PORTUGUESE COUP.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1916, Page 6

PORTUGUESE COUP.

GERMANS DISCONCERTED. The newspapers eulogise tlie secret and rapid fashion in which the German ships seized iu Portuguese ports were occupied (says the Lisbon correspondent o£ the lundan Daily News). Just before the iportuguese coup the Germans held a conference on board one of the vessels, all the captains being present, and it was resolved that if the Portuguese Government persisted in its intentions all possible measures would be taken to prevent the utilisation of the ships. It appears that the step contemplated was to destroy the machinery, and in the bigger ships explode, the boilers. The sudden swoop on the ships made bv Captain Leoti Rego, accompanied by three destroyers and backed by the warships, was quite unexpected, and to that alone is due the success of the enterprise. An officer with a group of sailors boarded each vessel —from which nearly all the captains were absent ashore—and within three hours all the German flags had disappeared and been replaced by Portuguese ones. It is said that the captain of the Santa Ursula threw a German flag across tho entrance, where the invading party would have to cross it. The Portuguese then climbed by a rope cord ever the side of the ship. Explosions were narrowly avoided on the Bulow, a. splendid packet boat, which can be used a.'s an auxiliary cruiser, and another ship. The Germans had piled up the furnaces and boilers, -which were at ihigh pressure with safety valves closed. The cargoes are most important, including a large quantity of tow, aniline dyes,-motor-cars and war material, rice, and on one ship alone over 4000 barrels of cememt. The seizure! was followed by a" tfote in the form of an ultimatum from Berlin. This demanded that instant restitution of the ships ibe made, that the German flag be again hoisted on each, and that all the log books and account books 'be restored, or the German Government would take reprisals.