ATLANTIC RAIDER'S HEAVY ARMAMENT

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 30, 4 February 1916, Page 5

ATLANTIC RAIDER'S HEAVY ARMAMENT

HIDDEN BEHIND DUMMY DECKHOUSES. ' UECSS SFECtaXiY «TK t - iwtyl ' H *■'■'* *•'•" FOB. BIG GTJNS. CLAN MACTAVIEH SUNK. BT TORFSDOES. (EcceiTed 12.30 p.m.) ]S~EW YORK, February 3. BriiisQ -officials' on a launch, approaching tie App&m to fnffwiii the captives that permission to land had been gTanted. The German guard. Tainly tried to--quell £he outburst of joy. The captives eaTly demanded tobacco and war news. 2vine boarded the launch, including Sir Edward Mercwetoer and the six skippers of the sunken vessels. Sir Ed-ward Merewetner states that the raider was about 4.000 tons. The skippers declare that ebe vas formerly called the Ponga. and that they saw her name on a plate and also on the papers in the commander's cabin. They observed that the hold was fitted out for fruit carrying. She carried a crew of several hundred, and her decks were strengthened for a heavy battenr. She carried ioxrr guns forward and two aft.

Sir Edward Merewether relates that the raider approached the Appam. and when, within 200 yds the forward ami aft railings disappeared magically in sections. They were composed of accordeon-like strips of steel, which dropped into slots upon the pressure of a button on the bridge. Square structures, mistaken for deckhouses, collapsed, and exposed 4in or 6in guns, with the crews at the stations. It was useless to resist, and it was also impossible to resist later, when German prisoners were released and armed to guard the Britishers. Forty-three armed Germans were put aboard the Appa-ra.

The fight with the Clan Mactavish was fine, though one-sided. It lasted fnlly half-an-houT, and the meat carriers tiny β-poondera continued to bark lone after the German shells had set the Clan Mactavish afire in half-a-dozen •places.

FinaHy the Germans discharged two torpedoes, both of which struck the dan Mactavish, which heeled over, and in a short time disappeared.