The sunken wreck of the 'Königsberg'<br>
A starboard broadside view of the sunken ship inscribed by the artist,  'Königsberg' , presumably from either a photograph or some other secondary source: see also PAE3143, a related drawing from the other side. The German light cruiser 'Königsberg', launched on 12 December 1905, sank the British 3rd-class protected cruiser 'Pegasus' in the harbour at Zanzibar on 20 September 1914 and then took shelter in the Rufiji River in German East Africa.  From 30 October 1914 she was blockaded in the river but it was not until July 1915 that the means were available to destroy her.  The shallow draught monitors 'Mersey' and 'Severn' (both built 1913) were dispatched from Malta and arrived off the Rufiji delta in June 1915.  On 6 July they entered the river and shelled the 'Königsberg', firing 633 6-inch shells but only securing three hits.  They returned to the fray on 11 July 1915 and this time expended over 200 shells but, because of effective aerial spotting, were able to inflict such crippling damage on the 'Königsberg' that she was scuttled by her crew, who detonated two torpedo warheads amidships. She settled to the bottom of the river and her fragmentary remains are still (2013) in the mud there, despite the ravages of time and salvage work.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:William_Lionel_Wyllie" class="extiw" title="w:en:William Lionel Wyllie"><span title="English painter of maritime themes (1851-1931)">William Lionel Wyllie</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1915 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1915-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
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