ITALIAN SHIPPING RETURN.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16162, 16 March 1918, Page 10

ITALIAN SHIPPING RETURN.

(Auttralian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Renter's Telegrams.) LONDON. March 14. An Italian official mo?sage gives tho ' folowing shipping statistics: — Arrivals ... ... ... 430 Departures ... ... 391 ■Sunk— Over 1500 tons ... ... - Under 1500 tons ... ... 1 1 Unsuccessfully attacked ... 1 / 1 r THE OCEAN RAIDER. THE MATUNGA'S EXPERIENCES. (Australian and Oab'e Association.) (Received March ltflh, 1-30 a.m.) LONDON, March 14. Tho Australian Press Association agent interviewed Colonel Strangman (Chief of the Medical Service at Rabaul), and Major Flood, of the Australian tropical forces, who was returning from leave. They said that Capniii Donaldson, the Matunga s niastci, ;:t iir-t thought that the "Wolf was a Japanese tramp. "When she was sighted she was running the same course as the Matunga, one and a half miles to .starbnard. but she suddenly turned eastward across the Matunga's bows .until she was half a mile away, when the dropped a portion of her bulwarks exposing gun muzzles. j Captain Donaldson then realised that the Wolf was a raider, and threw overboard his codo.book manifests, and offi- j rial, papers. A prize crew was boarding tiio Matunga live minutes after tho j -\\oit iiad fired her warning shot, getting out a steam launch with remarkable despatch. . •Wu had a compass,"' said Major l'looci, "and therefore by means of rough charts were able to follow tho AVoll's subsequent course. She steamed north for two days up tho east coast of New Ireland, Tflitil she reached •the equator. She then sailed westward for four days until she reached a beautiful perfectly land-locked harbour in Dutch New Guinea. Hie sclcction of the harbour must have been planned in advance. It had nifrrow entrance, a quarter of a mile wide, and there was a good anchorage, hills entirely screening the view. "Commander Ncrger, of the Wolf, placed launches at tho harbour entrance, and erected Sl wireless plant and a signalling station, on the seaward tide of a hill. A scoured the whole neighbouthood on sea and land for a distance of 100 miles. "We remained there for twelve days while the W r olf took in foodstuffs and coal from the Matunga. The Wolf's crcw meantime scraped the . ship's bottom, repaired engines, and repainted the vessel in foi the continuation of her voyage. They completed arrangements for sinking the Matunga, and placed bombs so that she sank stern first-. "The Wolf then followed a zig-zag courso tp cast of Singapore, where she lowered her remaining mines. "An officer bragged that a seaplane flew over Sydney harbour early in tho morning and know the disposition, of the shipping there. Ho also, stated earlier that mines were dropped _ off Cape Town, '-Bombay, and Colombo. "The Wolf passed several steamers who had no suspicion of the raider, and ■then kept close to the coast and proceeded east, then south, past Balli and tho Lombok Straits, and entered the Indian Ocean. > Siie then steamed in a westerly direction, and subsequently north, until she was able to piclc up wireless messages from Berlin and Constantinople. Wc spent a fortnight in tho Indian Ocean, a seaplane constantly scouting. "The day before the Hitachi Maru was seized the Wolf's officers were bragging that they wore about to secure a big prize. They showed Colonel Strangman a wireless message stating that the Hitachi Maru would arrive at Colombo tho next day. A seaplane , went out and confirmed the wireless messages, and reporteththat a vessel of 6000 tons -was nearby. "The Wolf then altered her course, and soon sighted the _ Hitachi Maru. She fired twice across her bows, while a seaplane was hovering overhead with bombs to drop on the Hitachi Maru. . The Wolf's officers subsequently declared that they had photographs proving that Japanese gun crews were making ready tp fire. The Germans fired at the wireless room."