BLOCKADE BROKEN

Hokitika Guardian, 11 November 1933, Page 6

BLOCKADE BROKEN

WAR EPISODE RECALLED DEATH. OF CAPTAIN KOENIG Captain Paul Koenig, the commander of the famous German submarine Deutschland, which made a daring crossing of the Atlantic in the war, has died in Germany at the age of 66. Captafn Koenig's feat astonished the world, for when lie appeared suddenly at Baltimore, Maryland, on July 10, 1916, with a cargo of mails and dyestuffs, he - had broken through the Allied blockade and accomplished one of the most remarkable voyages ever attempted. The daring mariner was merely acting “according to plan,” for the Deutschland bad been specially constructed for the purpose of communic ting with the United States. Her gross tonnage was 790 tons, and she had a carry capacity -of about 440 tons. Her trip took almost exactly one month.

The adventure was the more remarkable in. that Captain Koenig had little or no previous experience of submarines Hostility toward Germany was growing in America at the time and his heroism temporarily arrested that. AVhen l§gal questions arose regarding the detention in United States waters, these were overcome in his favour and he; contrived to return to Germany with a cargo of metal and documents.

Captain Ivoening followed this triumph with another double crossing of the Atlantic later the same year, sailing via the Orkneys, and landing at New London, Connecticut. He became a national hero and wrote a book about his exploits. After the armistice the Deutschland was acquired by Mr Horatio Bottomley and used as an exhibition ship. Captain Koenig was married to an Englishwoman, who remained in London during the war.