FATE OF THE SEE ADLER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17132, 11 October 1917, Page 5

FATE OF THE SEE ADLER

DRAMATIC CAPTURE OF ' CREW. A DARING- BLUFF THAT SUCCEEDED. CHAGRIN OF THE COMMANDER. (Pkk United Press Association.) i- AUCKLAND, October 10. ir Tho following from the Herald's Suva t ( correspondent lias been passed by the censor - 3 for publication: — 3- Friday, September 21, was a day of ins. tenso excitement in Suva. Early in tho 5 t morning a startling messago. camo through that tha steamer Amra was expected to arrive in port that evening with a dctaoh-' ment of German pnsonors. They were members of tho crow of the Gorman raider Seo Adlcr, which, it is stated, was burned at sea. The first intimation of tho arrival of theso unwelcome visitors to Fiji was given by a halfcasto named Macpherson, at r Levuka. Ho said thcro was a strange boat ■■ with six Europeans in_ it at' Waikava, a small island between Viti Lovu and Vanua Levu. The natives, it was stated, became alarmed becauso these strangers would not talk, and were armed. It was decided to • investigate tho matter, and a cutter waa despatched from Levuka, with Sub-inspector °. H. C. Hills, of the Fijian constabulary, and 1_ six Fijian polico. Fortunately for this little party, a galo blew up and forced them back g to port. That night the Amra, with Capie tain Day in charge, arrived at Levuka, and h proceeded to Waikava. There they found 11 a 22ft boat, with a cutter in tow, which, jj when the Amra was sighted, immediately a put off for a. break in tho reof. Captain Day, who was determined not to lcee his quarry, lowered a boat, and Sub-mspector Hills, Inspector Howard, and six Fijians gave chase. Their only weapons wero a colt's revolver and an automatic pistol. Fortunately, tho bluff that was being maintained proved so successful that tho occupants of the cutter did not show fight, although all wero fully armed, and they surrendered after a short consultation. Tho !- prisoners suggested that, as thore was a n motor in their boat, they should tow their captors, but tho offer was rejected, and tho d. Germans wero ordered into tho British , r boat. One German was left in tho cutter to work the engine. Tho cutter carried a machino gun, 15 bombs, and a, largo quantity of ammunition. The British officers occupied the captured boat, and towed their prisoners to Amra. Count von Luckner, commander of tho Seo Adlcr, naturally was anxious to know tho strength of their captors, and _ when it was told him that the guns ho imagined ho saw wore morely cattle pens covered with canvas, and that the crew's sole dofence were a revolver and a pistol, his faco was a study. After having been, as ho asserts, wounded in the battle of Jutland, and ;. having command of a vessel that, accord--0 ing to his story, had tho proud distinction of having sunk 23 boats in the _Atlantic, it , was indeed an indignity for hkn to have 'j surrendered to such bluff. The See Adlcr's mission in tho Pacific ,° is stated to have been tho capture of grain j- boati and saltpetre, but von Luekner stated it th,at ho had no luek. He says that he took •- no lives and did not fink any =teamors. i- Tho logs of many destroyed vessels wero n en tho raptured boat. All the men got c away from the burning Seo Arller. but von Luckncr will not say where thoy had intended to go. except 'that they exported to obtain possession of a schooner leaving Fip ;s for America and convert her into another c pirate.