CAPTURED BY GERMANS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 203, 1 October 1914, Page 7

CAPTURED BY GERMANS.

SOTJTHPOBT BEACHES BRISBANE, j .ENGINES CRIPPLED AND COAL , REMOVED. j (Received October 1, 10,00 a.m.) ■ BBISBANE, October 1. The steamer Southport reached port yesterday, after having been eaptured by the Germans. "While lying at the island of Kusale, in the Solomon Group, on' August 14, the [ eiuiser Geier arrived - and seized the ship. The flag was hauled 'down, and the German flag hoisted. The crew were rot molested, but portions-of the machinery and the vessel's-coal were relieved, to prevent her from putting to sea. On September 7 the Geier 4eft hurriedly, and the Southport's • engineers *et to work and managed to fix up the engines, to be able to produce a slow speed. They secured a supply of native loud, and departed on the night of September 18, with lights out. '' They had an anxious time on board with the crippled engines, but slowly completed the voyage to"Brisbane. [The Southport is classed in "Lloyd's Register" ns a steel screw steamer, 3215 tons register, gross tonnage 3588. She was built in 1900 by Richardson, Duck and Co., of Stockport, England, for the Lewis Trading -Company, with Cardiff as her port of register. According to the Shipping List, she was due to leave Auckland on June 22 last for New Caledonia and Rotterdam. The German cruiser Geier is only mentioned in a footnotein the "Naval Annual, "amongst a number of small cruisers and river gunboats intended for service in the China Seas. She was built between 1892 and 1894,\and is, therefore, probably classed as obsolete. Her tonnage is about 1620 r but her armament is not mentioned.j