OUR NAVAL FIGHTS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1684, 10 March 1917, Page 4

OUR NAVAL FIGHTS

FAMOUS FIGHTS RECALLED. THAI 1 FOR GERMAN MINELAYER. Many of the most thrilling' episodes of our naval lights might never have eome to the light of day were it not for the disclosures made in the Prize Court. The Falkland Islands battle was the first fleet in-lion lu come before the Prize Court, and applications for bounty in respect to the destruction of the raider Emden, and of a number of enemy cruisers, submarines, and torpedo-boats. The sinking of the battleship Biucher is to come before the court shortly. An interesting point was raised in the court quite recently.in the case of His Majesty’s ship Canopus, in respect of which a claim was put in for bounty for having “taken part” in the Falkland Island battle, when four German warship were destroyed. Bounty had already been awarded to other ships to the amount of £12,100, at the rate of .Co per head for each person on hoard the enemy ships at the beginning of the engagement. No fewer than 2,432 German officers and men either went down with their ships or were rescued as prisoners in this action. Tire Canopus was at the time of the battle engaged in important. labour defence work, but claimed a share in the bounty. The court held, however, that she was not legally entitled to a share, as she took no real part in the light and was not actually present. Between March 27th and December 31st claims for bounty were heard in the Prize Court for the destruction of 23 enemy ships. The total bounty awarded was £40,935. The awards ranged from £135 to £12,100. The total amount awarded indicated that there were 8187 officers and men on board the enemy vessels at the beginning of 1 he engagement in which they were either captured or destroyed. The following details show the more important of the cases in which bounty awards have been made: — ENEMY SHIPS DESTROYED. Bounty Awarded. £ Four German warships sunk in Falkland Islands battle by British warships 12,100 Three Turkish war vessels in Sea of Marmora and Dardanelles by Ell 4,330 Turkish battle ship in Dardanelles by 81l 3,500 German cruiser Prinz Adalbert, sunk in Bailie by E 8 3,000 German auxiliary cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm der Gros- * sc, sunk by H. M. S. Highflyer in the Atlantic 2,580 German armed cruiser Cap Trafalgar, sunk oil east coast America by British auxiliary ship Carmania 2,116 German cruiser Emden, sunk by 11.M.A.5. cruiser Sydney, on North Keeling Island 1,985 German armed vessel Grief, sunk by H.M.S. Alcantara and Andes in North Sea 1,005 German cruiser Undine, sunk in Baltic by El 9 1,410 Four German torpedo-boats, sunk by British torpedoboats Lance, Legion, Loyal, and Lennox, and cruiser Undaunted in North Sea 1,400 German cruiser Ilela, sunk in North Sea by E 9 1,050 German ileet auxiliary ship, sunk in North Sea by E 5 1,000 ,

11l the ease of the Ell’s daring: exploit under minefields, with if loss of B(id men to the enemy, the commander (Captain Nasmith, who was awarded fhe Victoria Cross) received £SBO 11s. Other officers each received £3OO Os (id, and each able seaman £7O Is Od. This was one of the largest share-outs during the year to individual crews. Another interesting story was that of the “suicide” of the German minelaying ship Meteor, caught redhanded in the North Sea by our ships. She was warned by a Zeppelin that the British Jleet was coming, but it was too late. They came before the warning could be acted on. Finding that escape was impossible, the officer in command of the Meteor decided on self-de-struction, and blew his ship to pieces before she sank. This was held to be a “destruction,” Minch entitled the British ships to bounty award, they having placed their quarry IN A HOPELESS AND HELPLESS POSITION. As the Meteor ivas a ship commissioned to “act offiensively,” she came within the bounty system. The sinking of the German armed auxiliary Oriel' in the North Sea by the auxiliary patrol Alcantara frustrated an attempt to get another raider of the notorious Moewe class out to sea. She was much more powerfully armed than the Moewe, and her destruction in attempting to get through the blockade M'as a matter for sincere congratulation, for, had she been allowed to succeed in her enterprise, many victims would have been added to the list of innocent merchant ships sunk without warning by the Moewe. Unfortunately the Alcantara herself was torpedoed after she had smashed the raider, but her officers and crew received £1,003 in bounty for their services. A dramatic account of the sinking of the Cap Trafalgar off the east coast of South America was told in the Prize Court by Captain Noel Grant, C.B. The British ship Carmania, after a light lasting nearly two hours, outmanoeuvred the German armed cruiser, which went down with her colours Hying. Many survivors were rescued by a collier. The Carmania had nine killed and 20 wounded. The Prize Court directed that Captain Henry Luke Cochrane and the crew of H.M.S. Yarmouth should receive £7,333, a sixth of the value of the Greek steamer Pentopores, which was rescued from the Emden in the Bay of Bengal. The Greek vessel M'as valued at £40,000, and had a coal cargo worth £O,OOO for Karachi. In effecting the rescue the Yarmouth sank the Emden’s supply vessel Markonmnnia, which was found lashed to the Greek vessel and appropriating her coal for the Emden. In the case of men M’ho lose their lives in the capture or destruction of enemy Avarships the bounty aM'ard is given to the next- of-kin. So far there lias been no distribution of prize money to captors. All moneys received as proceeds of vessels or cargoes condemned in the Prize Court and sold are paid into a common prize fund for distribution throughout the navy on a broad basis which has yet to be determined. Commander Maxwell A. Anderson, K.N., barrister-at-laM - , who presents all bounty applications in the Prize Court, has published a little book, in which he remarks that submarine craft being entitled to bounty, it “remains to be seen whether the bounty will also be extended to action above the Matters or to aerial craft” —a subject which it Mats recently stated in Parliament, is under consideration.