WAR BLOCKADE TALES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10391, 7 May 1927, Page 9

WAR BLOCKADE TALES

GERMANS HIDDEN IN OIL. LUBBER AS~COFFEE BEANS. Everybody knows that during the war the Germans adopted every kind of device to evade our blockade, but it is doubtful .whether a stranger hid mg place in a ship was ever thought of for a man than an oil tank full of oil. “On going below I came across a laro-c oil tank filled up with crude oil, thcTtop of which was off, and on looking into the tank I oi •served the head of a man up to his neck m oil. 1 asked him what lie was doing tnere , and immediately recognised a Gev- I man accent in his answer’. Fie was helped out. I asked him if there wore any more. The skipper replied ‘No.’ I threatened to lire into the tank, but just then three more heads. ji npenrecl. Wc pulled tliein out . tin go German military officers who had chosen to hide in this manner while the ship -was under examination. They were going to join their regiment in -Germany.” This is one of the many curious stories related by “Griff,” an officer in the 10th Cruiser Soundron. in his fascinating volume/ “Surrendered: Some Naval War Secrets.” That same ship carried a large consignment of so-called! coffee beans. There were about 30,000 bags. Oil examination most of these beans proved to he pure rubber, manufactured in the shape of coffee. “Griff” seems to have been one of the last people to see H.M.S. Hampshire before she was sunk, carrying

“I had previously received a warning to beware of 'floating mines off the west coast- of tho Orkneys, so we stood in toward; the land in case of mishap. Toward evening we observedl a cruiser in the distance making toward the north, and she seemed to be laboring heavily in the big seas that had increased during the day. “The cruiser was the Hampshire, which a few hours before bad ieftScapa Flow with Lord Kitchener nad his staff on hoard, taking passage to Noith Russia; her escort of destroyers had put hack through stress of weather, and she was alone in an area known to be infested with mines. Possibly we were, the lash ship to sight the Hampshire on her ill-fated iourney—not many hours later she had struck a mine and foundered in deep water.”