CRUISE OF THE SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4874, 21 May 1918, Page 7

CRUISE OF THE SOUTH SEA VIKINGS.

- ■ ■ ■ MORE ABOUT THE WORK OF THE WOLF. , AN INTERESTING STORY. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WAIRUNIA. LONDON, March 19. The romance of the Wairuna was played through practically in New Zealand waters. Almost at the moment when Mr Bell was petitioning Parliament for consideration in. respect of his having kept the flag hying at Sunday Island, the island was being used by the Germans as a base to prey on New Zealand commerce, and was the scene of one tragedy at •least of which we shall probably never hear the full story. Most of the following narrative was given to me by Mr T. E. Rees, the second officer, who has just returned to London by way'of Norway; by Mr R. Donvan, the cook (who for-_. merly rode for Sir William Russell’s stable); and by Mrs Agnes Mackenzie (Wellington), the stewardess of the ■Matuhga. Hie Wairuna left Auckland for San Francisco at 11 p.m. on May 31, and shaped the usual course north-west across the Pacific. About 3.20 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, June 2, as she was closing with Sunday Island, the largest and most northerly of the Kermadecs, a steamer was sighted, evidently at anchor, off the northern side _ of the island, where Mr Bell, has his homestead. She was about four miles distant. The Wairuna kept on her course, and about 20 minutes later those on board saw to their astonishment a seaplane rise from the water and soar towards them. The plane had no marks at all, and, flying low over the Wairuna, it dropped a message on her deck warning the captain that if he tried to use his wireless he would be bombed. The steamer, meanwhile, had hoisted the German colors and begun to move, and, the Wairuna having been stopped in obedience to orders, a boarding party came across and took possession. THE GAME WAS UP. “I knew at once they were Huns when I saw the seaplane,” said Mr Rees, whose experience dates back at least as far as the Dardanelles. Having-that inkling of trouble, "lie set to work to pick up as many as possible of the New Zealand newspapers on board, and to destroy them so as to prevent' the Huns getting more information than could be helped. Unfortunately for himself, there were still half a dozen 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 the benefitof the intelligence branch. The Wairuna was taken in close to the island and ordered to anchor near the raider, which they now knew to be 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 wellprovided 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 their long tramp at sea; and they looked with greedy eyes at the 42 live sheep in pens on the deck. In their long criuse. it seemed, they had been on the New Zealand coast before, and they had also been as far south as the Antipodes. . /r , On the following-morning (Sunday, June 3) the sea was too rough to do much in the way of working cargo, and both ships moved .round to the lee side of the island. There they were lashed together, and commenced straightway transferring coal, fresh water, and stores, and 14 bags of \ mails —more grist for the Intelligence Department. On the 4tli the captain was taken on board the Wolf, and be and the oilier officers transferred most of their luggage to the •raider. On the oth and Msth all ; hands were working day and night . and the ships bumped together very ■ violently in the heavy swell. It was on the latter day that the sheep were transferred, and eight of them ,

were so badl v injured in the opera- j tion that they had to he killed forth- . with. On the 7th the sea was so rough that the vessels moved round j again to the other side of the island, j •and for two days no work could be j done. On the 9th they made a com- ; plete circuit of the island, looking for calm water, but without success; and on the 10th again it was too rough; to do anything. ; PROPER IRISHMEN. i “None of the prisoners, - ’ Mr Rees told me. “would volunteer to help in transferring cargo., though it was put to them. There* were two Irishmen in the crew, and the Germans tried hard to persuade them, telling them that Germany was the friend of Ireland, and that the fate of Casement , was an example of what the English , did to Irishmen. ! “ ‘The English didn’t do half en- ! otigh to Casement,’ was the reply. : ‘lf we had had hold of him we would ■ have done much more than England . did.’" rr ! “With this satisfaction the Huns > left the subject alone.” . , On the 11th it was rough again, and on the 12th it was so bad that both vessels had to put to sea Ihey came back at 9 p.m on the 14th, and, j anchoring very close together, reslimed work on the following morn- | intr. On the 16tli all hands were taken off the Wairuna, and she was , got ready for sinking. j SPURT OS vERSENKT. ; Tlie whole security of the raider being dependent on covering up her > traces great care was .taken to prevent' the wreckage floating away. The cabin doors were carefully nailed , up and their batches battened down, . and the tanks and lifeboats destroyCd As the vessel was being taken out j to sea a little American schooner was , sighted, and the work had to be stopped to chase her with the sea- . plane. She was duly captured and a prize crew put on board, and s ; remained at sea for the nig l . I the morning of Sunday June 17 the Wairuna was finally taken out to he ~ doom an event which all the jnison S™ allowed on deck j At 8.30 a.m.. when the Volf was ; about WOO yards off. ?ne_°f bombs was Seen to w„; only visible result was that the Wairmm sank about a foot deeper in the water at which level she remained for fully an hour. Then at. abou 400 yards the Wolf commenced .bombarding the vessel amidships. In first few shells, had very little effect. ( They struck about the waterline . evidently just clearing the ouwne tons The Germans were poor gun- | ne?s for some of the shells even at that distance fell short and others . went clean over the mark The Wairuna took a slight list, and there was a pause... nr the nrin to , , her position did not seem to change, , The Wolf steamed right i-ound>h j but got no satisfaction. She was P P n ZT t aiming at Ahe bulkhead between numbers one and two holds the 'gunners set the cargo on dire, be j Wndually listed over to port, burning heavily, eventually over , mi her side, she sank at 2Ab p.m As' she went down quite' a lok of | wreckage broke away from the hatch- ; os anyone of the derricks also floatspent a good six hours and 16 heavy. shells disposing of thq-Wai-runa. the raider turned her attention to the schooner, which had now re turned. She was the Winslow with a quantity of coal and fire bricks, always a welcome find for baseless outlaws.

! A CALL PROM TEE WAITOTARA. j While working the Winslow’s cargo ; at Sunday Island the Wolf picked up on June 18, a wireless cal] frojn the i Waitotara, saying she was on fire, , and l that all hands had left the ship, | and a later call that a 'French steam|or had picked up the crew. The ! Winslow’s cargo kept the Wolf oc- ' cupied until June 22. i ‘‘She was the first wooden victim ! the Wolf had caught,” said Mr Rees, ‘ “and they had a great, job to sink her. They put four big bombs on board and set her on fire, and they had to ‘fire 39 shells at her before they could polish her off.” Mr Rees tells of what looks like a, tragedy that occurred while the Wolf was working cargo at the Kermadecs. Two of the- crew of the Turritella, a victim of the earlier stages of the Wolf’s cruise, were a New Zealander named, I think, Steers, of Port Chalmers, who was engineer, and the chief officer (Cleland). Tliey had determined"to make an attempt to escape, and Mr Rees and other prisoners assisted them. But as they were kept securely below at’ night, it Avas essential that they should get out of the ship in daylight. Under a pretext of fishing for sharks a party of prisoners got a strong ' rope-line over the counter, and down this both men made their escape while the sentries were 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 commence swimming they had to remain a-hiding under the counter of the ship. Though the Kermadecs are in a Warm latitude, it was winter, and a choppy sea was running. Moreover, there were no lights on the island. Nothing was afterwards seen or heard of the two adventurers. , Time may show whether either of them reached the shore the heroic endeavour ended their life. MINES ROUND NEW ZEALAND. The day before the TVairuna was captured a boatful of British prisoners from previous victims got 8001 b of fresh fish from a day’s fishing with lines. On finishing up at the Kermadecs, and failing in her hope of cutting off tlfe Niagara, the Wolf proceeded to lay some mines between North Cape and the Three Kings, and then went right down the coast and sowed more mines in Cook Strait. This activity, which was quite unsuspected until the Wolf’s return home this month, puts a new light on the blowing. up of the Port Kembla off Farewell Suit last September. On June 27 Mr Rees and Mr Donovan the cook, got their last glimpse of New Zealand, for oh that dav the raider was in sight of Mount Cook. On July 9 another small American schooner, the Beluga, fell a victimThe captain had on board his wire (.a : native of Newcastle, New ..outh Wales) and their six-ycar-old daughter; and it was a pathetic sight to those aheadv close captives to see the little girl, standing on the atterdeck waving her handkerchief as the strange steamer approached. As the Beluga was being taken possession of, smoke was seen on the horizon, and the Wolf, not wishing to be caught red-handed, hurriedly put a prize crew on board and made off The strange steamer had three mastt and a red funnel with black top, and it was thought she might be trie bu D ar Company’s steamer running between Fiji and Sydney. She passed within two miles of the schooner and s(mailed her, little-knowing that she in charge of a German, prize ’ crew. Two days later, having rejoined company, the schooner was despoiled of what she was worth and sunk with bombs. Another Ameiican schooner, the Anchor, was captured at a later date and also dej St lt' ms about a month later that the Burns Philip steamer Matunga was captured off Rabaul and carried off to an island near New Guinea, where the cargo was ransacked and the Wolf replenished. . i “It was terrible to see her being : sunk, said Mrs Mackenzie, the stew- ; artless, “She was our only home, and I felt like jumping overboard to . OF PRISONERS.

Mrs Mackenzie, who conies from Wellington, protested vigorously to the German commander agajnst 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 keynote 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 Mend' 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 the landing at'Anzac. He was afterwards in the New Zealand meat liner Ashburton when she was torpedoed, and bv a stroke of misfortune lus account of his experiences on that occasion anneared in the very copies of the New "Zealand Herald which were found by the Huns on the Wairuna. It was dulv underlined in red and shown to him bv the Hun commander, who particularly wished to know what “barbarians”were. The treatment meted out to Mr Rees during nine months’ captivity was probably dictated in some measure bv annoyance at this narrative. Of . tlie months he spent in thc M olf he vas most of the time in the hold with 16/ other captives. The food was so hat that ho was over and over again sent to hospital,,and photographs ot some of the prisoners show braiim giants reduced to thin, haggard skeletons. Mr Rees pleaded that if l e were kept under such conditions he must inevitably die, -and ashed that he should he transferred to the ; Kotz Mendi. The commander knev that he/had been keeping a dialy, and ie plied significantly that lie kv 6 much to be let out o tho Volt. How over he "ot so bad that he ivas at Sh tamtarei, ,vith the —™ and some others, to the > P* , steamer. Here the eha.ige of foo and the fine, wholesome biead ,ba^a hv Donovan, worked a gieat cna t- , LL h” v.oove™# strength. THE VOYAGE HOME. The slups certain degree. iuiat is yv » v i Igotz Mendi kept her .'course, and the Wolf communicated with liei ove 7 lew days; and so they made then wresting to €he Cape and their noithIno- through the Atlantic. One day S 5 captives were delighted to see : what looked like a four-funnelled cruIcer only a few miles away develop in | to two y ships, apparently transports from America, but both sides pas ed without any sign of recognition or mi qU Ccnniing to high latitudes, the Igotz- ! Mendi had one boiler out of actiondue, it is said, to the patriotic care of 'the Spanish engineers—land another m a bad way, so that Hie could make j onlv a couple of knots an houi. , 1 otshe" rounded Iceland by the north—, the Wolf going south about!—-and staggered across the evcr-vigilant patrol into the North Sea, and thus was in Norwegian waters. it seem- ! ed to the pr.isoner s \ that Germany ■ was their only prospect. The Wolf got home ' to Kiel on Sunday. Ilie , Igotz Mendi, whose prize' crews had probably been too long away to know I 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. the four -vessels that tried to make the open sea h} November, 1916. Slip |'sailed under Swedish colours, and it | is understood she was held for two days under the guns of the Avenger,

OFFICERS.—Patron: Sir James Carroll. K.O.M.G. President: F. J. Lysnar, Esq. Vice-President: D. J. Barry, Esq. Hon. Treasurer: C. J. Benndt. Esq. Hon. Timekeeper: M. G. Nasmith, Esq. Committee: Messrs. D. J. Barry, C.J. Bennett, H. E. Bright, J. W. Bright, H. D. deLautour, F. Hall, F. J. Lysar, G. Matthewson, J. R. Murphy, T. McConnell, G. B. Oman, C. White. Stewards: Messrs. G. J. Bennett, H. E. Bright, H. D. deLautour, R. Hepburn, J. R. Murphy, T. McConnell, M. G. Nasmitn, G. B. Oman, P. J. Parker, R. Sco-t, T. Sherratt, G. R. Wyllie. Judge: R. B‘. Lusk, Esq. Starter: Mr. R. E. Harley. Ilandicapper: Mr. IT. Coyle. Totalisator Steward: Mr. W. 0. Skeet. Clerk of Scales: Mr. M. DeCosta. Clerk of Course: Mr. W. A. Stephens. Secretary: Mr 11. E. Dodd. FIRST DAY, THURSDAY, 13th JUNE, 1918. To Start at 11.30 a.m. 1. PARK HURDLES HANDICAP, of 250 s-ovs., second horse to receive 35sovs., and third horse 15sovs. from stake. Over eight flights of hurdles. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 80s. Distance, Two Miles. 2. MAIDEN HACK RACE, of 125 soys., second horse to receive 20sovs, and third horse lOsovs. from stake. For horses that have never won a race of any description. Weight, 9st. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 30s. Distance, Four Furlongs. 3. FLYING HANDICAP, Of 150sovs., second horse., to receive 25snvs ami third horse lOsovs. from stake Nomination, 20s; acceptance, Os. D ,?• tanee, Six Furlongs. 4. GISBORNE STEEPLECHASE HANDICAP, of 400s-ovs., second horse to receive 70sovs„ and third horse. 30sovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 120 s. Distance, about Three Miles. 5. HACK FLAT HANDICAP, of 12550v5., second horse to receive 20sovs., and -third horse lOsovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 30s. Distance, Seven Furlongs. 6. TRAMWAY -HACK STEEPLECHASE HANDICAP, of 150sovs., second horse to reoeive 25sovs., and third horse 15sovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; aooeptanoe, 40s. Distance Two Miles. 7. WINTER OATS HANDICAP, of 175 sovb., second horse to receive 30sovs. and third horse 15sovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 50s. Distanoe, One and a-anarter Miles. SECOND DAY. SATURDAY, 15th JUNE, 1918. To Start at 11.30 a.m. 1. GISBORNE HURDLES HANDICAP, of 200sovs., second horse to receive 30 'sovs. and third horse lOsovs. from stake. Over seven flight of hurdles. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 60s. Distance, One and three-quarter Miles. 2 MAIDEN HACK HANDICAP, of 125 sovs., second horse to receive 20sovs. and third horse lOsovs. from stake. For horses that have never won a race at time of nomination. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 30s. Distance, Five Furlongs. 3. WAIKANAE HANDICAP, of 150sovs., second horse to receive 25sovs. and third horse lOsovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 40s. Distance, One Mile. 4. TE HAPARA STEEPLECHASE HANDI GAP, of 200sovs., second horse to re- - ceive 40sovs. and third horse 20sovs. from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 60s. Distance, about Two and a-half Miles. 5. SECOND FLAT HACK HANDICAP, of 12550v5., second- horse to receive 20 sovs. and third horse lOsovs. from stake. Nomination. 20s;. acceptance. 30s Distance, Six Furlongs. 6 TURAN-GANUI STEEPLECHASE lIANHICAP, of 150sovs., second horse to reoeive 25sovs. and third horse 15sovs from stake. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 40s. Distance. Two Miles. . 7. FAREWELL HANDICAP of 150sovs„ second horse to rece. ,e 25sovs. anti third horse lOsovs. from stake. No- - mination, 20s; acceptance. 40s. Distance, Six Furlongs.

NOMINATIONS for all Events close on WEDNESDAY, 22nd MAY, 1918, at 9 p.m. The winner of any race after the declaration of weights may be re-handi-°DATES OF NOMINATIONS. WEIGHTS AND ACCEPTANCES. WEDNESDAY, 22nd May, .1918—Nomminns for all Events cl-ose at 9 p.m. WEDNESDAY, 29th MAY, 1918-Weights deolared for First Day’s Handicaps. FRIDAY, 7th JUNE, 1918— Acceptances for the whole of the First Day's Events OI THURSDAY m 'l3th JUNE, 1918-Weights for Second Dayls Handicaps declared at 8 Acceptances for the whole of the Second Day’s Events close at 9.30 p.m. H. E. DODD, i Secretary.