CRUISE OF THE WOLF.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14609, 20 May 1918, Page 5

CRUISE OF THE WOLF.

— ♦ CAREER IN PACIFIC OCEAN. CAPTURE OF THE WAIRUNA. MINES LAID OFF NEW ZEALAND CuAST. LONDON, "March 19. Most ot the following narrative of the capture of the Wairuna by the 1 aider Wolf was given by Mr. T. E. Rees, the second officer, who has just returned to Loj-rion by way of Norway ; by Mr. R. DHpvan, the cook, who formerly rode lor Sir William Russell's stable; and by Mrs. Agnes Mackenzie, of Wellington, the stewardess of th© Matunga. The Wairuna left Auckland for San Francisco at 11 p.m. on May 31, aim shaped the usual course across the Pacific. About 3.20 on the afternoon of Saturday, Juno 2, as she was closing with Sunday Island, the largest and most northerly of the Kermadecs, u steamer was sighted, evidently at anchor off the northern side of the island, where Mr. Bell has his homestead. She was about fou*r miles distant. The Wairuna kept on her course, and about 20 minutes later those on board saw, to their astonishment, a seaplane ris% from the water and soar towards them. The plane had no marks at all, and 1 flying low over the Wairuna. it dropped a message on her deck warning the captain that if he tried to use lus wireless ho would be "bombed. The steamer meanwhile had hoisted tho German colons and begun to move, and, the Wairuna having been stopped in obedience to orders, a boarding party came across und took possession. "I knew at once tliey were Germans when I saw the seaplane," said Mr. Rees, whose experience dates back at least as far as the Dardanelles. Having that inkling of trouble, he set to work to pick up as many as possible of the New Zealand newspapers on board, and to destroy them so as to prevent the Germans getting more information than could be nelped. Unfortunately, there were still half a dozen or so left, and they were greedily seized by the Germans, who had been out of touch with civilisation for half a year, and digested for tho benefit of the intelligence branch. ' j The Wairuna was taken in close to the island, and ordered to anchor near the raider. That night the officers and the wireless operator were taken off. The Germans were delighted to get such a. well-found and well-provided ship* Not only were there ample coal and proi visions tor the Trans-Pacific voyage, but .the cargo comprised a good many things ' they were in need! of after their long tramp at sea ; and they looked with greedy eyes at the 42 live sheep in pens on tne deck. In their long cruise, it seemed, they had been on the New Zealand coast before, and they had also ■been as far south as tho Antipodes. CARGO WORKING INTERRUPTED. On the following morning, Sunday, June 3, the sea was too rough to do much in the way of working - cargo, and both ships moved round to the leeside of the island. There they were lashed together, and commenced straightway transferring coal, fresh water, ana stores, and! 14 bags of mails— more grist for the Intelligence Department. On the 14th the captain was taken onboard the Wolf and he and the other officers transferred most of their luggage to the raider. On the sth and 6th all hands were working day and night, and the ships bumped) together very violently in the heavy swell. It was on the latter day that the sheep were transferred, and eight of them were so badly injured 1 in the operation that they had to be killed forthwith. On the 7th ihe sea) was so rough that the vessels moved round again lo the other side of it-he island 1 , and for two days no work eould be done. On the 9th they made a, complete circuit of the island, looking for calm water, but without success, and on the 10th again it was too rough to do anything. '.. "None of the prisoners," Mr. Rees sat'vl, "would volunteer to help in the transferring cargo, though it wns put to them. There Avere two Irishmen in the t*rew, 3*id the Germans tried hard to persuade^ them, telling them that Germany was the friend of Ireland, ana that the fate of Casement was an example of ; what' the- English did to Irishmen. -^Tho linglish -did not, do half enough to Casement,' was the reply. 'Tf we had had hold of hhn .we would have done much more than. England did.' "With this satisfaction the Germans left the subject alone." On the 11th it was , rough again, and on the '12th it was so liad that both vessels had to put to sea. They came back at 9 p.m. on the 14th, and, anchoring very close together, resumed work on the following morning. On the_ 16th .-all hands were taken off the Wairuna, vmd she was got ready for sinking! BOMBARDING THE WAIRUNA. The whole security of the raider being dependent on covering up her traces, great care was taken to prevent the wreckage floating away. The cabin doors were carefully nailed up, and the hatches battened • down, and the tanks and lifeboats destroyed. As the vessel was being taken out to sea a little American schooner was sighted j and the work had to be stopped to chase her with the seaplane. .She was. duly captured and a. prize crew nut en board, and she remained at sea for the night. On the morning of Sunday, June 17, the Wairuna was finally taken out to her doom, an event which all tho prisoners were allowed on deck io witnsas. At 8.30 a.m., when the Wolf was about 1000yds. off, one of the bombs was seen to explode. The only visible result was that the Wairuna sank about a foot deeper in the water, at which level she remained for fully an hour. Then .-at about 400yds the Wolf commenced the vessel amidships. The ifirst few shells had very -little effect. They struck about the ,'waterline, evidently just clearing tho engine tops. The 'Germans were poor gunners, for some of the shells even at that Hisjuance fell short, and others went clean rorar the mark. The Wairuna took a slight list, and -there was a pause in tlie firing, but her position did not seem to change. The Wolf steamed right round her, but got no satisfaction. She was apparently •very little damaged. More shots were fired at her amidships, and one brought a great mass of flame, shooting up from the engine room, but it died- down, and stfli apparently the Wairuna was seaworthy. Then, by aiming at the (bulkhead, between No 1 and No 2 &olds, the gunners set the cargo on fire. •She gradually listed over to port, burning heavily, and eventually turning over on her side, she *ank at 2.45 p.m. As she went dbwn quite a lot of wreck•age broke away from the hatches, and .oiw of the derricks also floated off. Having spent a good six hours and 16 heavy shells disposing of the Wai* Tuna, the raider turned her attention to the schooner, which had now returned. She was the Winslow, with a quantity of coal and fire bricks. ATTEMPT AT ESCAPE. The Winslow's cargo kept the Wolf occupied until June 22. "She was the first wooden victim the Wolf had caught," said Mr. Rees, "and they had a great job to sin£ her. They could only blow her to bits. They .put four foig bombs on board and set her on fir**, maid they had to fire 39 shells at her Ibefore they, could polish her off." Mr. Rees tells of what looks like a •tragedy that occurred while the Woli was working cargo at the Kermadecs. Two otf the crew of the Turritella, o victim of the earlier stages ofthe Wolf's cruise, were a New Zealander named. I think, Steers, of Port Chalmers, who was second engineer, and the chief engineer, Cleland. They had determined to make an attempt to escape, and 3lr. Reeff and! other prisoners assisted *hem. Steers' aud Cleland were, both strong swimmers, and felt confident of gaining th© jdhoTe. which was two miles off. But as tTvy were kept securely below at night if was essential they should set out of th<? snip in daylight. ' Under pretext of fishing for sharks a party of the {frisoners got a strong rope-line over the counter, and down this both men made thpr escape while the sentries were not looking. lhey

had 1 matches securely sealed in bottleß ; j and felt pretty certain they would find all the food they required on the island. But until it was dark enough to commence swimming, they had to remain hiding under tho counter of the ship. Though the Kermadecs are in a warm latitude, it was winter, and a choppy sea was running. Moreover, there were no lights on the island. Nothing was afterwards seen or heard of the two adventurers. Time may show whether either of theni reached the shore or whether their heroic endeavor ended their lives. MINES ROUND NEW ZEALAND. On finishing up at the Kermadecs, and failing in her hope of cutting oft the Niagara, tho Wolf proceeded to lay some mines between North Capo and the Three Kings, and then went right down the coast and sowed more mines in Cook Strait. On June 27, Mr. Rees and Mr. Donovan, the cook, got tlieir last glimpse ot New Zealand, for on that day the raider was in sight of Mount Cook. On July 9 another small American schooner, the Beluga, fell a victim. The captain had on board his wife — a . native of Newcastle, New South Wales — and their six-year-old daughter; and' it was a pathetic sight to those already close captives to see the little girl, standing on the afterdeck, waving her handkerchief as the strange steamer approached. It was about a month later than the Burns-Philp steamer Matunga was captured off Rabaul and carried off to an island near New Guinea, where the cargo was ransacked and the Wolf replenished. "It was terrible to see her being sunk," said Mrs Mackenzie, the stewardess. "She. was our only home, and j felt like jumping overboard to get to her." TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. Mrs. Mackenzie^, who comes from Wellington, protested vigorously to the German commander against women being made prisoners. There were now a dozen of them on the Wolf. But ho replied that women were making munitions; and, therefore, their capture was quite legitimate. It had been thought possible that, owing to the American captain having his wife and child on board he might release the schooner Beluga, but the whole keynote of raiding success is to leave no traces. Hence all the ships were destroyed, and tlieir crews taken away to Germany. Mr. Rees served in a transport which took Australian artillery to the landing at Anzac. He was afterwards in the New Zealand meat liner Ashburton when she was torpedoed, and his account of his experiences on that occasion appeared in the very copies of th© New Zealand Herald which were found by the Germans on the Wairuna. It was duly underlined in red and shown to him by the German commander, who particularly wished to know what "barbarians" were. Of the six montlis spent in the Wolf he was most of the time in the hold, with 162 other captives. The food was so bad that he was over and over again sent to .hospital, and photographs of some of the prisoners show brawny giants reduced to thin, haggard skeletons. Mr. R-ees pleaded that if he were kept under such conditions he must inevitably die, and asked that the should be transferred to the Igotz Mendi. The commander knew that he. had been keeping a dairy, • and replied significantly that he knew too much to be let oiit of the Wolf. However, , he gpt so bad that he was at length transferred with the women and some others to the Spanish steamer. Hero the change ot food and! the fine, wholesome bread, baked . by Donovan, worked a great change, and he gradually recovered strength. — Auckland Herald correspondent.