CAPTURE OF THE PFALZ.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1286, 18 August 1914, Page 4

CAPTURE OF THE PFALZ.

MELBOURNE INCIDENT. SMAEE GUNBOAT’S WORK. The story of the sailing of the Qeftnaa steamer Pfalz from Melbourne at the beginning of the war shows that it wa,s known to the authorities that she was making her way down the bay, so as to escape before the declaration of war. At this time the vessel could be held by the Civil authorities, but not by the military. The most that the fort at the heads which knew of her coming down the bay could do was to fire a warning gun across her bows. If th? ship pbosp to ignore this warning, there was no authority to fire upon her as an enemy. The ship had barely cleared through the heads in defiance ot the special port regulations when the Gover-uor-Gefleral received official notification of the outbread of war. At this time the Pfalz was beyond the range of the guns at the heads*. When she disappeared into the straits, the general impression was that she had got clear away on the high seas. No one has any knowledge outside the naval authorities of the whereabouts P.f the Australian ships, therefore, there was some surprise when a few hours later the Plafz came back steaming in front ot the gunboat Albert. The Albert is one of the vessels which was bought by the Government of Victoria when the Defence Department was first organised. She arrived in the early eighties with the Victoria and the torpedoboat Countess of Hopetouu.

In 1895, when the Turner Government was forced to consider the retrenchment of the Defence expenditures, both the Victoria and the Albert were thrown out of commission, because the naval commandant of that day, Captaia Neville, reported that the Albert and Victoria were too weak to fight and too slow to run away. The Albert has been used by the Ports and Harbours Department for any sort of work about the bay for the last two years. It is not known whether she received notification from the lighthouse that the German steamer was escaping, or whether the captain acted on his own initiative, but the fact is that the Albert held up the German and ordered her back. Melbourne people who have known the Albert for 30 years, and have not looked upon her as a gunboat for more than 20 years, are amused that she should have the honour of capturing a big vessel, which could without difficulty sling her on her derricks, and stow her down the hold.