LOSS OF THE "VICTOR."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15830, 29 January 1915, Page 6

LOSS OF THE "VICTOR."

NAVAL OFFICERS PERISH.

London, January 27. Twenty-two naval officers perished aboard the Viknor.

The cable above apparently refers to the loss of the British armed merchantman, off the north coast of Ireland, previously described as the Victor. The ship struck a mine and foundered in a gale.

SOUTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.

GERMANS AND REBELS.

CAPTAIN KNYVETTS WORK.

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY. [BT TELEGEAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] IsvEKCVBGDii.i Thursday. Writing to his parents?- Mr. and Mrs. R. Tenant, of Invercargill, Sergeant Hugh Tenant, of the Natal Light Horse, gives an interesting- account of operations against the Germans and rebels in South Africa. He especially mentions Captain Knyvett, late of Auckland. He says:— "After two or three days' respite at. Upington it became known that Maritz, with a large force of rebels and Germans, was at the neighbouring settlement on the range, viz., Kecimos. We .ssayed towards Kecimos and gave battle, defeating him absolutely. . . . We captured a number of prisoners and two Maxims, and also'a German -count. The enemy fled to Kakamas, nearer the German border, with our forces close at heel. They made a very poor stand at Kakamas, " abandoning stores, meals already cooking, ammunition waggons, and a large quantity of ready-pitched tents and marquees. "Captain Knyvett, a New Zealander, one of the' pluckiest men I ever met, followed up the enemy towards Schuitsdrift. This is the only accessible drift across the Orange River in some hundreds of miles of frontier, and is supposed to be strongly fortified and sheltering vast stores of cannon and munitions intended for the aid of a rebellion- - Captain Knyvett eventually found he had got right into the heart of the enemy's forces. Pluckily attacking, he succeeded in convincing the Germans and rebels that his was a large force, or the advance guard of a column, as eleven Germans had been killed and many wounded. The enemy asked for an armistice to bury their dead. While the armistice was in progress Captain Knyvett extricated himself, losing only one man. The Germans and rebels continued their flight, and by the following day not a single one of them remained in our borders.

"A large number of rebels surrendered —about 900 in all. A large number of these were dupes of Maritz, having simply been called out by the Government, thinking they were to fight the Germans, but ■were made by their traitorous leader to turn on the Government."