1081 - Service record album and diaries of a crew member of the German torpedo boat S90 in China, 1914-20

Service record album and diaries of a crew member of the German torpedo boat S90 in China, 1914-20 A historical account of the course of the First World War in the Far East; the S90 was deployed in Tsingtau at the outbreak of the war to provide security for the base; it sank the Japanese cruiser Takachiho with a torpedo and, with no means of escape, was scuttled by its commander, Paul Brunner, himself; the crew were placed in Chinese internment. Two diaries and a hand-labelled photo album belonging to crew member Paul Jipp; the album contains approximately 270 photographs of warships, outings and visits to Nanking and Shanghai, the start of the First World War with the siege and capture of Tsingtau, the crew’s camp life in Nanking, characterised by considerable freedom and numerous excursions, views of cities and people, inter alia the funeral of President Yuan Shikai in 1916. The two diaries are written in Sütterlin script; one covers the outbreak of the war, beginning: “Thu 30 July. The situation in Europe is becoming critical. Fri 31 July. S.90 prepares for battle…”, the second diary from the time spent at the camp in Nanking, together with Paul Jipp’s death certificate and two patriotic poems