HAVOC IN LAST WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 30 November 1940, Page 2

HAVOC IN LAST WAR

WOLF, MOEWE AND SEEADLER German raiders wreaked havoc among shipping in Australian and New Zealand waters during the last war. Perhaps the most famous, the Wolf, laid mines off Cape Howe, on the New South Wales coast, half-way between Sydney and Melbourne, in 1917. The freighter Cumberland was beached in sinking condition after striking one of these in July that year, while a Japanese cruiser which had heard her distress call stood by. The mishap was at first ascribed to Communist activity, but months later some of the Wolf's mines drifted ashore. LOST BY MINES Other ships were lost by mines sown in the Tasman Sea. The Port Kembla and the Wimmera went down off the New Zealand coast and the Undola and the Hands Isle off the Australian coast. On 6th August, 1917, the Wolf captured the steamer Matunga near Rabaul. The unguarded use of the latter’s transmitter betrayed her whereabouts. Although formerly only a cargo steamer, of 6000 tons, the Wolf was as heavily armed as a light cruiser. She was at sea continuously from November, 1916. until February. 1918. when she returned to Germany with 400 prisoners and a valuable cargo. During the cruise she was commanded by a naval officer. Captain Nerger. VON LUCKNER More closely associated with this country through her commander. Count Felix Von Luckner, was the Seeadler. She entered the Pacific round Cape Horn, but did not come near New Zealand, confining her operations to the middle Pacific. Von Luckner's arrest by Police-Officer Hills, who is at present resident in Auckland, his internment on Motuihi and subsequent escape and recapture, were recalled when Von Luckner visited Auckland in his yacht Seeteufel last year. A third German raider during the last war was the Moewe, a vessel of 4003 tons, which twice escaped the British blockade and sank 50 ships before the war ended.