TRACKING THE WOLF.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19787, 27 November 1929, Page 11

TRACKING THE WOLF.

♦ i i PRISONERS MESSAGE | IN BOTTLE. j i i DESPERATE V ENTIRE. I i INTERESTING WAR STORY. j i t«HE PEESS Special s*rviC».] « All KI.AMi. N'-. ""'"' <■ - I '*- J Memories i>f viay» >!>• :M ;'S a prisoner j of win- I'll board th,- German raider | Wolf, and of a successful attempt to j y.vo information to the Uritish Naval j authorities i-om-oniius; tU./ %..sscls :u-- j tivitios in tin- i'aiitiv. worv revivod u',ontly wh.-ii Mr X. A. l*y...'. uf (."usti>ms at Hajipai. Toiijia. rrad u J l>:intgra}>li in tho "Now /...-aland llor- J aid" relating to romark> mado l>v Sir James Allen in a lecture on -N'iw Zea- j laud naval defence. Sir .lames men. tioned that the mine layini; operations of the Wolf wort' dtsco\eivd through a niessnm' thrown overboard hi a bottle bv a prisoner of war on the raider.

ill- rvno was one of tliree prison. .- who we're responsilde for the. dispat.U of the message. "You can imaoni. how intensely interesting the paragiapli was to me, and what meinories it brought back, when I explain that in til 1 read it I was not aware that the bottle had been found," Mr Vwie writes, lie then describes the capture of his ship, and his efforts to send messages to some British country. "The exploit is one of the romaiue* of the war." he continued. "I was purser of the Matunga, which, laden with stores and relief for the Austial ian Army in occupation in captured New Guinea, was captured by the Wolf off the coast of New Britain on August 6th, 1917, after the raider had finished her mining operations in New Zealand and Australian waters. Our captain, navigating officers, wireless operator, and all military passengers, were immediately transferred to the raider, but the rest of the crew and passengers wero left on board, with a Ger man prize crew in charge. The Wolf and tjie Matunga then steamed away to an uninhabited part of Dutch NewGuinea.

"This journey took seven days, during which wo on the Matunga had many opportunities at night of dropping bottle messages overboard. The prize crew was not very strict. However, owing to the wide' and unfrequented seas in this part of the world, we realised that it was doubtful if any of these messages would ever be discovered. At the last minute, when the Matunga was leaving Svdn'ev, a parcel of footballs was brought to my cabin for the soldiers at Kabaul. After we were captured these were inflated and tied to bottles containing messages, and thrown overboard from the Matunga at night. We were, very anxious to let the authorities knowthat a German raider was at large, and that mines had been laid, and so perhaps save some of our people and ships from destruction. •'When we reached Dutch New Guinea we were taken on board the Wolf, and were amazed to find that the raider had already been out from Germany for nine montha, and had hundred's of prisoners in her holds, many of whom had been there for many months. Among these was Captain Meadows, master of the Turritella, the first ship captured by the raider away in the Indian Ocean, five months previously. When I went on to the Wolf I had one football left, which I took with me. When the Germans had taken all they wanted from the cargo of the Matunga, the ship was sunk by bombs, and the Wolf set a course for Singapore, where a big minefield was laid.

"It was extremely risky to attempt to throw anything overboard from the Wolf. as the sentries were numerous, and very strict, and we were constantly warned that any prisoner attempting to communicate with the shore would be instantly shot. However, Captain Meadows realised the value of a football in making a bottlo conspicuous, and he was very anxious to get a message overboard. He had knowledge of the location and extent of each minefield laid by the Wolf, and valuable knowledge of details and armament of the raider, and other particulars which would have been invaluable to the British naval authorities, so we arranged that we would make a desperate attempt to get a bottle message overboard when we were in the narrow seas of the Dutch Kast Indies. A detailed message was prepared by Captain Meadows, and on the night of September 6th, 1917, when the coast of Celebes was in sight, we decided to attempt to get the bottle overboard attached to a football. "An Australian soldier named Chalmers had the inflated football hidden on deck, and our problem was to get the bottle containing the message up from the prisoners' quarters below, and past the sentries. Captain Meadows told me where to find a bottle, which I brought to him, covered with his towel and pyjamas. I handed it to him, and he casually made his way up the small ladder oh to the poop toward :i group of prisoners when' Chalmers had the football waiting. Suddenly an alert sentry, evidently curious to know what Meadows had under his towel and ]>v.iainn«, made toward the captain, but the latter was too quick for him. Desperate not to be caught with any evidence on him, lie sent the sentry over on the deck with a mighty push, ami, lurching to the rail, flung e\entiling overboard. It was dark, and the sentry was not quite sure what had happened, .but he was in a great rage, and had his big Mauser pistol cocked a few inchi s in front of the captain « face. He appeared to be about to shoot j him when an oflicer arrived on the 1 scene, and placed Meadows under ar- ' rest. He wan confined to the cells for I several days, but he got out of it by I convincing the Germans that it was an i accident, and that he bumped the j sentry by stumbling on a deck fitting. "It is verv gratifying to know, even I at this late date, that faptaui Meadow* i did not take his great risk in vain, arid ! that although the bottle had to go over ! board without the last football to keep jit couipan;. the message reached tno-e | for whom it was intende 1 and in tune j to be of some value to the authorities | of Britain and New Zealand.