THE APPAM CASE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17097, 21 February 1916, Page 7

THE APPAM CASE.

A PASSENGER'S DIARY. s HOW THE MOEWE ESCAPED FROM KIEL. BRITISH WARSHIPS DECEIVED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON. February 18. A hundred of the captured liner Appam's passengers have arrived here from America. Mr Billingham. a miner, kept a diary which states that the steamer Clan jlactavish fired seven shots and the German commerce destroyer- Moewo four shots in a running battle on January 18. The German commander sent a message to Sir E. M. Merewether statin"- that all the passengers who would give their word of honour not to take up arms against Germany during tho war would "be conveyed to their destinations. Sir E. M. Merewether recommended everybody to sign as there was no alternative. On January 30 Mr Billingham wrote: ••The coal cannot la.st much longer. 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." the diary continues, "told us that the Moewo got out of Kiel Canal in a fog on New Year's Day, and passed British warships, which signalled him and asked if ho had seen any Germans. The Moewe replied: ' No,' and wished the British a happy New Year. Throughout the ..Urvaws was ocniuinnicated with as

though she were au ordinary British trader. "There has been a rumour," the diarist wroto, "that the passengers of tho Appam mot in the lounge and decided to take over the ship and wipe out the German crew. I did not hear of it. When the Germans ordered tho Appam to stop the. German prisoners from tho Cameroons, realising that they were about to be released, smashed the doors of thecabins where they were confined. Wo had to give up our firearms, knives and telescopes. They even took golf sticks from one man, and a sjambok from another." A Liverpool passenger states that the Germans launched two boats filled with men armed with revolvers and other firearms. When tho Germans boarded the Appam they ordered the officers from the bridge, and said they would not sink tho ship. The. narrator saw tho Clan Mactavish sink bow first. Some of the crew reached the Appam in small beats; these men included injured Lascars. Tho Appam's rations were very low. " For breakfast," said the passenger, " we had kippered herrings and a piece of bread, for lunch three biscuits and a piece of cheese, and for dinner curry and rice. Tho drinking water was very short." Lieutenant Howell, of the Royal Navy, who had been to the Cameroons, noticed that the Moewe was well provisioned. The German officers boasted that after leaving Kiel they passed ten British ships.