OCEAN MYSTERY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20133, 30 December 1939, Page 3

OCEAN MYSTERY

MISSING SEAMEN j GRAF SPEE VICTIMS DORIC STAR AND TAIROA POSSIBLY ON WINDHUK ! Considerable uncertainty is being felt in New Zealand shipping circles i Concerning the whereabouts of the j majority of the complements of tire Blue Star steamer Doric Star, 10.8(10 tons, and the Shaw, Savill and Albion i s!earner, Tairoa, 7983 tons. Although a few of the crews of the ships, which were among nine sunk by the Admiral Graf von Spec, were landed at Monte- ) video by the German warship, the only message concerning the remainder lias been, that they were put on |an enemy auxiliary. The Doric Star, bound from Auckland to England, via Sydney and j Capetown, with a heavy cargo of Now I Zealand produce, was sunk by the I Admiral Graf von Spee in the South j Atlantic on December 2, and the Tniroa, on route from Melbourne to Eng- ! land, was sunk the following day. Cablegrams stated that the master, [Captain W. Stubbs, and four officers |of the Doric Star, and seven of the j crew of Hie Tairoa. including Mr. A. :D. Dickson, an Aucklander, were released at Montevideo. 134 Not Accounted For. : Of the complement of the Doric I Star. 61 remain unaccounted for. They include three members of the New Zealand Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, R. J. Craig, aged 19, and G. J. Lynch, aged 21, of Auckland, and W. J. Wheeler, of Dunedin. All three served the defensive armament of the Doric Star. Those of the crew of the Tairoa still missing total 73 men and include the master, Captain W. B. S. Starr. ..No announcement has been made of the name of the auxiliary to which the Admiral Graf von Spee transferred the crews of sunken merchant ships, but it is assumed in Auckland shipping quarters, who naturally have a great interest in the matter, that it may be the liner Windhuk, of 10,622 tons. Windhuk’s Movements

The Windhuk, a fast passenger motor ship in the German Africa Line’s service, ranks among Germany’s best merchant vessels. After spending the first months of the war in the shelter of Lobito Bay. Portuguese West ! Africa, she slipped away to sea under j cover of-darkness early in November jin company with the liner Adolph Woermann. No word of her movements has since been received, possibly through her speed keeping her | from the Allied searching squadrons. Every other German ship which has been reported as leaving Africa and America since the start of war appears to have been accounted .for. possibly with one or two minor exceptions, and it is therefore likely that the Windhuk may have been the mystery auxiliary. The Adolph Woermann, the Windhuk’s companion in Lobito Bay, and the Watussi both had to be scuttled soon atfer leaving African ports, and two other merchant vessels, the Henning Oldendorff and Ussukuma, were both captured off the coast. Thp only ship which cleared an African port and has eluded the British is the Windhuk.