"T 1 G 4 Q Book 'Tl '^Z GoppgMlN^ JO I ''I ! ^^ COPXRIGHT DEPOSm A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER By F. G. Triyea NEW YORK Robert M. McBride ^ Company 1918 "f Mfb*^ Copyrisht 1918 \^ by ROBERT M. McBRIDE ST COMPANY Printed in the United States of America. Publisked October, 1918 \m 13 i3i8 ©.CLA5 06543 — l^x^ t I I CONTENTS CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. fm PAGE I 12 26 40 53 67 81 95 III 125 139 CHAPTER I THE S. S. "Hitachi Maru," 6,916 tons, of the Nippon Yushen Kaisha (Ja- pan Mail Steamship Co.) left Colom- bo on September twenty-fourth, 1917, her entire ship's company being Japanese. Once outside the breakwater the rough weather made itself felt, the ship rolled a good deal and the storms of wind and heavy rain con- tinued more or less all day. The next day the weather had moderated, and on the suc- ceeding day, Wednesday the twenty-sixth, fine and bright weather prevailed, but the storm had left behind a long rolling swell. My wife and I had joined the ship at Singa- pore on the fifteenth, having left Bangkok, the capital of Siam, a week earlier. Passen- gers who had embarked at Colombo were be- ginning to recover from their seasickness, and had begun to indulge in deck games, and A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER there seemed every prospect of a pleasant and undisturbed voyage to Delagoa Bay, where we were due on October seventh. The chart at noon on the twenty-sixth marked five hundred and eight miles from Colombo, two thousand, nine hundred and twelve to Delagoa Bay, and one hundred and ninety to the Equator ; only position, not the course, being marked after the ship left Co- lombo. Most of the passengers had, as usual, either dozed on the deck or in their cabins after tiffin, my wife and I being in deck chairs on the port side. When I woke up at one forty-five I saw far off on the horizon on the port bow, smoke from a steamer. I was the only person awake on the deck at the time, and I believe no other passenger had seen the smoke. It was so far away that it was impossible to tell whether we were meeting or overtak- ing the ship. Immediately thoughts of a raider sprang to my mind, though I did not know one was out. It is generally under- stood tliat instructions to Captains in these times are to suspect every vessel seen at sea, A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER and to run away from all signs of smoke. The officer on the bridge with his glass must have seen the smoke long before I did, so my sus- picions of a raider were gradually disarmed as we did not alter our course a single point, but proceeded to meet the stranger whose course towards us formed a diagonal one with ours. If nothing had happened she would have crossed our track slightly astern of us. But something did happen. More passen- gers were now awake, discussing the nation- ality of the ship bearing down on us. Still no alteration was made in our course, and we and she had made no sign of recognition. Surely, everything was all right, and there was nothing to fear. Even the Japanese commander of the gun crew betrayed no anxiety in the matter, but stood with the passengers on the deck watching the oncom- ing stranger. Five bells had just gone when the vessel, then about seven hundred yards away from us, took a sudden turn to port and ran up signals and the German Imperial Navy flag. There was no longer any doubt — the A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER worst had happened. We had walked blindly into the open arms of the enemy. The sig- nals were to tell us to stop. We did not stop. The raider fired two shots across our bows. They fell into the sea quite close to where most of the passengers were standing. Still we did not stop. It was wicked to ig- nore these orders and warnings. Most of the passengers went to their cabins for life- belts and life-saving waistcoats, and at once returned to the deck watching the raider. As we were still steaming and had not obeyed the order to stop, the raider opened fire on us, firing a broadside. While the firing was going on, a seaplane appeared above the raider; some assert that she dropped bombs in front of us, but per- sonally I did not see this. The greatest alarm now prevailed on our ship. My wife and I returned to our cabin to fetch an extra pair of spectacles, our pass- ports and my pocketbook, and at the same time picked up her jewel case. The alleyway between the companion-way and our cabin was by this time strewn with sp-linters of A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER wood, glass and wreckage; pieces of shell had been embedded in the panelling, and a large hole had been made in the funnel. We returned once more to the port deck where most of the first class passangers had assembled waiting for orders — which never came. No instructions came from the Cap- tain or officers or crew; in fact, we never saw any of the ship's officers until long after all the lifeboats were afloat on the sea. The ship had now stopped and the firing had apparently ceased, but we did not know whether it would recommence, and of course imagined the Germans were firing to sink the ship. It was useless trying to escape the shots, as we did not know then at what part of the ship the Germans were firing, so there was only one thing for the passengers to do — to leave the ship, as we all thought she was sinking. Some of the passengers attempted to go on the bridge to get on the boat deck and help lower the boats, as it seemed noth- ing was being done, but were ordered back by the Second Steward, who, apparently A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER alone among the ship's officers, kept his head throughout. The number one boat was now being low- ered on the port side ; it was full of Japanese and Asiatics. When it was flush with the deck the falls broke, the boat capsized, and with all its occupants was thrown into the sea. One or two, we afterwards heard, were drowned. The passengers now went over to the starboard side, as apparently no more boats were being lowered from the port side, and we did not know whether the raider would start firing again. The number one starboard boat was being lowered; still there was no one to give orders. The passengers themselves saw to it that the women got into this boat first, and helped them in, only the Second Steward standing by to help. The women had to climb the rail and gangway which was lashed thereto, and the boat was so full of gear and tackle that at first it was quite impossible for anyone to find a seat in the boat. It was a difficult task for an}'- woman to get into this boat ; my wife fell in, and in so doing dropped her jewel case out 6 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER of her handbag" into the bottom of the boat, and it was seen no more that day. The hus- bands followed their wives into the boat and several other men among the first-class pas- sengers also clambered in. Directly after the order to lower away was given, and before anyone could settle in the boat the stern falls broke, and for a second the boat hung from the bow falls vertically, the occupants hanging on to anything they could. Then, immediately afterwards, the the bow falls broke, or were cut, and the boat dropped into the water and righted itself. We were still alongside the ship when an- other boat was swung out and lowered im- mediately on to our heads. We managed to push off just in time before the other boat, the falls of which also broke, reached the water. Thus, there had been no preparation made for accidents — we might have been living in the times of profoundest peace for all the trouble that had been taken to see that every- thing was ready in case of accident. Some passengers had asked for boat drill when the A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER ship left Singapore, but were told there was no need for it, or for any preparations till after Cape Town, which, alas! never was reached. Accordingly passengers had no places given to them in the boats, the boats were not ready, and confusion instead of order prevailed. It was nothing short of a miracle that more people were not drowned. If the ship had only stopped when ordered by signals to do so, there would have been no firing at all. Even if she had stopped after the warning shots had been fired no more fir- ing would have taken place, and nobody need have left the ship at all. It seemed too, at the time, that if only the "Hitachi" had turned tail and bolted directly the "Wolfs" smoke was seen on the horizon by the officer on watch on the bridge — at the latest, this must have been about one-thirty — she might have escaped altogether, as she was a much quicker boat than the "Wolf." At any rate, she might have tried. Her fate would have been no worse if she had failed to escape — for surely even the Germans could not deny any ship the right to escape if she could efifect 8 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER it. Certainly the seaplane might have taken up the chase, and ordered the "Hitachi" to stop. We heard afterwards that one ship — the "Laruna," from New Zealand to San Francisco — had been caught in this way. The seaplane had hovered over her and dropped messages on her deck ordering her to follow the plane to a concealed harbor near by, fail- ing which, bombs would be dropped to blow up the ship. Needless to say, the ship fol- lowed these instructions. "There was no panic, and the women were splendid" — how often one has read that in these days of atrocity at sea! We were to realize it now, the women were indeed splen- did. There was no crying or screaming or hysteria, or wild enquiries. They were per- fectly calm and collected, none of them showed the least fear, even under fire. As we thought the ship was slowly sinking, we pushed oil from her side as quickly as possible. There were now four lifeboats in the water at some distance from each other. The one in which we were contained about twenty-four persons. There was no officer A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER or member of the crew with us, while another boat contained officers and sailors only. No one in our boat knew where we were to go, or what we were to do. One passenger wild- ly suggested that we should hoist a sail and set sail for Colombo, two days' steaming away ! Search was made for provisions and water in our boat, but she was so full of peo- ple and impedimenta that nothing could be found. It was found, however, that water was rapidly coming into the boat, and before long it reached to our knees. The hole which should have been plugged could not be found, so for more than an hour some of the men took turns at pulling and baling the water out with their sun-helmets. This was very hot work, as it must be remembered we were not far from the Equator. Ultimately, how- ever, the hole was found and plugged. An Irish Tommy going home from Singapore was in our boat. He was most cheerful and in every way helpful, working hard and pull- ing all the time. It was he who plugged the hole, and as he was almost the only one among us who seemed to have any useful 10 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER knowledge about the management of life- boats, we were very glad to reckdn !him among our company. The four boats were now drifting aimless- ly about over the sea, when an order was shouted to us, apparently from a Japanese officer in one of the other boats, to tie up with the other three boats. After some time this was accomplished and the four boats in line drifted on the water. The two steamers had stopped, so we did not know what was happening on board either of them, but saw the raider's motor-launch going between her and her prize, and picking up some of the men who had fallen into the sea when the boat capsized. Luckily, the sharks with which these waters are infested had been scared off by the gunfire. We realized, when we were in the lifeboats, what a heavy swell there was on the sea, as both steamers were occasionally hidden from us when we were in the trough of the waves. There was no one in command of any of the boats, and we simply waited to see what was going to happen. II CHAPTER II ESCAPE in any way was obviously out of the question. At last the raider got under way and began to bear down on us. Most of us thought that the end had come and that we were up against an apostle of the "sink the ship and leave no trace" theory — which we had read about in Colombo only a couple of days before — the latest de- velopment of frightfulness. Our minds were not made easier by the seaplane circling above us, ready, as we thought, to administer the final blow to any v/ho might survive be- ing fired on by the raider's guns. It was a most anxious moment for us all, and opinions were very divided as to what was going to happen. One of the ladies remarked that she had no fear, and reminded us that we were all in God's hands, which cheered up some of the drooping hearts and anxious minds. 12 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Certainly most of us thought we were soon to look our last upon the world — what other thoughts were in our minds as we imagined our last moments were so near, will remain unrecorded. However, to our intense relief, nothing of the sort happened, and as the raider came slowly nearer to us, an officer on the bridge megaphoned us to come alongside. This we did; three boats went astern, and the one in which we were remained near the raider's bows. An officer appeared at the bulwarks and told us to come aboard; women first, then their husbands, then the single men. There was no choice but to obey, but we all felt uneasy in our minds as to what kind of treatment our women were to receive at the hands of the Germans on board. The ship was rolling considerably, and it is never a pleasant or easy task for a lands- man, much less a landswoman, to clamber up a rope ladder some twenty feet up the side of a rolling ship. However, all the ladies acquit- ted themselves nobly, some even going up without a rope round their waists. The little 13 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Japanese stewardess, terrified, but showing a brave front to the enemy, was the last woman to go up before the men*s ascent began. Two German sailors stood at the bul- warks to help us off the rope ladder into the well deck forward, and by five-twenty we were all aboard, after having spent a very anxious two hours, possibly the most anxious in the lives of most of us. It was at once evident, directly we got on board, that we were in for kindly treatment. The ship's doctor came forward, saluted, and asked who was wounded and required his at- tention. Most of the passengers — there were only twenty first, and about a dozen second class — were in our boat. Among the second class passengers with us were a few Portu- guese soldiers going from Macao to Delagoa Bay. Some of us were slightly bruised, and all were shaken, but luckily none required medi- cal treatment. Chairs were quickly found for the ladies, the men seated themselves on the hatch, and the Gernian sailors busied themselves bringing tea and cigarettes to A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER their latest captives. We were then left to ourselves for a short time on deck, and just before dark, a spruce young Lieutenant came up to me, saluted, and asked me to tell all the passengers that v^^e w^ere to follow him and go aft. We followed him along the ship, which seemed to be very crowded, to the well deck aft, where we met the remaining few passengers and some of the crew of the "Hi- tachi." We had evidently come across a new type of Hun. The young Lieutenant was most po- lite and courteous and attentive. He apolo- gized profusely for the discomfort which the ladies and ourselves would have to put up with — "But it is war, you know, and your Government is to blame for allowing you to travel when they know a raider is out" — as- sured us he would do what he could to make us as comfortable as possible, and that we should not be detained more than three or four days. This was the first of a countless number of Hes told us by the Germans as to their intentions concerning us. We had had nothing to eat since tiffin, so 15 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER we were ordered below to the 'tween decks. We clambered down a ladder to partake of our first meal as prisoners. What a contrast to the last meal we enjoyed on the "Hitachi," taken in comfort and apparent security! (But, had we known it, we were doomed even then, for the raider's seaplane had been up and seen us at eleven a. m., had reported our position to the raider, and announced three p. m. as the time for our capture. Our cap- tors were not far out ! It was between two- thirty and three when we were taken.) The meal consisted of black bread and raw ham, with hot tea served out of a tin can. We sat around on wooden benches, and noticed that the crockery on which the food was served had been taken from other ships captured — one of the Burns Philp Line, and one of the Union Steamship Compan)^ of New Zealand. Some of the Japanese officers and crew were also in the 'tween decks — later on the Japan- ese Captain appeared, (we had not seen him since he left the saloon after tiffin) and he was naturally very down and distressed — and some of the German sailors came and i6 v'U CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER spoke to us. Later on the young Lieutenant came down and explained why the raider, which the German sailors told us was the "Wolf," had fired on us. We then learnt for the first time that many persons had been killed outright by the firing — another direct result of the "Hitachi's" failure to obey the raider's orders to stop. It was impossible to discover how many. There must have been about a dozen, as the total deaths numbered sixteen, all Japanese or Indians; the latest deaths from wounds occurred on October twenty-eighth, while one or two died while we were on the "Wolf." The Lieutenant, who we afterwards learnt was in charge of the prisoners, told us that the "Wolf" had signalled us to stop, and not to use our wire- less or our guns, for the "Hitachi" mounted a gun on her poop for the submarine zone. He asserted that the "Hitachi" hoisted a sig- nal that she understood the order, but that she tried to use her wireless, that she brought herself into position to fire on the "Wolf" and that preparations were being made to use her gun. 17 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER The Germans professed deep regret at this, and at the loss o£ life caused, the first occa- sion on which lives had been lost since the "Wolfs" cruise began. The "Wolf," how- ever, they said, had no choice but to fire and put the "Hitachi's" gun out of action. This she failed to do, as the shooting was distinct- ly poor, with the exception of the shot aimed at the wireless room, which went straight through without exploding there or touching the operator, and exploded near the funnel, killing most of the crew who were running to "help lower the boats. The other shots had all struck the ship in the second-class quar- ters astern. One had gone right through the cabin of the Second Steward, passing just over his bunk — where he had been asleep a minute before — and through the side of the ship. Others had done great damage to the ship's structure aft, but none had gone any where near the gun or ammunition-house on the poop. I saw afterwards some photos the Germans had taken of the gun, as they said they found it when they went on boards These photos showed the gun with the breech i8 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Open, thus proving, so the Germans said, that the Japanese had been preparing to use the gun. In reality, of course, it proved nothing of the sort; it is more than likely that the Germans opened the breech themselves be- fore they took the photograph, as they had to produce some evidence to justify their firing on the "Hitachi." But w^hether the Japan- ese opened the gun breech and prepared to use the gun or not, it is quite certain that the "Hitachi" never fired a shot at the "Wolf," though the Germans have since asserted that she did so. It was indeed very lucky for us that she did not fire — ^had she done so and even missed the "Wolf," it is quite certain the "Wolf" would have torpedoed the "Hi- tachi" and sent us to the bottom. It was very hot in the 'tween decks, and after our meal we were all allowed to go on deck for some fresh air. About eight o'clock, however, the single men of military age were again sent below for the night, while the married couples and a few sick and elderly men were allowed to remain on deck. It was a, cool moonlight night, and armed guards 19 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER patrolled the deck all night. We had nothing but what we stood up in, so we lay down in chairs as we were, and that night slept, or rather did not sleep, under one of the 'Wolf's" guns. Throughout the night we were steaming gently, and from time to time we saw the "Hitachi" still afloat, and steam- ing along at a considerable distance from us. Soon after daybreak next morning, the men were allowed to go aft under the poop for a wash, with a very limited supply of water, and the ladies had a portion of the 'tween decks to themselves for a short time. The Commander sent down a message conveying his compliments to the ladies, saying he hoped they had had a good night and were none the worse for their experiences. He as- sured us all that we should be in no danger on his ship and that he would do what he could to make us as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. But, we were reminded again, this was war. Indeed it was, and we had good reason to know it now, even if the war had not tousched us closely before. Breakfast, consisting of black bread, canned 20 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER meat and tea, was then brought to us on deck by the German sailors, and we were left to ourselves on the well deck for some time. There seemed to be literally hundreds of prisoners on and under the poop, and the whole ship, as far as we could see, presented a scene of the greatest activity. Smiths were at work on the well deck, hammering and cutting steel plates with which to repair the "Hitachi," mechanics Avere working at the seaplane, called the "Wolfchen," which was kept on the well deck between her flights; prisoners were exercising on the poop, and the armed guards were patrolling constantly among them and near us on the well deck. The guards wore revolvers and side-arms, but did not appear at all particu- lar in the matter of uniform. Names of vari- ous ships appeared on their caps, some had on them only the words "Kaiserliche Ma- rine." Some were barefoot, some wore sing- lets and shorts, while some even dispensed with the former. Most of the crew at work wore only shorts, and, as one of the lady prisoners remarked, the ship presented a 21 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER rather unusual exhibition of the European male torso! Some German officers came aft to interro- gate us ; they were all courteous and sympa- thetic, and I took the opportunity of men- tioning to the young Lieutenant the loss of my wife's jewels in the lifeboat, and he as- sured me he would have the boat searched, and if the jewels were found they should be restored. The Japanese dhobi had died from wounds during the night and was buried in the morn- ing, nearly all the German officers, from the Commander downwards, attending in full uniform. The Japanese Captain and officers also attended, and some kind of funeral serv- ice in Japanese was held. Officers and men were very busy on the upper deck — we were much impressed by the great number of men on board — and we no- ticed a lady prisoner, a little girl, evidently a great pet with the German sailors and offi- cers, some civilian prisoners and some mili- tary prisoners in khaki on the upper deck, but we were not allowed to communicate 22 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER witli them. There were also a few Tommies in khaki among the prisoners aft. It was very hot on the well deck, and for some hours we had no shelter from the blazing sun. Lat- er on, a small awning was rigged up and we got a little protection, and one or two para- sols were forthcoming for the use of the ladies. During the morning the sailors were allowed to bring us cooling drinks from time to time, and both officers and men did all they could to render our position as bearable as possible. The men amongst us were also al- lowed to go to the ship's canteen and buy smokes. We were steaming gently in a westerly direction all day, occasionally pass- ing quite close to some small islands and banks of sand, a quite picturesque scene. The sea was beautifully calm and blue, and on the shores of these banks, to which we sailed quite close, the water took on colors of ex- quisite hues of the palest and tenderest blue and green, as it rippled gently over coral and golden sands. Tiffin, consisting of rice, bacon and beans was dealt out to us on deck at midday, and 33 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the afternoon passed in the same way as the morning. The "Wolf's" chief officer, a hear- ty, elderly man came aft to speak to us. He chaffed us about our oarsmanship in the life- boats, saying the appearance of our oars wildly waving reminded him of the sails of a windmill. "Never use your wireless or your gun," he said, "and you'll come to no harm from a German raider." By about five o'clock the two ships arrived in an atoll, consisting of about fifteen small islands, and the "Hitachi" there dropped an- chor. The "Wolf" moved up alongside, and the two ships were lashed together. Supper, consisting of tinned fruit and rice was served out at five-thirty and we were then told that the married couples and one or two elderly men were to return to the "Hitachi" that night. So with some difficulty we clambered from the upper deck of the "Wolf" to the boat deck of the "Hitachi" and returned to find our cabins just as we had left them in a great hurry the day before. We had not ex- pected to go on board the "Hitachi" again, and never thought we should renew acquain- 24 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER tance with our personal belongings. We our- selves were particularly sad about this as we had brought away from Siam after twenty years' residence there, many things which would be quite irreplaceable. We were therefore very glad to know they were not all lost to us. But we congratulated our- selves that the greater part of our treasures gathered there had been left behind safely stored in the bank and in a go-down in Bang- kok. 25 CHAPTER III THE "Hitachi" was now a German ship, the Prize Captain was in com- mand, and German sailors replaced the Japanese, who had all been transferred to the "Wolf." The German Captain spoke excellent English and expressed a wish to do all he could to make us as comfortable on board as we had been before. There was of course considerable confusion on board, and we found next morning that the bathrooms and lavatories were not in working order. This state of affairs prevailed for the next few days, and the men passengers themselves had to do what was necessary in these quar- ters and haul sea-water aboard. The next morning the transference of coal, cargo, and ship's stores from the "Hitachi" to the "Wolf" began, and went on without cessa- tion for the next five days. One of the Ger- 26 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER man officers came over and took photos of the passengers in groups, and others fre- quently took snapshots of various incidents and of each other on different parts of the ship. We know now that we were then anchored in a British possession, one of the Southern- most groups of the Maldive Islands. Some of the islands were inhabited, and small sail- ing boats came out to the "Wolf," presum- ably with provisions of some kind. We were of course not allowed to speak to any of the islanders who came alongside the "Wolf," and were not allowed alongside the "Hi- tachi." On one occasion even, the doctor of the "Wolf" went in the ship's motor-launch to one of the islands to attend the wife of one of the native chiefs ! On the next day — the twenty-eighth — all the "Hitachi's" pas- sengers returned on board her, and at the same time some of the Japanese stewards returned, but they showed no inclination to work as formerly. Indeed, the German offi- cers had no little difficulty in dealing with them. They naturally felt very sore at the 27 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER deaths of so many of their countrymen at the hands of the Germans, and they did as little work as possible. With their usual thoroughness the Ger- mans one day examined all our passports and took notes of our names, ages, profes- sions, maiden names of married ladies, ad- dresses, and various other details. One young man who had on his passport his photo taken in military uniform was, how- ever, detained on the ''Wolf" as a military prisoner. He was asked by a German officer if he were going home to fight. He replied that he certainly was and pluckily added, "I wish I were fighting now." On October first the married prisoners from the "Wolf," together with three Aus- tralian civilian prisoners over military age, a Colonel of the Australian A. M. C., a Major of the same Corps, with his wife, an Austra- lian stewardess, some young boys, and a few old mates and sea-captains were sent on board the "Hitachi." They had all been taken ofif earlier prizes captured and sunk by the "Wolf." The Australians had been captured 28 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER on August sixth from the S.S. "Matunga," from Sydney to what was formerly German New Guinea, from which latter place they had been only a few hours distant. An Amer- ican captain, with his wife and little girl, had been captured on the barque "Beluga," from San Francisco to Newcastle, N. S. W., on July ninth, both of these ships having been sunk by the Germans. All the passengers transferred were given cabins on board the "Hitachi." We learnt from these passengers that the "Wolf" was primarily a mine-layer, that she had laid mines at Cape Town, Bom- bay, Colombo and off the Australian and New Zealand coasts. She had sown her last crop of mines, one hundred and ten in number, off the approaches to Singapore before she pro- ceeded to the Indian Ocean to lie in wait for the "Hitachi." Altogether she had sown five hundred mines. During her stay in the Maldives the "Wolf" sent up her seaplane — or, as the Ger- mans said "the bird" — every morning about six, and she returned about eight. Every- thing was apparently all clear, and the 29 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER "Wolf" evidently anticipated no interference or unwelcome attention from any of our cruisers. Two of them, the "Venus" and the "Doris," we had seen at anchor in Colombo harbor during our stay there, but it was ap- parently thought not worth while to send any escort with the "Hitachi," though the value of her cargo was said to run into mil- lions sterling; and evidently the convoy sys- tem had not yet been adopted in Eastern waters. The "Wolf" remained alongside us till the morning of October third, when she sailed away at daybreak, leaving us anchored in the center of the atoll. It was a great relief to us when she departed; she kept all the breeze off our side of the ship, so that the heat in our cabin was stifling, and it was in addition very dark; the noise of coaling and shifting cargo was incessant, and the roaring of the water between the two ships most disturb- ing. Before she sailed away the Prize Cap- tain handed to my wife most of her jewels which had been recovered from the bottom of our lifeboat. As many of these were Siamese 30 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER jewelry and unobtainable now, we were very- rejoiced to obtain possession of them again, but many rings were missing and were never recovered. The falls of the lifeboats were all renewed, and on October fifth we had places assigned to us in the lifeboats, and rules and regula- tions were drawn up for the "detained enemy subjects" on board the "Hitachi." They were as follows: — RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ON BOARD THE GERMAN AUXILIARY SHIP "HITACHI MARU" DE- TAINED ENEMY SUBJECTS 1. Everybody on board is under martial law and any offence is liable to be punished by same. 2. All orders given by the Commander, First Officer or any of the German crew on duty are to be strictly obeyed. 3. After the order "Schiff abblenden" every evening at sunset no lights may be shown on deck or through portholes etc. that are visible from outside. 31 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER 4. The order "Allemann in die Boote" will be made known by continuous ringing of the ship's bell and sounding the gongs. Everybody hurries to his boat with the lifebelt and leaves the ship. Every- body is allowed to take one small bag preciously packed. 5. Nobody is allowed to go on the boatdeck beyond the smokeroom. All persons liv- ing in first class cabins are to stay amid- ships and are not allowed to go aft without special permission; all persons living aft are to stay aft. 6. The Japanese crew is kept only for the comfort of the one time passengers and is to be treated considerately as they are also d. e. s. 7. The d. e. s. are not allowed to talk with the crew. At sea, October 6th, 1917. Kommando S.M.H. ''Hitachi Maru" C. ROSE, Lt.z.See & Kommandant. 32 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Lieutenant Rose very kindly told me that as I was leaving the East for good and there- fore somewhat differently situated from the other passengers, he would allow me to take in the lifeboat, in addition to a handbag, a cabin trunk packed with the articles from Siam I most wanted to save. It was evident from this that the Germans intended sinking the ship if we came across a British or Allied war vessel. We were of course unarmed, as the Germans had re- moved the "Hitachi's" gun to the "Wolf," but the German Captain anticipated no dif- ficulty on this score, and assured me that it was the intention of the Commander of the "Wolf" that we should be landed in a short time with all our baggage at a neutral port with a stone pier. We took this to mean a port in either Sumatra or Java — and we were buoyed up with this hope for quite a consid- erable time. But, alas! like many more of the assurances given to us, it was quite un- true. There were now on board one hundred and thirty-one souls, of whom twenty-nine were 33 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER passengers. On Saturday, October sixth, the seaplane returned in the afternoon and re- mained about half an hour, when she again flew away. She brought a message of evi- dently great importance, for whereas it had been the intention of our Captain to sail away on the following afternoon, he weighed an- chor the next morning, and left the atoll. He had considerable trouble with the anchor be- fore starting, and did not get away till nearly eight o'clock, instead of at daybreak. Evi- dently something was coming to visit the atoll ; though it was certain nothing could be looking for us, as our capture could not then have been known, and there could have been no communication between the Maldives and Ceylon or the mainland. The ship was cleaned and put in order, the cargo properly stowed, and the bunkers trimmed by the Ger- man crew, aided by some neutrals who had been taken prisoner from other ships before and for some days after we sailed. Some of the sailors among the prize crew were good enough to give us some pieces of the "Wolf's" shrapnel found on the "Hitachi," relics which 34 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER were eagerly sought after by the passengers. The passengers were now under armed guards, but were at perfect liberty to do as they pleased, and the relations between them and the German officers and crew were quite friendly. Deck games were indulged in as before our capture, and the German Captain took part in them. Time, nevertheless, hung heavily on our hands, but many a pleasant hour was spent in the saloon with music and singing. One of the Australian prisoners was a very good singer and pianist, and provided very enjoyable entertainment for us. On Sunday evenings, after the six o'clock "sup- per," a small party met in the saloon to sing a few favorite hymns, each one choosing the ones he or she liked best. This little gather- ing was looked forward to by those who took part in it, as it formed a welcome break in the ordinary monotonous life on board. The only Japanese left on board were some stewards, cooks, and the stewardess. A German chief mate and chief engineer re- placed the Japanese, and other posts previ- ously held by the Japanese were filled by Ger- 35 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER mans and neutrals. The times of meals were changed, and we no longer enjoyed the good meals we had had before our capture, as most of the good food had been transferred to the "Wolf." Chota hazri was done away with, except for the ladies ; the mfeals became much simpler, menus were no longer neces- sary, and the Japanese cooks took no more trouble with the preparation of the food. However, on the whole we were not so badly off, though on a few occasions there was really not enough to eat, and some of the meat was tainted, as the freezing apparatus had got out of order soon after the ship was captured. We steamed gently on a southwesterly course for about five days, and on the suc- ceeding day, October twelfth, changed our course many times, going northeast at six- thirty a. m., southeast at twelve-thirty p. m., northeast again at four p. m., and north at six-thirty p. m., evidently waiting for some- thing and killing time, as we were going dead slow all day. The next morning we had stopped entirely, and sig'hted smoke at ten- 36 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER twenty a. m. — it was, of course, the "Wolf," met by appointment at that particular time and place. She came abreast of us about eleven-twenty a. m. and we sailed on paral- lel courses for the rest of the day. She was unaccompanied by a new prize, and we were glad to think she had been unsuccessful in her hunt for further prey. She remained in company with us all next day, Sunday, and about five p.m. moved closer up, and after an exchange of signals we both changed courses and the "Wolf" sheered off, and to our great relief we saw her no more for sev- eral days. There was always the hope that when away from us she would be seen and sunk by an Allied cruiser, and always the fear that when she came back to us we might again be put on board her. The Germans seemed to have a perfect mania for taking photographs — we were of course not allowed to take any and cameras were even taken away from us — and one day Lieut. Rose showed me photos of various incidents of the "Wolfs" cruise, including those of the sink- ings of various ships. (I saw, too, on this 37 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER day a photo of the "Hitachi" flying the Ger- man flag and one showing the damage sus- tained by Her from the "Wolf's" firing. There were ugly holes in the stern quarters, but all above the water-line.) The German officers would take with them to Germany hundreds of pictures giving a complete photographic record of the "Wolf's" expedition. We cruised about again after the "Wolf" had left us for a couple of days, and on the seventeenth were stationary all day. Sev- eral sharks were seen around the ship, afid the German sailors caught two or three fair- ly large ones during the day and got them on board. On the eighteenth the sea was rough and we were gently steaming to keep the ship's head to the seas, and on the following day we again changed our course many times. Saturday morning, October twentieth, again saw the "Wolf" in sight at six-thirty. She was still alone, and we proceeded on parallel courses, passing about midday a few white reefs with breakers sweeping over them. Shortly afterwards we came in sight of many other reefs, and at two p. m. we anchored, 38 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER and the "Wolf" tied up alongside us within a snug and sheltered spot. We were almost surrounded by large and small coral reefs, against which we could see and hear the breakers dashing. It was a beautiful anchor- age, and the waters were evidently well known to the Germans. Some of the sea- faring men amongst us told us we were in the Cargados Carajos Reef, southeast of the Seychelles, and that we were anchored near the Nazareth Bank. 39 CHAPTER IV. O confident did the Germans feel of their security that they stayed in this neighborhood from October twentieth to November seventh, only once — on October twenty-eighth — moving a few hundred yards away from their original anchorage, and al- though a most vigilant lookout was kept from the crow's nest on the "Wolf," the sea- plane was not sent up once to scout during the whole of that time. Coal, cargo and stores were transferred from the ''Hitachi" to the "Wolf," and the work went on day and night with just as much prospect of interfer- ence as there would have been if the "Wolf" had been loading cargo from a wharf in Hamburg in peace time. The coolness and impudence of the whole thing amazed us. But one day, October twenty-second, was observed as a holiday. It was Lieutenant 40 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Rose's birthday, and, incidentally, the Kaiser- in's also. So no loading or coaling was done, but the band on the "Wolf"— most of the members with the minimum of clothing and nearly all with faces and bodies black with coaldust — lined up and gave a musical per- formance of German patriotic airs. Every day we looked, but in vain, for signs of help in the shape of a friendly cruiser, but the Germans proceeded with their high-seas robbery undisturbed and unalarmed. The "Hitachi" had a valuable cargo of rubber, tea, tin, copper, antimony, hides, cocoanut and general stores, and it was indeed maddening to see all these cases marked for Liverpool and London being transferred to the capa- cious maw of the "Wolf for the use of our enemies. On October twenty-eighth a Japanese sailor wounded at the time of the "Hitachi's" capture, died on the "Wolf." This was the last death from wounds inflicted on that day. His body was brought over to the "Hitachi" — once again all the German officers from the Commander downwards, including the two 41 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER doctors, appeared in full uniform to attend the funeral service. The Japanese Captain and officers also came over from the "Wolf," and the body vv^as committed to the sea from the poop of the "Hitachi." Various rumors came into circulation about this time as to v^^hat v^^as to happen to us. The most likely thing was, if the "Wolf" did not secure another prize, that the "Hitachi" would be sunk and all of us transferred to the "Wolf" once more. It was certain, however, that the Germans did not want us on the "Wolf" again, and still more certain that we did not want to go. They regarded us, es- pecially the women, as a nuisance on board their ship, which was already more than comfortably full. In addition, some of the German officers who had before given up their cabins to some of the married couple prisoners, naturally did not want to do so again, as it meant that all the officers' quar- ters would become very cramped. The Ger- man doctor, too, protested against further crowding of the "Wolf," but these protests were overruled. 42 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER There was talk of their leaving the "Hi- tachi" where she was, with some weeks' stores on board, with her coal exhausted and her wireless dismantled, the "Wolf" to send out a wireless in a few weeks' time as to our con- dition and whereabouts. If this had hap- pened, there was talk among us of a boat ex- pedition to the Seychelles to effect an earlier rescue. There was also mentioned another scheme of taking the "Hitachi" near Mauri- tius, sending all her prisoners and German of- ficers and crew off in boats at nightfall to the island, and then blowing up the ship. But all these plans came to nothing, and as day by day went by and the "Wolf," for reasons best known to herself, did not go out after another prize, though the Germans knew and told us what steamers were about — and in more than one case we knew they were correct — it be- came evident that the "Hitachi" would have to be destroyed, as she had not enough coal to carry on with, and we should all have to be sent on to the "Wolf." But the married men protested vigorously against having their wives put in danger of 43 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER shell fire from a British or Allied cruiser, and on October thirtieth sent the following peti- tion to the Commander of the "Wolf" : "We, the undersigned detained etiemy subjects traveling with our wives, some of whom have already been exposed to shell fire, and the remainder to the risk thereof, and have suffered many weeks' detention on board, respectfully beg that no women be transferred to the auxil- iary cruiser, thereby exposing them to a repetition of the grave dangers they have already run. We earnestly trust that some means may be found by which consideration may be shown to all the women on board by landing them safely without their incurring further peril. We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude for the treatment we have received since our capture, and our sin- cere appreciation of the courtesy and consideration shown us by every officer and man from your ship with whom we have been brought in contact." He sent back a verbal message that there 44 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER was no alternative but to put us all, women included, on the "Wolf," as the "Hitachi" had no coal, but that they should be landed at a neutral port from the next boat caught, if she had any coal. We were still not satisfied with this, and I again protested to our Captain against what was equivalent to putting women out in a German first line trench to be shot by our own people. He replied that we need have no anxiety on that score. "We know exactly where all your cruisers are, we pick up all their wireless messages, and we shall never see or go anywhere near one of them." Whether the Germans did know this, or hear our ships' wireless I cannot tell, but it is cer- tainly true that we never, between Septem- ber and February, saw a British or Allied vessel of any sort or kind, or even the smoke of one, although during that time we trav- elled from Ceylon to the Cape, and the whole length of the Atlantic Ocean. The food on the "Hitachi" was now getting poorer and poorer. There was no longer any fruit, cheese, vegetables, coffee or jam. All 45 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the eggs were bad, only a very little butter remained, the beer was reserved for the ship's officers, iced water and drinks were no longer obtainable, and the meat became more and more unpleasant. On the "Wolf" the food was still poorer, and beri-beri broke out on the raider. A case of typhoid also appeared on the "Wolf" and the German doctors there- upon inoculated every man, woman and child on both ships against typhoid. We had heard before of German "inoculations" and some of us had nasty forebodings as to the results. But protests were of no avail — everyone had to submit. The first inoculation took place on November first, the next on November eleventh, and some of the people were inocu- lated a third time. One night while the ships were lashed alongside a great uproar arose on both ships. The alarm was given, orders were shouted, revolvers and side arms were hastily assumed and sailors commenced rushing and shouting from all parts of both ships. Most of us were scared, not knowing what had happened. It appeared that a German sailor had fallen 46 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER down between the two ships; his cries, of course, added to the tumult, but luckily he was dragged up without being much injured. We could not help wondering if such a com- motion were made at such a small accident, what would happen if a cruiser came along and the real alarm were given. The ship would bid fair to become a vertiable mad- house — evidently the nerves of all the Ger- mans were very much on edge. The only thing for the prisoners to do was to get out of the way as much as possible, and retire to their cabins. In addition to the transference of coal and cargo which went on without cessation, day and night, our ship was gradually being stripped. Bunks and cabin fittings, heating apparatus, pianos, bookcases, brass and rub- ber stair-treads, bed and table linen, ceiling and table electric fans, clocks and all movable fittings were transferred to the "Wolf," and our ship presented a scene of greater destruc- tion every day. The Germans were excellent shipbreakers. Much of the cargo could not be taken on board the "Wolf," it was not 47 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER wanted, and there was no room for it, and some of this, especially some fancy Japanese goods, clothes, gloves and toys, was broached by the sailors, and some was left untouched in the holds. The Prize Captain secured for himself as a trophy, a large picture placed at the head of the saloon stairs of the "Hitachi." This represented a beautiful Japanese wood- land scene, embossed and painted on velvet. Longing eyes had been cast on the notice published by the Germans concerning rules and regulations on board, and most of us de- termined to get possession of it. When first fixed on the notice board it had been blown down, and recovered by a German sailor. It was then framed and again exhibited. Later on it was again taken out of its frame and again pinned up. It remained on the notice board till the day before the "Hitachi" was sunk. After supper that evening I was lucky enough to find it still there, so removed it and have kept it as a memento of the time when I was a "detained enemy subject !" The boats were all lashed down, the hatch- es the same, and every precaution taken to 48 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER prevent wreckage floating away when the vessel was sunk. On the afternoon of No- vember fifth the Germans shifted all the pas- sengers' heavy luggage on to the "Wolf," and we were told we should have to leave the "Hitachi" and go on board the "Wolf" at one p. m. the next day. The "Hitachi" was now in a sad condition, her glory was indeed de- parted and her end very near. We had our last meal in her stripped saloon that day at noon, and at one o'clock moved over on to the "Wolf," the German sailors carrying our light cabin luggage for us. The crew and their belongings, the Japanese stewards and theirs, moved over to the "Wolf" in the after- noon, and at five p. m. on November sixth the "Wolf" sheered off, leaving the "Hitachi" de- serted, but for the German Captain and offi- cers, and the bombing party who were to send her to the bottom next day. Both ships remained where they were for the night, abreast of and about four hundred yards distant from each other. At nine a. m. on November seventh they moved off and manoeuvred. The Germans did not intend to 49 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sink the "Hitachi" where she was, but in deep water. To do this they had to sail some dis- tance from the Nazareth Bank. The "Hi- tachi" hoisted the German Imperial Navy flag, and performed a kind of naval goose- step for the delectation of the "Wolf." At one p. m. the flag was hauled down, both ships stopped, and the "Hitachi" blew off steam for the last time. There were still a few people on her, and the "Wolfs" motor-launch made three trips between the two ships before the German Captain and bombing officer left the "Hi- tachi." Three bombs had been placed for her destruction, one forward outside the ship on the starboard side, one amidships inside, and one aft on the port side outside the ship. At one thirty-three p. m. the Captain arrived alongside the "Wolf," and at one thirty-four the first bomb exploded with a dull subdued roar and a high column of water ; the explo- sion of the other bomb followed at intervals of a minute, so that by one thirty-six the last bomb had exploded. All on the "Wolf" now stood watching the "Hitachi's" last struggle 50 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER with the waves, a struggle which, thanks to her murderers, could have but one end; and the German officers stood on the "Wolf's" deck taking photos at different stages of the tragedy. The struggle was a long one — it was pathetic beyond words to watch it — for some time it even seemed as if the "Hitachi" were going to snatch one more victory from the sea, but just before two o'clock there were signs that she was settling fast. Her well deck forward was awash; exactly at two o'clock her bows went under, soon her funnel was surrounded with swirling water ; it disappeared, and with her propellers high in the air she dived slantingly down to her great grave, and at one minute past two the sea closed over her. Twenty-five minutes had elapsed since the explosion of the last bomb. The Germans said she and her cargo were worth a million sterling when she went down. There was great turmoil on the sea for some time after the ship disappeared; the ammunition-house on the poop floated away, a fair amount of wreckage also came away, 51 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER an oar shot up high into the air from one of the hatches, the sodium Hghts attached to the Hf ebuoys ignited and ran along the water, and the "Wolf," exactly like a murderer mak- ing sure that the struggles of his victim had finally ceased, moved away from the scene of her latest crime. Thus came to an end the second of the Nip- pon Yushen Kaisha fleet bearing the name of "Hitachi Maru." The original ship of that name had been sunk by the Russians in the Russo-Japanese war. Our ill-fated vessel had taken her place. It will savor of tempt- ing Providence if another ship ever bears her unfortunate name, and no sailor could be blamed for refusing to sail in her. 5^ CHAPTER V LIFE on the "Wolf" was very different to life on the "Hitachi." To begin with, all the single men of military age from the "Hitachi" were accommodated on the 'tween decks, and slept in hammocks which they had to sling themselves. The elder men among them slept in bunks taken from the "Hitachi," but the quarters of all in the 'tween decks were very restricted; there was no privacy, no convenience, and only a screen divided the European and Japanese quarters. The condition of our fellow-countrymen from the "Hitachi" was now the reverse of enviable, though it was a great deal better than that of the crews of the captured ships, who were "accommodated" under the poop — where the captains and officers captured had quarters to themselves — and exercised on the poop and well deck, the port side of 53 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER which was reserved for the Japanese. There were now more than four hundred prisoners on board, mostly British, some of whom had been captured in the February previous, as the "Wolf" had left Germany in November, 1916, the ''Hitachi" being the tenth prize taken. The condition in which these prisoners lived cannot be too strongly condemned. The heat in the tropics was in- sufferable, the overcrowding abominable, and on the poop there was hardly room to move. While anchored near Sunday Island, in the Pacific some months earlier, two of the British prisoners taken from the first prize captured managed to escape. Their absence was not noticed by the Germans till a fortnight later, as up to then there had be'en no daily rollcall, an omission which was at once rectified directly these two men were noted missing. As a punishment, the prisoners aft were no longer allowed to ex- ercise on the poop, but were kept below. The heat and stifling atmosphere were incon- ceivable and cruel. The iron deck below presented the appearance of having been 54 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER hosed — in reality it was merely the perspira- tion streaming off these poor persecuted cap- tives that drenched the deck. The attention of the ship's doctor was one day called to this and he at once forbade this inhuman confinement in future. From then onwards, batches of the prisoners were allowed on the poop at a time, so that every man could obtain at least a little fresh air a day — surely the smallest concession that could pos- sibly be made to men living under wretched conditions. But notwithstanding these hardships the men seemed to be merry and bright and showed smiling faces to their captors. They had all evidently made up their minds to keep their end up to the last, and were not to be downed by any bad news or bad treat- ment the Germans might give them. The "Wolf" of course picked up wireless news every day, printed it, and circulated it throughout the ship in German and English. We did not, however, hear all the news that was picked up, but felt that what we did hear kept us at least a little in touch with 55 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the outside world, and we have since been able to verify that, and also to discover that we missed a great deal, too. The accommodation provided for the mar- ried couples on the "Wolf" was situated on the upper deck on the port side. Some "cabins" had been improvised when the first women and civilian prisoners had been cap- tured, some had been vacated by the officers, and others had been carved out as the num- ber of these prisoners increased. The cabins of course — small — there was very little room to spare on the "Wolf" — and, at the best, makeshift contrivances, but it must be ad- mitted that our German captors did all they could to make us as comfortable as possible under the conditions prevailing. The mar- ried couples, the Australian military officers and a few elderly civilians messed together in the officers' ward-room, quite a tiny sa- loon, which was placed at our disposal after the officers had finished their meals. The food on the "Wolf" was better cooked than it had been on the "Hitachi," but there was of course no fresh food of any kind. 56 i A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Even the potatoes we had were dried and had to be soaked many hours before they were cooked, and even then they did not much resemble the original article; the same remark applies to the other vegetables we had. Occasionally our meals satisfied us as far as quantity went, but in the main we left the table feeling we could with ease dispose of a great deal more. This was especially the case after breakfast, which consisted of bread and jam only. Each cabin had a Ger- man orderly to look after and wait on its occupants, two German stewards waited on us at meals, and a Japanese steward had two or three cabins to look after and clean. The deck — we were only allowed the port side — was only about six feet wide, and part of this was occupied by spare spars. Sailors and officers, and prisoners to fetch their food were passing along this deck in- cessantly all day, so it can be easily imag- ined there was not much room for sitting about in deck chairs. On this deck, too, was the prisoners' cell, usually called the "cala- boose," very rarely without an occupant 57 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER with an armed sentry on guard outside. It was not a cheerful abode, being very small and dark; and the prisoner, if his sentence were a long one, served it in installments of a few days at a time. We were allowed to go down to the well deck to see our friends and sit on the hatch with them during the daytime. They had their meals in the 'tween decks at different times from us, but the food provided was usually just the same. The evenings were the deadliest times of all on the "Wolf." At dusk the order "Schiff Abblenden" resounded all through the ship, sailors came round to put tin plates over all the portholes, and from thence onward throughout the night com- plete darkness prevailed on deck, not a glint of light showing anywhere on the ship. When the "Wolf" considered herself in dangerous waters, and when she was laying mines, even smoking was forbidden on deck. All the cabins had a device by which directly the door was open the light went out, only to be relit directly the door closed. So it was impossible for anyone to leave his cabin 58 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER with the door open and the light on. There was nothing to do in the evenings after the last meal, which was over before eight o'clock. There was nowhere to sit except on the dark deck or in the dark cabins; it was so hot that the cabin doors had to be kept open, and the evenings spent on the "Wolf" were certainly very dreary. Most of us felt we would rather be in gaol on shore, for then we should be in no risk of being killed at any moment by our own people, our cells would have been larger than our cabins, our food possibly not much worse, and our gaol would at least have been stationary and not rolling about, though it must be confessed that the "Wolf" was a good sea boat. She had been one of the Hansa line before the war, and was about six thousand tons, with a speed of about ten knots at the out- side. She had been thoroughly adapted for her work as a raider, had four torpedo tubes and six guns (said to be 4.7) with concrete emplacements, not to mention machine and smaller guns, none of which could be seen by a passing ship, to which the "Wolf" 59 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER looked, as she was intended to look, exactly like an innocent tramp. When in action her bulwarks dropped, giving free play to her guns and torpedoes. There was telephone communcation between her bridge and every gun and every part of the ship; she carried a huge searchlight, her masts and funnel were telescopic, and she could rig an extra funnel. She carried large supplies of bombs, hand grenades, rifles and small arms, had hospitals with two doctors on board; among her crew of more than three hundred were representatives of every trade, she was thor- oughly well equipped in every way, the officers had the best and most powerful bin- oculars, and absolutely nothing seemed to have been forgotten. There were, it was said, only three of the officers who were Im- perial Navy men, the Commander, the Artil- lery Officer, and the Lieutenant in charge of the prisoners. All the other officers and a great many of the crew were from the Ger- man mercantile marine, who had travelled with, mixed with and lived with English- men in many parts of the world. To this 60 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER we undoubtedly owed the kindly treatment we received on board, treatment which was infinitely better than we expected to receive. The majority of the officers and men were certainly kindly disposed towards us. There is no doubt, however, that the fear we might be taken by a British cruiser also had some- thing to do with this treatment, for if we had been treated badly the Germans knew they would have had cause to regret it had they been captured. In a conversation with the Lieutenant in charge of the prisoners — who, by the way, had a Scottish mother — I remarked that it was very hard on our relatives and friends not knowing what had become of us. He agreed that it was, but added it was no worse for my relations than it was for his ! They did not know where he was either! "No," I replied, "but you are out doing your duty and serving your country, and when you left home your people knew they would have no news of you for many months. It is quite diiferent with us. We were not out to be taken prisoner, we were simply travel- 61 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER ling on business, being compelled to do so. We are not serving our country by being- caught and kept in this way, and our rela- tives did not expect us to disappear and send them no nev^s of ourselves for a long time." However, he affected not to see the differ- ence between our case and his; just as the sailors often told the prisoners aft that in case of the "Wolf" going into action, it would be no worse for the prisoners than it was for the fighting crew. We were forbidden to talk to the crew, but under cover of the darkness some of them, a great number of whom spoke Eng- lish, were only too glad to speak to us. We learnt from them that the "Wolf" had been out a year, and that they were all very "fed up" with it all, tired of the life, tired of the sea, tired of the food, longing to get home, and longing for the war to end. They had, too, no doubts as to how it would end, and were certain that the "Wolf" would get back to Germany whenever she wished to do so. They were certain three things would bring them victory; their submarines, the 62 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER defection of Russia who would soon be made to conclude peace with Germany, and the fact that in their opinion America had en- tered the war too late. The interests of the "Wolf" were now, to a certain extent, identical with our own — that we should not meet an Allied cruiser. A notice was posted in some of our cabins saying that in that event the women with their husbands, and some other prisoners would be put into boats with a white flag, "if weather and other conditions permitted." The other prisoners, however, viz: — those under the poop and on the 'tween decks, would have had no chance of being saved. They would all have been battened down under hatches (this indeed was done when- ever the "Wolf" sighted or captured a ship, when mines were being sown, and when and other drill was carried on) and armed guards with hand grenades sent among them. Their fate, if the "Wolf" had gone into action, would have been too terrible to contemplate, and it is certain very few of them could have been saved. 63 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER The "Wolf" with a company of over seven hundred on board sailed away on a south- westerly course for the next two days, and the usual routine of the ship went on, but no further drills took place. Soon after day- break on November tenth a sailor came along and locked us all in our cabins, armed guards patrolled the deck, and a short time after an officer came to each cabin and informed us there was a steamer on the starboard side which the "Wolf" intended to capture. He told us the "Wolf" would fire on her to make her stop, and provided all of us with cotton wool to insert in our ears while the guns were being fired! We waited for the sound of the guns, but nothing happened, and in about half an hour the same officer came along and said to us, "Don't be fearful, the other ship has stopped and there will be no firing!" Our cabin doors were unlocked, the men on the upper deck were allowed out, the ladies were requested not to show them- selves on deck, and another officer ran along the deck saying "We've catched her, we've catched her, a neutral this time!" 64 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER The "catched" vessel had stopped and was lying very near the "Wolf." The name on her stern proclaimed her to be the "Igotz Mendi" of Bilbao, and she was flying the Spanish flag. In a short time a prize crew left the "Wolf" in her motor-launch, and proceeded to the other ship. After they had been aboard her a few minutes, a message came back that the Spanish ship was from Delagoa Bay to Colombo with a cargo of fifty-eight hundred tons of coal for the Brit- ish Admiralty authorities in Ceylon. The chargin of the Germans may be imagined when they realized that they had captured this ship just three days too late to save the "Hitachi." Here was a ship with ample coal, which, had it been captured a few days before, would have enabled the Germans to save the "Hitachi" and take her as a prize to Germany as they had always desired to do. The "Igotz Mendi" had left Lourenco, Marquez, on November fifth and was due at Colombo on the twenty-second. Before nine a.m. on the morning of the capture, both ships had turned about, the prize now being 65 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER in command of the Germans, and were going back on the course the "Wolf" had followed since the destruction of the "Hitachi." Dis- cussion was rife among the prisoners as to what would be done with the new capture, and whether the Commander of the "Wolf" would redeem his promise to transfer the married couples to the "next ship caught." 66 CHAPTER VI THE two ships steamed along in com- pany for the next three days, usually stopping towards sunset for communi- cations and sending orders. On Sun- day the eleventh we were invited to a band performance on the well deck forward. It was quite a good one. The first mate came along and jokingly said to us, "What more can you want ? We give you a free passage, free food, and even free music." I replied, "We only want one more thing free." "What is that?" he asked. "Freedom," I answered. "Ah!" he said, smiling. "I am afraid you I had asked him earlier in the day, if he would allow us the use of a room and a piano for a short time in the afternoon, so that we could keep up our custom of singing a few hymns on Sunday. Later on, he told me we might, with the permission of the 67 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER officers, have their wardroom for half an hour. The officers and he had kindly agreed to this, a concession we much appreciated, and the little wardroom was crowded in- deed on that occasion. At daybreak on the thirteenth both ships arrived at the Nazareth Bank, and before nine a.m. were lashed together. On such occasions the "Wolf" never dropped anchor, for she might have to be up and away at the slightest warning; the prize ship was always the one to drop anchor. On the pre- vious Tuesday the "Wolf" had been lashed alongside the "Hitachi"; here, on this Tues- day, the "Wolf" was lashed alongside another captured ship in the very same place! Again the daring and coolness of our cap- tors amazed us. Coaling* from the "Igotz Mendi" to the "Wolf" at once began, and a wireless installation was immediately rigged up by the Germans on the Spanish ship. Coaling proceeded all that day, and the Ger- man officers and crews on both ships were very busy. The prisoners aft were also very busy catching fish over the side. No sooner 68 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER had the ships stopped than lines were dropped overboard and many fine fish were caught. The prisoners aft wore very little clothing and often no headgear at all, though we were in the tropics, where we had always thought a sun-helmet was a sine qua non. But the prisoners got on quite well without one. On the morning of the fourteenth orders were given to the married couples on the "Wolf" to get their light baggage ready at once for transference to the Spanish ship, as she and the "Wolf" might have to sepa- rate at any moment. Our heavy baggage would be transferred if time allowed. Evi- dently something was in the air, some wire- less message had been picked up, as the sea- plane was being brought up from the 'tween decks, and assembled in great haste on the well deck. The "Wolfchen" went up about four-twenty and returned about five-thirty and in the interval our heavy baggage had been brought up from the "Wolf's" hold ready to be transhipped to the "Igotz Mendi." We did not understand at the time why the Germans were so considerate to us in the 69 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER matter of baggage — but later on, a great deal later on, light dawned on us ! At dusk that evening the married people were trans- ferred to the Spanish ship. The next morn- ing we were still alongside the "Wolf" and remained there till the morning of the sev- enteenth, our heavy baggage being trans- shipped in the interval. There had also been transferred the Colonel of the A.A.M.C. already mentioned, and three other men — including the second mate of one ship pre- viously captured — who were in ill-health. One of the "Hitachi" prisoners, a man over military age, who had come on board at Colombo straight from hospital, and was going for a health voyage to South Africa, had been told in the morning that he was to be transferred to the Spanish ship. But later on, much to the regret of everyone, it was found that the Germans would not re- lease him. A German officer came up to him and said in my hearing, "Were you not told this morning that you were to go on the "Igotz Mendi?" "Yes," he replied. "Well," said the officer, "you're not to." Comment 70 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER on the brutal manner of this remark is unnecessary. The message the seaplane had brought back had evidently been a reassuring one, and we heard a long time afterwards that the "Wolf" had picked up a wireless from a Japanese cruiser, presumably looking for the "Hitachi," only thirty miles away. Hence the alarm! Unfortunately for us, if this report were true, the cruiser did not turn aside to look in the most obvious place where a ship like the "Wolf" would hide, so once more the "Wolf" was safe. If only there had been a couple of cruisers disguised, like the "Wolf," as tramps, each one carrying a seaplane or two, in each ocean free from submarine attentions, the "Wolf" could have been seen and her career brought to an end long before. The same end would probably have been attained on this occasion if a wireless message had been sent from Delagoa Bay to Colombo saying that the "Igotz Mendi" had left the former port for the latter with five thousand tons of coal on board. The strong wireless installation on 71 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the "Wolf," which picked up every message within a large radius, but of course never sent any, would have picked up this message, and the "Wolf" would probably have risen to the bait, with the result that she could have been caught by an armed vessel sent in search of her on that track. For it must have been known that a raider was out in those waters, as the disappearance of the "Hitachi" could only have been due to the presence of one. Coaling proceeded without cessation till the morning of the seventeenth, when the "Wolf" moved off a short distance. Passen- gers on mail boats familiar with the process of coaling ship at Port Said, Colombo, or any other port, can imagine the condition of these ships, after three or four days' in- cessant coaling day and night. The appear- ance of the "Igotz Mendi" was meanwhile undergoing another change. When captured she was painted white and had a buff fun- nel with her Company's distinguishing mark. She was now painted the Allied gray color, and when her sides and funnel had been 72 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER transformed the two ships sailed awa}^ and on the evening of the seventeenth, after final orders and instructions had been given, parted company. For some days after this painting was the order of the day on the Spanish ship, which was now gray on every part visible. The Captain of the Spanish ship was now relieved of his duties — and also of his cabin, which the German Captain had annexed, leaving the owner thereof the chartroom to sleep in — and was naturally very chagrined at the course events had taken, especially as he said he had been told by the Consul at Lourenco Marquez that the course between there and Colombo was quite clear, and had not even been informed of the disappearance of the "Hitachi," though she had been over- due at Delagoa Bay about a month. Consequently he had been showing his navigation lights at sea, and without them the "Wolf" would probably not have seen him, as it was about one a.m. when the "Wolf" picked him up. The remaining Span- ish officers took their watch on the bridge, 73 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER always with a member of the prize crew in attendance, the Spanish engineers remained in charge of the engine-room, again with a German always present, and the Spanish crew remained on duty as before. There was a prize crew of nine Germans on board; the Captain, Lieutenant Rose, who had also been in charge of the ''Hitachi" after her capture, and the First Officer, who had also filled that post on the "Hitachi," being the only officers. Lieutenant Rose spoke Spanish in addition to English and French, and the Spanish Captain also spoke very good Eng- lish. Some of the Spanish officers also spoke English, but the knowledge of it was not so general as it was on the "Wolf," where every officer we met spoke our language, and most of the prize crew spoke quite enough to get on with. The "Igotz Mendi" had been completed in 1916, and was a ship admirably fitted for her purpose, which, however, was not that of carrying passengers. Ordinarily she was a collier, or carried iron ore. Her decks were of iron, scorchingly hot in the tropics, and 74 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER icy cold in northern latitudes. There was no place sheltered from the sun in which to sit on the small deck space, and the small awn- ings which were spasmodically rigged up were quite insufficient for the purpose. There were no cabins except those provided for the officers, who generously gave them up to the married couples on board, the offi- cers taking quarters much more crowded and much less desirable. The cabins were quite suitable for one occupant each, but very cramped for two; the one occupied by my wife and myself being only seven and a half feet square. Each containd one bunk and one settee, the latter being a sleeping place far from comfortable, as it was only five and a half feet long by about twenty inches wide, and the floor space was very narrow and restricted. There were four cabins, two on each side of a narrow alley- way about two feet wide, while one mar- ried couple occupied the Chief Engineer's cabin further aft on the starboard side, quite a roomy apartment. The port cabin opposite to it was occupied by an old Mauritius-Indian 75 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER woman and her little granddaughter, the Japanese stewardess, the Australian stew- ardess already mentioned, and a colored man going to South Africa with his Chinese wife. Rather crowded quarters, not to mention somewhat unseemly conditions! The Asi- atic passengers had been "intermediate" passengers on the "Hitachi" — i.e. between the second-class and deck passengers. The four men above mentioned occupied a space under the poop, it could not be dignified with the name of cabin. It was very small, only one occupant could dress at a time, and im- mediately in front of it was a reeking pigsty with three full-sized occupants. The pass- age to it from the saloon on the upper deck was often a perilous one in rough weather and on dark nights, for there was never any light showing on board at night during the whole cruise. Tlie prize crew had quarters on the starboard side under the poop; they were exceedingly small, cramped, and in every way inconvenient and uncomfortable. This, then, was to be our home for the next few months. We did not know for how 76 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER long, but we regarded the prospect with a certain amount of equanimity, as the ship was unarmed, and we knew we should not be fired on by a hostile cruiser, as might have been the case if we had remained on the "Wolf." When we arrived on the Spanish boat we were served with meals at the same time to which the Spanish officers had been accus- tomed, i.e. breakfast at nine and supper at four, but these times were soon afterwards changed to breakfast at eight-thirty, tiffin at twelve-thirty and supper at five-thirty. We were lucky to get fresh food for some days. But this soon came to an end, though the stock of muscatels, a quince preserve — called memhrillo- — and Spanish wine lasted very much longer. There was on board a certain amount of live stock; some chickens, and a couple of cows each of which had a calf born on board; these all met the usual fate of such things on appropriate occasions. For many days after we parted company with the "Wolf" we ambled and dawdled through the sea on a southwesterly course, 77 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sometimes stopping altogether for an hour or two, sometimes for half a day, some- times for a whole day. The monotony of this performance was deadly beyond words. On one of these days, the Captain offered to land us at Mauritius on the following morn- ing and give himself up with the crew and ship if we could raise £100,000 for him. Un- fortunately, we couldn't! On the afternoon of the twenty-third the Germans became very agitated at the sight of smoke on the horizon. At first we all thought it was the "Wolf," but before long we could see two columns of smoke, evi- dently coming from two steamers traveling together. The prisoners then became very agitated also, as help might be at hand. But the Germans at once changed the course, and manouevred at full speed in such a way that we soon got out of sight of the smoke, when we resumed our original course again, after having boxed the compass more than once, and the German Captain came down from the bridge and told us there was no relief for us yet. We all felt that if the "Hitachi" 78 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER had only avoided distant smoke as the Ger- man Captain had done, we need never have made the acquaintance of the "Wolf." On the twenty-fourth we again met the "Wolf" in the evening. Whenever the "Wolf" had an appointment to meet her prize at a certain time and place, the prize always hoisted recognition signals directly she saw the "Wolf" on the horizon. These were made of wicker, and varied in shape on different occasions. We were now well to the south of Africa, in the roaring forties, and we saw many schools of whales, and albatrosses accom- panied us for many days. By December first we had begun to steer northwest, and on the third the Captain informed us we were the nearest we should ever be to Cape Town, the port to which I had set out. We were then one hundred and fifty miles off. We met the "Wolf" again on the fifth and trav- eled in her company during the remainder of that day and the next two, stopping as usual for communication and the sending of stores to us in the evenings just before sun- 79 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER set. Often, when the ship stopped, Lieuten- ant Rose would go aboard the "Wolf," an- other Lieutenant boarding us and remaining in charge during his absence. The "Wolf" on this occasion told us she had sunk the American sailing vessel "John LL Kirby," from America to East London with a cargo of four hundred motor-cars on board, when two days from her destination, the officers and crew being taken on board the "Wolf." Many people in South Africa would have to dispense with their motor joy-rides at Christ- mas in consequence. The evening of December seventh was the last occasion on which we saw the "Wolf" for many days. The two sh%)s now shaped a course for the Brazilian Island of Trinidad, where it was understood the "Wolf" would coal from her prize, and with her spend the Christmas holidays. CHAPTER Vir IT must not be supposed that the life of the prisoners on the "Igotz Mendi" in any way approximated to that of pas- sengers on an ordinary passenger ship. To begin with, there were no ship's servants to wait on us with the exception of the Spanish steward, a youth who "waited" at table and excelled in breaking ship's crock- ery. If the cabins were to be kept clean, we had to do it ourselves. Every morning saw the occupants sweeping out and cleaning up their cabins, as no ship's servant ever entered them. The water supply was very limited, and had to be fetched by ourselves — no matter what the weather- — sometimes from the fore peak, and sometimes from a pump near the ship's galley. Wash- ing water and drinking water were served out twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., an ordi- nary water can being the allowance of the 8i A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER former, and a water bottle that of the latter. The supply of washing water was very in- adequate, and no hot water was ever avail- able. After washing ourselves, we had to wash our clothes in the same water — for there was of course no laundry on board — and then the cabin floor after that. By this time the water was mud. It was impossible to have a proper bath all the time we were on board, for there was no water supply in the bathroom, an it was kept in an extremely dirty condition. The saloon, about eighteen feet square, in which all the meals were served in two sit- tings, was very rarely clean, and the habits of the Captain's pup did not improve matters. The pup, born on the *Wolf," rejoiced in the name of "Luchs" and as his presence was so evident in the saloon, it was often appro- priately named the "Salon de luxe." The table "appointments" were often disgust- ing. The table cloth was filthy after the first meal or so, thanks to the rolling of the ship, but was only changed twice, sometimes Qnly once a week. Cups were us€d without §2 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER saucers, and spoons gradually disappeared, so that towards the end one had to suffice between four or five persons. We got thoroughly sick of the food pro- vided, but the German officers and crew had just the same. The "Hitachi" had been carry- ing ten thousand cases of canned crab to England. A great part of this was saved, and divided between the "Wolf" and her prize. None of us ever want to see or hear of this commodity again; we were fed on it till most of us loathed it, but as there was nothing else to eat when it was served, we perforce had to eat that, or dry bread, and several of us chose the latter. Bully beef, every variety of bean, dried vegetables, dried fish that audibly announced its advent to the table, bean soup, and pea soup we got just as sick of, till, long before the end, all the food served nauseated us. Tea, some- times made in a coffee pot, sometimes even with salt water, was the usual hot drink pro- vided, but coffee was for some time available once a day. We owe a great debt to one of our fellow-prisoners, a ship's cook, captured S3 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER from one of the other ships, who in return for his offer to work as baker was promised his Hberty, which fortunately he has now secured, though no thanks to the Germans. He baked, under the most difficult conditions, extraordinarily good bread, and over and over again we should have gone without food but for this. We were often very hungry, for there was nothing to eat between "sup- per" at 5.30, and breakfast next morning at 8.30. The Captain had given each lady a large box of biscuits from the ''Hitachi,'* and my wife and I used to eat a quarter of a biscuit each before turning in for the night. We could not afford more — the box might have to last us for many months. Mention has been made of the ship's roll- ing. Her capacity for this was incredible — in the smoothest sea, whether stopped or under steam, she rolled heavily from side to side, and caused great discomfort, inconven- ience, and often alarm to all on board. The remark, "The 'Mendi' roll, fresh every day for every meal, for breakfast, dinner and tea," was made by someone at almost every 84 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER meal time, as we clutched at our food, glid- ing or jumping from end to end of the saloon table, accompanied by the smashing of crock- ery and upsetting of liquids and soup. Even the Captain was astonished at the rolling of the ship, as he well might have been, when one night he, in common with most of us, was flung out of his berth. No ship ever rolled like it — the bath in the bathroom even got loose and slid about in its socket, adding to the great din on board. As may be imagined there was not much to do on board. The few books we had be- tween us were passed round and read over and over again. Some were also sent over from the "Wolf" for us. Card games of various kinds also helped to pass the time, and the Captain and some of the prisoners held a "poker school" morning, afternoon and evening in the saloon. But time, never- theless, dragged very heavily. We were at liberty to go practically where we liked on board, but we were never able to g«t far away from the German sailors, who alwayw appeared to be Mstening to our 85 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER conversation, no matter where we were. As on the 'Wolf/' they were sometimes caught spying on us, and Hstening at the portholes or ventilators of our cabins. We next picked up the "Wolf" on the afternoon of December nineteenth and heard that since we had last seen her she had sunk a French sailing vessel loaded with grain for Europe. The two ships proceeded on parallel courses for Trinidad, but about eight p.m. both ships turned sharply round and doubled on their tracks, proceeding on a southeasterly course at full speed. We learnt the reason for this the next day. Ger- man raiders had previously coaled and hidden at Trinidad but Brazil was now in the war, so that hole was stopped, and the "Wolf" had intercepted a wireless from the Commander of a Brazilian cruiser to the garrison on Trinidad. Hence her rapid flight! But for that wireless message the "Wolf" would have walked right into the trap, and we should have been free within twelve hours from the time she picked up the message, B6 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Once again wireless had been our undoing. The "Hitachi" had wirelessed the hour of her arrival at, and departure from Singapore and Colombo, the "Wolf" of course had picked up the messages and was ready wait- ing for her. One other ship, if not more, was caught in just the same way. The "Matunga" had wirelessed, not even in code, her departure, with the nature of her cargo, from Sydney to New Guinea, and she wire- lessed again when within a few hours of her destination. The "Wolf" waited for her, in- formed her that she had on board just the cargo the "Wolf" needed, captured, and afterwards sunk her. The "Wolf's" success in capturing ships and evading hostile cruis- ers was certainly due to her intercepting ap- parently indiscriminate wirelessing between ships, and between ships and shore — at one time in the Indian Ocean the "Wolf" was picking up news in four languages — and to her seaplane which enabled her to scout thoroughly and to spot an enemy ship long before she could have been seen by the enemy. 87 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Soon after leaving the Indian Ocean, the seaplane had been taken to pieces and placed in the 'tween decks, so that if the "Wolf" had been seen by another steamer, her pos- session of a seaplane would not be revealed. The two ships proceeded on their new course at full speed for the next two days. On the twenty-first they slowed down, hop- ing to coal in the open sea. The next day both ships stopped, but the condition of the sea would not admit of coaling; we were then said to be about seven hundred miles east of Montevideo. It was a great disappointment to the Germans that they were prevented from coaling and spending their Christmas under the shelter of Trinidad, but it became quite clear that all the holes for German raiders in this part of the ocean had now been stopped, and that they would have to coal in the open sea or not at all. Some of us thought the Germans might go back to Tristan da Cunha or even to Gough Island — both British possessions in the South At- lantic — but the Germans would not risk this. Even St. Helena was mentioned as a possible 88 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER coaling place but the Germans said that was impracticable, as it would mean an attack on an unfortified place, as if this would have been a new procedure for German armed forces ! But the disappointment about Trinidad was mitigated by other wireless news re- ceived. The Commander of the "Wolf^ called all his men together, and harangued them to the effect that the latest news was that Russia and Rumania were now out of the war, having given in to Germany, that the war would certainly be over in six months, and that the 'Wolf" would then go home in safety to a victorious, grateful and appreciative Fatherland. Some such spur as this was very necessary to the men, who were getting very discontented with the length of the cruise and conditions prevail- ing, notably the monotony of the cruise and threatened shortage of food, drink and to- bacco. The "Wolf" had brought out from Germany enormous stores of provisions for the cruise, which was expected to last about a year. In fact her cargo from Germany con- 89 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sisted of coal, stores, ammunition and mines only. She replenished her stores solely from the prizes she took. Christmas Eve was still too rough for the ships to tie up alongside, and our Christmas the next day was the reverse of merry. The Germans had held a Christmas service on the *'Wolf" on Christmas Eve, and sounds of the band and singing were wafted to us over the waters. We could hold no service on the "Igotz Mendi" as we had no piano, but our friends on the "Wolf," so we heard after- wards, gathered together in the 'tween decks and joined in some Christmas music. On Christmas morning the Spanish Captain regaled the ladies with some choice brand of Spanish wine, and offered first-class cigars to the men prisoners, rather better than the "Stinkadoros" sometimes offered us by the crew. German officers on the ships ex- changed visits and we all tried to feel the day was not quite ordinary. Our thoughts and wishes on this sad Christmas Day may perhaps be "better imagined than described." The German officers had a great feast and 90 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER a jolly time on the "Wolf." One cow and three pigs had been killed for the Christmas feast, but they did not go far between nearly eight hundred people and all the prisoners, at least, were glad when the dismal farce of Christmas under such conditions was over. The weather on Boxing Day was only a little more favorable than that on Christmas Day, but the Germans decided to wait no longer to coal the "Wolf." They had pre- viously conveyed water to our ship from the "Wolf" in boats. The same method of trans- ferring coal was discussed, but that idea was abandoned. At five p.m. she tied up along- side us. She bumped into us with consider- able force when she came up, and not many of us on board the "Igotz Mendi" will ever forget that night. Both ships were rolling heavily, and repeatedly bumping into each other, each ship quivering from end to end, and the funnel of the "Igotz Mendi" was visibly shaking at every fresh collision. Sleep was impossible for anyone on our boat ; in fact, many feared to turn in at all as they 91 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER thought some of the plates of the boats might be stove in. The next day was no better, but rather worse. About six p.m. there was a great crash which alarmed all • it was due to the "Wolf's" crashing into and completely smashing part of the bridge of our ship. This was enough for the Germans. They decided to suspend operations, and at seven p.m. the "Wolf" sheered off, having coaled six hundred tons in twenty-five hours. The coaling process had severely damaged the "Wolf," many of whose plates were badly dented. We had lost eighteen large fenders between the ships, and the "Wolf" was leaking to the extent of twelve tons an hour. The "Igotz Mendi" had come off better. None of her plates were dented, she was making no water, and the only visible signs of damage to her were many twisted and bent stanchions on the port side that met the "Wolf." We had been allowed to send letters for Christmas — censored, of course, by the Ger- mans — to our "Hitachi" friends on the "Wolf," and when the two ships were along- 92 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER side we were allowed to speak to them, though conversation under such conditions was very difficult, as one minute our friends would be sevei-al feet above us, and the next below us with the rolling" of the ship; and the noise of the coaling, shouting of orders, and roaring of the water between the ships was deafening. There did not seem much point in censoring letters, as the prisoners on the "Igotz Mendi" and the "Wolf were allowed to talk to each other a day or so after the letters were sent, and although a German sentry was on guard while those conversations were going on, it was possible for the prisoners to say what they liked to each other, as the sentry could only have caught an occasional word or two. I have since been asked why the prison- ers and Spaniards on the Spanish ship did not attack the prize crew and seize the ship when we were not in company with the *Wolf." It sounds quite simple, but it must be remembered that although the prize crew was certainly a small one, they were well supplied with arms, bombs, and hand gren- 93 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER ades, while the prisoners and Spaniards had no arms at all, as they had all been taken away by the Germans. Furthermore, an attack of this kind would have been far worse than useless unless its absolute success could have been definitely assured. There were very few young and able men among the prisoners, while the German prize crew were all picked men, young and powerful. The working crew of the ship was composed of Spaniards and other neutrals, including a Greek and a Chilian. It would have been absolutely necessary to have secured the al- legiance and support of every one of these. The plan of seizing the ship, which sounds simple, was discussed among us many a time, but it was in reality quite impracticable. What would our fate have been if we had tried — and failed? And what of the women and children on board? 94 CHAPTER VIII WE had been encouraged by the Ger- mans to think — they had in fjact de- definitely told us — that the "Igotz Mendi" with us on board was to be sent to Spain when the Germans released her. This news greatly rejoiced the Spaniards, who had naturally become very depressed, more especially as they knew that if no news were received of them for six weeks after the date on which they were due at Colombo, a re- quiem mass would, according to Spanish custom, be said for them in their churches at home. On December twenty-ninth, all of which and the previous day, together with many succeeding days, were spent in transferring our cargo coal to our bunkers, the Germans on our ship and on the "Wolf" ostentatiously bade each other good-bye, and letters from prisoners on the "Wolf" were brought to 95 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER US to post in Spain when we landed. The idea of the "Wolf" remaining out till the war was over in six months was abandoned, and we were told she would now go home to Germany. Why we were told this, the first time we had been informed of the "Wolf's" plans, we never knew, except that it might have been an excuse to keep drag- ging us over the seas, for the "Wolf' would never have allowed us to get ashore before she reached Germany. Now that we knew the Germans always intended taking us to Germany, it is obvious that it was quite im- material to them if they told us their plans. They wished to keep us, and having told us of their future plans, it is plain they could not afford to release us. But at that time we really began to think we were going to be landed in Spain, and the news raised the spirits of all of us. Those who had been learning Spanish before now did so with redoubled energy, and some of us even marked out on a pocket atlas our rail- way route from Bilbao or Cadiz — for the Spanish Captain thought it most Hkely we 96 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER should be landed at one of those ports- through Spain and France. We even got in- formation from the Spaniards as to hotels, railways, and sights to see in Spain. It seemed as if the end of our cruise, with our freedom, were really in sight, especially as the Captain had told some of us on Decem- ber sixteenth that in six weeks our captivity would be over. Some of us, however, still inclined to the belief that the Germans would release the ship and order her back to Java or Colombo or Calcutta ; while others believed we should ultimately be landed in Dutch Guiana or Mexico, two of the few re- maining neutral countries left. On the last day of the year a rumor went round the ship that we should be taken far north — about 60° N. — to a point from which the "Wolf" would get to Germany before we could reach Spain. That, in the opinion of most of us, put an end to the prospect of landing in Spain. The Germans would run no risks of our giving information about the "Wolf." But this scheme would have left uneliminated one very important risk. After 97 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the ships would have separated, there was still a chance of the prize being intercepted by an Allied cruiser before the "Wolf" got home, and if that had happened, the "Wolf's" goose would have been cooked indeed. So Spain looked very improbable. I approached the Captain on the last day of the year and spoke to him on the point. He confirmed the rumor, and said we should be sent back and landed at a Spanish island, most probably Las Palmas. I made a vigorous, though I knew it would be quite a useless protest against this scheme. I pointed out that the ship, which by then would be almost empty, was not a suitable one in which to carry women and children into the North Atlantic in mid-winter gales, and that people who had spent many years in the tropics would not be able to stand such weather, unpro- vided as they were with winter clothing (although the Commander of the "Wolf" had certainly sent over some rolls of flan- nelette — stolen from the "Hitachi" — for the ladies to make themselves warm garments!) Also that in case of distress we could call 98 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER for no help, as our wireless would only re- ceive and not send messages. The Captain brushed these complaints aside, saying the ship was in good trim and could stand any weather, that it would only be intensely cold on a very few days, that arrangements would be made that we should suffer as little from the cold as possible, and that there was very little liklihood of our being in distress. I then pointed out to him that our own Government prohibited our women from traveling through the submarine zone at all, but that he proposed to send them through it twice, and to give us a double dose of the North Atlantic at the very worst time of the year. He replied that going north we should go nowhere near the submarine zone, that he was just as anxious to avoid subma- rines as we were, and that when we parted far up in the North Atlantic, the "Igotz Men- di" would be given a "submarine pass' guar- anteeing her safety from attack by the U- boats, and special lights to burn at nights. I replied that I failed to see the use of a "sub- marine pass" as U-boats torpedoed at sight, f 99 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER and would not trouble to ask for a pass. He replied by asking me if I had ever heard of a neutral boat being torpedoed without warning. I answered that I had heard of such being done many times, and reminded him that the "Igotz Mendi" was painted the Allied gray color and therefore would not be recognized as a neutral but regarded by the U-boats as an enemy ship. He ended the interview by saying that he was carrying out the orders of the "Wolf's" Commander, and had no choice but to obey. This news of the "Wolf's" intentions angered us all, and we all felt that there was very little chance of ever seeing land again, unless an Allied cruiser came to our aid. We regarded this plan of the Germans as a deliberate one to sink us and the ship when they had got all they wanted out of her. The two ships had parted on the evening of the thirtieth, both going north, and we did not see the "Wolf" again till the morning of January fourth. She was then seen to be overhauling a ship on the horizon. We followed at a short distance and before long lOO A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER saw a ship in full sail. The "Wolf" approached her, spoke her, and to our in- tense astonishment released her. It seemed too good to be true that the "Wolf" would leave any ship she met quite unmolested, but so it was — for a short time. It was between ten and eleven when the "Wolf" and her prize proceeded on their original course and the sailing ship crossed our course astern. About one-thirty p.m. however, we changed our course and turned about. We were all mystified as to what was going to happen, until we saw a sail on the horizon. The "Wolf's" purpose was evident then. She was going back to destroy the ship whose existence she had forgiven in the morning. Imagine the feelings of the crew of her prey ; seeing the "Wolf" bearing down on them in the morning, their suspense as to their fate and that of their ship, their joy at their re- lease, and — here was the "Wolf" again! What would their fate be now ? The "Wolf" did not leave them long in doubt. She came up to her prize about five p.m. She was a "Wolfs" shipping register that she was lOI A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER four-masted bark in full sail, in ballast from the Cape to South America, and made a beau- tiful picture as she lay bathed in floods of golden light from the setting sun. Before dark, however, preparations had begun to remove her officers, crew and provisions, and this was completed in a few hours. We were invited by the Germans to stay up and see the end. We waited up till past eleven and saw lights flitting about the doomed ship, as the German sailors were removing some things, making fast others, and placing the bombs to blow her up. But none waited up for the end, which we heard took place after midnight. The ship first canted over, her sails resting on the water, righted herself and then slowly disappeared. It was a beau- tiful moonlight night for the commission of so dark a deed. The Germans afterwards told us that when the "Wolf" first spoke the bark, she gave her name and said she was a Norwegian ship, and so was released. The Germans had later discovered from the British owned before the war, and therefore to be destroyed. 102 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER The Germans told us that on the bark they had seen some English newspapers, and in them was some news of the two men who had escaped from the "Wolf" near Sunday Island. One of them had died while swim- ming ashore — the other, after some weeks alone on the island, had been picked up by a Japanese cruiser. The news this man was able to give was the first that the outside world had known about the "Wolf" for many months, and the Germans realized that their enemies would be looking out for them and trying to prevent their return to Germany. This man would also be able to give an exact description of the "Wolf," the names of the ships she had captured before his escape, and the probable fate of other vessels since miss- ing. This, we felt, would bring at least a little comfort to our relatives, who might conclude we were on the raider and not hope- lessly lost, as they must have feared. We had hoped our captors might have put us all on the sailing ship and sent us off on her to South America, as the "Wolf" would have been well away and out of danger be- 103 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDE'R fore we could have got ashore. But they did not entertain any such idea. Some of us re- quested that the lifeboats of the sailing ship might be sent over to our ship, as we had only two lifeboats, a couple of small dinghies, and an improvised raft, not sufficient for sixty-five people ; but the Germans would not send us these lifeboats, as they said th'ey were leaky! The question of baggage had to be again considered. It was evident we should be able to save very little, perhaps not even a hand- bag, if the ships were sunk by the Germans, and the prisoners put into the lifeboats. However, we ourselves packed in a handbag our most precious treasures we had brought from Siam. But in case it was impossible to save even so little, we collected the most valuable of our letters and papers and had them sewn up in sail cloth to put in our pockets. The King of Siam had conferred a decoration on me before I left — this was carefully packed and sewn up. I was de- termined to save this, if nothing else, though it seemed hopeless to expect to save many 104 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER treasures, parting presents and addresses presented to me by my Siamese friends. Earlier in my service, the King of Siam had conferred another decoration on me, and I was carrying with me His Majesty's Royal License for this, signed by him, and also King George V's Royal License with his sign manual, giving me permission to accept and wear the decoration. Both of these docu- ments, together with others highly valued which I was also determined to save, were secured in water-tight cases, ready to be put in my pockets at the last moment. We remained in company of the "Wolf" for the next few days, and at seven p.m. on the tenth the "Wolf" again came alongside in the open sea and coaled from us till seven p.m. on the next day. Conditions were slightly better than on the previous occasion, but still quite sufficiently unpleasant. More fenders were lost and the "Wolf" was fur- ther damaged. The great uproar caused by the winches going all night, the periodic emptying of ashes dragged in iron buckets over the iron decks, the shifting of coal from 105 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the bunkers immediately underneath our cabins, and the constant bumping of the ships made sleep quite out of the question, and we were very glad indeed when the "Wolf" sheered off. On this occasion the way in which she came alongside and sheered off was a beautiful piece of seamanship. On the eleventh we again saw and spoke to our "Hitachi" friends on the "Wolf"— the last opportunity we had of doing so. On the next day we crossed the Equator and then for some days we saw the "Wolf" no more. About this time I experienced a little trouble with one of the German sailors. Most of them were courteous and kindly dis- posed, but one, a boorish, loutish bully who served us with drinks at table, was a painful exception to this. I complained to him once about not serving me properly. He waited outside the saloon and cursed me afterwards. "I, a German sailor," he said, "not your stew- ard!" I told him that if he had any reason to complain of what I had said or done he should report me to his Captain, and that if he had not done so by six that evening, I 1 06 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER should report him for insolence. Needless to say, he said nothing to the Captain, so I re- ported him. The Captain at once thanked me for doing so, called him up at once, and gave him a good wigging. I had no more trouble from him afterwards. On January fourteenth I approached the Captain and asked him if the Germans on the "Wolf," when they got to Germany, would have any means of finding out whether we on the "Igotz Mendi" had safely arrived in Spain. He replied that they would. I then asked him whether, if we were all lost on the "Igotz Mendi" on her return voyage to Spain, the German Government would inform the British Government of our fate. He replied that would certainly be done. I further asked him whether we might send letters to the "Wolf* to have posted in Germany in the event of our not arriving in Spain. Most of us had to settle up our affairs in some way in case we might be lost at sea, and wished to write farewell letters to our home people. We ourselves had to write a fare- well letter to our daughter, born in Siam, 107 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDEF from whom we had been separated, except for short periods of furlough spent in Eng- land, for twelve years. It seemed very hard that after this long separation, and just when we were looking forward to a joyful and fairly speedy reunion, we should perhaps never see her again. The Captain said we might write these letters, which would not be posted if the "Igotz Mendi" with us on board got back safely to Spain. "But," he added, "we have changed our plans, and now intend that you should be landed in Norway. It will be safer for you all, and you will not have to risk meeting our submarines in the Atlantic again. When we arrive in Norwegian waters, the German prize crew will be taken off the ship after the "Wolf" has got home, the ship will be handed over to the Spaniards, and you will all be landed in Norway, from where you can easily make your way to England. Here was quite a new plan — ^how much truth there was in this declaration will be seen hereafter. From now onwards definite promises began to be made to us concern- io8 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER ing the end of our captivity, "in a month you will be free," "the next full moon will be the last you will se at sea," etc., etc. We were now of course proceeding north every day, keeping in mid-Atlantic — always well off the trade routes, though of course we crossed some on our way north. On the nineteenth the Captain again thought he saw distant smoke on the horizon, and we careered about to avoid it as before. But on this occasion we were running away from a cloud! The next day we left the tropics, and with favorable weather were making an average of about 180 knots daily. On sev- eral days (about this time) we passed through, large masses of seawood, drifting from the Sargasso Sea. We did not meet the "Wolf" on the twenty-second as our Captain evidently expected to do, and we waited about for her several hours. But next day we did meet her, and we were then told that in eighteen days we should be ashore. We were then about 30'' N. and we parted from the "Wolf" the same afternoon. It was always a great relief to us all when 109 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER we parted from her keeping our ship's com- pany of prisoners intact. For the men amongst us feared we might all be put upon the "Wolf" to be taken to Germany, leaving our wives on the "Igotz Mendi." This, so we had been told, had been the intention of the "Wolf's" Commander when the prisoners were first put on the Spanish boat. He had ordered that only women, and prisoners above sixty and under sixteen should be put on the "Igotz Mendi," but the German doc- tor, a humane and kindly man, would have nothing to do with this plan, and declared he would not be responsible for the health of the women if this were done. So that we owe it to him that wives were not sepa- rated from their husbands during this anx- ious time, as the Commander of the "Wolf" had inhumanely suggested. no CHAPTER IX A LAST effort was made to persuade the Captain to ask the "Wolfs" Com- mander to release the Spanish ship here, take all the prize crew off, and send us back to Cape Town, for a suspicion began to grow in our minds that Germany and no- where else was the destination intended for us. But our Captain would not listen to this suggestion, and said he was sure the Spanish Captain would not go back to Cape Town even if he promised to do so. On the next day, January twenty-fourth, relief seemed nearer than it had done since our capture four months before. I was sit- ting on the starboard deck, when suddenly I saw coming up out of the mist, close to our starboard bow, what looked like a cruiser with four funnels. The Spanish offi- cer on the bridge had apparently not seen it, or did not want to! Neither apparently III A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER had the German sailor, if, indeed, he was even on the bridge at that moment. I rushed to inform the American sailing ship Captain of my discovery, and he confirmed my opin- ion that it was a four-funnelled warship. The Germans were by this time fully alarmed and the ship slowed down a little; the Cap- tain, evidently also thinking that the vessel was a cruiser, went to his cabin to dispose of the ship's papers, the crew got into their best uniforms to surrender, and it looked as if help were at hand at last. We were all out on deck, delighted beyond words, and saw the ship — it must be remembered that it was a very misty day — resolve itself into two two-funnelled ships, apparently transports, one seemingly in distress and very much camouflaged, and the other standing by. Soon, however, they proceeded on their course and crossed our bows fairly close. We were then all ordered to our cabins, and we saw the two ships steam off to the westward, without having spoken to us or given any evidence of having seen us at all. It was a most bitter disappointment to us, 113 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER comparable to that of shipwrecked sailors on a desert island watching a ship expected to deliver them pass out of sight. But it was a great relief to the Germans. We never discovered what ships they were, but the American said he believed them to be Amer- ican transports and that each mounted a gun. If only we had seen them the day before, when we were in the company of the "Wolf," they might have been suspicious, and prob- ably have been of some help to us. In the midde of the excitement the Spanish chief mate had rushed onto the bridge and into the wireless-room, and while the wire- less operator was out of the room, or his attention had been diverted, he took from their places all the six or eight bombs on board and threw them overboard. It was a plucky act, for had he been discovered by the armed sentry while doing it, he would have undoubtedly been shot on the spot. On the next day, on the morning of which he saw two sailing ships far distant, an inquiry was held as to the disappearance of the bombs, which would of course have been used to sink 113 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the ship, and the chief mate owned up. He said that he did it for the sake of the women and children on board as the sea was rough their lives would have been in danger if they had been put in the lifeboats when the ship was bombed. He was confined to his cabin for the rest of the voyage, and later sen- tenced by the Commander of the "Wolf" to three years' imprisonment in Germany and a fine of two thousand marks. From this time on all the Spanish officers were relieved of their duties. The Germans had told us that, in the event of the prize being captured while the weather was rough, the ship would not be bombed or sunk, as they had no desire to endanger the lives of the women or children amongst us. In fact, so they said, the ship would not be bombed under any conditions when once the "Wolf" had got all the coal she wanted. It was indeed difficult to see what purpose would be served by the Germans in sinking the Spanish ship, if she were overhauled by an Allied cruiser. The Allies could not keep her, as she would have to be restored to Spain 114 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER — the Germans said they would not keep her, but return her to her owners. To have de- Hberately sunk her would only have meant a gratuitous offense to Spain. Nevertheless the next time we met the "Wolf" a new sup- ply of bombs and hand grenades was put on board our ship. At the same time an extra Lieutenant came on board, additional neu- trals were sent over to help work the ship, and the prize crew was increased from nine to nineteen. All the prize crew now wore caps and the words "S. M. S. Otter" inscribed thereon. The Kaiser's birthday, which fell on a Sunday, was marked by a most terrific storm. The wind was raging for hours at a hurricane force between eleven and twelve, the seas were between thirty and forty feet high and it seemed impossible that the ship could live in such a sea. But not- withstanding terrible rolling, she shipped very little water, but all of the prisoners were alarmed at the rough weather and the rolling of the ship. From this day onwards we lived in a condition of great misery and 115 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER death stared us in the face many times. It got colder and colder every day for a con- siderable time ; the food got worse and worse and we were on short rations; the ship be- came more and more dirty, smokes ran short, — only some ancient dusty shag brought from Germany by the "Wolf," and some virulent native tobacco from New Guinea remained — and conditions generally became more and more beyond endurance. Darkness fell early in these far northern latitudes, and the long nights were very dreary and miserable. Sundays seemed to be the days on which the worst storms oc- curred, though on very few of the days from this time onwards did we have anything but extremely dirty weather. On February fifth we again met the "Wolf" — we had sighted her on the evening of the fourth, but it was too rough then to communicate. With the "Wolf's" usual luck the weather moderated next day, and the ships stopped. Just as the Germans on land always seemed to get the weather they wanted, so they were equally ii6 A CAPTIVE ON A GER MAN RAIDER favored at sea. This was noticed over and over again. Those v^ho had written letters to be sent on the "Wolf" sent them over on this day, and the Spanish chief mate expected to be sent aboard the "Wolf," as we might not meet her again. Luckily for him, however, he was not transferred, and neither he nor we ever saw the "Wolf" again, after the morning of February sixth. We heard from the "Wolf" that she was getting very short of food, and that there was much sickness, including many cases of scurvy, on board. Some of the prisoners, we knew, had very little clothing, and positively none for cold weather, and our hearts were sore at the thought of so many of our fellow- countrymen, many of whom we had known in good and ill fortune, being taken into captivity in Germany. The next day we entered the Arctic circle. The cold was intense and the cabins were icy, the temperature falling as low as 14" F. in some of them. There was no heating ap- "7 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER paratus on the ship, with the exception of a couple of small heating pipes in the saloon. The cabin curtains froze to the ports ; all the cabin roofs leaked and it was impossible to keep the floors and bedding dry; and in our cabin, in addition, we had water constantly- flowing and swishing backwards and for- wards between the iron deck of the ship and the wooden floor of the cabin. This oozed up through the floor and accumulated under the settee, and on many nights we emptied five or six buckets full of icy water from under the settee which had also to be used as a bed. At last I persuaded the Captain to allow one of the sailors to drill a hole in the side of the cabin so that water could have an outlet on to the deck. Since the great storm on the Kaiser's birthday our feet had never been dry or warm, and were in this condition till some hours after we got ashore. The ports of the cabins had all long ago been painted black in order that no light might show through at night. We had to sit in these cold and dark cabins during the day. The weather prevented us from being on the ii8 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER deck, which was often covered with frost and snow, and often there was nowhere else to sit. The electric light was on for only a limited time each day, so, as the ports could not be opened on the account of the cold, we asked and obtained permission to scratch a little of the paint off the ports in our cabin. This made things a little more bearable, but it can easily be imagined how people who had been living in tropical climates for many years fared under such conditions. It was nothing short of cruel to expose women and children to this after they had been dragged in captivity over the seas for many months. The Captain had ordered a part of the bunk- ers to be cleared, so that the prisoners might sit there in the cold weather. But the place was so dirty and uncomfortable and difficult of access, in addition to its being in darkness, and quite unprovided with seats, that most of the prisoners preferred the crowded little saloon. On the morning of February seventh we for the first time encountered ice floes, when attempting the northern passage between 119 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Greenland and Iceland. About eleven a.m. we stopped and hooted for the "Wolf" as a fog had come on, the first time we had heard a steamer's siren since the day of our cap- ture. We waited for some hours in the ice, but no answering signal came back, so the Captain decided to turn back as he thought it impossible to force his way through the ice. We therefore went back again on our course, the Captain hoping that the wind would change and cease blowing the ice floes from off the shores of Green- land. After a day or two of slow steaming on this course we resumed our attempt to go to the north of Iceland, evidently to escape the attention of the British ships which the Germans expected to encounter between the south of Iceland and the Faroes. But before long it became evident that ice was still about, and in the darkness of the early morning of February eleventh we bumped heavily against ice several times. This time the Captain abandoned his attempt to go through the northern pasage, and turn- ed the ship round to try his luck in the pas- 120 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sage he did not expect to be so free from Bri- tish attentions. We thought perhaps that as we were on short rations and water was running short and the case of us all really desperate, the Captain would land us and give up the ship at Reykjavik, leaving us there to be rescued. Even a stay in Iceland would be better than one in Germany, for which country we now all suspected we were bound. To add to our miseries, the Captain told us on February eleventh for the first time that it was, and always had been the inten- tion to take us on the "Igotz Mendi" to Germany, there to be interned in civilian pris- oners' camps. He told us too, that the women and those of the men over military age would be released at once, but we all declined to believe anything else our captors told us, as they had deliberately and repeat- edly deceived us by assuring us at various times that they were going to land us in Spain, or Norway, or some other neutral country. At daybreak on the eleventh we were still 121 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER among ice floes, but going away from instead of meeting them, and on that morning we saw in the distance the coast of Iceland, the first land that we had seen since the Maldive Islands, a week after our capture, i.e. more than four months before. We also saw a few fishing boats off the coast. We now shaped a course for the coast of Norway, keeping to the north of the Faroes. On Sunday, the seventeenth, we again ran into a very heavy storm. Ever since the storm on January twenty-seventh the pro- peller had been constantly racing and send- ing shudders through the ship from stem to stern. On this day this feature, which was always disconcerting and to a certain extent alarming, became more marked, and the thud with which the ship met the seas more and more loud, so loud indeed that on one occasion the Captain thought we had struck a mine and rushed from the saloon to the bridge to ascertain what damage had been done. The Captain and crew had by this time become very anxious as to the fate of the "Wolf," as no news had been received 122 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER concerning her. Day after day on which the Captain told us he expected news went by without any being received. But on the evening of the nineteenth the Captain in- formed us that he had received a wireless message announcing the safe arrival of the "Wolf" at a German port. The Germans seemed singularly little elated at the news, and hardly ever mentioned the subject again after that evening. This was so different from what we had expected that most of the prisoners did not believe the "Wolf" had got home. We hoped that she had been inter- cepted and captured by a British cruiser, and that with any luck a similar fate might be in store for us. The "Wolf" had certainly made a wonder- ful cruise and the Germans were naturally very proud of it. They had successfully evaded the enemy for fifteen months, and had kept their ship in good repair, for they had first-class mechanics and engineers on board. But she must have been very weather-worn and partly crippled before she arrived at a home port. She had touched at 1-3 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER no port or no shore from the day she left Germany till the day she returned to the Fatherland. She had sunk seven steamers and seven sailing ships, and claimed many more ships sunk as a result of her mine- laying. Beside the prizes already named she had captured the "Tarantelle," "Words- worth," "Jumna," "Dee," "Winslow," and "Encore," the last three of v^hich were sail- ing vessels. Her first prize, the "Tarantelle," taken in February, 1917, in the Indian Ocean, was originally a German ship captured by the British. On her recapture by the Ger- mans, she was equipped as a raider and mine- layer and sent off on an expedition by her- self. But soon afterwards she came to grief near Aden "through enemy action." 124 CHAPTER X THE Germans were now getting- very anxious as they approached the block- ade zone, They affected, however, to believe that there was no blockade, and that there was no need of one now that America was in the war. "No one will trade with us," they said, "accordingly there is no need for a blockade." Nevertheless they were at great pains to keep as far as possible from any place in which British ships might ap- pear. But unfortunately not one did appear, here or anywhere else, to rescue us, although we felt certain in our own minds that some of our ships would be present and save us in these parts of the seas which we believed were regularly patrolled. It was a bitter disappointment to us that we saw none. But as some of the passengers remarked to the Captain, "If there is no blockade, as the Germans say, why haven't you more raiders 125 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER out, instead of only one, and why have so few been able to come out?" There was of course no answer to this ! The Captain fur- ther remarked that even if there were a blockade it would always be possible to get through it at the week-end, as all the British blockading fleet returned to port for that time! The "Wolf," he said, "came out and got home through the blockade at the week- end. It was quite simple, we were to do the same, and we should be escorted by subma- rines as the "Wolf" had been on both occa- sions. On the twentieth we were off Bergen and saw the coast in the distance. I suggested to the Captain that it would save much trouble if he would land us there. He smil- ingly replied that he would very much like to, but was afraid it was quite impossible! The next day we were nearer the coast and saw a couple of suspicious-looking steam trawlers which gave the Germans a few anxious moments, and on that night we en- countered the greatest storm we experienced on the cruise. The wind was terrific, huge 126 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER seas broke over the ship, the alleyway out- side the cabins was awash all the night, and the water even invaded the saloon to a small extent. Articles and receptacles for water that had not been made absolutely fast in the cabins were tossed about ; many cabins were drenched and running with water. The noise of the wind howling and the seas breaking on the deck was so alarming to those in the outside cabins that they left them and assem- bled in the saloon, though sleep that night was utterly impossible, there or anywhere else on the ship. The ship, though steaming full speed, made no progress that night, but went back, and in three days, the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first, made only a hun- dred knots. After such stormy nights, and in such bitter cold weather, a breakfast of cold canned crab, or dry bread with sugar, or rice and hot water plus a very little gravy, or bread and much-watered condensed milk, was not very nourishing or satisfying, but very often that was all we had. This weather of course pleased the German Cap- 127 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER tain, who said that no enemy ship would or could board him under such conditions. In fact, he said no enemy vessel would be out of port in such weather! The weather alone was sufficiently terrifying to the lands- men amongst us, and the prospect of having to take to the lifeboats at any moment if the Germans took it into their heads to sink the ship were she sighted by an enemy ves- sel, added to the fears of all of us. There had been no boat drill, and the lifeboat ac- commodation was hopelessly inadequate for the more than eighty people now on board. It is certain that with the mixed crew there would have been a savage fight for the boats. The prospect was alarming from any point of view, and one of the greatest aniexty for us all. Physical distress and discomfort were not the only things we had to contend with — the nervous strain was also very great. On February twenty-second we rounded the Naze. Here we thought we should cer- tainly come across some British vessel. But that day and the next passed — it seemed as if we, too, were to get in during the week- 128 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER end ! — and hope of rescue disappeared. Many messages had been dropped overboard in bottles and attached to spars, etc., during the voyage, but all apparently in vain. The bearing of the Germans towards us became markedly changed. We w^ere almost in their clutches now, the arrival at Kiel and transfer to Ruhleben were openly talked of, and our captors showed a decided inclination to jeer at us and our misfortunes. We were told that all diaries, if we kept them, must be destroyed, or we should be severely pun- ished when we arrived in Germany. Accord- ingly, those of us who had kept diaries made ready to destroy them, but fortunately did not do so. I had written mine in Siamese characters during the whole time, so the Germans could not have gained much in- formation from it. Sunday, February twenty-fourth dawned, a cold, cheerless day. "I suppose this time next week we shall be going to church in Kiel," said one of the prisoners to the chief mate at breakfast. "Or," the latter replied, "I might be going to church with my brother, 129 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER who is already a prisoner on the Isle of Man !" We were now in comparatively nar- row waters of the Skagerrak, and we saw only one vessel here, a Dutch fishing boat. Our last chance had nearly gone. Most of us were now resigned to our fate and saw no hope — in fact, I had written in my diary the day before "There is no hope left, no boat of ours to save us" — but some said we still might see a British war vessel when we rounded the Skaw. At mid-day the sailor on the lookout came into the saloon and re- ported to the Captain that a fog was coming on. "Just the weather I want," he exclaimed. "With this lovely fog we shall round the Skaw and get into German waters unob- served." It looked, indeed, as if our arrival in Germany were now a dead certainty. But the fog that the Captain welcomed was just a little too much for him; it was to prove his undoing instead of his salvation. The good old German Gott about whom we had heard so much was not going to see them through this time. For once, we were to be favored. The white fog thickened after the 130 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER mid-day meal, and luckily for us, it was im- possible to see far ahead. Soon after two we passed a floating mine, and we knew that before long we should be going through a mine field — not a very cheerful prospect with floating mines round us in a fog. But we were all too far gone to care now; nothing could be much worse than imprisonment in Germany, and some of us gathered together in our cold and gloomy cabin were discussing the prospects and condition of this when, at three-thirty on that Sunday afternoon, we felt a slight bump, as if the ship had touched bottom. Then another bump, and then still one more ! We were fast ! Were we really to be saved at the very last minute? It began to look like it, like the beginning of the end, but it would not do to build too much on this slender foundation. The en- gines continued working, but no progress was made; they were reversed — still no movement. The fog was fairly thick but we could just make out through it the line of the shore and the waves breaking on it some distance away. Two sirens were going at 131 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER full blast, one from a lightship and one from a lighthouse. The German officers became agitated ; with great difficulty a boat was got out, soundings made, and various means adopted to work the ship off, but all were of no avail. The Captain admitted that his charts of this par- ticular spot were not new and not good. It was impossible to tell the state of the tide at this moment; we all hoped it might be high tide, for then our rescue would be cer- tain. The engines were set to work from time to time, but no movement could be made. Darkness fell, and found us still stuck fast. Our spirits had begun to rise, the prospect was distinctly brighter, and soon after six o'clock the Assistant Lieutenant went ashore in mufti to telephone to the nearest port, Frederikshavn, for help. What reply he re- ceived we never heard, but we did hear that he reported he was on a German ship bound from Bergen to Kiel and wanted help. Lourenco Marquez to Kiel, via Iceland, would have been nearer the truth! About eight o'clock we heard from one of 132 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER the neutrals among the crew that the Cap- tain of a salvage tug was shortly coming aboard to inquire into matters. The ladies among us decided to stay in the saloon while the Captain of the tug interviewed the Ger- man Captain in the chartroom above it. On the arrival of the tug the Captain on the bridge, the ladies in the saloon created a veritable pandemonium, singing, shrieking and laughing at the top of their voices. It sounded more like a Christmas party than one of desperate prisoners in distress. The Danish Captain departed ; what had been the result of his visit we did not know, but at any rate he knew there were women on board. The German Captain came down into the saloon, asked pleasantly enough what all the noise was about, and said, "I have offered the salvage people £5,000 to tow the ship off; money is nothing to us Germans. This will be done at four tomorrow morning, and we shall then proceed on our way to Kiel." Some of us had talked over a plan sug- gested by the second mate of a captured ship, by which one of the neutrals among the crew 133 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER should contrive to go ashore in one of the tug's boats in the darkness and communicate with the nearest British Consul, informing him of the situation and the desperate case we were in. We promised him £500 to be raised among the "saloon passengers," if by so doing our rescue should be accomplished. We had remained in the saloon to talk over developments when we heard that a Danish gunboat had come nearly alongside, and that her Commander was coming on board. He had presumably received a report from the Captain of the tug. We heard afterwards that he had his suspicions about the ship and had brought with him on board one of his own men to make inquiries of the crew, among whom were Norwegians, Swedes and Danes, while he kept the Ger- man Commander busy in the saloon. The previous mistake of taking the Danish Cap- tain on to the bridge was not to be repeated. The Commander of the gunboat was to come into the saloon, so the ladies could not re- main there and make their presence known. But some of them contrived to leave some 134 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER of their garments on the table and settee in the saloon — a muff, hats, gloves, etc. These the Danish Commander must have seen; and not only that, for he saw some ladies who had stood in one door of the saloon before they were sent to their cabins, when he entered at the other one. He also saw a passenger in khaki uniform, the Aus- tralian Major of the A.M.C., and other pas- sengers standing with the ladies in the alley- way. If he had entertained any suspicions as to the correct character of the ship, which the Germans were of course trying to con- ceal, they must have been strongly con- firmed by now. It was now too late for us to be sent to our cabins, as a German sailor came and ordered. We had achieved our object. It was a night of great unrest, but finally most of us lay down in our clothes. For very many nights we had been unable to rest properly owing to the violence of the weather, the possibility of having to leave the ship at any moment, and our general anxiety concerning our desperate condition. 135 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER We had not had our clothes off for many- days. At four a.m. we heard the engines working, as the Captain had told us they would, but still no movement could be heard. Soon the engines ceased; it was evident then that the attempt to get the ship off must for the present be given up. The wind was rising, and the sea getting rougher, and at six a.m. a German sailor came and knocked at the door of all the cabins, saying, "Get up, and pack your baggage and go ashore." It was too good to be true — never was an order more willingly and gladly obeyed! But first we had to see how the ship stood with regard to the shore ; we went out on deck to look — there was the blessed green shore less than half a mile away, the first really solid earth we had been close to since we left Colombo exactly five months before. Only those who have seen nothing but the sea for many months can imagine with what a thrill of joy we saw the shore, and realized that we were saved at last. We had seen the sea under nearly every aspect possible from the Equator to the Arctic re- T36 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER gions, and we had appreciated more than ever before its vastness. Not many of us wished for sea travel again. It did not take us long to dress and throw our things into our bags. When we had done so and were ready to go to the lifeboat, we were told that we might take no bag- gage whatever, as the lifeboat was from a shore station and could save lives only, not baggage. The German Captain took his bad luck in good part, but he was of course as sick as we were rejoiced at the turn events had taken. He had known the night before that he could get no help from the Danish author- ities, as they refused towing assistance till all the passengers had been taken off the ship. But he had hoped to get off unaided at four in the morning. He professed great anger with the Danes, saying that if they had only helped as he requested, the ship could have been towed off in the night, and we with all our baggage could have been landed at a Danish port alongside a pier the next mornmg, instead of having to leave all 137 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER our baggage behind on the ship. I fancy not many of us believed this ; if the ship had been got off we should have brought up at Kiel and not at any Danish port. And, as the tug Captain said afterwards, if he had towed the ship off the Germans probably would have cut the hawser directly afterwards, he would have received no pay for his work, and we certainly should not have landed in Denmark. 138 CHAPTER XI A FINE lifeboat manned by sturdy- Danish sailors was alongside the ship ; the sea was very rough, but our ship steady, firmly embedded in the sandy bottom. The packages we had decided to save at any cost were put in our pockets, lifebelts and life-saving waistcoats once more put on, and once more we all climbed a ship's ladder, but as the lifeboat was rising and falling almost the height of the ship with the heavy seas, descent into it was not easy. But nothing mattered now; once over the side of the ship we were no longer in German hands, and were free! The waves dashed over and drenched us as we sat in the lifeboat; we were sitting in icy water, all of us more or less wet through.. At last the lifeboat crew pulled for the shore, the high seas sweeping over us all the way. We grounded on the beach, the sturdy sailors carried some, others 139 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAlDER jumped into the water and waded ashore, and we were all on terra firma, free at last, after weary months of waiting and captivity. Groups of villagers were waiting on the beach to welcome us even at this early hour. They plied us with questions as far as they could, and great was their wonder at what we had to tell. We had been saved at the eleventh hour, almost the fifty-ninth minute of it ; we were at the very gates of Germany, being due at Kiel the very next day. It was a miraculous escape if ever there was one, and came at a moment when all hope had gone. Would that the "Wolf" had gone ashore in the same place! All our fellow-countrymen on board her would then have been free and they could have given information and saved us as well. What emotions surged within us as we trod the free earth once more ! What had we not gone through since we were last on shore! Then it was on British soil; now it was on the soil of a friendly neutral country. We had escaped imprisonment with the ene- my, escaped making acquaintance with the 140 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER notorious Ruhleben of evil fame — the more we reflected on it, and we did so every minute, the more wonderful did our escape appear. But our thoughts also turned to our friends on the "Wolf" who were doomed to meet the cruel fate from which we had so merci- fully been delivered. Once on dry land, and escorted by the villagers, we walked over the sandhills to the lighthouse about half a mile away. There we were received with open arms. The kindly Danes could not do enough for us. We had only what we stood up in; we dried our clothes, other dry garments were offered us, hot drinks and food were supplied liber- ally, and we were generally made much of. We had come back to life and warmth once more. The lighthouse staff and villagers vied with each other in their effort-* to make us feel at home and comfortable, and after in- terviews with some Danish Government offi- cial, we were taken to hotels in Skagen, the name of the nearest town, a small summer bathing resort, just to the south of the Skaw. After lunch, the first square meal we 141 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER had had for months, we set off to telegraph to our relatives and friends, and announce we were still in the world. It was one of our greatest anxieties on board that we could not communicate with our friends, who we knew would be grieving over our disappear- ance and, we feared, would have given us up for lost. The same afternoon we walked back to the beach to see if we could go aboard the the stranded ship to retrieve our luggage, but the sea was far too rough to allow of this, and the German and Spanish crew had not been taken off. While on the beach we saw two floating mines exploded by a Danish gunboat. We had not only had a narrow escape from the Germans but also from the dangers of a mine field. The next day was also rough for us to go aboard, in fact it was so rough that the lifeboat went out and and took everybody off the ship, both Spanish and German. The Spanish first mate was thus saved and after all did not serve his sen- tence in Germany. It was reported that a German submarine appeared to take off the 142 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER German officers on this day, but as it was too rough to lower the boats this could not be contrived. The 'Igotz Mendi" was now deserted, but as the Danish authorities had adjudged her, twenty-four hours after her stranding, to be a Spanish ship, she had reverted to her orig- inal owners. Accordingly, before leaving her the Spanish Captain had hoisted the Spanish flag at her stern, the first time that or any other flag had appeared there since that No- vember morning when the Germans had cap- tured her far away in the Indian Ocean. She was no longer a German prize. She would have been the only one the "Wolf" had secur- ed to take home — a neutral ship with only a few tons of coal on board, and a few mar- ried couples, and sick and elderly men as prisoners. Not much to show for a fifteen month's cruise, and even that was denied the Germans; though the "Wolf" had cer- tainly carried home a valuable cargo, and some hundreds of prisoners, besides doing considerable damage to the shipping of the Allies. 143 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER The position of the stranded ship was a unique one. She was a neutral ship, a Ger- man prize, stranded in neutral waters, with a cre-^ composed of Germans and neutral prisoners, and carrying passenger prisoners of many enemy nationalities — English, Aus- tralian, American, Japanese, Chinese and Indian. Never was there a more dramatic turning of the tables; the Germans were now in- terned, and we were free. The German offi- cers were sent off under guard to an inland town, and the sailors sent to a camp in another part of Denmark. The sailors did not attempt to disguise their joy at the turn events had taken. On their return to Ger- many they would have had a few weeks' leave, and then done duty in a submarine, or at the front. Now, they were interned in a land where there was at least much more to eat than they could have hoped for in Ger- many, and their dangers were at an end till the war was over. They were marched under an armed guard of Danes, up and down the village street several times on one of these 144 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER days ; they were all smiles, singing as they marched along. The next day a hurricane was still blow- ing, and going aboard was still out of the question. The ship was blown further in shore and it began to look as if she would break up and we should see nothing of our personal belongings. The day after, how- ever, was beautifully fine, and we left Skagen Harbor in two motor-barges and boarded the ship, which was in charge of the Danish authorities. After some difficulty, for the ship was in a state of great chaos, we secured all our baggage, which was landed that night at Skagen much to our relief, as up to that time we had only what we stood up in at the time we landed from the lifeboat. We had set foot on the "Igotz Mendi" for the last time. During the week we had to give evidence to the Danish authorities concerning our capture and treatment on board. We were overwhelmed with kindness by the Danes who made no secret of their sympathies with the Allies; invitations to dinners and parties 145 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER flowed in, and we could not have accepted them all if we had stayed as many weeks as we had days. On Friday, March first, most of us left Skagen. The whole village turned out to give us a good send off, and snapshots galore were taken — this indeed had been going on ever since we landed. The ladies among us were presented with flowers and chocolates, the men with smokes, and we left with the heartiest good wishes of our warm-hearted hosts. From Skagen our passage home was arranged by the British Consular authorities. We stayed a few days in Copenhagen and then traveled through Sweden and Norway, leaving a port somewhere in that country for another somewhere in this, and so to London, where we arrived in a characteristic pea- soup fog on the morning of March tenth, after incessant traveling by train and sea for a week. We had not relished another sea voyage — and one across the North Sea least of all — but there was no help for it. We feared that as we had escaped the Germans pnce, they might make a special effort to 14^ A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sink us crossing the North Sea. But for- tunately the U-boats left us alone, though few, if any of us, turned in during those last few nights. No comment need be made on the German procedure of dragging their prisoners month after month over the oceans. Such a thing had never been done before. The Germans had had opportunities to release us, but had taken none to do so, as they had evidently determined not to allow any account of the "Wolfs" cruise to be made known. They might have landed the "Hitachi" prisoners on the Maldives and left them there to get to Colombo as best they could, the Germans taking the ship; they might have sent the prisoners on the "Igotz Mendi" to Colombo or Java after they had taken what coal they wanted. As the Spanish Captain said, they had a right to take his contraband, but not his ship. But a question of right did not bother the Germans. Many times fney prom- ised him to release his ship, never intending to do so. Whenever they were asked why they did not release us wheji we thought it 147 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER possible jthey always advanced "military rea- sons" as the excuse. "That," as I said to the Captain, "covers a multitude of sins." The Commander of the "Wolf" had personally assured the married couples on the "Ma- tunga" that they would be kept no longer than two months. But they were kept seven. Some men had been kept prisoners on the "Wolf" for nearly a year. It was hard enough on the men, but in- finitely worse for the women. One had been eight months, one seven, and others five months in captivity, often under the worst ])Ossible conditions. But they all kept cheer- ful throughout, even when it appeared that they were certain to be taken with their hus- bands into Germany. Every man is likely to think under such conditions that he is in a worse case than his fellow-captives, and there were certainly examples of very hard luck amongst us. The American Captain had abandoned his sea- calling for six years, and decided at his wife's request, to make one more trip and take her to see her relatives in Newcastle, N.S.W, 148 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER They never got there, but had eight months of captivity and landed in Denmark instead. Many sailors had left the Atlantic trade after encounters w^ith the U-boats in that ocean, only to be caught by the "Wolf in the Pa- cific. One of the members of the Spanish crew had been a toreador, but his mother considered that calling too dangerous and recommended the sea as safer. Her son nov^ thinks otherv^ise, perhaps she does, too! The Captain of a small sailing ship from Mauritius to West Australia, in ballast to load timber, saw the "Wolf" when a day off his destination. Not knowing her, he foolishly ran up the red ensign — a red rag to a bull, indeed — and asked the "Wolf" to report him "all well" at the next port. The "Wolf" turned about and sunk his little ship. Although the Captain was at one time on the "Wolf" almost in sight of his home in Mauri- tius, his next port was Kiel, where it is to be feared that he, an old man of seventy, is the reverse of "all well." One of our fellow prisoners had been on the P. & O. Hner "Mongolia" when she was 149 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER sunk by one of the "Wolf's" mines off Bom- ba}^ Later, on the "Hitachi," he was caught by the mine-layer herself! But he defeated the enemy -^ter all, as he escaped on the "Igotz Mendi." One of the seafaring men with us had already been torpedoed by the Huns in the Channel. Within a fortnight he was at sea again. The next time he was caught and his ship sunk by the "Wolf" off New Zealand. He also escaped on the "Igotz Mendi," and when last seen ashore was dying to get to sea again, in a warm corner, he said, so that he could "strafe the Huns" once more. They had held him pris- oner for eight months and he had some lee- way to make up. I thought until our timely rescue came, that our own case was a fairly hard one. I had retired after spending twenty years in Government service in Siam, and we had decided to spend some months at least, pos- sibly "the duration," in South Africa before proceeding home. It seemed hard lines that after twenty years in the Far East we were to come to Europe only to be imprisoned in J 50 A CAPTIVE ON A GERMAN RAIDER Germany! We have escaped that, but our plans have gone hopelessly astray, our health has not been improved by the treatment on our long voyage, and although we took six months to get from Siani to London, the Ger- mans have succeeded in getting us home much earlier than we, or they, anticipated. I had been shipwrecked on my first voyage out to Siam in 1897, and taken prisoner on my last voyage home twenty years after. Fortunately, one usually forgets the mis- eries of sea travel soon after one gets ashore. But never, I think, will one of us ever forget our captivity at sea with our enemies, or the canned crab, the bully beef, the beans, and the roll of the "Igotz Mendi." THE END 151 How five thousand men founded a Brit- ish community in the heart of Germany. INTERNED IN GERMANY By H. C. MAHONEY Sgo pages. Illustrated. $2.00 net. IF you would know what life at a German prison camp is like, live through it in this book. The author, a British civilian, was a guest at four, ending up with a long sojourn at the notorious Ruhleben. Here is the story of the life that he and his fellow-prisoners lived; how they organized their own com- munity life, and established stores, banks, churches, theatres — in fact all the appurten- ances of civilized life. There are also numer- ous stories of escapes, of adventures in the camp and even of the treachery of some of their pro-German fellow-prisoners. )rhe book shows a side of the war which has not previously been dealt with in full detail, and it is, besides, an unusual record of hardship and suffering and of the many ways in which the indomitable spirit of these men rose above the trials of prison life. Publishers, Robert M. McBride & Co., New York 300 Paeres of Exciting ^^^.^^l^sH '"* ^* Great Game Adventure j* ^ 1^9 o^ Eoapirel MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN SECRET AGENT By CAPTAIN HORST VON DER GOLTZ With i6 pages of illustrations. $1.^0 net. Postage 15 cents. FOR ten years Captain von der Goltz was a secret agent of Imperial Germany. In this remarkable book he tells the story of his career, from the time he was plunged into the whirlpool of secret diplomacy until the day in 1916 when he was released from a British prison and sent to testify in the trials of various German con- spirators against the United States. There are twelve chapters, each one filled with incidents as dramatic as any in romance, some of them thrilling, some amusing, many of them momentous, but all of them full of the fascination of real adventure. What This Book Tells Ten years of German intrigue in the United States. How the German Government betrayed the German Americans. The real reason why Germany made trouble in Mexico. The German Spy System in the United States and how to cope with it. Other startling revelations of the secret history of today. Publishers, Robert M. McBride & Co., New York "NOTHING OF IMPORTANCr By BERNARD ADAMS 3J4 pages. With maps. $1.30 net. "N OTHING of Importance" say the communiques when there is no big action to report. Lieut. Adams has taken this phrase as a title for the series of swift, vivid impressions which compose his book; his chapters, with their glimpses of scenes in billets, in the trenches, of snipers, working parties and patrols, bring the reader more clearly in touch with the reality of war- fare than do many more spectacular books. "Few, very few books have come out of the war more real in their message or more poignant in their appeal." — The Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Of the scores of books which are pushing their way into print nowadays as part of the war propaganda, none more truthfully and satisfactorily fulfills its mission than 'Nothing of Importance'." — The Springfield Union. Publishers, Robert M. 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