Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Dear Mac,

I love your site. A wonderfully informative, respectful place. Maybe you can help me.

My father was from Barbados. In the story of his life is the information that in 1913 "the German raider the Karlsruhe cut the communication cables between Trinidad and Barbados," thus isolating Barbados from world news. My Dad helped to restore this communication and he went on to serve in the Royal Navy in WW1. I can't find mention of the Karlsruhe in your lists of WW1 raiders. Do you know anybody who might be able to help me?

Sincerely,
Patricia Hoad (remember Lou?)

Hello Patricia,
 
Thank you for your kind words, Terry, my Web Master are always pleased with positive feed back. I do indeed remember our tennnis player Lew Hoad. 
 
I was remiss in my, Marauders of the Sea German Armed Merchant Raiders of WW1, in not giving more attention to the new German Light Cruiser Karlsruhe,and her brief, but successful role as a Merchant Raider.
 
But she could not have cut any communication cables in 1913, the ship was not commissioned until the 15th. of January in 1914.
 
Her brief history follows: She was sent out from Germany in the early summer of 1914 to replace the cruiser Dresden, they met at Port- au-Prince in Haiti, on the 25 July 1914, and Fregattenkapitans Ludecke, and Kohler exchanged commands, with Ludeke and the crew of Dresden to return to Germany, and Kohler in Karlsruhe to be Senior Officer  
on the Ostamerikanische Station, with responsibility for the gunboat in West Africa, and and Merchant Cruisers, commissioned for service on the South Atlantic Station.
 
On the 4th. of August, Kohler was told, Britain had declared war on Germany, and he was free to disrupt trade in the middle of the Atlantic.
 
She had a run in with the British Cruisers, HMS Suffolf and HMS Bristol, on the 6th. of August, but Karlsruhe being brand new, merely outran them to escape.
 
From August to the 4th. of November in 1914, Karlsruhe accounted for 16 merchant ships to total some 72,225 tons, but I can find no report of her cutting any communication cables between Trinidad and Barbados.
 
On the 4th. of November, Karlsruhe, with devasting speed exploded, nothing remained forward of her fore funnel, the bow, bridge, and foremast all gone.
 
Her Captain Kohler, and 262 crew killed, leaving but 123 survivors, to be picked up by the collier Rio Negro, which reached Alesund on the 29th. of November, and by December, the survivors had been returned to Germany.
 
The reason for Karlsruhe blowing up is largely unknown, it may have been caused by spontaneous ignition of sweating cordite in the cruiser, but whatever the cause, it brought to a swift end, the career of this new light cruiser as a raider in the early part of WW1 in the South Atlantic.
 
Patricia, I will send you a picture of Karlsruhe in a separate E-Mail, and hope this helps in a small way, but I am sorry I could not document for you, your Father's story of cut communication cables.
 
With kindest regards.
 
Mac.

Dear Patricia,

When I came across this report, I thought I may have solved the CableCutting episode:

      1104  FANNING ISLAND: REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS COMPILED BY GEORGE GUISLEY,
EMPLOYEE OF THE PACIFIC CABLE BOARD & A MEMBER OF
THE FANNING ISLAND VOLUNTEER RESERVE DURING WORLD
WAR ONE (1913-1918) fine range of photos, neatly
pasted in place and captioned in a leather bound
volume, 58pp. 7"x 12". Including some 120 views of
Fanning Island, the cable station built in 1902, the
men who worked there, the members of the Royal Navy
garrison and the F.I.V.R., the native inhabitants,
the collection of the mail, the German cruiser
'Nürnberg' which raided the island in Nov. 1914, the
German forces during their brief occupation, the
destruction caused by the Germans to the cable
station, the wreck of the Pacific Cable Board's
schooner 'Strathcona', etc., etc. Also containing
some 70 additional photos recording Guisley's visit
to Honolulu, plus a few personal photos. The
photographs are of varying size, some have postcard
backs and are mostly of good quality. An exceptional
and possibly unique photographic record of life on
the small Pacific island during wartime and its most
turbulent episode. Only three months after the
German raid, the 'Nürnberg' was sunk in the Battle
of the Falklands, with 7 survivors from a complement
of 295 men. ***

The link to a report about the Cable Station at Fanning Island, and the visit in 1914 by the German light cruiser
Nurnberg.

But Fanning Island is in the Pacific Ocean in Micronesia, I will send a description of Fanning ISland separately in
case it is of interest.

Regards,

Mac.

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