FATE OF THE TOKOMARU

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 31 March 1915, Page 7

FATE OF THE TOKOMARU

THE CAPTAIN'S STORY

INHUMAN GERMAN METHODS

The question whether the steamer lokomaru, the "gift ship" from New Zealand, was sunk by a mine or was torpedoed is settled definitely by a statement by her master, Captain P txr.eene, m an interview published in the London Standard that the vessel was torpedoed by a submarine. . As m the case of the Ikaria, sunk similarly not far off, the Germans made no attempt to rescue anyone on board, but left them to their fate with a callousness as brutal as it is despicable. Ine German submarine which sank three steamers near Liverpool Bay at least stopped its victims, and gave their otticera and crews ten minutes to get into their boats; but the conduct of the (rermMi officers operating in the English Channel can only be compared for* sheer indifference to the fate of tW on board the attacked steamers, with that of the pirates of old, who sank all and sundry without mercy. The submarine's officers' behaviour is a worthy parallel to that of the officers of the Geiieisenmi which, after the Monmouth a"d <*opd Hope were sunk off the coast 2 wi as deliberately steered through the hundreds of British sailors who were m the water, and made no attempt to rescue one of them. It is no tault of the German naval men that the torpedoing of the Tokomaru and Ikaria.was not accompanied by heaw loss of life, and this point is brought vividly forward by Captain Greene's statement.

"V\'e had a very successful and satisfactory run from Wellington," he said, and experienced no trouble or danger from enemy cruisers, though, of course, we did not neglect the usual precautions Early on Sunday mornin^ we were off • the French coast, about seven miles west-north-west of Cape Antifer, near Havre. The weather was bright and clear, and* the sea smooth, and the Tokomaru was steaming very slowly, as we were expecting to pick up om: pilot. In fact, at the moment when we were struck the ship was almost stationary.

At 9 o'clock, shortly after we had finished breakfast, I was standing on the bridge with two of my officers, looking for a pilot, when suddenly there was a terrific explosion on the port side, slightly forward of the bridge. A tremendous column of water shot up into the air, and the? ship immediately listed heavily to -port. It was obvious in a moment that she was doomed. There was no time then to speculate as to the cause of her. destruction, but in the few minutes which elapsed between the explosion and the launching of the boats both my officers and myself distinctly saw the periscope of a submarine showing above the surface a little distance away on the port side, so I am perfectly certain that the Tokomaru did not strike a. mine, but was sunk by a torpedo fired from a submarine."

You received no warning from the enemy ':

• Absolutely none. Not a whisper. JNot a sign. Nor did the enemy stand by to render assistance or help in any way to save life. The submarine simply disappeared and left us. There was no panic among the crew," Captain Greene continued, "although not one of us knew how long the ship wpuld remain afloat. We carried no passengers. "I ordered all hands to the port boats, which were promptly sand safely launched. Meanwhile our, wireless operator had managed to. send- off the 'S.O.S.' message, tftough the wireless apparatus had been, greatly^damaged and deranged by the force of the explosion. Everybody was'; off the'ship within fifteen minutes from the time she was" Struck. Neither the officers nor the crew Tv'vre ?'°le' to save any of. their belongings—they ■-]??* every thr;-' save what they stood in. v - '■-■■ "No lives were lost. J am thankful to say, but had the,-t6r.pedo struck us a, little further aft probably every soul in tjh© engine-room and stokehold would have been killed or;drowned. Before we could''leavertn'eVship'she was down by the head and her forward decks were aU. awash. , '

"Fov«ttfi&tely there were several Freffieli trawlers in sight—l heard afterw&jftte that they were''sweeping for Klines—and in about half an hour or so my entire crew, 59 men in all, were picked up by one of them and taken to Havre, where we received every kindness. The Tokomaru remained afloat for. an hour and a-half after she was struck. One of the trawlers stood by until she sank, and then placed a buoy to indicate the exact locality of the wreck. '■■ \

"What helps to convince me ; " Captain Greene went on to ;say,)| "that we did not strike a mine, but wfere struck by a torpedo, is the fact that some hours after we reached Havre a British steamer—the Ikaria —was towed v into the harbour in a sinking condition by French torpedo craft. She had been torpedoed .fifteen miles west of Cape Antifer, and left to her fate just as the Tokomaru was.

"By the sinking of the Tokomaru a most valuable and unusually large cargo •of frozen meat —beef, mutton, and lamb —-amounting to nearly 100,000 carcases, has be^n sent to the bottom and lost. We also had a. considerable consignment of wool on board. But perhaps the most regrettable feature of the whole affair is that all the clothing and other things which were collected in New Zealand for the Belgian refugees have also gone down in the ship. The Tokomaru was known as the 'Gift Ship,' and it will be with keen regret that New Zealanders will learn that the result of their sympathetic and philanthropic labors has been thrown away by an act of unparalleled barbarism on the part of the- enemy." Harr.y Bryan, the wireless operator of th-j Tokomaru, highly praised the French sailors' rescue work. He stated that a dozen torpedo boats answered within half an hour the "5.0.5." message from the steamer.