Aug 17, 1845 SMS Nürnberg and Prince Rupert, Prince Rupert Harbour
Lieutenant Radl piloted SMS Prince Rupert into the fog blanketed harbour, leading the way ahead slow, with Nürnberg following closely behind. Both ships towed a pair of boats in tandem carrying boarding parties, so as to save the time to lower the boats. Radl knew the harbour well. The city of Prince Rupert was on Kaien Island, forming the south edge of the harbour. To the north were the mountains of the Tsimshian Peninsula. In between was Prince Rupert harbour, five nautical miles long and half a mile wide, with a depth at no point shallower than of 20 fathoms. Spacious enough to host the entire High Seas Fleet. Of course all they could see now was fog. Both ships flew the German War Ensign high, although at slow speed, and with no wind the flags hung loosely against the masts.
Lieutenant Von Spee stood on the Prince Rupert’s bridge wing with binoculars. If Captain Von Schönberg was right, the days Nürnberg had sat off Dixon Entrance with no prizes had been because the Canadians had been holding all their shipping in port. That would mean all those ships would be kettled up here, conveniently, for them now. “Sie haben sich in den Arsch gebissen,” said Von Spee quietly to himself. The sounds of the city came through the fog. Horses neighing, automobile engines and horns, boat engines, someone practicing the violin. Nothing to make him think an alarm had been sounded. Visibility was still around 100 meters, so they would not notice a ship in the harbour until until they were right on top of it.
A shape loomed out of the fog ahead. “And here is one now, said Von Spee. As they approached, the ship resolved into a schooner steamer, resting at anchor, with three masts and one funnel, of about 3500 tons. Her stern read SS Cedar Branch, Sunderland. She had no wireless antenna.
“That ship may be carrying explosives,” said Radl. “The anchorage farthest from the city is usually reserved for such cargoes. Or the harbour may just be full. Oh, there, she is flying a Juliet flag. Dangerous Cargo.” The Prince Rupert passed her by. Nürnberg following closely behind, flashed STAND BY TO BE BOARDED OR YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON. PREPARE TO ABANDON SHIP. One of the boats Nürnberg was towing cast off, and rowed over alongside the Cedar Branch. The boarding party stormed onto the ship, covered by Nürnberg’s guns. The crew were rounded up, and allowed to lower their boats and flee. Once the crew had disappeared in the fog, the boarding party searched the ship. SS Cedar Branch was carrying Dynamite and blasting powder, galvanized steel pipe, and pig iron, for Australia. She was sunk by opening her sea cocks and smashing her intake pipes with sledge hammers. As the boarding party rowed away, the ship could be seen to be settling, but very slowly.
Nürnberg’s boarding party rowed back and tied onto the stern of the first yawl, and the cruiser proceeded at dead slow. A shape emerged from the fog, that proved to be the Prince Rupert standing close by a 4 masted barque of about 2000 tons, also with no wireless antenna. Her stern read Falls of Garry, Glasgow, loaded with wheat for Japan. She was already putting her boats in the water.
Nürnberg passed her by, and leapfrogged ahead to the next anchorage. There lay the SS Bengrove, Liverpool, a steamer of about 4000 tons. She did have a wireless, and when signaled by Nürnberg, within a minute she began transmitting her RRRR Surface Raider Warning. The Bengrove’s wireless operator only got one morse character off – dot dash dot – before his counterpart on the Nürnberg, who had been listening closely to the airwaves, commenced jamming. He reported this to Nürnberg’s bridge immediately.
“So, the freighter did not get his warning away,” said Von Schönberg, “but every wireless in port now can hear they are being jammed from very close range. It is a Miracle that we have been stealthy thus far, but we have just showed out hand,”
“Illuminate the freighter!” Von Schönberg considered that lighting up the Bengrove from 75 meters away with four powerful searchlights to be sufficiently intimidating, less lethal and, quieter than gunfire. The captain of the Bengrove agreed, and came out on the bridge wing waving his arms in surrender, casting a harsh shadow on the bulkhead behind, and ordered his men to the boats. The German boarding party shooed the British crew off, and Nürnberg extinguished her searchlights. A muffled sound of explosions came from astern, presumably the Prince Rupert scuttling the Falls of Garry. Von Schönberg was eager to retrieve his boat and move on, when he received the report from the boarding party.
CARGO 3500 TONS COAL FOR PETROPLAVOSK
“It seems to be either famine or feast in these waters,” he said “Signals, send message:”
QUESTION WHAT IS SHIPS BEST SPEED
There was a pause while the answer was determined.
THIRTEEN KNOTS came back the answer.
FORM PRIZE CREW STOP BRING UP STEAM
“We can always scuttle if she slows us down,” said Von Schönberg.
The Prince Rupert passed this scene by to starboard, and disappeared back into the fog further up the harbour. Radl had taken now to sounding the fog horn intermittently to echolocate his position.
Von Schönberg sent another ten sailors over to bolster the prize crew on Bengrove, and left the one yawl to replace the collier’s missing boats. Then Nürnberg moved on.
Nürnberg almost immediately encountered the Prince Rupert again. She was seizing the SS Tokomaru, Southampton, loaded with frozen Alberta beef bound for England via the Panama Canal, and fully twice the Prince Rupert’s size at over 6000 tons. Any doubt the captain of the Tokomaru had about resisting was set to rest as Nürnberg cruised slowly by, and his crew began to swing out their boats.
Von Schönberg almost missed the next vessel. A sharp lookout spotted her on the starboard quarter as Nürnberg was almost past, and she had to circle around. This was the AD Bordes, Dunkirk, a steel hulled three masted sailing ship of 1700 tons. She was laden with coal for Papeete, but when the boarding party climbed aboard, they found that her French captain had already commenced scuttling her himself, and the German sailors got back into their boat and returned to Nürnberg.
The Prince Rupert had not passed Nürnberg yet, so Von Schönberg proceeded to the next vessel they found, which turned out the be the SS Hexham, Newcastle NSW, a passenger cargo steamer of 2000 tons. The Australian ship was in ballast, empty, waiting for a cargo. She launched her boats shortly after she was challenged. The boarding party rigged her to scuttle. The Prince Rupert passed by through the fog. Explosions were heard behind as Tokomaru scuttled. It was said that for almost a decade afterward, the crab harvest around Prince Rupert Harbour was especially bountiful, fed by the Tokomaru’s 4000 tons of prime Alberta beef.