SEA-RAIDER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9632, 12 April 1917, Page 6

SEA-RAIDER

THE SECOND MOEWE NEW STOFJES OF HEE OPERATIONS. New stories of the German sea raider the second Moewe —and of the Liverpool vessels she has sunk are recounted in a message from Copenhagen, appearing in a Liverpool paper. The crew of the Norwegian steamer Pallbjoerb, which was stopped on her voyage from America to France by the new Moewo and sunk, were taken first on board the German privateer, then the captured British (Glasgow) steamer Yarrowdale. Tlrey state that the raider is a “large steamer.” She came towards them suddenly, and when a few yards away let down her bulwarks, disclosing four large cannons. Thirty naval officers and sailors then boarded the Pallbjoerb and ordered the crew to transfer to their vessel. The Germans seized 500 boxes of food, and then sank the ship by firing eleven shots into her. The captain protested, saying that his ship did not carry contraband, but the German officers declared that they disregarded the contraband regulations. On board the Moewe was the crew of 03 from the British steamer Voltaire. On December Gth a Newfoundland trawler was stopped and sunk while on a journey to Gibraltar with fish, six men being taken on board the Moewe.

LINER 1 SHELLED. Tho same evening He C.P.R. liner Mount Temple, with a cargo of 750 horses and 5000 tons of merchandise, was stopped by Seven shots. The steward and one sailor were killed, and another sailor had both his legs smashed. Tho crew, numbering 107, were taken on board. The next day a wounded British stoker died and was buried at sea, bis body being wrapped in a German flag. The Mount Temple was finally sunk by bombs, the horses howling and struggling for life in tho icy water. On December Bth the London steamer King George, with a cargo of merchandise, was sunk. On December 9th the steamer Cambrian Range, of Liverpool, was stoped and„ shared the same fate, thirty-eight men being saved. HUNDRED OF HORSES SWIMMING. In the evening of December 10th, the large White Star liner Georglc, having on board 1200 horses, was brought to a halt by shots. Great panic prevailed on board, and fifty of the men jumped into the water without their clothes on, hut only one of them was drowned. The vessel was then blown up by bombs. Hundreds of horses, swimming towards the Moewe, made desperate efforts to clamber on board, but the German sailors shot them as they reached the ship. Host of the British sailors were without clothes, and suffered dreadfully from the cold. - Before the Georgic was blown up. the four bells of the ship were tolled like the church hells at a funeral. On December 11th the British steamer Yarrowdale was encountered. As there were already 500 men on hoard the Moewe, the captain decided that his latest capture must go to Germany with his prisoners. In the meantime a violent storm sprang up, and it, became impossible to hoard tho Yarrowdale, which was ordered to follow the Moewe. The next day the London steamer St Theodore was stopped, and on December 13th it became possible to transfer the prize crew and 500 prisoners to the Yarrowdale. The work of transport lasted from nine in the morning till five in the evening. The weather was fine, hut there was a violent sea. with the result that several sailors fell into the water. All were saved, however. SUBMARINE' WIRELESS.

Tho St. Theodore was ordered to follow the Moewe westwards, while the Yarrowdale was commanded to proceed southwards. The following day the Germans on board lowered a wire rope apparatus over He ship's side. It ms a submarine wireless transmitter, and the whole day the Yarrowdale was in communication with the Moewe. The Yarrowdale at lost got the order to go northward, after which the wireless instruments were again taken on board. The ship then made for the South Coast of Iceland. Norway, the Kattegat, etc. ~, . , Captain Anderson, of the Pallbjoerb, is told that the British sailors who are now in German prison camps are in good spirits. From morning to night they -ring “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary’’ and other songs. TRICKING THE SWEDES.

In an interview Captain Aderson, of tho Pallbjoerb, said that when the Yarrowdale was approaching the Norwegian coast near Trondhjem the captain asked that he and his men should be allowed to leave the ship as they could reach the Norwegian coast in three hours’ time. The request was refused. Having passed slowly through tho Skagerrack and the Kattegat, the Yarrowdale was compelled by the storm to anchor near Hvsen Island, whero a German patrol ship appeared. As previously reported, it was at this spot that two British sailors attempted to escape, but they were discovered by the Germans. They offered violent resistance, and bit and scratched the enemy. The next day the Yarrowdale anchored in Swedish waters, in the Southern Sound. A few minutes later a Swedish destroyer appeared, and tee 500 men were commanded to go below an the cabins and hold. The Swedish officer demanded that the ship should leave Swedish waters, but the Germans, who had dressed in civilian clothes, said that the steamer was merely a coaling vessel. The Swedish officer came on 'board, but failed to find anything suspicious. Ho walked up .and down tho deck for some minutes with the German captain, who was calmly smoking his pipe, and a few moments later he disappeared. While the officer was on board the Germans stood with their revolvers levelled against the prisoners in the hold. Some hours later the Yarrowdale continued. her voyage. Sho passed two German cruisers in the Sound, and on January Ist arrived at Swincmuende PRISONERS’ LOT.

The prisoners were not allowed to leave the vessel, however, before January 3rd. On January sth the 500 prisoners were taken southwards. For food they were only given soup, which was bad and uneatable, a few slices of potato bread, and no water. At 9-30 p.m. they arrived at Neustrelitz, and were accompanied by a battalion of German soldiers to a prison camp, which was surrounded bv barbed wire. They were quartered in the big barracks. It was bitterly cold, anil the mattresses served out to them ware so wet and dirty that they preferred to sleep on the cold floor. The next morning they were benumbed with cold and famished with hunger. As for tho meals here. Captain Anderson merely 'says they were _ what one would expect in a German prison camp. After - great efforts Captain Anderson succeeded in obtaining an interview with the German chief. Un January 97th the neutral sailors left the camp, and before leaving the captain wrote the addresses of the British sailors and captains in his diary in order that he might be able to inform their families of their fate. These addresses were, however, confiscated at the frontier.