HIDE & SEEK IN THE PACIFIC

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2376, 4 February 1915, Page 7

HIDE & SEEK IN THE PACIFIC

; WARSHIP'S 14,000 MILES. (Ail officer in the Sydney gives the .following account of her work . l in the! Pacific up to, her meeting with the Emden.) ' We were off Townsville on the Queens ; land coast by ourselves when the first ! rumour of war came through. We coaled- ship, two destroyers joined us, , and we proceeded to Thursday Island, . where we captured an oil steamer and ; one other. We left nest day to join > up with the Australia and another de--1 stroyer and then proceeded in search* ' of the German squadron. Before meeting the Australia the, Sydney's wireless . telegraphy messages were being intercepted by the German flagship. After , we had rendezvoused we proceeded in t company to Raboul, capital of German New Guinea. The Sydney and the de- ■ stroyers made a night attack on the • harbour,- which fortunately was not mini ed. W© misee'd the Germans by a-few • hours. The destroyers' engine-rooms • in this attack were under closed hatches and the vents removed. The temperature rose to 154deg. F., so the engineers kept their watch under a shower- ! bath. We destroj'ed their wireless Bta- ; tion as far as possible. '' ; Next month was occupied in searching, the countless islands of the Pacific and escorting our expeditionary force to iake possession. We delivered another nightattack as before, swept tlie place' • for mines, and landed troops. The Sydney landed and hoisted a British nag • at Herbertsholie. The i troops formally - took possession of Kaboul, the capital, > four days later. We suffered a few 1 casualties, but captured the wireless station. . After guarding the place'from a sea attack for a few days we continued our search of -the Pacific. So great is - the immensity of the Pacific that' searching' for the Germans is like looking for a ueedle in a haystack. You" encounter i countless unchartcd littlo harbours and ■ groups and groups of islands with s landlocked bays. It would take more coal than wo could carry properly to [ search each group singly. T-ho Sydney j conducted most of the searches alone." ( Our run was_ 1730 miles each way between New Guinea, and Yokohama. Wo pickcd up German wireless fiery' close, but except for a few puffs.of mysterious looking smoko disappearing -round some small islands we saw-nothing of the enemy. Wo next heard of them; bombarding p Tahiti. About this time we,'were operj ating with others and it became neces--1 sary to shift our baso further south. It was from this baßo that we, got orders r to join up with the convoy and to es- . cort them on their way. We- have run 5 roughly about 14,000 miles since the war started, and have been through ■ enough engine-room .experiences for ' quite a dojwn figlitsi It is difficult to understand what an I imriionse fiold for.hide and seek the Par cific is. By Jove, I'd like to meet ,tho Emden! The Emden's commander : sebms to ho of rather a sporting disposi- » tion, and from all accounts treats the officers ami men hfe captures very det cently. i i.