Nachtigal (ship, 1895)
 The nightingale around 1896 on the landing stage in Duala
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The Nachtigal was a government steamer of the German colony of Cameroon named after Gustav Nachtigal .
Ride as a government steamer
The Nachtigal replaced its predecessor Nachtigal from 1885 in 1895 .
Since its commissioning in 1895, the Nachtigal has been used for navigational surveying tasks, possibly also in the customs service or, if necessary, as a troop transport for the protection force . Details are not yet known. From May 1901 to January 23, 1902, the Nachtigal was in Germany for repairs.
Use and sinking in the First World War
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the Nachtigal was converted into an auxiliary warship together with the government steamer Duchess Elisabeth , but remained under the Reich service flag . The auxiliary warships in Cameroon were directly under the command of the Schutztruppen or the governorate, were therefore not part of the Imperial Navy and therefore did not fly the imperial war flag . Commander of the Nachtigal was Lieutenant of the Reserve appointed Peter Wendling. He had arrived in Cameroon on August 5, 1914 as an officer of the steamship Arnfried . The steamer had received a warning from its shipping company about the impending outbreak of war and had called at Duala so as not to be intercepted by French or British naval forces on the high seas .
On September 5, 1914, Wendling, according to his own account , received the order from the commander of the Cameroon Protection Force, Major Carl Zimmermann , to sink any British blockade vehicles in the Bimbia River by ramming if possible. When the Nachtigal in the Bimbia was cut off by the British naval forces from returning to Duala, Wendling received a new order from Duala with the stipulation that if the enemy was harassed, he would retreat into neutral waters, which only meant the Spanish Rio Muni area ( Mbini ) or the Spanish island of Fernando Póo could be meant.
When Wendling received the news on September 16, 1914 that the British gunboat Dwarf under Commander Frederick Strong was approaching the Bimbia, he decided to launch a surprise attack at night on the much larger warship. However, the nightingale was caught early by searchlights of the Dwarf around 10 p.m. and set under fire, whereupon Wendling decided to ram it. The nightingale itself was so badly damaged in the ramming that hit the dwarf shortly after the navigating bridge that it began to sink immediately after it was released from the dwarf and had to be abandoned by its crew. The wreck drifted onto a shoal and lay there; however, only the masts protruded from the water. First officer Iden, the machinists Engelke, Lorenzen and Oehm, the sailors Bühring, Noetzel and Willert and the stoker Daun died in the battle . Wendling, the second officer Pecht, the sailors Schmitz and Schulz and nine African crew members were taken in by the dwarf . It is unclear that Wendling lacks the corresponding information on how many Africans fell or drowned, probably 13.
Despite her severe damage, the Dwarf remained maneuverable. After a three-week repair, she was returned to the blockade service.
A mast of the wreck was salvaged in 1931 and in Frankfurt an der Oder in the tradition of Company of the Infantry - regiment set 8 for the protection force Cameroon. In October 1937, this mast was apparently transported to Hamburg-Harburg and there in the III. Battalion of the 69th Infantry Regiment set up.
literature
- Peter Wendling: Order to ram. In: Werner von Langsdorff (ed.): German flag over sand and palm trees. 53 colonial warriors tell. C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh 1936, pp. 187-199.
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 7: Landing vehicles in the narrow sense Part 2 : Landing ferries , landing support vehicles, transporters, ships and boats of the army, ships and boats of the sea pilots / air force, colonial vehicles. Munich 1990, p. 216f., And volume. 5, p. 190.
- Peter Wendling: The last voyage of the "Nachtigal". Steiniger, Berlin approx. 1941. ( Colonial Library, No. 64)
Web links
- Image of HMS Dwarf location and time unknown
- Contemporary British Map Cameroons coast
- Carmania wins one navel duel, Germans another. In: The New York Times . September 21, 1914. (Report on the battle)
