PRISONERS ON THE "WOLF"
Escape in any way was obviously out of the question. At last the raider
got under way and began to bear down on us. Things began to look more
ugly than ever, and most of us thought that the end had come, and that
we were up against an apostle of the "sink the ships and leave no trace"
theory--which we had read about in Colombo only a couple of days
before--the latest development 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 who might survive being 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.
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 what we had feared happened,
and as the raider came slowly nearer to us--up till now we had not even
seen one of the enemy--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 landsman, much less a landswoman, to clamber by a rope-ladder
some twenty feet up the side of a rolling ship. However, all the ladies
acquitted themselves nobly, some even going up without a rope round
their waists. The little 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 bulwarks to help us off
the rope-ladder into the well deck forward, and by 5.20 we were all
aboard, after having spent a very anxious two hours, possibly the most
anxious in the lives of most of us. We were all wet, dirty, and
dishevelled, and looked sorry objects. One of the passengers, a tall,
stout man, was somewhat handicapped by his nether garments slipping down
and finally getting in a ruck round his ankles when he was climbing up
the ladder on to the raider. A German sailor, to ease his passage, went
down the ladder and relieved him of them altogether. He landed on the
raider's deck minus this important part of his wardrobe, amid shrieks of
laughter from captives and captors.
It was at once evident, directly we got on board, that we were in for
kindly treatment. The ship's doctor at once came forward, saluted, and
asked who was wounded and required his attention. Most of the
passengers--there were only twenty first and about a dozen second
class--were in our boat, and among the second-class passengers with us
were a few Portuguese soldiers going from Macao to Delagoa Bay.
Some of us were slightly bruised, and all were shaken, but luckily none
required medical treatment. Chairs were quickly found for the ladies,
the men seated themselves on the hatch, and the German sailors busied
themselves bringing tea and cigarettes to 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 we were 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
_Hitachi_. We had evidently come across a new type of Hun. The young
Lieutenant was most polite, and courteous and attentive. He apologized
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"--assured us he would do what he could to make us as comfortable as
possible, and that we should not be detained more than two or three
days. This was the first of a countless number of lies told us by the
Germans as to their intentions concerning us.
We had had nothing to eat since tiffin, so we were ordered below to the
'tween decks to have supper. 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 11 a.m., had reported our position to the raider, and
announced 3 p.m. as the time for our capture. Our captors were not far
out! It was between 2.30 and 3 when we were taken.) The meal consisted
of black bread and raw ham, with hot tea in a tin can, into which we
dipped our cups. We sat around on wooden benches, in a small
partitioned-off space, 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 Company of New Zealand. Some
of the Japanese officers and crew were also in the 'tween decks--later
on the Japanese Captain appeared (we had not seen him since he left the
_Hitachi_ saloon after tiffin), and he was naturally very down and
distressed--and some of the German sailors came and spoke to us. Shortly
after, 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 death from wounds occurred
on October 28th, 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
wireless or our gun, for the _Hitachi_ mounted a gun on her poop for the
submarine zone. He asserted that the _Hitachi_ hoisted a signal 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. If the _Hitachi_ had
manoeuvred at all, it was simply so that she should not[1] present her
broadside as a target for a torpedo from the raider.
The Germans professed deep regret at the _Hitachi's_ action and at the
loss of life caused, the first occasion, they said--and, we believe,
with truth--on which lives had been lost since the _Wolf's_ cruise
began. The _Wolf_, however, they said, had no choice but to fire and
put the _Hitachi_ gun out of action. This she failed to do, as the
shooting was distinctly poor, with the exception of the shot aimed at
the wireless room, which went straight through the room, without
exploding there or touching the operator, and exploded near the funnel,
killing most of the crew who met their deaths while running to help
lower the boats. The other shots had all struck the ship in the
second-class quarters 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 anywhere 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 board. These photos showed the gun with the breech 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 before
they took this photograph, as they had to produce some evidence to
justify their firing on the _Hitachi_. But whether the Japanese 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 _Hitachi_ and sent us
to the bottom.
It was very hot in the 'tween decks, although a ventilating fan was at
work there, 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, which armed
guards patrolled all night. It was a cool moonlight 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 steaming along at a
considerable distance from us. During the night, one of the passengers
gifted with a highly cultivated imagination--who had previously related
harrowing details of his escape from a shell which he said had smashed
his and my cabin immediately after we left them, but which were
afterwards found to be quite intact--told me he had seen the _Hitachi_
go down at 2.30 in the morning. So she evidently must have come up
again, for she was still in sight just before daybreak! 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. Breakfast,
consisting of black bread, canned 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. 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 assured 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 is war. Indeed it was, and we had good reason to
know it now, even if the war had not touched us closely before.
How vividly every detail of this scene stands out in our memories! The
brilliant tropical sunshine, the calm blue sea, the ship crowded in
every part, the activity everywhere evident, and--we were prisoners! The
old familiar petition of the Litany, "to shew Thy pity upon all
prisoners and captives," had suddenly acquired for us a fuller meaning
and a new significance. What would the friends we had left behind, our
people at home, be thinking--if they only knew! But they were in
blissful ignorance of our fate--communication of any kind with the world
outside the little one of the _Wolf_ was quite impossible.
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, with
deafening din hammering and cutting steel plates with which to repair
the _Hitachi_; mechanics were working at the seaplane, called the
_Wölfchen_, 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
particular in the matter of uniform. Names of various ships appeared on
their caps, while some had on their caps only the words "Kaiserliche
Marine." Some were barefoot, some wore singlets 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
rather unusual exhibition of the European male torso! There seemed to
have been a lavish distribution of the Iron Cross among the ship's
company. Every officer we saw and many of the crew as well wore the
ribbon of the coveted decoration.
Some German officers came aft to interrogate us; they were all courteous
and sympathetic, and I took the opportunity of mentioning to the young
Lieutenant the loss of my wife's jewels in the lifeboat, and he assured
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 he was
buried in the morning; 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 service 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 noticed a lady
prisoner, a little girl--evidently a great pet with the German sailors
and officers--some civilian prisoners, and some military prisoners in
khaki on the upper deck, but we were not allowed to communicate with
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. Later on, a small awning was rigged up and we got a
little protection, and one or two parasols were forthcoming for the use
of the ladies. A small wild pig, presumably taken from some Pacific
island when the _Wolf_ had sent a boat ashore, was wandering around the
well deck, a few dachshunds were wriggling along the upper deck, and a
dozen or so pigeons had their home on the boat deck. During the morning
the sailors were allowed to bring us cooling drinks from time to time in
one or two glass jugs (which the Asiatics and Portuguese always made a
grab at first), and both officers and men did all they could to render
our position as bearable as possible. The men amongst us were also
allowed to go to the ship's canteen and buy smokes. We were steaming
gently in a westerly direction all day, occasionally passing 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 colours of exquisite hues
of the palest and tenderest blue and green, as it rippled gently over
coral and golden sands.
Tiffin, consisting of rice, and bacon and beans, was dealt out to us on
deck at midday, and the afternoon passed in the same way as the morning.
The _Wolf's_ chief officer, a hearty, elderly man, came aft to speak to
us. He chaffed us about our oarsmanship in the lifeboats, 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."
The long hot day seemed endless, but by about five o'clock the two ships
arrived in an atoll, consisting of about fifteen small islands, and the
_Hitachi_ there dropped anchor. The _Wolf_ moved up alongside, and the
two ships were lashed together. Supper, consisting of tinned fruit and
rice, was served out at 5.30, 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
expected to go on board the _Hitachi_ again, and never thought we should
renew acquaintance with our personal belongings. We ourselves 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 ourselves that the greater part of our
treasures gathered there had been left behind safely stored in the Bank
and in a go-down in Bangkok.