SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 9

SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

cbcise of ute wolf.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE

WAIRI'XA

(reoH ocr. ow.v connr<?o.vDE*T.) LONDON, March 19

The romance of the \\ airuna was .Oared through practically in New ZoaI waters. Almost at thn moment when Mr Bell petitioning Parliament for consideration in respect of his ' having Uept the flag flying at Sunday Island, tlic island was being u=ed _by tho Germans as a base to prev on New Zealand commerce, aiid was the scene of ono tragedv at least of which wo shall probnblv iitvpr hour tno lull storj. \tnsfc of tiie following narrative was „iven to me by Mr T. E. ltecs, tho fecond officer, who has just returned .o London hy way ot .Norway, by Mr R. Donovan, the cook (who formerly rode for Sir William sstablo), and by Mrs Mackenzie (Wellington), tho . stewards of the Mntunga. The Wairuna left Auckland for ban Frafl'-i'Co nt 11 P- m - on la - v * ilst > a tho usual course across the Pacific. About 3.20 p.m. on tho afternoon of Saturday, Juno 2nd, as s ho was closing with Sunday' Island, the largest and most northerly of the Kermadoes, a steamer was sighted, evidently at- anchor, off tho northern side of tlie island, where Mr 13cll has his homestead. Sho was about four miles dijfnnt. Tho Wairuna kept on her Ci/tirsc, and about twenty minutes later these 'on boird saw to their astonishmeiifc «■ seaplane riso from the water and soar towards them. Tho plane had ho marks at all, and flying low over tho Wairuna, it dropped a messago on her deck tvavning too captain that if he tried to use his wireless ho would ha bombed. Tho steamer meanwhile Imd fcoi*(ed tho Gorman colours and begun to move, and, tho Wairuna hav- . jng been stopocd in obodienco to orders, a Toardnig party camo across and took possession.

THE GAME WAS UP

I "I knew at once they were Huns when I saw the seaplane," said Mr Bees, whoso experience dates back at least as far as the Dardanelles. Having that inkling of trouble, ho sot to work to pick up as many as possible of the Xow Zoaland newspapers on board, and Y to destroy them, so as to prevent the Huns getting more information than could bo helped. Unfortunately, for himself, there were still half a dozon or so left, and they were greedily seized by the Germans —who had been out of touch with civilisation for half a year —and digested for tho benefit of the intelligence branch. The Wairuna was taken in close to the island, and ordered'to anchor near I the raider, -which they now knew to bo the "Wolf; and that night the officers and the wireless operator were taken off. The Huns -were delighted to get such a -well-found and well-pro-vided ship. Not only -was there ample coal and provisions for the trans-Pacific voyage, but the cargo comprised a good many things they were in need of after thoir long tramp at sea; and they looked with greedy eyes at the forty-two live sheep in pens on tho deck. In their long crime, it seamedj they had been on the New Zealand coast before, and they had also been as far south as tho Antipodes. On the following morning, Sunday, ' June 3rd, the sea was too rough to do much in the way of working cargo, and both ships moved round to the lee-side nf the island/i There they were lashed | together, and commenced straight away 11 transferring coal, fresh- water, and Ll stores, and fourteen bags of mails— ' more grist for the Intelligence Depart- * meat. On the 4th the captain -was taken on board tho Wolf and he and the other officers transferred most of their luggage to the raider. On the ; sth and 6th all hands wero working day and : night, and the ships bumped to- '> ■ gether very violently in the heavy swell. It was on the latter day that ,• tho sheep were transferred, and eight i , of them were so badly injured in tho Operation that they had to be killed ; 'V- forthwith. . On the 7IS the eea was so - • rough that the vessels moved round again to the other side of tho island, f - ; ; and for two days no work could bo done. On t the 9th they made a com- ; i' ,plete circuit of the island, looking for t . calm water, but without success; and on the 10th again it waa too rough to 5.7>a0 anything. '§& PROPER IRISHMEN. prisoners," Mr Rees /...•oVt iold me, "would volunteer to help in 7C.; transferring cargo, though it was put 'r ' them. There wero two Irishmen v; in the crew, and the Germans tried vv/hard to * persuade them, telling them '• 'u> Jhat Germany was the friend of Iroand that the fate of Casement wm an example of what the English .did to Irishmen. -'''Tile English didn't do half enough !j to Casement,' was the reply. 'If we . had had hold of him we would have n «lone;much more than England did.' A. "With this satisfaction the Huns left the subject alone." the 11th it was rough again, and tl -oa the 12th it was so had that both put to sea. Tfcey came j- at 9 p.m. on the lifch and, anchori,^ 05 . 0 together, resumed work " °« l flowing morning. On the 16th >vT Wl hands were taken off the Wairuna, V an " sn® was got ready for sinking, i SPURLOS VERSENKT. ' ; .t Th ° whole security of tho raider bo--".Mg dependent on covering up her J' /-traces great care was taken to pren * T ®at th& wreckage floating away. The cabin door* ttcro carefully nailed up 1 . e ,' r hatches battened down, and and lifoboatu destroyed. tho ,y° sse l was being taken out a httle American schooner was ®® d the work had to bo to chaso her with the seaplane. duJ ? captured and a prize ■ J? board, and she remained ]-'j '.-'-I c a i » night. On tho morning - i Sunday, Juno 17th, the Wairuna , -JL B . taken out to her doom, an , - A I W~i f ll th®.Prisoners were al- - S n *° w,t nesa. !'«. am, V whc ? 1,10 Wolf - a thousand yards off, one of the was ? eon to explode. The .only - '"-2fc li, re ! Qlt r Was » that the Wairuna li-? *J, 00 ± dc oper in the water, '-Villi J™" 0 " she remained for fullv '' &wJ* oar " at about 400 yards tho " bombarding the vesV The first few shells had I £\»4i|? r Jjttle effect. They struck about evidently just clearing en B ,ne tops. The Germans wef? i? r 80,116 ° f the shells that distanco fell short and >l '"a®** went clean over the mark. Erairuna took a slight list, and as a pause in tho firing, but tion aid not seem to change, f steamed right round her, but stasfaction. She was apparentlittle damaged. More shots 5d at her amidships, and one a great mass of flame, shootrrom the engine-room, but it end still apparently the Wais seaworthy. Then by aiming ulk-hcad between numbers one ► holds, the gunners set the l fire. She gradually listed port, burning heavily, and «y turning over oa her side, . at 2.45 p.m. As she wenl ute a lot of wreckage broke 'm the hatches, and one of the also floated off. K spent a good sis hours and heavy shells disposing of tho , the raider turned her attenthe schooner, which had now She ivas the Winslow, with ty of coal and fire bricks, al-

ways a welcome find for baseless outlaws. A CALL FROM THE WAITOTARA. Whilo working tho Winslow's cargo at Sunday Island the Wolf picked \ip ou. Juno 18th a wireless call from the

Wnitotara, saying she was on lire and that all liana's l.ad left the 6hip, and a_ later call that a French steamer had picked up tho crcw. Tho Winslow's cargo kept the Wolf occupied until June 22nd. "She was the first wooden victim the Wolf had caught,'' said Mr Recs, "and they had a great job to sink her. They could only blow her to bits. They put four big bombs on board and sot her on fire, and they had to fire thirty-nine shells at her before they could polish her off."

Mr Rees tells of what looks like a tragedy that occurred while tho Wolf was working cargo at the Kormadees. Two of tho crcw of the Turritella, a victim of the earlier stages of the -Wolf's cruise, were a New Zcalandcr named, I think, Steers, or Port Chalmers, who was second engineer, and the chief officer (Cleland). They had de-

termined to mako an attempt to escape, and Mr Roes and other prisoners assisted them. Steers and Clolaad were both strong swimmers and felt confident of gaining the shore, which was two miles off. Rut as they were kept securely below at night it was essential thc.v should get out of the shin in daylight, L : nder pretest of fishing for sharks a party of the prisoners got a strong rope-line over the counter, and down this both men made their escape whilo the sentries wero not looking. They had matches securely sealed in bottles, and felt pretty certain they would find all the food they required on the island. But until it was dark enough to com-

mence swimming they had to remain hiding under the counter of tho ship. Though the Kermndocs arc in a warm latitude, it was winter, and a choppy sea was running. Moreover, there wore no lights on the island. Nothing was afterwards seen or heard of the two adventurers. Timo may ehow whether either of them reached the shore or whether their heroic endeavour ended their life. MINES ROUND NEW ZEALAND.

Tiio day before tho Wairuna was capturcd a boa tin I of iiritisii prisoners from previous victims got feuulb ot i'resa lish iioiu a uuy's iistung with lines. On linisliing up at the Koiinadccs and failing in her hopo of cutting ott the Niagara, the "Wolf proceeded to lay some mines between .North Capo and' the Three Kings, and then wont .right down the coast and sowed more mines in Cook Strait. • On June 27th Mr Rees and Mr Donovan, tho oook, got their last glimpse of Now Zealand, for on that day tho raider was in sight of Mount Oook. On Jnly 'Jth another small American schooner, tho Beluga, fell a victim. Tho captain had on board his wifo (a native of Newcastle, N.S.W.) and their six-year-old daughter, and it was a pathetic sight to those already closo captives to eee the little girl, standing on the aftcr-dcck waving her handkerchief as tho strange steamer approached. As the Beluga was being taken possession of smoke was eeen on the hori-

zon, and tho Wolf, not wishing to be caught redhanded. hurriedly, put a prize crew on board and made oft. Tho strange steamer had three masts and a red funnel with black top, and it was thought sho might bo the Sugar Company's steamer running; between Fiji and Sydney. She passed within two miles of the schooner and signalled her, little knowing that she was in charge of a German prize crew. Two days later, having rojoined company, the schooner was despoiled of what was worth taking and 'sunk with bombs. Another American schooner, the Enchor, was captured lit a later date and also destroyed. .It was about a month later that tho Barns Philp steamer Matunga was captured off Rabaul and carried off to an island near New Guinea, where the ■Cargo was ransacked and tho Wolf icplenished. . "It was terrible to see her being sunk," said Mrs Mackenzie, the stewardess. "She was our only home, and I felt like jumping overboard to got to her." TREATMENT OP PRISONERS.

Mrs Mackenzie, who comes from Wellington, protested vigorously to the German commander against ' women being made prisoners—there were now a dozen of them in the Wolf. But he replied that women were making munitions and therefore their capture was quite legitimate. It, had been thought possible that owing to the American captain having his wife and child on board he might release the schooner Beluga, but the whole key-note of raiding success is to leave no traces. Hence all the ships were destroyed and their crews taken away to Germany. What Mr Rees and his companions can tell, through the lucky chance of the Igotz Mendi running into a fog in the throat of the Kattegat, is a serious inconvenience for future German raiders. Mr Rees served in a transport which took Australian artillery to tho landing at Anzac. He was afterwards in the

New Zealand meat-liner, Ashburton, when she was torpedoed, and by a stroke of misfortune his account of his experiences on that occasion appeared in the very copies of the "New Zealand Herald" which were found by thß Huns on the Wairuna. It was duly underlined in red and shown to him by the Hun commander, who particularly wished to know ' what "Barbarians" were. Tho treatment„ meted out to Mr Rees during nine months' captivity was probably dictated in some measure by annoyance at this narrative. Of the "six months he spent in tho Wolf he was most of the time in tho hold with 162 other captivcs. Tho food was so bad that he was over and over!

again sent to hospital, and photographs of some of tho prisoners show brawny giants reduced to thin, hagrrd skeletons. Mr Rees pleaded that he were kept under sucn conditions ho must inevitably die, and asked that he should be transferred to tho Igotz Mendi. The commander knew that he had in keeping a diary, and replied signifienntlv that he knew too much to-be let out of the Wolf. However, lio got so bad that he was at length transferred with the women and some cthors to tho Spanish steamer. Here the change of food and the fine, whole- j some bread, baked by Donovan, worked a great change, and he gradually! recovered strength.

THE VOYAGE HOME. The ships kept in company to a certain degree. That is to say, the Igotz Mendi kept her course, and tho Wolf communicated with her every few dayi; and so they made their westing to the Cape and their northing through the Atlantic. One day the captives were delighted to see what looked like a four-funnelled cruiser only a few miles away develop into two shins, apparently transports from America, but both sides passed without any sign of recognition or enquiry. Coming to high latitudes the Igotz Mendi had one boiler out of action due, it is said, to the patriotic care of the Spanish engineers— and another in a bad wav; so that she could only make a couple of knots an hour. Yet she rounded Iceland by the north Wolf going south about—and staggered across the ever-vigilant patrol into the North Sea and thus was in I Norwegian waters. It seemed to the prisoners that Germany was their only prospect. Wolf got home to Kiel cn Sunday. The Igotz Mendi. whose prize crew had probably been too long away to know of changed lights, mistook the route' of the Skaw for the Spit, and piled her hull comfortably on a friendly neutral shore.

I believe the Wolf was one of four vessels that tried to make the open sea in November. 1916. She sailed

under Swedish colours, and it is understood she was held for two davs

under the guns of the Avenger, off Faroe, where the weather was too dirty to allow of communication. Then she

■was allowed to proceed. The Avenger was tho Aotea-roa, a new boat built for the Union Steam Ship Company to run with the Niagara, and she was officered chiefly by New Zoalanders. She was sunk by torpedo last June.