WRECK OF SEEADLER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 26 October 1917, Page 6

WRECK OF SEEADLER

GERMANS SEIZE ANOTHER SHIP. WANDERINGS AND RAIDS. Information which Reached; Sydney " "direct from American Samoa complete a -very interesting story of the wanderings of the German raider Seeadler. Says the Daily Telegraph: It was in December of last year that the Seeadler left Germany on her cruise of piracy . She was then a three-masted ship, fore-rigged. She was well armed, carrying_ two six-inch guns, as well as rapid-firing and machine-guns. Her supplies of food and oil were on the basis- of a two-years' cruise. And away she sailed.—down the Atlantic. There she sank 13 sailing vessels and two steamers. She did considerable damage. After leaving the Atlantic she made for the coast of South America. Here she captured a French sailer, and, after cutting her masts so that she could only sail slowly, placed on board of her the 200 prisoners that had been taken off the sunken -vessels. They eventually reached Rio de Janeiro. Then the raider proceeded into the Pacific and sank a couple of American lumber boats. On Saturday, October 6, a battered ship's boat reached Pago Pago with four mea- aboard. They had sailed over a thousand miles in the little cockleshell in ten days, from a scarcely-known i island in the Society Group. They were the commander of the R. C. Slade, the second mate from the same vessel, and a seaman from the Manila. Their ships, all American schooners, had been captured by the Seeadler, and they had been taken aboard the raider. Theii story brings the. history of the raider up to date.

CAUGHT BY A GALE. Operating in the Doldrums, the Seeadler had remarkable success. She had captured at least 17 vessels, when the commander decided to put in at a small island, in the Society Group for a spelL The ship had then been cruising for something like six months. Weed and barnacles had accumulated impeding her speed. The captain chose as his resting place a small island named Moipelia, surrounded with a reef and a shallow lagoon. The ship was run into the lagoon and anchored, and then, as the tide served, careened over, and all hands' were set to work to scrape her

bottom. One day, before the cleaning - was. completed, a gale swung the ship . on to the reef. There the heavy sea caught "her. Several big rollers lifted her and dashed her down on the sharp coral reef, and her back was broken. The completion of; the destruction of the vessel was the next move. All of the ship that was above water was burned. Provisions sufficient for a

short stay were landed, and the rest destroyed. The ship's boats, after being used to carry provisions from the smashed and sunk. In her, raiding work the Seeadler had made good use of a motor-launch, arm-ed-with several machine-guns. This was carefully removed from the wreck, and in it, shortly afterwards, the captain, his first officer, and two other Germans set out to capture another vessel. Their intention was, apparently, to take the first vessel they came across, man her with the old Seeadler's crew, and recommence the raiding.

SHORTAGE OF FOOD.

Meantime the men on the island had been running short of food. They comprised 58 Germans and the crews of some of the vessels that had been captured; There - were also a number of natives on the island, who had hitherto found; consSHerable difficulty in subsisting on the ■ diet of cocoanuts and fish which was almost all the plac ehad to-offer. In fact, the owner of the island had already decided to remove them. It was that decision which led, indirectly, to the. Germans getting on the high seas once, again. Anxiety was beginning to be felt on the island concerning the launch, when one morning a French auxiliary schooner, a regular trader," called to pick up the natives. In a few minutes she was German property, the 58 Germans manned herj and leaving • her' crew 'with the others on the island, once more left in search of prey. There was little food left for the unwontedly big population of the island, so-four men depided;to make an effort to reach • more frequented shores and send help.: One of the old ship's boats from the Seeadler was found to be less damaged than the others, and after considerable patching was made seaworthy. Captain Smith ,the master of the R. C. Slade, with the second mate of the vessel and-two men, from the A. B. Johnstone and the Manila respectively, then, set out on their long voyage. They at first tried to make Tahiti, 250 miles away, but the trade winds did not serve, so they decided on the 1200-mile, run to Pago Pago. They reached Pago : Pago looking unkempt and tired. Their provisions wererunning very^lowV*

VICTIMS EST PACIFIC. - -\«.3»i*r*. The Sydney Commercial News says the Seeadler left'Xsermany in the disguise of a- Norwegian tramp carrying a, deck-load of timber. She was stopped by a destroyer and boarded, and after being searched was allowed to proceed. The captain produced the snip's articles, which showed the members of the crew to be Norwegians. Tlhey were, however, "Germans who had been selected to fit in with the description of the ship's original crew. - The names oh the articles represented only a small section of the number really aboard. The lumber cargo had been stacked, in skeleton fashion, to provide a camping place for the Germans who were to act as the raider's crew. _ Several days before the raider reached her ground the timber was tErown overboard, and the ship assumed r the appearance of an armed merchantman. Operating in the South Pacific she sank, in her early days ,a number of vessels, principally sailing ships. .The vessel then came on to the South Sea Islands, nearer Australia. The first vessel that she caught was coal-laden, and was on her way to Honolulu, with a cargo consigned to the British Consul there. That vessel was nearing her destination when the raider sighted her. She was signalled to stop, and, ,being unarmed", did.so. The crew was taken off and the provisions aboard removed, the raider's "bunkers filled and the vessel was. then".sent to the bottom. The!' raider also , sunk ; the -schooners 'Manila, -from. . Newcastle and' A. B. Johnson, and'set fire to the schooner iR.-C. .'Slade. The Manila, from Newcastle ,to Honolulu, was. stopped, and after her crew had .been taken aboard the - raider the schooner was blown up by explosives, which were put aboard her. • .; -' Y '■"

. The raider had a crew of.about sixtyfour, arid carried four oil launches, one of which had a steam radius of about 1000-miles- " The Manila's crew were witnesses to the -sinking of the other two schooners which were sighted soon after, ■ and their • crews were taken aboard and cared-for in exactly the same way as the men from the Manila.

Evidence of what appears to have keen a. deliberate attempt to burn down the Methodist Church at Stratford, wasdiscovered a few days ago? Wood ghavings were placed uncter the vestry at-,the Tear of. the church, but. as it •happened, beyond charring some planks of the floorme and •'burning the grass in .the vicinity'for a space of a yard or ; ivro the fire got no further*-