Miscellaneous

Lot 1029    Session 4 (4.30pm Wednesday)    Miscellaneous

Estimate $1,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,450

NEINABER, E., 'SMS Emden', oil on canvas, 41x61.5 cms, in old wooden frame, signed E.Neinaber, Hamburg, 1916 lower right in red paint,

SMS Emden is a Dresden -class cruiser (3f/2m). L/B/D: 388 x 44.3 x 18 (118.3m x 13.5m x 5.5m). Tons: 4,268 disp. Comp.: 378-394. Arm.: 10 x 10.5cm, 10 mgs, 8 x 5.2cm; 2 x 18TT. Mach.: steam turbines, 16,350 ihp, 2 screws; 24 kts. Built: Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig, Germany; 1909. Named for the Ems River city, the light cruiser Emden was commissioned in 1910 and assigned to the East Asia Cruiser Squadron stationed at Tsingtao. In August 1913, Emden was part of a four-power fleet dispatched to protect U.S., British, German, and Japanese interests on the Yangtze River. As the European crisis approached in 1914, Captain Karl von M?ller took Emden out of Tsingtao on July 31; World War I began the next day. In the Strait of Tsushima, Emden captured the Russian mail boat Rjasan on August 4, and returned to Tsingtao two days later. The East Asia Squadron then quit Tsingtao, and on August 12 Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee steamed east for home waters with Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and N?rnberg. Emden and her supply vessel Markomannia threaded their way through the Dutch East Indies and into the Indian Ocean. In the shipping lanes between Burma and India, Emden began capturing Allied shipping, sometimes at the rate of two ships a day. On September 21 at 2145, Emden stood about a half mile offshore and shelled the Burma Oil Company gas tanks in Madras. After a quick visit to Diego Garcia on October 9, where she narrowly missed an encounter with the armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire and the armed merchant cruiser Empress of Britain, she resumed raiding. On October 21, Emden ran into Penang and torpedoed the Russian cruiser Yemtschuk; later that day she also sank the French destroyer Mousquet. Next von M?ller decided to cut the transoceanic cable at the Cocos Keeling Island northwest of Australia. On November 9, a detachment of about 50 men under Hellmuth von M?cke landed at Direction Island. As they destroyed the radio shack, the radio operators informed them that the Kaiser had honoured Emden's crew with Iron Crosses; the operators did not mention that they had reported the news of Emden's arrival. By this time, Emden had seized or sunk 16 merchant ships and was the object of a search by more than 75 Allied ships. At 0930, the arrival of the cruiser HMAS Sydney forced Emden to depart without the landing party. Emden opened fire at 0940 at a range of 5,600 yards. Sydney was able to keep out of Emden's range, and at about 1115 the helpless German cruiser was intentionally run aground on North Keeling Island. Emden's casualties included 141 dead and 65 wounded; Sydney suffered 4 dead and 12 wounded. Von M?cke and his landing party managed to steal the 97-ton copra schooner Ayesha and sailed to Pedang. From here they made their way to Istanbul. The telegraph reported the action as follows: 'Yesterday morning (November 9th) news was received that the Emden which had been completely lost after her action with the Jemtchung, had arrived at Keeling Cocas Island and landed an armed party to destroy the wireless station and cut the cable. Here she was caught and forced to fight by 'HMAS Sydney' under Captain John C.T. Glossop. A sharp action took place, in which HMAS Sydney suffered a loss of three killed and fifteen wounded. The Emden was driven ashore and burnt. Her losses in personnel are reported as very heavy. All possible assistance is being given to the survivors by various ships which have been despatched to the scene. The Artist E, Neinaber was born in the late 1880's and moved to Berlin in 1905 and worked as a fashion designer. He painted and some works were published between 1912 and 1914, He became a central figure in German urban expressionism. During the war he served as a translater for French prisoners of war. In 1919 he participated in the first exhibitions of the November Group. He then distanced himself from expressionism, pursued a bourgeois life and reverted to orthodox Judaism. He married in 1927 and disappearded from public view as an artist, In 1933 he was exposed as a member of the avant-garde and for being Jewish. He was dismissed from his teaching position and interned as an 'enemy alien'. After his release he lived in great poverty in London. Returning to Germany in 1952, he continued to paint portraits, landscapes and still-lives, He died in 1966. The Australian War Memorial (Canberra) advises that they know of no known original paintings of this vessel in Australia, although there are a small number of photographic prints produced in the early 1930's for educational purposes. This painting is apparently the only known contemporary painting of this vessel in Australia and obviously of much historical and naval interest.