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Saturday, November 13, 2004
*Shrimp-baiting season uneventful; hot spots this year were Chechessee River and Calibogue Sound
-Carolina Morning News, Low Country Now, 11-13-04
*Sand dredged from the Intracoastal Waterway and Ponce de Leon Inlet may be deposited onto Volusia County's severely eroded southern beaches
*NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- City and county officials worked Friday to resolve a dispute that's holding up construction of protective sand dunes designed to prevent further beach erosion in front of 50 oceanfront properties
-Daytona News Journal, 11-13-04
( 1. PM ) Konigsberg was lost.
Abandon Ship was ordered, and the crew scrambled down the ship's side, taking their wounded with them. Shells from the Monitors continued to pour into the stricken German cruiser. First Officer Koch placed torpedo heads in position to blow out the ship's keel, and at 1400 ( 2 PM ) on the 11th. of July 1915, these heads detonated, SMS Konigsberg heaved slightly, then with a roar, the hull blasted apart, she heeled over to port, and sank into the ooze of the Rifiji River.
An hour later the British Monitors retired, well satisfied, and victorious at last.
Konigsberg armament salvaged.
The Germans quickly salvaged the ten main armament guns from their stricken cruiser, to use them in the East African land campaign. In Dar-es-Salaam workshops, gun carriages were fashioned to carry these Naval guns, now formed into land artillery.
Fate of the crew from Konigsberg.
From the original crew of 350 Officers and Sailors, only Captain Max Loof and 14 others survived WW1, to eventually return home to Germany.
Conclusion.
This rather bizarre chapter in the early part of WW1, stage in the more remote region of German East Africa, proved that a resourceful Captain Looff, and his crew could tie up more formidable enemy forces for many months before sheer numbers overcame his resistance. An intriguing story from a now distant past.
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