The following is a reconstruction of the events of 25/26 September 1928, based on interviews with senior officers on the scene.
The Danish armed transport Loki was winding down a trip from Siam to Chile. Against the wishes of the KDM, the ship had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to transport Denmark’s new ambassador to Chile from his old posting in Bangkok (where he had been the deputy ambassador in one of Denmark’s more important postings). Loki had a reduced load of eight MAS boats aboard, the remainder of her usual group staying behind in Siam primarily for training purposes.
At 1217, Loki’s radio shack detected distress signals from a freighter identifying itself as the Queen Esmeraldas, a Chilean-flagged freighter. Queen Esmeraldas reported that she was being chased by a pirate vessel and reported her coordinates, which put her about sixty miles northwest of Loki’s position. Loki acknowledged the message and recommended that the freighter come to a southerly course, where Loki would attempt to intercept and render assistance. She then came round to a westerly heading at flank speed.
At 1430, Loki reduced speed and lowered four of her torpedo boats into the rolling swell of the southeastern Pacific. Although the boats were not intended for oceanic work, conditions were sufficient to allow them to travel at up to twenty-five knots without taking too much water over the bow and sides. The boats did roll somewhat, however, and the section commander notified Loki that his boats would not be able to use their guns very effectively at all. The boats took up position on either beam of their mother ship.
At 1458, smoke was sighted off Loki’s starboard bow. The MAS boats were directed to take position on Loki’s port quarter, to conceal them from the other ship. It was soon evident that the other vessel was indeed the freighter identifying herself as Queen Esmeraldas. The freighter reported that the pirate had broken off contact shortly after Loki’s reply to the distress signals.
Loki ordered the freighter to make a course for Chile and fell in on the freighter’s port quarter, the MAS boats holding station and remaining undetected. The group proceeded east at twelve knots.
At 1536, lookouts aboard Loki reported thick smoke on the port beam. As the new vessel grew closer, the lookouts determined that she was a probable armored cruiser or pre-dreadnought battleship, but could not confidently determine the type. With the warship eight miles away, Loki ordered her boats to intercept the newcomer.
The warship was slow to react, perhaps not seeing the tiny torpedo-boats for some time. At 1602, she turned to port and began mirroring Loki’s course. The vessel identified herself as the Chilean pre-dreadnought Libertad, thanked Loki for coming to the aid of Queen Esmeraldas, and said that she would escort both ships to Valparaiso. Libertad also noted that it would not be necessary to maintain the torpedoboats in the water when a Chilean warship was now present to protect them.
Loki’s CO, Captain Rolf Forsberg, politely declined, noting that the torpedo-boats could keep up and might be of help to Libertad if a pirate vessel approached. In reality, Captain Forsberg did not believe the ship’s identity to be true, as line drawings for Libertad in Jones’ Fighting Ships did not correspond with the ship off his beam. In fact, with a medium caliber gun turret superfiring over a twin heavy turret, and two other medium turrets aft, Forsberg could not identify the ship at all. If the vessel was, as he supposed, the rumored pirate pre-dreadnought Arcadia, taking in his torpedo-boats would leave him vulnerable to a sudden gun attack. On the other hand, sending the boats to attack, in daylight and with reduced speed, would also give the pirate time to attack both Loki and the civilian vessel. Captain Forsberg decided to be patient and await the opportunity to drive the warship away during the night.
Uneasily, but peacefully, the three ships steamed east, Loki periodically slowing to take on two of her four boats and deploy two fresh boats. The situation changed at 1822, as smoke to the east-northeast indicated the approach of two other vessels. An unidentified aircraft was sighted overhead minutes later, having orbited above the small convoy for an unknown period of time.
At 1837, the lead ship, the Chilean armored cruiser O’Higgins, identified herself and her companion, the Indian light cruiser Dhaka, sailing west for home after a lengthy flag-waving trip through around the Pacific. The ships had intercepted the various wireless transmissions and had maintained wireless silence in hopes of catching the pirate vessel if it remained nearby. As this had clearly succeeded, O’Higgins ordered the Arcadia to come to a stop and surrender; within a few seconds, the pre-dreadnought’s guns were training on the Queen Esmeraldas. The warship then identified herself by her true name and order the freighter to turn to the northwest and make her best speed. The Danish, Chilean, and Indian ships were ordered to break contact or Queen Esmeraldas would be sunk.
At 1840, Queen Esmeraldas requested that she be allowed to at least send off her passengers before complying, but was denied by Arcadia. The freighter came round and worked up to its best speed. Loki watched the pirate and her hostage steam away, and Captain Forsberg ordered his torpedo-boats to return alongside for hoisting aboard the ship. Once aboard, the crews were fed dinner while Loki’s men re-fueled the boats.
A quick conference by blinker light revealed that O’Higgins’ Captain Chavez was the senior officer on the scene. He wished to send the MAS boats and Dhaka ahead to attack the renowned pirate immediately, but changed his mind once appraised of the torpedo-boats’ reduced performance. Dhaka’s Captain Sehwag, recommended a different plan, and Captain Forsberg registered his approval of it, so Chavez gave it the go-ahead.
With Dhaka’s scout remaining overhead, the three warships knew precisely where the predreadnought was. Once the pirate and its prize were below the horizon, Dhaka worked up to her full speed of thirty knots and headed due west. As dusk fell, the scout plane flew back to the Chilean and Danish ships, which were making twenty knots in pursuit of Arcadia and Queen Esmeraldas. The plane then reduced altitude and flew west, alighting in the water for Dhaka to retrieve. Once aboard, Dhaka returned to flank speed and angled northwest, then north, seeking to come around and re-acquire the pirate.
Contact was re-established at 2203, well after nightfall. Dhaka’s lookouts spotted sparks from the stacks of Arcadia, the old coal-fired ship laboring to maintain a speed of about nineteen knots by this time. Allowing herself to be detected, Dhaka charged in to make a mock torpedo attack. Arcadia engaged her with two heavy and six medium-caliber guns, but with her dated fire control equipment, the darkness, and Dhaka’s low profile and high speed, only one hit was scored, a heavy shell that punched through the forward funnel without detonating. The pirate came round to the east as Dhaka veered away from her apparent torpedo salvo. After fifteen minutes, she came round to the north again, the freighter trailing obediently.
Dhaka would execute another two fake attacks, each time driving Arcadia east for fifteen to twenty minutes. During this time she was four times, one heavy shell exploding in her forward crew quarters, and three medium shells striking amidships. Two detonated, one of which destroyed a twin 10.5 cm gun mount, the other knocking out one of the cruiser’s secondary directors. Meanwhile, Dhaka’s own fire was causing some damage to the pirate’s upper works, knocking out light guns and killing damage control teams.
Dhaka’s fourth mock attack, at 006, was not met with evasive action by Arcadia. Arcadia’s captain, the infamous Harlock, had evidently deduced that the Indians only seeking to drive him east, where O’Higgins could intercept him. This was correct; but deduced too late. O’Higgins was now close enough to open fire on the predreadnought from the south and was very slowly overtaking her.
After repeated orders to do so, the Queen Esmeraldas finally turned and ran while the Arcadia was splitting her fire between the two warships harassing her. The slower, larger O’Higgins could not avoid damage as easily as Dhaka had, and was struck repeatedly. Nontheless, she and Dhaka were having the desired effect - their fire was taking a toll on the pirate’s lighter guns and starting fires.
At 0121, this led to disaster for the pirate. The pirate ship, now ablaze in several locations, sighted Danish MAS boats in the water to the south, less than two miles astern. Turning to present her broadside, she turned every available gun on the tiny vessels, sinking one with a lucky hit that exploded the torpedoes, damaging another. Despite the heavy fire, six boats bore in and launched their torpedoes, and Arcadia turned again to try and evade them. She was mostly successful, dodging a total of twenty-one torpedoes. Unfortunately, twenty-four had been launched.
One torpedo struck the stern, ripping a hole and jamming the ship’s rudder. Another struck amidships on the starboard side, punching a hole into the ship’s machinery spaces. A third glancing hit opened a small hole in the crew quarters, allowing more water to cascade in.
Badly wounded, the pirate’s speed fell off. Still, O’Higgins and Dhaka maintained fire, and with the armored cruiser drawing the heavy fire from the pirate, the Indian cruiser angled in to add her own torpedoes. Being a new ship, her torpedomen were mostly inexperienced, and only one hit was scored out of four weapons launched - but the big fifty-five centimeter torpedo blew off the predreadnought’s bow.
Barely two minutes later, the ship lost electrical power, silencing her larger guns. The smaller guns ceased fire soon afterward and a man began waving a white flag from a platform aft as his compatriots spilled out of hatches. The Indian and Chilean cruisers ceased fire. O’Higgins came to a stop to retrieve survivors, while Loki coasted to a halt to retrieve her boats. The six intact MAS boats returned quickly, but flares indicated that the seventh was in difficulty, and Dhaka went to investigate. They found the MAS floundering and took the Danish sailors aboard, returning them to Loki later.
Arcadia stayed float for twelve minutes after being torpedoed by Dhaka, the forward deck flush with the ocean as she took on a list to starboard. At 0146, she turned turtle and went down quickly, pulling a number of men down with her. The last of about two hundred forty survivors were collected aboard O’Higgins at about 0250.
The Queen Esmeraldas returned to the scene soon afterward. With O’Higgins’ crew quarters badly damaged, Captain Chavez accepted an offer to lock the survivors in Queen Esmeraldas’ holds, with Chilean marines aboard for security. Hopes of capturing Harlock were dashed after the interrogation of several pirates indicated that he and his senior officers had died following a hit to Arcadia’s conning tower.
Loki resumed her course for Chile, while the other three vessels continued on to Pitcairn Island. Behind them they left a dissipating pool of debris marking the final resting pace of the pirate pre-dreadnought Arcadia.
[Note: SR Dhaka sustained a total of six hits, one heavy and five medium, of which only three medium caliber hits actually detonated (Arcadia apparently had some issues with shell reliability). Eleven men were killed and seventeen injured. The ship was reduced to 89%; although still seaworthy in all respects, she will require repairs totaling 770 t and approximately seven weeks. Initial indications are that the ship will continue on to Papeete, Tahiti, and undertake some basic repairs there before returning home via Australia.]
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Quoted
A source within the Imperial Palace has told AWNR that something has apparently happened in the southeastern Pacific. “From what I’ve heard, there’s been some kind of shooting incident involving Dhaka, the Chilean cruiser O’Higgins, and a Danish naval ship. Dhaka has sustained casualties but I don’t know why or how.”
Wednesday, June 19th 2024, 10:39pm
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