 On 16 December 1902 , the ship was again commissioned for service abroad , this time to reinforce the East @-@ American Station in Central and South America . She left Kiel on 5 January 1903 and arrived in Willemstad in Curaçao . The Venezuela Crisis of 1902 – 03 was by that time winding down , and so apart from visits to a few Venezuelan ports , her presence was unnecessary . Instead , she was ordered to German East Africa in late February . Sperber left the East @-@ American Station on 22 March and steamed through the Mediterranean Sea , arriving in Dar es Salaam on 1 July . She was there only briefly , before she was again transferred , this time to the East Asia Squadron on 9 October . She arrived in Singapore on 23 November and continued on to the mouth of the Yangtze in China , where she was stationed at the time . From there , she went to Shanghai on 15 May 1904 , and visited several Chinese ports , followed by an overhaul from August to December in Germany 's concession at Tsingtao . In early 1905 , Sperber visited ports in southern China , where she received orders to return to Southwest Africa . She went Tsingtao on 24 April before departing for Africa , arriving in Douala on 26 July . There , she met the gunboat Habicht . 
