"Cressy" and
"Hogue" fell victims to the enemy. This sketch shows the "Aboukir"
after a German torpedo had found its mark in her hull.

"We on the Emden had no idea where we were going, as, on August 11,
1914, we separated from the cruiser squadron, escorted only by the
coaler Markomannia. Under way the Emden picked up three officers from
German steamers. That was a piece of luck, for afterward we needed many
officers for the capturing and sinking of steamers, or manning them when
we took them with us. On September 10th, the first boat came in sight.
We stopped her; she proved to be a Greek tramp returning from England.
On the next day we met the Indus, bound for Bombay, all fitted up as a
troop transport, but still without troops. That was the first one we
sunk. The crew we took aboard the Markomannia. Then we sank the Lovat,
a troop transport ship, and took the Kambinga along with us. One gets
used quickly to new forms of activity. After a few days, capturing ships
became a habit. Of the twenty-three which we captured most of them
stopped after our first signal; when they didn't, we fired a blank shot.
Then they all stopped. Only one, the Clan Matteson, waited for a real
shot across the bow before giving up its many automobiles and
locomotives to the seas.

"The officers were mostly very polite, and let down rope ladders for us.
After a few hours they would be on board with us. We ourselves never set
foot in their cabins, nor took charge of them. The officers often acted
on their own initiative, and signaled to us the nature of their cargo.
Then the commandant decided as to whether to sink the ship or take it
with us. Of the cargo we always took every thing we could use,
particularly provisions. Many of the English officers and sailors made
good use of the hours of transfer to drink up the supply of whisky
instead of sacrificing it to the waves. I heard that one captain was
lying in tears at the enforced separation from his beloved ship, but on
investigation found that he was merely dead drunk, The captain on one
ship once called out cheerily 'Thank God, I've been captured.' He had
received expense money for the trip to Australia, and was now saved half
the journey."

Parenthetically it may be remarked, that the Emden's captain, Karl von
Mueller, conducted himself at all times with chivalrous bravery,
according to the accounts of the English themselves, who in their
reports say of him, admiringly, "He played