fate was sealed. At such close quarters (the range was
never more than 450 yards) their torpedoes would have proved deadly.
Accordingly, she turned sharply and made for the Jemtchug once more.
All the time she had been in the harbor the Russian had been
bombarding her with shrapnel, but, owing to the notoriously bad
marksmanship prevalent in the Czar's navy, had succeeded for the most
part only in peppering every merchant ship within range. As the Emden
neared the Jemtchug again both ships were actually spitting fire. The
range was practically point-blank. Less than 150 yards away the Emden
passed the Russian, and as she did so torpedoed her amidships,
striking the magazine. There was a tremendous detonation, paling into
insignificance by its volume all the previous din; a heavy black
column of smoke arose and the Jemtchug sank in less than ten seconds,
while the Emden steamed behind the point to safety.
No sooner had she done so, however, than she sighted the torpedo boat
Mosquet, which had heard the firing and was coming in at top speed.
The Emden immediately opened up on her, thereby causing her to turn
around in an endeavor to escape. It was too late. After a running
fight of twenty minutes the Mosquet seemed to be hit by three shells
simultaneously and sank very rapidly. The German had got a second
victim.
It was here that the chivalrous bravery of the Emden's Captain, which
has been many times in evidence throughout her meteoric career, was
again shown. If the French boats were coming out, every moment was of
priceless value to him. Nevertheless, utterly disregarding this, he
stopped, lowered boats, and picked up the survivors from the Mosquet
before steaming on his way.