GERMANS IN THE PACIFIC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 271, 26 April 1915, Page 6

GERMANS IN THE PACIFIC.

PATEY VERSUS VON SPEE. lIOW THE EXEMY RAN. . WONDERFUL SUPPLY SYSTEM. (Sydney Sun Special). [ Melbourne, April 1. 1 So long, varied, and changing was the ! stern chase after Admiral von Spec and! liia strong Pacific squadron that oniyj now are sufficient details coming to ! hand to enable our Navy Office to tell | a connected story. We have known of . the movements of our ships, as they' sped hither and thither in northern and eastern waters, and then began that long journey that drove the Germans into Admiral Sturdee's gun-mouths. But; the movements of the enemy have bw;n j wrapped in mystery. The squadron was j elusive, intangible, almost like a phan-1 torn fleet. For a full month before war; it had disappeared, vanished apparent- j ly from Pacific waters. Neither our ; Navy Office nor any of our East Indies and China bases could locate it, or i/oar the slightest hint as to where it hud hidden. Evidently von Spee had been: warned in ample time—long before the Germans made known to the world their intention to create war. And , ior more than a month after the de- i '•iaration of war a similar mystery i enwrapped the enemy ships. Not until : the Seharnliorst and (jlneisenau - put into | Apia harbor, on September 14, did we ' got reliable news as to their whereabouts. Much of the mystery is now cleared -away. Amongst the Navy Officers' possessions is a letter from a sailor on the Seharnliorst, wliich the German censors allowed to be published—with the deletion of many names—in the Kiel newspapers, and which has now reached Captain Thring. The Seharnliorst writer, now lying with all his comrades in the deep water of the South Atlantic, begins his narrative at the end of July. "We learnt," he said, "that the tension between Austria and Serbia was steadily increasing, but we had already made all, the preparations. We were, indeed, fully prepared." They had : been expecting. war throughout the month. They had hidden away, they had laid in stores, they had cleared for action. So much for the Kaiser's protestations that he tried to prevent the conflict. BEGINNING AT PONAPE. Throughout the next two months the Germans' main idea was to avoid H.M.A.S.' Australia. , They had great and rich British trade routes to tap, fine Australian ships to capture, Sydney to shell. But they didn't (fare: Instead, they slunk away into quiet waters. "On August 6," writes the chronicler, "we sailed for Ponape, with the Titania, opr auxiliary cruiser. No one knew where we were going, or whether jve would meet the enemy. In the afternoon our admiral, Count von Spee, made a fme speech to the men, ending with thrae resounding cheers for Emperor and Empire. The spirit on board was perfect. Our course was north-east." North-east —away from Patey. The long battle of wits between Patey and von Spee had begun. The description recently published in the Sun of our destroyers' smart night attack on Rabaul shows what Patey hoped for. He wished, and almost expected, to catch the Germans in Rabaul harbor. He sent his destroyers in, with lights out, and the officers and men thought they would find tht; big enemy ships there, torpedo them, and possibly escape in face of searchlights and .guns trained on then. The destroyers did their work excellently. It was full of danger, for they had never been in the harbor, and charts are imperfect instruments when the night is dark, no lights are about, and mines are expected. All the destroyers got was the confession of the Babaul inhabitants next day that the night raid had been so well done that qur ships had scoured the port. ■ The Germans were already far north "On August 11," says the narrator, "we reached an island where, on that and the following day, our coal and provision ships /arrived. Everything went just as expected. We were glad to get fresh potatoes at last, as we had only dried ones on bpnnV When all the ships were lull of ce ! and provisions we sailed again--August 13. The Emd'li had already captured various merchantmen, in-Muding a Russian auxiliary cruiser, winch she caught close to Yladivostock, and took to Tsing-tao. On August 1!) we readied the Marshall Islands." i CHASE NEARLY ENDS. By this iiue the Australia and liar consorts were w.ell up north. They would have scoured the islands, destroyed bases—they destroyed several towards the East Indies—and explored every possible harborage, but they were recalled to take troops to Samoa. And the Germans pushed on, ever farther from Australian coastal dkngers. The Emden left us under special orders on August 22, the Nurnberg also parted company. On August 27 we reached Island, took in coal and provisions, and sailed on August -J. On September (i we picked up the berg again, which brought us Lngli*>i and American papers from Honolulu. We now got some idea of the situation at home. Everyone was in good spirits. At Honolulu, :)7 (.lonian-American war volunteers had slipped on board (lie Nurnberg and managed to away. The same evening the Numk-rg left'us to destroy the Fanning Island cable station. On the following day we arrived at Island, where the Nurnberg again joined us, with her task