SMS Nachtigal

[cj]

On September 16, 1914 the Nachtigal was sunk off the coast of Duala. How?
thanks
cj

[Auseklis]

"Nachtigall" was not a navy ship, but a ship of the colonial gouvernment (customs cutter) (249 BRT.). The "Nachtigal" was shelled on inland waters by the british ships besigeing Duala.

[Scarlett]

Oberleutnant z.S. Wendling, captain of the small German government steamer "Nachtigal".
September 17, 1914, rammed the British gunboat HMS Dwarf in the estuary of
the Cameroon River. After the ramming "Nachigal" was sunk by HMS Dwarf by gunfire.
Of the crew of the "Nachtigal" 3 Germans and 6 black sailors survived wounded.

[Chris Dale]

Of the crew of the "Nachtigal" 3 Germans and 6 black sailors survived wounded.

They had African sailors? Do you know how many African sailors were employed, and on which ships? Was the same true for ships off the coasts off South West Africa and East Africa? And which ships?

Any help here would be appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

[Carlos Marighela]

Giles Foden's somewhat underwhelming tome Mimi and Toutou Go Forth, recounts that there were African sailors utilised on the Tangynika gunboats. The use of local labour is hardly uncommon in the period, think of the RN and USN on the Yangtze river and the large numbers of Chinese used as stokers cooks, ordinary hands. Likewise RN and merchant marine vessels used large numbers of Indian lascars in both wars.

[Scarlett]

Of the crew of the "Nachtigal" 3 Germans and 6 black sailors survived wounded.

They had African sailors? Do you know how many African sailors were employed, and on which ships? Was the same true for ships off the coasts off South West Africa and East Africa? And which ships?

Any help here would be appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

I think it was quite common, that the main part of the crew (about 60%, sometimes more) of government steamers in all German colonies consisted of natives. They remained on board, when some of the ships at the beginning of WWI were under the command of an officer of the Imperial Navy, mostly of the Reserve. Some of these ships saw military action, as "Nachtigal" in Kamerun and all ships on the Great Lakes in East-Africa.
I don't have a full list of all these ships, but here are some of them:
Kamerun
Nachtigal, Herzogin Elisabeth, Soden, Prinz Udo, Bonaberi, Wuri, Vogel, Libelle, Pfeil
German South Sea
Komet, Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft, Seestern
DSWA
Pionier, Okahandja, Bagger III
DOA
Kaiser-Wilhelm II, Rowuma, Rufiji,
DOA-Great Lakes
Lake Victoria
Muansa, Ukarewe
Lake Nyassa
Hermann von Wissmann
Lake Tanganjika
Hedwig von Wissmann, Graf Goetzen, Kingani, Wami
All these ships were not part of the Navy.

On the river-gunboats of the Imperial Navy in China about 20 % of the crew were Chinese

[Auseklis]

If you visit Lake Tanganjika, don't miss a trip on the "Graf Goetzen", she's still on duty.

[Cristiano de S.O Campos]

For curiosity, look my old message about german governor ship Komet

viewtopic.php?t=94017&highlight=komet


Cheers

Cristiano.

[Chris Dale]

Scarlett,

Thank you for the extensive answer... you've been a great help (as usual). I always wondered about photos like this one attached from the Frankfurt University Archives... notice the African sailors in the lower right hand side.

Thank you for clearing up that mystery. Thanks also to Cristiano, Carlos and Auseklis for your inputs too.
Cheers
Chris

[Peter.J.Richardson]

Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft

Dear All,
Can anyone give me further information on this vessel.
This vessel is a key part of the AE1 jigsaw. http://www.ae1submarine.com
I believe that she was owned by the Norddeutscher Lloyd Company.
And that she had left Madang (Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen) around 7th September 1914.
Also, any information as to the crew members. That is; was the madang Post master on board?
If anyone can help, please email me - peter.john.richardson@gmail.com
Kind regards, Pete

[Tanzania]

I wrote some lines about the NACHTIGAL for a ship quiz:
http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic ... 9913a76b0f

Holger