CONVICT PIRATES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16875, 28 October 1922, Page 9

CONVICT PIRATES.

THRILLING SEA DRAMA. CAPTURE OF A SCHOONER. By Tele»rapta—Pr»M A»*ociittion—Copyrifto* " The Times ” Servian. (Received October 28. 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, October 26. _ A thrilling sea drama was enacted on the motor schooner Bertha, which plies from Hamburg to Sweden. When lying at Cuxhaven awaiting tho tide, she was stormed by four pirates from a boat. They scrambled aboard, shot and wounded the captain, and drove the crew into the hold. Tho pirates took possession of the ship, locked th& captain in his cabin, and at the point of the revolver, ordered one of the crew to navigate the ves eel to Denmark. The pirates then ran sacked the ship, dressed themselves in 1 seamen's clothes, and stole all the money and valuables on the ship. 1 They voyaged all night long, but the c steersman lost himself and instead of sailing to the north he went west. a Daybreak found the ship aground at t the mouth of the .Tahde, where she sprang a leak and began to sink. _ The captain broke out of his cabin, lowered the boat and released the crew. They all put off. leaving the pirates * clinging to the masts as the Bertha 1 foundered. The pirates were still above * water and fired revolvers at the boat, J which reached the lighthouse, where the captain received medical at- t tention. y In the meanwhile, a steamer sighted the pirates, mistook them for shipwrecked mariners, and rescued them, and as it passed the lighthouse, notified the rescue. The keeper replied, telling the skipper that he had rescued pirates. The keeper also warned the naval authorities and a torpedo boat appeared and took the pirates prisoner The pirates were landed at Wil helmshaven, where infuriated seamen attempted to lynch them. Hie pirates were recognised as con- 1 victs who had escaped from the Ham- i burg Gaol. 1 ■ ■ ■ ■■ f