Page image

A.—l

14

German. I then spoke to Captain Fritze about the order to shift the ' Eichmond 'to the German harbour. He asked me when we thought of getting away. I replied that it depended upon him, as he had, so far, delayed our operations. I also said that we had intended getting away on Sunday, the 2£)th, but that I did not know now when we would get away, as the traders and consignees had refused to take goods if they were to be searched. He said, ' Oh, very well; never mind the shifting of the vessel,' adding that he would keep an armed guard over us all the time we remained in port. The navigating lieutenant of the American man-of-war ' Nipsic ' pulled alongside at this time, and told me that Moors could now take the lighter that was fastened astern of the ' Eichmond' and land the goods contained in it at his own wharf, as they had arranged with the German authorities for him to do so. Shortly afterwards Moors came and took his lighter aw Tay. It is our usual custom, if we have a Sunday at Samoa, to allow the firemen and crew to go ashore to bathe and wash their clothes, as it is the only place where they can get fresh water. Accordingly, on Sunday morning, the 20th January, the men asked leave to take a boat for this purpose. Leave having been given, they set out from the ' Eichmond,' but were intercepted by the German guard-boat. They came back to the ' Eichmond,' and reported that the officer in charge of the guard-boat had refused to allow them to land anywhere except at the German wharf, which was three miles from the bath-ing-place, thus necessitating their proceeding through the town barefooted as they were. They therefore asked me to take measures to obtain the permission that they desired. I then dressed and proceeded to H.M.S. ' Eoyalist,' taking with me a saloon passenger (Mr. Darey), who wished to go on board the ' Nipsic,' where I accordingly left him. The German, guard-boat gave chase to us right up to the ' Nipsic's ' quarter; then she returned, and I went on to the 'Eoyalist.' I interviewed the captain of the ' Eoyalist' and- laid before him the complaint of my crew. He informed me that it was a matter for the British Consul, and that therefore I would have to apply to the Consul before he could take any action. I returned to the ' Eichmond,' and after lunch I went ashore and saw the British Consul. The Consul, having heard my complaint, asked me to put it in writing, which I did later in the afternoon, and forwarded it to him on the following day (Monday). At 6 a.m. on Monday, the 21st January, a German officer, fully armed, arrived with an armed boat's crew, and told me he had orders from his captain to arrest one of our passengers. I asked him if he had a verbal or a written order. He produced a warrant, drawn up in German and in English, which he handed to me. On reading it I saw that it was signed by the captain of the 'Adler,'but that the name of the passenger to be arrested had not been filled in. I called the officer's attention to this omission, and he said that he had a man with him who could identify the passenger who was to be arrested. Mr. Darcy was in the saloon, and I asked if he were the passenger that was wanted. The officer looked at him and said, ' No, it is not.' I remarked that Mr. Darcy was the only passenger whom I knew to be on board at that time. The officer then said that I would have to produce all the passengers whose names appeared on the passenger-list. I told him I had no authority over the passengers while in port, and that if he wanted any of them he would have to search for them. This he then proceeded to do. One of the German crew, looking through a port-hole, saw Mr. Gelling (another of our passengers) in the bath-room, and called out to the officer that he was there. Mr. Edenborough then went down to Mr. Gelling, and told him the Germans required his presence on deck. I immediately wrote a note to the captain of the ' Eoyalist,' and also one to the British Consul, stating what the Germans were doing, and asking for assistance. Mr. Edenborough took away the letter addressed to the captain of the ' Eoyalist,' and the third mate (Mr. Bayliss) took the letter addressed to the British Consul, whom he chanced to meet on his way to the ' Eoyalist.' In the meantime the Germans had arrested and taken Mr. Gelling away, but not before I had protested against their removing a British subject from a British vessel without any instructions from the British Consul. In answer to this protest the German officer merely said that he was obeying orders. In answer to my letter the captain of the ' Eoyalist' sent one of his lieutenants on board the ' Eichmond,'with orders to prevent the Germans from interfering further, and, if they did so, to signal for a boat's crew to come from the ' Eoyalist.' Mr. Gelling wrote me a letter from the ' Adler,' requesting me to send all his luggage on board that vessel, and I did so. Mr. Gelling had been taken away from the ' Eichmond ' about 6.15 a.m., and at about 12 noon he returned in a German boat from the ' Adler,' saying that he had been tried by court-martial and found guilty of a breach of military law, and that the German Consul had told him he had fully intended sending him to Sydney. About 3 o'clock p.m. the captain of the ' Eoyalist' came on board the ' Eichmond ' and asked if Mr. Gelling had been returned, and I told him he hail. Captain Hand (the captain of the 'Eoyalist') told me that he had informed the captain of the ' Adler ' that he regarded the arrest of this passenger as an act of hostility, and tantamount to a declaration of war against Great Britain ; also that he had seen the German Consul, and had shown him that the German authorities, in their action, were entirely in the wrong, and that eventually he had obtained a promise that no further outrage should be committed. The captain of the ' Eoyalist' then left, taking his lieutenant away with him. During this day our cargo was being landed at the German wharf, and being searched there, and stored in the German warehouse. Up till the time we left Samoa on the following day—Tuesday, the 22nd January—very few of the traders or consignees had got any of the goods. On Monday, the 21st January, I noted a protest against the action of the German authorities, and lodged it with the British Consul. The following is a copy of it: — "' Note of protest against the German Consul and Authorities in Apia, Samoa. " ' P.m., 21sfc January, 1889, Apia, Samoa. "' I hereby notify that, while in this port, the German Consul issued a Proclamation, on the 19th January, stating Sa'moa was in a state for war, and claiming the right to search niy vessel and cargo for munitions of war. That I received the notice at 1.30 a.m. of the 19th January, ordering me not to land any goods unless at the German wharf. That several of the consignees of the cargo refused to have it landed there, .and, on the German armed boat insisting on doing so, absolutely refused to accept delivery and threw the cargo back on my hands, refusing to pay for it. I have now been detained since my notified time of departure, 11a.m. of the 20th instant, until G p.m. of the 21st

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert