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Scorched Seas
As with many a time throughout the history of warfare, luck proved herself to be a fickle mistress. Due to her lack of proper communications, Leipzig was forced to deploy a messenger into San Francisco by steam launch to arrange a meeting with the Consul General. As she approached her anchoring point off the 3 mile territorial limit, her lookouts spotted a merchant ship making speed in the Gulf of the Farallones. The steam launch was quickly dispatched on its mission with the cruiser moving to investigate the merchant, which was soon identified to be flying the British Red Ensign. Her signal man repeatedly ordered the merchant to stop by lamp however, it seemed like the Germans would have to work for their prize. The merchant was ignoring all hails but with its rather pedestrian top speed of 12 knots, the outcome of the chase was never in question. She eventually lost her head start and was quickly being gained upon. A shot across her bow promptly ended the chase and the merchant came slowly to a halt. Close enough for a visual inspection, the boarding party identified the vessel as the New York & Pacific Steamship Company owned SS Colusa, registered to London.
Even from a distance, the Germans soon realized the ship was beginning to settle further and further down into the water. By the time they had come close enough to begin boarding actions, the crew of the Colusa had already entered and lowered their lifeboats. Colusa’s Captain remarked that “If you want my ship so badly, I recommend hurrying.” A small volunteer force entered the ship but upon close inspection, the wireless set alongside any relevant documents were found destroyed. The deck of the vessel was packed with bagged coal and a large number of small boats, obviously planning for some kind of extensive at sea refueling operation. It seemed the had crew opened as many sea cocks as possible before abandoning ship, the volunteer party was quickly forced to leave as the flooding had bypassed the capacity of the pumps aboard. The loss of such a large stock of coal so early was a devastating blow to continued operations in the area, Fregattenkapitän Haun would later state, “Watching the Red Ensign slowly slip beneath the waves, clutching it’s cargo of black gold all the while hurt me to no end. Our vessel still had a sizable reserve aboard but such a loss so early after our defeat of the Canadian’s somewhat stifled the morale of the crew.”
SS Colusa moored at an unknown pier sometime before her untimely scuttling.
The 57 strong crew was taken aboard Leipzig but would not have to wait there long. The German Consul General stationed in San Francisco would arrive later that night by a local yacht, stepping aboard shortly after 1730 hours. As requested, the Consul had brought a sizable amount of fresh and canned food stuffs which were largely donated by German families living in the area. Leipzig had been the talk of the town given their grand entrance and prompt trouncing of another warship essentially on the doorstep of a major American city. If it had not been for the ever-present fog in the area, it was rather likely there would have been yachts packed with spectators watching the engagement. Of somewhat more interest to Haun though was the information present in a small pocketbook exchanged between the two individuals. The Consul had been filtering information from any resources possible, newspapers, wireless broadcasts, even the salt encrusted murmurings of sailors at the local docks. It seemed that somehow, the Canadian had acquired a pair of submarines in order to reinforce their now depleted defenses on the coast. Haun himself had heard rumors of this days before but had largely dismissed it off hand as war propaganda, the Consul informed him the ships were indeed real and stationed on this coast. Contacts in British Columbia had collaborated a newspaper report published in The Daily Colonist with supposed sightings amidst the locals and dockyard workers of the ship’s presence in the harbor.
Haun had invited the Consul to dinner aboard and during this event, the pair spoke of future plans. The Consul informed Haun that Rainbow herself had been denied any amount of coal under American neutrality law, positing that his case may be held similarly. With them being potentially denied coal given the amount they currently possessed and their aggressive actions directly off their coast, Haun was not particularly fond of sailing into harbor under the guns of the Americans. It was decided that Leipzig would sail North in search of enemy commerce until she depleted her fuel, after which she would return to San Francisco and hopefully be allowed to take on coal. The presence of the submarines did complicate matters somewhat however, the Consul brought up an even greater point. The area in which Haun proposed to sail was sometimes referred to as the ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ due to its unpredictable weather and treacherous coastal areas, the most commerce would likely be functioning in this location. As the Consul departed after their meal, he pledged that he would return to the harbor and seek out a suitable local pilot to guide him on his mission. In preparation for departure, the prisoners and injured men Leipzig carried were loaded aboard the yacht to be taken ashore. The continued care required for all of these men would degrade the provisions and manpower of Leipzig in the future. True to his word, a small vessel approached Leipzig at 2300 that night and left behind Manfred Baumann, a pilot formerly employed by the Dollar Steamship Company.
With their provisions restocked somewhat and a fairly knowledgeable local pilot aboard, Leipzig departed northward towards Canadian waters shortly after midnight.
Even from a distance, the Germans soon realized the ship was beginning to settle further and further down into the water. By the time they had come close enough to begin boarding actions, the crew of the Colusa had already entered and lowered their lifeboats. Colusa’s Captain remarked that “If you want my ship so badly, I recommend hurrying.” A small volunteer force entered the ship but upon close inspection, the wireless set alongside any relevant documents were found destroyed. The deck of the vessel was packed with bagged coal and a large number of small boats, obviously planning for some kind of extensive at sea refueling operation. It seemed the had crew opened as many sea cocks as possible before abandoning ship, the volunteer party was quickly forced to leave as the flooding had bypassed the capacity of the pumps aboard. The loss of such a large stock of coal so early was a devastating blow to continued operations in the area, Fregattenkapitän Haun would later state, “Watching the Red Ensign slowly slip beneath the waves, clutching it’s cargo of black gold all the while hurt me to no end. Our vessel still had a sizable reserve aboard but such a loss so early after our defeat of the Canadian’s somewhat stifled the morale of the crew.”
SS Colusa moored at an unknown pier sometime before her untimely scuttling.
The 57 strong crew was taken aboard Leipzig but would not have to wait there long. The German Consul General stationed in San Francisco would arrive later that night by a local yacht, stepping aboard shortly after 1730 hours. As requested, the Consul had brought a sizable amount of fresh and canned food stuffs which were largely donated by German families living in the area. Leipzig had been the talk of the town given their grand entrance and prompt trouncing of another warship essentially on the doorstep of a major American city. If it had not been for the ever-present fog in the area, it was rather likely there would have been yachts packed with spectators watching the engagement. Of somewhat more interest to Haun though was the information present in a small pocketbook exchanged between the two individuals. The Consul had been filtering information from any resources possible, newspapers, wireless broadcasts, even the salt encrusted murmurings of sailors at the local docks. It seemed that somehow, the Canadian had acquired a pair of submarines in order to reinforce their now depleted defenses on the coast. Haun himself had heard rumors of this days before but had largely dismissed it off hand as war propaganda, the Consul informed him the ships were indeed real and stationed on this coast. Contacts in British Columbia had collaborated a newspaper report published in The Daily Colonist with supposed sightings amidst the locals and dockyard workers of the ship’s presence in the harbor.
Haun had invited the Consul to dinner aboard and during this event, the pair spoke of future plans. The Consul informed Haun that Rainbow herself had been denied any amount of coal under American neutrality law, positing that his case may be held similarly. With them being potentially denied coal given the amount they currently possessed and their aggressive actions directly off their coast, Haun was not particularly fond of sailing into harbor under the guns of the Americans. It was decided that Leipzig would sail North in search of enemy commerce until she depleted her fuel, after which she would return to San Francisco and hopefully be allowed to take on coal. The presence of the submarines did complicate matters somewhat however, the Consul brought up an even greater point. The area in which Haun proposed to sail was sometimes referred to as the ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ due to its unpredictable weather and treacherous coastal areas, the most commerce would likely be functioning in this location. As the Consul departed after their meal, he pledged that he would return to the harbor and seek out a suitable local pilot to guide him on his mission. In preparation for departure, the prisoners and injured men Leipzig carried were loaded aboard the yacht to be taken ashore. The continued care required for all of these men would degrade the provisions and manpower of Leipzig in the future. True to his word, a small vessel approached Leipzig at 2300 that night and left behind Manfred Baumann, a pilot formerly employed by the Dollar Steamship Company.
With their provisions restocked somewhat and a fairly knowledgeable local pilot aboard, Leipzig departed northward towards Canadian waters shortly after midnight.
- RelativeGalaxy7
- Word Count: 970