THE SEEADLER.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 August 1917, Page 3

THE SEEADLER.

AN AUXILIARY BARQUE.

< An interesting account of the German raider Seeadler sunk recently in the Atlantic is given in the June num- * her of the “Nautical Magazine” as follows:—Anothor "raider reported in At- ! lantic has been definitely recognised as [ the American barque Pass-of-Balmaha, I subsequently re-named Seeadler, which | was captured by a German submarine in August 1915, while on a voyage from New York to Archangel with a cargo 1 of. cotton. She is a steel ship, built on the Clyde, of 1571 tons burden, and was owned by the Harris-Irby Cotton Company, of Boston, Massachusetts. It would he interesting to know why i the Gormans seleetod this vessel for I cion version into a raidor. Doubtless j tlihv com idered her to he a type calculated to allay suspicion. At all ev- , cuts, they appear to have fittod her with oil engines capable ot being , driven at 12 knots, and re-christened | her the Seeadler. She left Germany i on December 22nd, 1916, esoorted for j the first few clays by a submarine. ! She carried a load of mines some of

| which she subsequently laid off the Brazilian coast, and Was also armed with two 4.1 quick-firers and many machine-guns. She had three masts equipped with wireless aerials. Members of her crew were very communicative to the prisoners about , the methods by which they got through the blockade line iii the North Sea. When she left Germany they said the guns were hidden in the hold. Two gasoline launches were also stowed below, and the wireless wear was ingeniously hidden in the rigging. Tho ultimate fate of the Seeadler is unknown at the time of writing. Nothing has been heard of her for six weeks, though the fact that a number of vessels have been posted as missing may mean that she is still at large and carrying on her mission of destruction.