A PIRATE’S CRUISE

Hokitika Guardian, 30 July 1921, Page 4

A PIRATE’S CRUISE

GRAPHIC STORY OF SUFFERING

SINKING THE WA 111 UNA

It is four years since the Union Steamship Company’s steamer \\ airuna l e |l i„to the hands of the German raider Wolf off Sunday Island. It is two years since the last of the survivors of the crew were released from the hells of German prison camps. And yet this is the first authentic history Irom a prisoner of the cruiser’s doings, the lirst expose of the way m which the crew, raptured, wore treated 1»y the German masters, the first tale oi the fearful .'-alt Mines in Saxony, where German sentries used Lite bayonet tar moie often than they gave food.

The man who told a Dominion reporter the story has two bayonet wounds. One, a round hole, is in the hack—a. “gentle prod” from an inhuman sentry in the salt mines to make the weary sailor walk faster. ’I he other is a jagged! tear in the calf of the left leg, ten inches! long, and three broad. His name is James Donnelly, and he is a. boatman in the employ ot the Wellington Harbour Board. He is the typical bronzed, cheery, weather beaten sailor-man; but there lurks in bis bright eves the shadow of gruesome memory. Ho was an A.B. on the Wairuna when she was captured; and his story reveals the whole secret of the famous German armed merchantman and raider, Wolf, in addition to giving further details of the treatment of civilian prisoners of war in the Germany that is now in ecstasies of contrition. 11c lolls of how the cruiser laid her mines in New Zealand waters, giving exact positions, of the ruthless sinking of any craft that crossed her hawse, and of the parties of the enemy pirate. OFF SUNDAY ISLAND. “You know the year,” ho said, last evening, “1917. And the month was June. We were twenty-four hours out from Auckland, off Sunday Island, the second'mate saw a ship, sheltered behind some rocky crags He didn’t like the look of her. and called the skipper, telling him that there was a strange vessel nearby, and flmt she looked like a German raider. The skipper only laughed ,nnd gave the opinion that she was a Burns-Philp steamer loading copra. The second mate was not satisfied, and came forward to have a better look, saving then that he thought she was a raider, and that she would capture us. We were fixing up boats, some of us, at the time, and the next thing we knew was that a seaplane was hov ering over us. Tim second mate wa i correct. In a few moments she had circled over us, and her pilot dropped a sand-bag on which was written, n message in English, stating that if wo did not steer to her side she would alow us out of the wafer. The skipper did as requested, and it- was not long before a prize crew came aboard. They were big ‘hefty’ Germans, in charge of two lieutenants.

tough of k n/rr r. Then came (lie lirst touch or “kul tur.” Donnelly continued: “The first thing they did was to form up fully armed, with bayonets fixed, and one of the officers motioned to a man called Jones, one of our crew, and ordered him to haul dowil our British (lag and hoist the German naval ensign. Jones stood up. like the Briton ho was, and told them to ‘Go to hell.’ flatly refusing fu obey. The officers got fairly wild, and then again ordered him to haul down the flag, and he again refused. Then they said they would put him in irons if he did not, and he still refused. They sneered a bit at lirst, and sent one of their own men to hoist the Hun flag. Then one of the lieutenants, who was quite a. decent chap, came over to Jones and shook hands with him. That, gave us a good impression of the ‘Frilzes,’ hut it didn’t last long.”

“All that month we lay off Sunday Island, the Germans, with our men and their prize crew unloading our cargo and placing it in the big holds of the auxiliary cruiser. Then our crew were placed in the ’tween decks, a big barn of a place about 160 feet long and fairly broad. We were kept there all day and night, with the exception of two hours a day exercise on deck. It was pretty dreary, 1 can tell you.”

The (id-mans had a hard task to perform in sinking 'the Wairuna, and rosorted to several methods boforo accomplishing it hoi r end. “First of all,” Donnelly continued, “they put two high explosive charges on each side of her, hut she did not sink. They then sheered oil, and pumped forty-two shells into her from their 6-in. guns. It took four hours to sink her, and we telt pretty miserable about it, cooped up like so many dogs. When the Wolf had sunk the Wairuna, what should appear in the offing hut an American schooner, the Winslow, bound for Samoa with Admiralty coal and benzine. She was welcome prey for the M olf, and the raider lost no time in capturing her and taking over the preemus cargo. As she was a wooden ship, the German sunk the Winslow hy pouring benzine over her a.nd setting her on fire. Tho crew were taken aboard and herded with us.” MIN F-T/A YINf! T A C’TICS.

From Sunday Island and the sinking of the two vessels, tho Wolf proceeded on her nefarious task of mine-laying Donnelly tells how she came ;us far into the New Zealand coast as the Three Kings, off North Cape, and laid fifty mines—one of which was responsible I'm the sinking of the Wirnmora later on. In his book, the commander of the Wolf does nought but briefly mention that part of the campaign. Otr the Three Kings, according to Donnelly, the raider captured an American sailor the Buluga, loaded with timber, and after transferring the crew set her on fire, to drift until she was burnt to the water’s edge. Cook Strait was tb,, next portion of the Dominion visited, and there fifty mines were laid, spread over a large area. Such was the method of the German captain. On this occasion, Donnelly states the Komata, well-known in Wellington shipping circles, was sighted f" >■ :

off, biit was not attacked. As the Wolf was well disguised probably those on the Komnta saw nothing unusual in the presence of a steamer in those waters. From there, the Wolf went over to the Victorian coast and laid fifty more mines.

“Strangely enough,” said Donnelly, “the Wolf had just finished laying the mines over a wide area when the Cumberland hove il/t’o sight (a Federal Shire line ship), ■ and when she "‘as about three miles from us struck one of the mines. She blew a long blast on her whistle, and ran ashore. We did not follow, and I believe all on the Cumberland were saved. The total armament of the Wolf at this time was seven six-inch guns and lour 21-inch toi pedo tubes, with which she was able to do a great deal of damage.” The next objective on the weary route was the West Cortst of the South Island of New Zealand and the \V'H went pretty near the sounds. 1 hen came Singapore and more adventitias for the luckless captives

THE MATFXG.VS FND. ‘•I-J, near RabauV' said Donnelly, •■the Wolf intercepted a wireless message from Brisbane to the el feet t at the Matunga would be leaving there for Rabaul with soldiers and provisions for the Rabaul internment camp, m which were German prisoners. So ofi we went again. At this time the food began to t>c rotten, the prisoner-: having to live on rice, bully beef and practically nothing else. If a shin w: captured we got fair food for a day or so, but not for long. At this time there wore 609 of us in the tween decks, crowded like sheep, sleeping in hammocks, arranged in tiers of four. Then the Matunga was sighted. She was fired at. the shell going through her funnel: and after she was captured a prize crew took her following us away up to Dutch New Guinea, where her cargo was transferred and she was sunk by two bombs. V e passed a man-of-war when we were nearing Singapore again, but nothing happened. Near the Straits Settlements the Germans laid the last o* t’"

and gave three cheers for Germany, which we poor devils below could bear Up to Java, back to the Malnv Straits, and out into the wide Indian Ocean, went tbe German Captain Kidd and bis unwilling passengers. At about this time a wireless was received telling of a passenger steamer that bad sailed from Colombo to Delagoa Bay. Donnelly says she was sighted at about -I o’clock one morning, and two shots sent after her. She did not stop, however, and the seaplane was sent on 1 to investigate. The unfortunate steamer proceeded on her course, and all at once the Wolf opened fire from her sevPn fi-ineh guns, killing eight of the crew and passengers, including three English women. THE RETURN TO GERMANY.

“We were on deck, some of us work ing,” said Donnelly, “and we saw passengers jumping overboard being picked up by the Will's prize crew.

The Hun.s sent aboard a picked crew of artificers and engineer l , and patched her tip sufficiently for lnr to he able to follow us to the Moldavian Islands. There the cargo was discharged from the prize, and she was sunk a,s the commander of the Wolf thought he would not have sufficient coni to take both ships back to Germany with him. You can imngihc how many were cooped up with us at this time! But. with the irony of fate, the next ship to be captured was a Spaniard, the Igos Menzi. with 7009 tons of coal. We filled our hunkers to overflowing, and off we went-, bound for Germany. Th,. women ami children and cripples - for there were many wounded were pid aboard the Spaniard, which followed in our wake. Before w,> arrived in Germany we slink two more ships the Marrchai l.erouard, a Frenchman, loaded with fruit, and the Big Bruar. a Norwegian barque. The captain ot the Wolf was inclined to let the latter ship escape at first, but after a coup!" of hours he turned hack and sank he That was the last ship sunk. By this time it was January, 1918—we had had a ten months’ trip. We went right up to Iceland tlu-n. and stayed there ~ month in the shifter cold, 'llien ot! came the German uniforms and on came tin- old clothes of Ihe crew and by devious ways we got down the Norwegian coast to Kiel, through Cat tegat. We went in Germany at last.'