A WAR TROPHY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2455, 7 May 1915, Page 7

A WAR TROPHY

TURKISH PONTOON FROM THE ' CANAL. | If anything were needed to prove the thoroughhess with which Germany is equipping the forces allied to her in the present war one need not go any further than the Harbour Board's Shed No. 3, at the foot of the King's Wharf, and' inspect the iron boat or pontoon which was secured in the Suez Canal after- the_ New Zealanders' scrap with the Turkish forces near Ismailia a ample of months ago. Pontoon hardly describes the boat sent to the Minister of Defence, as wo regard a pontoon more or less as a punt, whereas this is a properly - shaped galvanised iron boat about 24ft. in length and sft. in j>eam —the type of boat used for rapid bridge-making by the German engineers. The boat is perfectly made, all the sheets of iron being closely riveted and the boat being stiffened by thirteen light angle-iron ribs. Inside the gunwales are twisted hooks .at regular intervals. used to last the bridge planks to. The boat has a sharp bow and stern, and a flat bottom protected by four wooden runners the full length of the _flat_bottom, and from the look of them it is surmised that the boats were dragged across the burning sands of the Canal zone on theso runners or others nailed to them. There are tholepin holes forward and aft. but no thwarts. A light wooden fender traverses each side of the boat. There can be no doubt that these boats were brought to the Canal for pontoon-bridge building, and if tho troops which brought them over hundreds of miles of arid territory were as well equipped as the pontoon indicates the wonder is that they were so easily Tepulsed. That the fighting was severe is shown by this queer shot-torn craft". The writer counted up to fifty shot holes, including two huge gaps evidently torn in her sides by shrapnel, and then gave up the task. She is simply riddled from stem to stern, and even the wall of the locker at tho stern end has been perforated b.v a couple of bullets. The sight of the' boat brings homo to one the grim reality of Turkey's aggressiveness in the Canal zone. Tlio pontoon was broucht from the Canal by the transport Tahiti.