but upon retmng, Konigsberg suffered a serious breakdown-a crosshead fractured on one of the connecting rods of her reciprocating engines. This probably cut her propulsion power by half, and, as a result, she took refuge in the steamy mangrove swamps of the Rufiji River delta, proceeding inland up creeks between the overgrown islands until she was well our of sight from seaward. Ir rook months for the British to find her. She was eventually tracked down by means ofsome spi ri red forays to gather intelligence. Thereafter, they were baffled by the problem ofsealing her fare. They tried blocking egress from the delta by sinking a collier across the main channel, but there remained doubts about the possibiliry of the cruiser finding another way out. They tried to get upriver in small craft armed with torpedoes, bur the shores were heavily overhung with vegetation, unapproachable, and well defended. The target was out of sight, and the Rufiji's maze of shallow tidal waterways had never been charred. The British summoned a battleship named Goliath, although she was really only a rather small one. Her main battery consisted offour 12-inch guns, easily capable of smashing Konigsberg to pieces. The battleship's 26-foor draft, however, meant that she was unable to enter the delta without very real risk of stranding on a mud bank. The German captain, in response, shifted his ship progressively further and further upriver, where even those long-range guns could not reach her. Eventually, the Royal Navy brought up two shallow-drafr river monitors. These were vessels that had been designed and built for the Brazilian government for operation up the Amazon River; they mounted 6-inch guns, and in the last hour or so of a flood tide they could steam far enough upstream to get in range of the stricken cruiser. Gunfire was directed-for the first time ever-from aircraft to spot the fall of shot and to radio directions for correcting the aim. The somewhat primitive aircraft and their radios proved unreliable in tropical conditions, bur afrer many attempts they achieved success. Firing blind over intervening rreeclad islands, the monitors finally managed to find their target. A succession of 6-inch shells, describing a great arc in flight, plunged into the cruiser and penetrated her protective deck. They caused a massive explosion, which sent up
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Konigsberg's guns were successfolly salvaged and put to use in service of Col. Paul von LettowVorbeck's troops in the land battles against the British in East Africa in World ™zr I a gray-and-black plume which could be seen by the waiting British ships well our to sea. Nine months after holing-up in the Rufiji, Konigsberg had finally and conclusively been destroyed. The Germans salvaged the cruiser's ten powerful 4. 1-inch guns with great exertion and brought them ashore. They were subsequently mounted on gun-carriages improvised by the railway workshops. These very guns would play an important role in more than three years of land fighting under Colonel (later General) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, until the war came to an end when armistice was declared in Europe on 11 November 1914.
So, the whole story has been spun out; I was able to get a glimpse of the place and a taste of the sultry climate. I have learned a lot about the ship. Her visit to Pangani was almost a hundred years ago, but I believe it has been possible to get a whiff of the atmosphere of that time. German East Africa is now the nations of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, and the Chinese are once again investigating opportunities in these parts. Nobody is much interested in the story of Captain Loof and the Konigsberg. Nevertheless she was a lovely ship, the very pinnacle of light cruiser design in her day, and she is emblematic of an era of blind self-assurance. ~
Ian Marshall is a Fellow and past president of the American Society of Marine Artists. He is the author offive books of maritime paintings: Armored Ships, Ironclads, Passage East, Flying Boats, and Cruisers and La Guerre de Course. His work hangs in the permanent collections of the US Naval Academy Museum; the US Naval ™ir College; the Royal Navy Museum at Portsmouth, England; the Scottish United Services Museum at Edinburgh Castle; Maine Maritime Museum; Lloyds of London; Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Limerick, Ireland; Botswana National Museum; and the Royal Netherlands Navy Museum at Den Helder. For the last 25 years his paintings have been shown by the J Russell ]inishian Gallery in Fairfield, Connecticut. In London, his work is shown at the Tryon Gallery, 7 Bury Street in St. ]ames's. Mr. Marshall's art has been exhibited at the Mystic International Exhibition each year since 1988, where he has received a number ofawards. He has had individual exhibitions at the US Navy Museum in ™ishington, DC; the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis; Maine Maritime Museum; and at the US Naval ™zr College Museum in Newport, Rhode Island. In New York City, he has had shows at the Union League Club, India House Club, Wings Club, and the Explorers' Club. Recent shows include 26 ofhis paintings oftramp steamers at the Connecticut Maritime Association, a shipowners' society. Ian comes from Edinburgh, Scotland. He acquired architectural degrees at the University ofCape Town and the University ofPennsylvania. His architectural career was in private practice, largely in Africa, and he is a member ofthe AJA, RIBA, and RIAS. He and his wife live on Lake Ossipee in Freedom, New Hampshire.
SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13