The Last Cruise of the Emden: The Amazing True WWI Story of a German-Light Cruiser and Her Courageous Crew

Rating:
Summary: An amazing story...a serviceable book
Review: I stumbled across the story of the Emden in another book and really didn't quite believe it, so I tracked down this book to read more. It really is an amazing story -- a lone German cruiser roaming the Indian Ocean in the early days of World War I, harrassing shipping and confiscating the cargoes of merchant ships it encounters. Many ships are sent out to find and destroy the Emden, and finally one does. But the story doesn't end there -- part of the crew escapes in a sailing ship, determined to make it back to Germany. They survive numerous threats to make it to the Arabian peninsula, where they travel by camel caravan and survive an attack by Beduouin tribesman before reaching safe haven in Istanbul.

One thing the book makes clear is that the captain and his officers did not expect to survive their adventures. Their goal was to create as much havoc as they could...as they continued their cruise without stopping for routine maintenance, their boat grew battered and slower as its systems were pushed to their limit, week after week. (They employed numerous ruises to escape their pursuers, including a false canvas funnel that they used on occasion to try to make their three-funnel German ship look like a four-funnel British steamer of the time.) The book also explains that the captain had to constantly be on the lookout for shiploads of coal it could confiscate, as the Emden would burn through hundreds of tons of coal per week. But through it all, the captain pretty much expected that the ship was doomed, and his goal was merely to keep running as long as he could.

If the book is to be believed -- and it is part of the legend of this ship and her crew -- the ship became famous for its chivalrous treatment of captured prisoners. The book also takes some time explaining the various "rules" of war that the captain paid attention to: when it could confiscate an enemy ship vs. when it could only take the cargo.

The book does a serviceable job of telling the story in a very straightforward way. There is a just enough detail to explain what's happening without the mind-numbing jargo that sometimes spoils books on naval history (at least for me). However, it seems to me the story could have been told with a fair amount more drama -- it seems as if the book has been drawn mainly from other books of the early 20's and 30's about this shop...surely in the years between then and the 60's, when this book was written, more personal diaries and journals about the Emden might have surfaced that could have added more color. Likewise, the book could have used more follow-up on the main characters -- we trace their movements back to Germany but never really hear what became of them.

Rating:
Summary: Great Ture-Life Adventure Story
Review: Put briefly, this is simply the greatest true-life adventure story that I've ever read. When the narrative appears to be complete, the story is only half over.

Rating:
Summary: The German cruiser Emden against the British.
Review: This is a great adventure story by Edwin Hoyt. I am glad this book is back in print. This is the true story of the German light cruiser Emden and its adventures during the first part of World War I. The Emden was based in the German colony of Tsingtao and was commanded by Von Muller. This ship broke away from the main German Asiatic fleet and raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. It shelled the oil refinery in Madras, India and sailed into a Malayan harbor and sunk an Allied cruiser. It caused so much havoc that the Allied authorities tied down valuable warships hunting for the Emden. It was eventually caught and destroyed by the Australian heavy cruiser Sydney.
The story does not stop there because fifty of the crew escape capture and take a sailing vessel and go to Arabia, and then eventually make their way home to Germany. This was truly a great story.
This is one of Hoyt's early works. I always enjoy his books and recommend them to anybody who wants to both learn and enjoy a good read.

Rating:
Summary: The German cruiser Emden against the British.
Review: This is a great adventure story by Edwin Hoyt. I am glad this book is back in print. This is the true story of the German light cruiser Emden and its adventures during the first part of World War I. The Emden was based in the German colony of Tsingtao and was commanded by Von Muller. This ship broke away from the main German Asiatic fleet and raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. It shelled the oil refinery in Madras, India and sailed into a Malayan harbor and sunk an Allied cruiser. It caused so much havoc that the Allied authorities tied down valuable warships hunting for the Emden. It was eventually caught and destroyed by the Australian heavy cruiser Sydney.
The story does not stop there because fifty of the crew escape capture and take a sailing vessel and go to Arabia, and then eventually make their way home to Germany. This was truly a great story.
This is one of Hoyt's early works. I always enjoy his books and recommend them to anybody who wants to both learn and enjoy a good read.