the mouth of the river in order to
"bottle her up." Consequently, on the morning of July 4, 1915,
after her position had been noted by an aviator, two British river
monitors, _Severn_ and _Mersey_, aided by a cruiser and minor vessels,
began to fire upon the stationary vessel. Their fire was directed
by the aviator who had discovered her, but it was at first almost
ineffective because she lay so well concealed by the vegetation
of the surrounding jungle. She answered their fire and succeeded
in damaging the _Mersey_, but after being bombarded for six hours
she was set on fire. When the British monitors had finished with
her she was a total wreck.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIX

STORY OF THE "EMDEN"

We now return to the exploits of the _Emden_, its mysterious
disappearance and the narrative of its heroes--a great epic of the
sea.

When in Volume III the story of the sinking of the German cruiser
_Emden_ was related, mention was made of the escape of the landing
party belonging to that ship from Cocos Island. This party consisted
of fifty men, headed by Captain Muecke, and from the time their ship
went down on November 9, 1914, until they reported for duty again
at Damascus, Syria, in May, 1915, they had a series of adventures
as thrilling as those encountered by the heroes in any of the
Renaissance epics.

Before the _Emden_ met the Australian cruiser _Sydney_, and had
been sunk by the latter, she had picked up three officers from
German steamers which she had met. This proved to be a piece of
good fortune, for extra officers were needed to board and command
the prize crews of captured vessels. The story of the raiding of the
_Emden_ has already been given; but here the story of the landing
party is given as told by Captain Muecke himself on May 10, 1915,
at Damascus:

"On November 9, 1914," he said, "I left the _Emden_ in order to
destroy the wireless plant on Cocos Island. I had fifty men, four
machine guns, about thirty rifles. Just as we were about to destroy
the apparatus it reported, 'Careful; _Emden_ near.' The work of
destruction went smoothly. The wireless operators said: 'Thank God.
It's been like being under arrest day and night lately.' Presently
the _Emden_ signaled us, 'Hurry up.' I packed up, but simultaneously
the _Emden's_ siren wailed. I hurried to the bridge and saw the
flag 'Anna' go up. That meant 'Weigh anchor.' We ran like mad to
our boat, but already the _Em