The Royal Australian Navy in Zanzibar

Recently I was in a country bookshop and looking through a shoebox of old postcards. I started going through it, examining the reverse sides of the cards looking for any stamps of interest. Most stamps had been removed, but I suddenly came across one from Zanzibar! This stopped me in my tracks, not only did it have the Zanzibar stamp dated 1915, but also a Bombay transit cancellation and addressed to a woman in North Williamstown in Victoria, Australia.

I couldn’t wait to get it home and do some research. My initial reaction was that it was perhaps a merchant or even a missionary heading to Africa (visions of The African Queen). It was the date that fascinated me. After a night of research I realised that there was an Australian naval vessel “coaling” in Zanzibar at the time and it was, indeed, heading to German East Africa!

I resolved to find out more about the ship. It was the HMAS Pioneer.

Here is a brief history of the vessel:

HMS Pioneer was commissioned by the Royal Navy on 10 July 1900. She was a Pelorus Class Light Cruiser with a displacement of 2200 tons and a complement of 225.

Following a period in home waters, Pioneer proceeded on 15 November 1900 to the Mediterranean Station where she relieved the cruiser HMS Fearless. She served for four years in Mediterranean waters, returning to Chatham on 20 December 1904 where she was placed in Reserve.

She recommissioned on 5 September 1905 for service on the Australia Station as one of the ‘Drill Ships’ provided for under the Naval Agreement (1903) concluded between the Australian Commonwealth and the Imperial Government. Pioneer relieved HMS Mildura, her sister ships HMS Psyche and HMS Pyramus at the same time replacing HM Ships Katoomba and Phoebe.

The Australian Squadron commanded by Sir Arthur D. Fanshawe KCB, then comprised HMS Powerful (Flagship – 14,200 tons), the second class cruisers HMS Cambrian (4,360 tons) and HMS Encounter (5,880 tons) and two other Pelorus class cruisers, HMS Pegasus and HMS Prometheus.

Pioneer continued in service as a unit of the Royal Navy on the Australia Station until 29 November 1912 when she paid off at Sydney for transfer to the Royal Australian Navy as a gift from the Admiralty. The Commonwealth Naval Board assumed control of her on 1 March 1913 and on the same day she commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Pioneer with a nucleus crew, as tender to HMAS Penguin.

In July 1913 refitting began at Garden Island, work which was not completed until the close of the year. On 1 January 1914 she commissioned as an independent command for service as a seagoing training ship for the Naval Reserve, operating under the orders of the Director of Naval Reserves. The months preceding the outbreak of World War I were spent in eastern and southern Australian waters, cruising from her base at Sydney to Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart.

When war with Germany was declared on 4 August 1914, Pioneer was at Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. The following day she sailed for Fremantle to operate on patrol on the Western Australian coast. Operations began on 16 August, and on that day, some eight miles west of Rottnest Island, Pioneer captured the German steamer Neumunster (4,424 tons) and took her into Fremantle. On 26 August she captured a second ship, the 4,994 ton Norddeutscher-Lloyd vessel Thuringen, also off Rottnest Island. Neumunster was taken over by the Commonwealth Government as a prize of war and renamed Cooee. Thuringen was renamed Moora and handed over to the Indian Government for service as a troopship.

On 4 September Pioneer proceeded from Fremantle on patrol to Darwin, calling Port at Hedland and Broome en route.

On 1 November 1914 Pioneer sailed as part of the escort to the First Australian Convoy comprising 38 transports but, just as she was taking up position between the Australian and New Zealand divisions, her engines broke down and the Flagship, HMS Minotaur, ordered her to return to Fremantle. Thus she probably missed encountering the German cruiser Emden instead of HMAS Sydney as she was under orders to diverge from the convoy route to inspect the Cocos Islands.

On 24 December 1914 the Admiralty requested the aid of Pioneer as a blockading ship on the German East African coast, where the German cruiser Königsberg had taken shelter up one of the mouths of the Rufigi River a few miles south of Zanzibar.

Sailing from Fremantle on 9 January 1915, Pioneer proceeded to the Cocos Islands, where as she coaled from her attendant collier her crew inspected the wreck of the Emden, destroyed by Sydney on 9 November 1914. After leaving the Cocos Islands, she proceeded to Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago and then to Zanzibar which was reached on 6 February.

The Königsberg at this period was sheltering up the Rufigi River beyond the range of effective fire from the sea but it was thought that she might attempt to break out. Thus the British forces at sea had a double duty; firstly the maintenance of a blockade to prevent supplies reaching German forces ashore in East Africa; and secondly the neutralisation of a dangerous warship which had already destroyed Pioneer’s sister ship Pegasus.

The force assembled for this task comprised Pioneer, the light cruisers HMS Weymouth and HMS Hyacinth, HMS Pyramus (another of Pioneer’s sister ships), the armed merchant cruiser Kinfauns Castle, four armed whalers, an armed steamer and an armed tug. Formal blockade was proclaimed on 1 March 1915 and five days later Vice Admiral King-Hall arrived in the old battleship HMS Goliath to take charge.

The East African coastline was for the purposes of operations, divided into three sections and Pioneer was allotted in charge of the northern most area from north of Tanga past the island of Zanzibar to a point just south of Dar-es-Salaam, with the armed steamer Duplex and the whaler Pickle.

With several attempts to drive Königsberg from her lair having failed, it was decided to tow to the scene two monitors, HMS Severn and HMS Mersey, and taking advantage of their shallow draught, take them upstream within range of the enemy. The attack began on 6 July 1915 and while Hyacinth and Pioneer bombarded the area of the main (Simba Uranga) mouth of the river, the monitors steamed up the northern (Kikunya) arm, anchored and began firing alternate salvoes. Surgeon Lieutenant G.A. Melville-Anderson in Pioneer describing the scene recorded:

“We approached very cautiously, and when we were about 5,000 yards from the river entrance, we dropped anchor and allowed the tide to swing us broadside on. Hence all our starboard guns bore on the entrance. Very soon we were firing salvoes and then each gun rapidly independently. Our shells were bursting everywhere, throwing up great clouds of sand and earth.

In the meantime they were steaming up the river under heavy fire from the banks, but they went on and soon were within range of the Königsberg. They then began to fire, the range being about five miles. Aeroplanes assisted the monitors in locating the position but were not very successful. The Königsberg fired salvoes of five guns with good accuracy but soon she dropped to four then to three and two and finally one. During the last hour-and-a-half of the engagement she ceased fire altogether.”

The monitors, however, failed to destroy the German cruiser and in her turn she hit Mersey’s foremost gun, killing six men. At 3:30 pm and after firing 600 6-inch shells, both were withdrawn.

The operation was repeated on 12 July. This time Königsberg straddled the Severn as she prepared to drop anchor, but Severn quickly got the range and hit the German several times, setting her on fire and forcing the enemy to complete demolition after removal of the guns.

It is interesting to note there was a dire shortage of every day items, including brass ingots, in German East Africa during the siege, so the besieged Germans melted down a 4.1 inch brass gun taken from the Königsberg. Some of this brass was used to produce much-needed coinage. (An example of 20 heller coin is shown.)

Following the destruction of Königsberg, Pioneer spent a period patrolling off the river mouth and later spent some time in the southern section of the blockade area. By the end of July she had been under way every day for more than six months, except for nine days spent in harbour.

On 31 August 1915 she withdrew and proceeded to Simonstown for refit. Six weeks were spent in dock and on 22 October she proceeded to return to the patrol area, calling at Lorenzo Marquez, Beira, Mozambique, Port Amelia and Ibo en route.

Patrolling was resumed in the southern section in November. The task involved routine patrolling with no enemy opposition and in the main it was uneventful, monotonous work. Two incidents occurring before the close of 1915 are nevertheless worth mentioning. Surgeon Lieutenant Melville-Anderson wrote in his diary records that at 8:30 am on 20 November Pioneer landed fifty men on Mafia Island, off the East African coast, to witness the shooting of two Arabs.

Melville-Anderson wrote: ‘These Arabs, had assisted some Germans to cross from the mainland under cover of night to obtain military information. They gave them shelter and native clothing, thus enabling them to get about the island undetected. But, they were discovered and the two Arabs, after being court-martialled, were sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out in the Market Place to impress the natives and we were drawn up in the Square. The Arabs were each bound to two upright poles, blind-folded and handcuffed and the firing party of Askaris (native troops) fired a volley. Another medical officer and myself examined them and considered life extinct in one, but not the other so it was decided to fire another volley.’

The second incident occurred on 20 December 1915. On that day, Pioneer anchored in Nazi Bay and sent a cutter away to obtain provisions. A hundred yards from the beach the cutter suddenly came under rapid fire from the shore. Two men were wounded before the boat could be brought about to pull back to the ship under the protection of 4-inch fire.

On Christmas Day 1915, Pioneer anchored in the Lindi River off the Lindi township. Lieutenant Melville-Anderson commented ‘As the day progressed, the Germans on shore signalled Christmas greetings and we reciprocated and added, “Send boat for presents”. They signalled back “Thank you, will try” – but for some unexplained reason no boat came from the shore. The day was a merry one and in the dogwatches we proceeded to sea for Mombasa.’

I am indebted to the Australian War Memorial and Brett Mitchell of the Naval History Section, Sea Power Centre of the Australian Department of Defence for their kind help and assistance in the preparation of this article.

External links

HMAS Pioner: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_HMAS_Pioneer.html