elihirs remain. In these rooms alone more than a thousand men can be served at a time. On.a raised dais, where concerts were given during the liner’s voyage, are small tables for officers and a superb piano of concert size and tone.
There are intricate carvings of the dwarfs, gnomes, and goblins of German allegory over and enframing the windows, which are inset in stained glass with the arras of the old free cities —Hamburg, Nurnberg, Dresden, Dusseldorff, etc. There is a fireplace which can burn a three-foot log; there are deep leather chairs a'nd solid tables.
There is a swimming pool for the men, and roomy dining and recreation saloons are below, where every article of comfort space will permit has been left abroad.
AN ENERGETIC “COLLECTOR.” No triumphal barge' of Roman emperors ever held so sumptuous a royal cabin, as the “Kaiser’s suite” —now bare. It is doubtful whether the Emperor at any time honoured, this gorgeousness with more than his inspection, but this is disregarded by the crew. They treat the Imperial “quarters” with as much respect as did the military guard on the docks, who endured as long as possible the stern presence bf a sculptured Bismarck which frowned upon their slumbejs in the waiting room where they were encamped. Finally they drew lots for the privilege of smashing the distinguished nose, which led to the Iron Chancellor’s general dismemberment.
A curious thing occurred in transit when the Vaterland changed hands to eventually become the U.S.S. Leviathan. The magnificent gdd service pieces of solid gold, disappeared. The identity of the energetic “collector” is a subject of much official speculation. GUNS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES. :
The threq giant smoke stacks (one of them a ventilator) rear themselves proudly. Their slight backward slant, and .the wickedlooking guns which thrust themselves from unexpected places below, give a fleeting impression of a crouching lion with flattened cars and barbed teeth.
At night she is dark except for a pink-shaded lamp, whicli glows cheerfully high up in the office, where an officer bends over a stack of blue prints like the plans of a skyscraper. When the big ship was first interned her astute Teuton commanders departed, taking with them every plan and diagram which could be of service. It took weeks to locate the key of her lighting system. The big ship is almost ready for the dash. Will she “put it over’’ 1 ? The watchdogs of the fleet convoy her; the mighty voice of her siren still; her great length silver coloured, blending with the sea by day, unlighted and invisible by night — will she make it ?
[Since the above article was written, the Vaterlnnd luul arrived at a French port, crowded with American soldiers.]
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1789, 14 February 1918, Page 4
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455Untitled Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1789, 14 February 1918, Page 4
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