CAPTURED AT SEA

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2340, 23 December 1914, Page 6

CAPTURED AT SEA

IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS NEW ZEALANDER'S LIVELY EXPERIENCE Few of those who have travelled at sea during the past few months havo had tho exciting and varied experience which befel Mr. J. Clegg, and his Wards, the Misses M'Nicoll, of Duncsdin, who arrived back in Now Zealand by tho Moeraki yesterday. Since the end of July thoy have been trying to get back to the Dominion, and it was not without experiencing peculiar emotions that they approached the coast of New Zealand early yesterday morning. From London they travelled in July in Paris, thence to Nice and Genoa, across to Barcelona (ift Spain), thence to Rio de Janeiro, then an interrupted trip across to New York (owing to being captured by the German armed merchantman Kron Prinz Wilhelm), several days on that vessel, several more on a German collier, back again to Rio, thenco to New York, and so to San Francisco and Sydney. The most thrilling experience they had was naturally the capture in midAtlaiutic, but troubles preceded that adventure. On the Continent. Let Miss M'Nicoll toll the story in her own language. ' ' ■ "We left England at the end of July and travelled via Paris and Toulon to Nice. The train became' more packed every time we stopped at a station, until we were nearly ' suffocated and nur limbs ached. We were without food for two whole days, and the conditions were simply awful. We had only been in Italy a few hours when we got the news that England had declared war. We expected that Italy would join with England, and the Italian people thought so too. We were in a great fix by this time, for we had lost a lot of our luggage. We found that the_ Orient liner which we were to have joined was cutting out all ports of call in the Mediterranean, and we did not know what to do. We got to Genoa _ at 11 o'clock at night, and were advised to catch a steamer that was going to Barcelona, as that was a a neutral port, and everyone was expecting that Italy would be drawn into the war. We went —satisfied to get third-class accommodation. There w© were advised that our best way of getting home was to go to Rio by tho same steamer, and we did this.

Captured by Cormans. "We made the trip across the Atlantic in safety, and after being four days in Rio we secured passages in a British tramp steamer, the Indian Prince, which was going to New York with a cargo of cocoa, rosewood, and rubber to the value of about £150,000. She had no wireless. There were only two other passengers—both Americans of German descont. We had been out a day from Pernambuco when about 9 o'clock on a moonlight night we saw a large four-funnelled steamer coming towards us. There, was great speculation on board as to what she might bo, and we signalled a question and got back the answer, "We are Scotch 1" Wo soon found that it was the German armed merchantman the Kron Prinz Wiihelm. Tlie British warship Sussex, it appears, was on her tracks, and that was why she did not want to bail us up there and then. She kept sight of us, however, and the next day she ranged up and an officer called out through .a mogaphono, "You are under arrest, and we order you to steer south-south-east, and wo will follow you." Next morning at about 6 o'clock we were ordered to stop, and several officers from the German vessel with an armed'party came on board, examined our papers, and made a general inspection. . They told us in perfect English not to be frightened, as they meant no harm, and would probably take us off in a fow days. For days we steamed_ on in front of them, getting our steering directions through the megaphone from time to time. The German ship was some distance behind, so on the second night our captain ran up i mast-head light and side lights, thinking his action would not bo noticed and that the lights would be seen by a British warship. He also dropped a barrel overboard containing a note explaining 'our capture and position. I don't know whether the Germans knew about the barrel, but the lights brought them up at top speed, and wo heard the angry command, "Put all lights out immediately or we'll sink youl" Out went the lights. War Is War. "On September 18 all on board 1 the Indian Prince were transferred to .tho German ship, and as we went on board the captain of the latter, an exceeding*' ly polite young man, with hair prematurely white (as he told us) from the anxiety he was undergoing, said to us— 'I am sorry to give you- this trouble, but war is war, you know. It is your turn to be made prisoners now; it may be ours next if nothing worse befalls us.' - I must tell you that we received every consideration and were given first-class accommodation, but were only permitted to use part of the ship, being continually watched by two men with drawn cutlasses. After they took us and our belongings off the Indian Prince, they ransacked her and then opened her sea-cocks. At the end of four hours the tramp was still rolling about so they put some bombs into her and blew her up. She went down with all her valuable cargo. We had the best of food to eat ,and good attendance. We were in total darkness every night, and everyone on board was 'nervy,' though the greate6t courtesy was always shown us. We played cards and chess with the officers, and every afternoon the ship's band used to play. They often got wireless messages about the war and used to translate them for us.' Ono' I romomber, stated that Paris was iii flames, another that London was bein<* attacked, and another that peace was being sued for. These were not very cheering for us. The}" practised shooting every day." Coals In the Saloon. "We were eight days on the Kron Prinz Wiihelm. On the fourth day we received a great fright. The wireless operator reported that the German armed merchantman Cap Trafalgar and the British armed merchantman Carmania were fighting less than 40 miles away. Our ship was at once put at full speed to help the Cap Trafalgar, and wo were locked up down below. Howover, the Carmania sunk the German, and our ship decided not to fight. She thought that the Carmania might repeat the performance, I suppose. Some of the wireless messages aroused hopes and fears with us. A British cruiser would be reported 150 miles off, then 100 miles, and once we wero within 50 miles of one. A big collier joined the merchantman in mid-Atlantic, and con! was taken in by the stewards and stackin the saloon, the cabins, and even in the beautiful music room. The ship, you know, was a 19,000 tonner, and it was sad to see all the fine fittings despoiled. We were eventually transferred to one of these colliers and taken back to Rio, the officers of tho Kron Prinz AVilholm shaking hands with us, and hoping that we would get home safely. The wish was mutual. Wc waved fnrowells until we were out of sight. Wc were well treated on the collier, and the captain, who entertained us at afternoon tea, said' that Knglnml must been preparing foi the war for a lorut tiwo, as she had

everything so well arranged. We arrived at Rio liaTboUp on a foggy morning, and as we were entering a British cruiser left, just missing us in the fog. Wo left again for Now York by tho Tennyson, and had another narrow escape. We passed within 20 miles of the Karlsruhe, but our wireless operator, an Austrian, did not tell the captain. We put him ashore at Barbadoes. Eventually we got to New York, crossed to San Francisco, and came over to Australia in the Ventura." ■ Mr. Clegg and tho Misses M'Nicoll left for the south last evening.