HOW THE ALCANTARA SANK THE GREIF.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW THE ALCANTARA SANK THE GREIF.

A CrLOßfoi-S STRUGGLE.

A special correspondent of the "Scotsman" describes in that journal M March 27, the fight between the Alcantara and the German raider Greif. It was. ho says, one of the most dramatic a\d the bitterest of the struggles which have taken place on the pea during the war. Both ships fought to a finish, and both are now on the ».a floor, shattered utterly. But the honours are decidedly with the Biitish Bsavy. To Germany there ivtnaifcs peither ship nor crew. To the British Navy there remains the greater part of the crew which fought out the grin struggle, and to our total of tieratJP naval prosiners of war there has l>cen added a contingent of about 120 men, mercifully drawn from the waters of the North Sea, whilst a larger number may have been drowned. It is learnt that but for a praiseworthy effort to save the lives of our enemies the British auxiliary cruiser might have come out of the action. It appears that, after having pounded and disabled the enemy, achieving that success by clever manoeuvring and fine gunnery, the British auxiliary cruiser moved to the assistance of its opponent which was obviously in a sinking condition. At that stage of 'he fight the British vessel, whilst damaged, was not by any means in a hopeless or even in a dangerous state. Whether the German struck hi.; flag or in any way indicated his extremity has not been made clear. At any rate, the fact that he was sinking was mdubiable. The British auxiliary ceased fire and moved closer. There could have been no misconception as to its intention—the saving of life from the sinking enemy. The auxiliary, as it approached to lower its boats, turned broad-side-on to the enemy for the first time since the action—now seemingly concluded —had opened. As Mio Bn ;ish vessel swung broadside-on at no great distance, it is understood, a torpedo was fired by the enemy vessel. The torpedo got home at close range, and the auxiliary was doomed. She went down just after the enemy had ' sunk. The loss of life from our vessel was due to that final torpedo, to which the British auxiliary would never have exposed herself, it may be assumed, if she had not regarded 'the fight as closed and the enemy as having indicated that he had had enough. RAIDERS DISGUISE. In the early hours of the morning of February at a point well out in the middle section of the North Sea area, our patrol ship was successful in frustrating what seems to have been an attempt on the part of the enemy commerce raider to break through. We have lost an armed liner, but the enemy has lost a vessel upon which rested great hopes—extravagant hopes, if there be recalled the hysterical outbursts which acclaimed the doings or the Moewe—and a carefully selected crew, chosen for the task of drawing the British Fleet out again across the wide wastes of the Atlantic if practical <lare-devilry could bring that about. In dash and seamanship, and above all, in gunnery, the representative of the British Navy put up a fight worthy of the finest records of the Silent Service, and the crew came out of it victors. The confidence of the nation that the efforts of the would-bo raiders to break through the patrol system might well ba left to the Navy has oeen splendidly justified.

Frcm sources which have proved reJiuble, the story of the encounter in the grey of the morning has been obtained, and the record of the fight is a thrilling one. To the patroi vessel, which was one of those armed auxiliaries which have done such hard and .good work in the war, the shape which loomed up out of the greyness of the morning was not that of a ship of war, but of a large and peaeeril-looking merchant ship fitted for passengers. It is said that she was flying the flag of a neutral ration. On board the patrol ship there was the usual preparation or examination as the vesss's nearctl each other in silence. Apparently the German was uncertain at first as to the exact character and fighting power of the vessel which had encountered him, but the hauling closer of the ship.; had revelations for both. As Ok; enemy realised that the British vessel was only a light-hulled, armed auxiliary, a vessel to which perhaps a couple of years ago he had condescendingly d-prwd hi; flag on the Western Ocean, his ship became transformed. The crew of the auxiliary we v- k<i.lily on the alert also, and details of equipment on the neutral stranger were picked out by the glasses immediately. It looked at first as the ugh she were equipped for mine-laying. Other peculiarities of gear became clear, and by the time the enemy was in a osition to make use of his gitn-ower, the gunners of the British vessel were or. their murk.

With mutual recognition of character came the first phase of the fight—the battle of the "wireless."' The enemy had a very powerful wueless installation, and he used it ski'rully, it .appears. Watchful for the first vi--I.ration that would tell of the auxiliary's warning call to the Brit'sh Fleet, he succeeded practically at once in "synchronising," and the hopelessness of overcoming the "jam" which resulted was at once recognised on theauxiliary. The enemy appea.cd confident that in the strength of hi* hull and in his speed ho was superior, nnd the auxiliary was sure that what It lacked in weight of metal it made up in fighting quality. They had the sea to themselves, it appeared at first, and t was a battle royal, reminiscent of the days when the 'wooden wails" were laid alongside each other and battered each other into debris.

The British auxiliary was snrorinr in manoeuvring abiiity. and ;t appears tliat no .sooner had the guns opened than all lirr powers in that respect were tried to the utmost. Jt is reported that soon aftc-r the fight began an rnemy sol.marine appeared in the neighbourhood and did its worst again-t the plucky auxiliary. There is no doubt as to thf effectiveness of the fire from tieUritish vc-el. The gunners "got hoi. e' ; from the outset, and in the attempts on tin; enemy's \viroi---s oiiiiit the upper works of tie big ship wci<* reduced to wreckage very rapidly. \ rousing cheer went up as the fust shot went finishing into the hull, an<J tlie crow of the auxiliary cruiser rppenr t > have entered into the fight with that wild delight which was reconh.l of the crews in tin- battle, of the Long Forties. The gunners searched at fust for the wireless r'.i""i >f the enemy, and a di'\-a»tjitiiu - -T-' it was. The raider was shattered in many p'a.-es before the (pie-ting •!■■ il- found that shelters 1 i-lijiin',. ;•. 'ier '..e.rer work* amidships Were r.JpM*:.-.! le ';;' tangle of distorted ironwork ;ei<] Tiioi.c and steam from the I. hi-: swept among the ruins. A A Ml..;' ii i;-SPOU\DT\n. Fore and aft the decks torn, and gaping holes were showing in the bull; hut still the wireless opera'.or main

tained tlic "jam," and the smaller ship, which had suffered severely, could not get the message through to the fleet which would bring to the sceae the de stroyers somewhere to the westward. With her speed and manoeuvring power unimpaired, the auxiliary, clinging as close as necessary to the raider, gave and took a merciless pounding. Then, when both ships were badly mauled, the shot, which s.ivcd many lives, fcund the wireless room of the raider. At the same ti.;':', an. ilier r.ppears o have Joae damauf in Uie engine-room. Her s| len.l d speed, which had been slackening, dropped suddenly, and as the released wireless message wont out to th BritU'i Fieet th auxiliary closed up a little more and poured salvo after salvo into the enemy. "Jt seemed as if she would never sink," said a man who was in the action. "We didn't miss her with anything. Shot after shot went smash into her, but sink she wouldn't. We were knocking her and her crew to little bits."

At that point of the actio-', it was as though both ships would go to the bottom, battering each other to the last, and that the destroyers now speeding to the scene and the submarine lurking in th neighbourhood wculd find only wreckage and dead. So long a3 the auxiliary could keep fair speed on, there is no information of her having been attacked by the submarine from the surface. Her gunnery, as evidenced by the practice which the auxiliary was making on the raider, may have convinced the submarine commander that if there was to be anyone left to tell the story of the fight ho must keep off the surface and trust to torpedo and the failure of the auxiliary to maneuv're successfully at soaie period of the strusgle. The terriffie gunnery duel err tinned, and th > destruction of both of tire combatants was only a matter of time. Both were in a sinking condition, but the enemy had got the worst of it, and at that time the auxiliary could have broken off action and moved off. There was no thought of that. A raider had been caught, and, being a powerful, speedy, we'l-armed, and extremely dangerous raider, must ba dealt with most faithfully. The enemy's guns, admirably protected, lasted well in the midst of the havoc wrought around them, and though two were smashed out of action, those leiit to him he worked to the end.

According to the information at present available ,the end came for the enemy raider just as the destroyers reached the scene. They saw her go down, it is said. She was not given * final blow by any of the ships which had been called to help, it is understood. She went down under the unerring fire from the hot guns on the lattered British auxiliary, which the destroyers found at the scene of action. The res- - ships were just in time. From the sea British, and Germans were gathered. Wounded, scathless, drowning, and dead, they were gleaned swifMy, without thought as to nationality, and the destroyers went back to port with all speed with their freight of those who had taken part in one of the most stirring fights of the war. Mention has been made of the presence of a submarine of the enemy. The German navy had rather a bad day. What happened nay not be described, but on that day one of the finest submarines of the enemy out of action. And her crew are prisoners of war.