DOINGS OF THE MOEWE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 19 February 1916, Page 5

DOINGS OF THE MOEWE.

AN APPAM PASSENGER'S DIARY

TREATMENT ON THE RAIDER

RATIONS VERY LOW

(Received Feb. 19. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Feb\ 18. One hundred of the Appam's passengers have arrived. Billingharn, a gold miner, in his diary states that the Clan MacTavish fired seven and the Moewe four shots in a running battle on the 18th. The German commander sent a message to the captain and Sir E. Merewether, stating that all passengers who would give their word of .honor not to take up arms against Germany during the war would be conveyed to their destination. Sir E. Merewether recommended everybody to sign as they had no alternative.

On January 30th Billingham wrote: "The coal cannot last much longer, and we have only five days' more provisions. It seems strange that we have been roaming about the Atlantic for two weeks without a British ship coming to our assistance. Lieutenant Berg told us that the Moewe got out of the Kiel Canal in a fog on New Year's Day, and passed British warships, who signalled and asked if the Moewe had seen any Germans. The Moewe replied 'No,' and wished the British a happy New Year. Throughout the voyage the Moewe was communicated with as though she was an ordinary British trader. There has been a rumor that the passengers of the. Appam met in the lounge-and decided to take over the ship and wipe out the German crew, but I have not heard of it. When the Germans ordered the Appam to stop the German prisoners from the Cameroons, realising that they were about to be released, smashed the doors of the cabins where they were cpnfined, and we had to give up our firearms, knives and telescopes, and they even took our golf sticks. One man took a sjambok from another. A Liverpool passenger states that the Germans launched two boats filled with men, armed with revolvers and other firearms, and when the Germans boarded us they ordered the officers from the bridge, but said they would not sink the shin.

"I saw the Clan MacTavish sink bow first. Some of her crew reached us in small boats, including injured Lascars, Our rations ran very low. and breakfast consisted of kippered herrings and a piece of bread; lunch was three biscuits and a piece of cheese; and dinner curry and rice. Drinking water was very short. Lieut. Howell, of the Royal Navy, who bad been in the Cameroons. noticed that the Moewe was well provisioned.

"The German officers boasted that when leaving Kiel they passed ten British slims."