German Government, but as their Captain was a prisoner on board the
_Wolf_, and they were away from his authority, they paid absolutely no
heed to any of the prisoners' needs, merely contenting themselves with
keeping the Lieutenant well supplied with booze and anything else he
wanted. Afterwards Rose told me that the service of the Japs on the
_Hitachi_ was splendid. I told him that it was rotten and told him
why; Rose merely pulled that Prussian smile of his and said: "What do
you expect? You're not first class passengers, you know." To this I
agreed and told him all I wanted was an even break with the rest of
the prisoners, or "ex-passengers," as he used to call us. There were
some sixty of us occupying the first class cabins, among whom were
many of the original passengers of the _Hitachi_. We were, with one
or two exceptions, all young people, and despite the short rations
we had and the rough experience we'd undergone, we managed to have
some very enjoyable times, playing deck billiards, quoits, cricket
and various card games. In the dining saloon was a piano. Some of the
Australian chaps were great mimics and had good voices, so we had some
very enjoyable evenings. The last night we were on the _Hitachi_, in
particular, the Japs came to life and were almost human. One of them
unlocked a large closet that was filled with masks, costumes, false
beards, hair, etc., which were used for amateur theatricals. We all
dressed up as various characters, and we had a regular variety show.
Among the offerings were clog dancing, sword dancing, highland fling,
the good old cake walk, and the Texas Tommy. The last number was what
we called the "Hitachi Rag" and was danced by everybody. It consisted
of the regulation "rag" varied by every conceivable step, including
high and lofty tumbling. All during the performance the German sailors
on the _Hitachi_ were peering in through the portholes and lining the
alley ways and steps, enjoying the show almost as much as the rest
of us. But this "Hitachi Rag" was more than the disciplined Teutons
could stand. First two of them tried it, and in a few minutes all the
Germans were dancing. The news spread to the _Wolf_ and there was a
general stampede of Teuton guards and sailors, in our direction. For
a few minutes we had full charge of the ship, as the Teutons wouldn't
stop when their petty officers called them. Shortly afterwards the
Chief Officer appeared and made us all stop, saying that it was
the Commander's orders, and that we were "stopping the work of the
ship"--to say nothing of undermining German discipline.
On the _Hitachi_, many of us lost things out of our rooms, such as
razors, a camera, combs and various toilet articles and articles of
clothing. One day, one of the British chaps caught a Jap steward in his
room using his safety razor. As this particular Jap had pimples and
sores all over his face, the British ally and owner of the razor was
very hostile. I asked him what he was going to do about it. "I shall
report the bally rotter to the management," the Briton replied. Not
being used to such violent outbursts of emotion I beat it.
All the time that we were lying here among the Maldive Islands, 12 days
in all, transferring cargo, the flying machine made regular observation
trips twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. On
three different occasions it reported seeing steamers passing not more
than 50 or 60 miles off, and once it reported seeing a fast cruiser,
probably British, travelling along at full speed. This island where we
were lying was only 50 or 60 miles off the regular trade route and I
had hopes that some patrolling vessel would blunder on to us, but no
such luck; although one night our hopes were raised to a great height.
Just shortly after sunset, my wife imagined that she saw something on
the Western horizon. I got my glasses and concealing myself so that
I could not be discovered I had a look. I, too, could see something,
but at that time could not make it out; although in another ten
minutes I had another look and sure enough it was bigger and plainer.
Shortly after, it was discovered by the Germans, and an alarm sounded.
Everybody was thrown into great excitement, and the lines tying the
_Wolf_ and the _Hitachi_ together were let go. All of us prisoners ran
to our rooms and got our "emergency kits" ready.
Just across the hall from our "Bridal suite" there was tremendous
confusion. A corpulent British technical mining expert was rushing
about his room in a perfect frenzy, looking for a heavy blue sweater he
had carefully hung on a peg against just such an emergency as this;--of
course, manlike, he blamed his wife for having mislaid it (my wife
contributes this slam gratis.) However, after a few minutes' search,
one of them discovered that the sweater was just where it belonged--on
the man's back. I met "Father" Cross,--a veritable giant of a man and
the greatest authority on Chinese dialects in the country,--shouting in
a great, roaring voice: "Bar steward! Bar steward! bring me a bottle of
whiskey, quick!" I could hear him mumbling: "You don't get _me_ into a
life-boat without a bottle of something to keep me warm." This same man
lost his trousers while climbing out of the life-boat onto the _Wolf_
when the _Hitachi_ was first captured. Somebody sent him a package a
few days afterwards containing an old pair of suspenders, and I think
that "Father" would have murdered the sender if he could have found
out who it was. I have often regretted that the sender did not enclose
Lieut. Rose's calling card.
Just about the time I reached the deck there was an order given from
the bridge of the _Wolf_ in a very disgusted voice, which was shortly
followed by a very choice assortment of cuss words, some of which were
in English. I looked to the Westward and saw that our rescuing cruiser
was only a cloud, and at that time was about five degrees up from the
horizon. Later on I kidded some of the German Officers about it, and
they each passed the blame on to somebody else; but just as this cloud
had fooled me it had fooled them as well. "Father" Cross, however,
averred that he knew what it was all the time, and that it was only a
"sandy" on his part to get an extra bottle of whiskey.
On October 7th both ships sailed from the Maldive Islands, the _Wolf_
going in search of a vessel loaded with coal, so that both _Wolf_ and
_Hitachi_ could fill their bunkers with coal which would enable them
to get "home" to Germany. We on the _Hitachi_ loafed along at a slow
speed in a southwesterly direction, meeting the _Wolf_ again on the
19th, when we both steamed to the Chagos Archipelago, arriving there on
October 20th, when we both tied up together and dropped anchor. During
this time the _Wolf_ had not been able to pick up a vessel, but the
"bird" came back one day from an observation trip and reported a large
steamer some 180 miles distant; later in the day she again went up and
reported this steamer to be a big B.B. Liner of about 16,000 tons, and
that she was equipped with 4 or 5 big guns. Needless to say, the _Wolf_
wasn't looking for anything that could bite back, so the Commander
decided to pass her up, and, returning to the Chagos group, take the
balance of the _Hitachi's_ coal and provisions on board the _Wolf_ and
sink the _Hitachi_, relying on getting another steamer in the Atlantic
to furnish him with enough coal to complete his voyage.
It was during this cruise that Mr. Johnson, Second Officer on my
vessel, died on board the _Wolf_ from heart trouble (so they reported
to me). The Germans gave him a burial at sea with full naval honours,
Capt. Oleson, of the American schooner _Encore_, reading the burial
service, the Commander and his officers standing by in full dress
uniforms. The corpse was covered with an American flag and launched
overboard from under the muzzle of one of the cannon.
[Illustration:
THE BURIAL OF A. JOHNSON, SECOND OFFICER OF THE AMERICAN BARK "BELUGA,"
WHO DIED ON THE "WOLF".]
Before shifting all the prisoners from the _Hitachi_ to the _Wolf_,
some arrangement for accommodation had to be made. The Germans cleaned
out and fitted up No. 3 hold between decks for the ex-passengers of the
_Hitachi_ and also for the Japanese crew, a total of 170 odd persons.
Iron berths were taken from the _Hitachi_ along with washstands and
other furnishings; and one corner of this "Glory Hole" was set aside
for the whites and the fittings installed there. The Japs had wooden
bunks built in the opposite corner for them, and rough wooden tables
were knocked together for all hands to eat from and to play cards on.
Also one of the pianos from the _Hitachi_ was installed there--to the
best of my knowledge this piano was never played, and my chief mate,
Mr. Buckard, who was quartered there, used the top of the piano to keep
his clothes in, while the cover of the keyboard was used as a kind of
mantelpiece or shelf by all hands.
The whole place below was lighted by three clusters of electric light,
at night, and three fans were installed and the whole given a coating
of white paint. The ventilation down below was very poor, and it was
tough on the white men being forced to breathe this air as it was full
of all kinds of oriental odours, and no doubt also oriental germs. A
couple of armed sentinels were on guard below, continually, and also
four on deck in the immediate vicinity of the hatch, at such times
when the German crew were not at their almost continual gun drill
and practice; at which times all hands were chased below, as also on
the appearance of any vessel. The greatest hardship these men had to
contend with was the lack of drinking water, as there seemed to be an
unequal division of it between the Japs and the whites, with the latter
getting the worst of it.
Immense quantities of iron piping and pipe fittings were taken from the
_Hitachi_ to be used later in fitting the prisoners' quarters under the
poop and in No. 3 hatch, with heaters against the cold weather that
was to be encountered before they finally reached Germany.
Auction bridge, poker and a German game called "Mussel" were the
favourite card games and the stakes were very small; one pfennig ante
and five pf. limit. Considering that it takes 100 pfennigs to make 25
cents, nobody won or lost a fortune, although on several occasions
diplomatic relations were temporarily severed between some of the
players. It was laughable, for instance, to hear an Australian chap
named McEnally, who is very well off, owning plantations and big
manufacturing concerns, squabbling over who would shy a penny in the
pot. Taking it all in all, these men, amongst whom were some splendid
fellows, adapted themselves to conditions as only the Britisher and the
American can.
PART THREE: BOUND FOR
GERMANY--THE RESCUE
PART THREE
BOUND FOR GERMANY--THE RESCUE
On November 7th, the transfer of cargo being complete, and everything
movable or floatable on the _Hitachi_ being secured so that it would
not float off when she sunk and leave any trace to make a passing
steamer suspicious, we steamed out well clear of the Chagos Islands and
at 1:30 P.M. the _Hitachi Maru_ was bombed. She sank in 29 minutes.
We on the _Wolf_ were quite close to the _Hitachi Maru_ and could see
everything very clearly. First the "bombing squad" were very busy
placing their bombs: two amidships and one each in No. 1 hatch forward
and No. 2 hatch, aft. The fuses from these bombs were all led on to
the deck and brought to one centre. After everything was in readiness
and all of the men, excepting the Mine Lieutenant, were in the launch,
the Lieutenant lighted the fuse and ran for the boat. Usually the
fuses are set for 12 minutes, which gives the launch ample time to get
away. We all stood there gazing intently at the steamer, expecting
every minute to see the explosion. The twelve minutes' wait in a case
of this kind seems nearer half an hour. Suddenly there was a dull boom
sound, and the water was convulsed, and smoke from the burnt powder
appeared. And that was all, as the explosions all take place below the
water line. The vessel sinks very rapidly at first, and in the case of
the _Hitachi Maru_, the vessel settled evenly; that is, she went by
neither head nor stern. Soon the water was nearly even with the rail,
and the _Hitachi's_ bow sank a little faster by the head. Pretty soon
the waves were breaking on deck, and every moment might be the last;
but still she hung on as if fighting for her very life. Suddenly a
shudder seemed to pass over her, caused by the bursting of a bulkhead;
her head disappeared below the wave, she hung there an instant and then
her stern rose high out of the water; she made her final dive ... and
the _Hitachi Maru_, 1st class Japanese passenger steamer, ceased to be.
There were a great many satisfied Ah, Ahs from the German crew as she
disappeared, and a general feeling of satisfaction among them. For
myself, I am afraid there was a tear in my eye, and all that I can wish
these destroyers of good honest ships is that may they sometime think
of how they smiled as they sank these ships, when they are standing
around with empty bellies waiting for a chance to earn a living as
sailors. I can understand a landsman sinking a ship and thinking it a
joke, but a sailor, to my mind, should feel sad at seeing the end of an
honest vessel, may she belong to friend or enemy.
I know one German officer who told me that, when the _Wolf_ returned to
Germany, he would never go in a raider again; that he made his living
going to sea and could not stand seeing ships sunk.
From the Chagos Islands we steamed toward the Cape of Good Hope, and
on November 10th, at 6:30 A.M., _Wolf_ captured the Spanish steamer
_Igotz Mendi_ with a cargo of coal from Delagoa Bay to Colombo for
the British Government. This was a very tame capture, the captain
stopping as soon as he was signalled, thinking possibly that he was
immune because he was neutral. No such luck. Lieutenant Rose and his
prize crew went on board and took command, all the Spaniards staying on
board. The first official act of Rose was to order Captain Uralda to
vacate his room so that he, Rose, could use it. Captain Uralda answered
temperamentally by throwing an inkstand at Rose. Unfortunately Capt.
Uralda is no Christie Mathewson and the first one was a ball. However,
the Spanish Captain gave up his room. Both vessels now returned to the
Chagos group and tied up together.
There was weeping and wailing on the _Wolf_ that they did not hang on
to the _Hitachi Maru_ for a few more days. If they had, and the _Wolf_
had captured _Igotz Mendi_, all three of us would have gone to Germany
and the Imperial Government would very probably have been richer by
many thousands of marks worth of valuable cargo that was sunk with the
_Hitachi_.
The Germans transferred some two thousand tons of coal from the _Igotz
Mendi_ to the _Wolf_ at this time. On November 12th, the two Australian
medical officers and the major's wife, a British Professor from Siam
and his wife, "Father" Cross--an eminent British barrister from
Singapore--and his wife, the technical mining man and his wife, one
Chinese woman and husband, one Mauritian woman and a little black girl,
and two male invalids were suddenly ordered on board the _Igotz_ just
as they stood. There was lots of excitement, as the _Wolf_ had picked
up a wireless message from a cruiser which was within 30 miles of us,
but which unfortunately kept right on going. A couple of German sailors
dumped everything in our room on the _Wolf_ into a couple of bed sheets
and dumped them down on the deck of the _Igotz Mendi_ for us.
Our quarters here on the _Igotz Mendi_ were fairly good, especially
in warm weather, but later on in the cold regions they were far
from livable. "Father" Cross, the Colonel and the two sick men were
quartered aft under the poop in a room that had formerly been a
boatswain locker; the rest of us were housed amidships in what was
before the Spanish officers' quarters. The Spanish deck officers
doubled up with the Engine room squad, thereby leaving their rooms
vacant for us to occupy.
I wish to add here that at the time of the transfer of the prisoners
from the S.S. _Metunga_ to the _Wolf_, Mrs. X, steward of the
_Metunga_, was quartered on the top deck with the rest of the
womenfolks. Mrs. X was an Australian woman of middle age and the widow
of a Chief Engineer in the same company that owned the _Metunga_. After
her transfer to the _Wolf_, she was ordered by the German officers
to take care of the ladies' quarters. On account of the overbearing
and insolent manners of some of her fellow shipmates, she refused
duty, stating that she was a British subject and a prisoner of war and
entitled to the same treatment as the rest of the women prisoners. In
this she was perfectly justified and I am certain it was through Lieut.
Rose's influence that this demand of her services was made, as Rose was
very partial to one of these ex-passengers. Later on when transferred
to the _Hitachi Maru_ Mrs. X was quartered aft in the second class,
she being the only white woman there; and things were made generally
disagreeable for her. This no doubt was because she was brave enough to
show her independence and stand up for her right.
When we were transferred from the _Wolf_ to the _Igotz Mendi_ she asked
to be kept on the _Wolf_, rather than go on the _Igotz Mendi_ under the
charge of Rose, stating that she would rather take the chances with the
rest of them on the _Wolf_ than be treated as she felt she would be on
the _Igotz Mendi_.
This permission was granted her; but, a few days later on, she was
transferred to the _Igotz Mendi_ against her will, and quartered in the
same room as the coloured people, among whom was one male.
Many of us were highly incensed because of this treatment of a white
woman, but were powerless to do anything with Rose in the matter
although we tried to make her lot as bearable as possible. Later on
this woman took sick owing to the dampness of her quarters and my wife
nursed her for three weeks until she finally recovered.
The _Igotz Mendi_ was a product of war-times, being built in 1916,
and built in the cheapest possible manner, both in hull, equipment
and accommodations. In her saloon, ten of us could sit down fairly
comfortably in good weather, but when the vessel was rolling as nearly
always was the case, only eight could sit down at the table, as the
chairs at the ends were not stationary. We were waited upon by a
steward named "Manuel." Manuel was quite a character and had his own
ideas about how much a man should have a day for two pesetas. One day
we were talking together, and he said that he shipped to take care
of three men only and now he had twenty-two, among whom were four
women, any one of whom (the women) were more trouble than the original
three men he had shipped to serve. I think Manuel had the largest
thumb I have ever seen. When he brought in my plate of alleged soup
the plate would be brimming full; on setting it down and withdrawing
his thumb the plate would be only half full. This thumb would have
been a valuable asset to some Yankee boarding house mistress in the
States. Later on Manuel took a violent dislike to some of our party and
used to spill the "coffee" or soup on them. This he did with malice
aforethought and I don't know that I blamed him much, as some of our
party imagined they were first class passengers on a modern liner with
servants to supply their every whim.
On November 15th both steamers left the Chagos Islands, the _Igotz
Mendi_ going at slow speed to a point 300 miles south of the Cape of
Good Hope, and the _Wolf_ followed the regular sailing vessel route,
where on November 18th she captured and sank the American bark _William
Kirby_ of New York, Captain Blum commanding. The _Kirby_ was en route
from New York to Port Elizabeth with a general cargo, the major part of
which was automobiles destined for the African Christmas market. After
transferring the crew, provisions, and what food stuffs were handily
got at, the bomb gang got in their work and at 5:30 P.M. on November
18th the _Kirby_ made her final bow.
[Illustration:
LAST OF THE AMERICAN BARK "WILLIAM KIRBY." 1200 GROSS TONS. CAPTAIN
BLUM. CAPTURED NOVEMBER 15TH, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILES S.E. OF
PORT ELIZABETH.]
On December 6th we met the _Wolf_ again for a short time, exchanged
signals, and received a further supply of canned crab, the _Wolf_
having an inexhaustible supply which she had got from the _Hitachi_.
We had so much crab that the very sight of a can of it was nauseating.
I feel sure that should a waiter in a restaurant ever suggest crab to
any of the ex-prisoners on the _Wolf_, he would have a very unpleasant
time of it. During the night of the 6th, the _Wolf_ left us, taking
a more northerly route than we. At this time, Lieutenant Rose had
told the Spanish ex-Captain that we were en route to Trinidad Island,
Brazil, where _Wolf_ would get what additional coal she required,
and then we, the _Igotz Mendi_, should, after waiting 10 days at the
island, proceed to Spain. This, of course, made us feel very happy and
I know that the Cameron family were overjoyed with the prospects of
getting safely landed after such a long time. Many of us took up the
study of the Spanish language, and some very queer conversations were
carried on. When I tried to talk Spanish, I would usually get stuck for
a Spanish word and put in a German one; then if I couldn't think of the
German word, would use English, the result was that neither a Spaniard
nor a German could understand me. Sometimes I couldn't figure it out
myself.
We enjoyed fine weather and managed to keep alive on the food, which
was some task. When we got up from the table hungry, we would think of
Spain and freedom in a few short weeks, and forget all about how empty
we were. On December 18th the _Wolf_ again picked us up; it seemed that
she could appear at will like some gigantic evil spirit. The _Wolf_
wig-wagged the information that on December 14th she met and sank the
French bark _Marechal Davoust_, bound from Australia to France with a
cargo of grain. This bark was equipped with wireless and had two guns
mounted on her, but offered no resistance to the _Wolf_. _Wolf_ took
the crew, provisions, ships stores, the wireless, and also his two
cannon, off the Frenchman, later in the day sinking her by bombs.
Both the _Wolf_ and _Igotz Mendi_ now proceeded together toward the
Island of Trinidad and expected to get there early on the morning
of December 20th. I had made arrangements with Lieutenant Rose so
that I could have a jolly boat in the morning and the wife and I go
fishing off the rocks on the lee side of the island, as this island
is celebrated for its good sea bass fishing. At 9:30 P.M. on the
19th, while pacing the deck with the wife before retiring, I noticed
that the _Wolf_ suddenly changed her course to the Northward and
signalled us with her flash light. We immediately changed also, and
put on all available speed to the northward after the _Wolf_. Soon
the explanation came: there were two cruisers of the Brazilian Navy
anchored at Trinidad and the _Wolf_ had picked up a wireless message
from one of them to the Brazilian authorities. Needless to say, it
didn't take Commander Nerger long to decide that he had business
elsewhere. If these confounded gossipy cruisers had not used their
wireless, in another few hours we should have run right into their
arms. On the other hand, if they had been lying in the harbour of some
big sea port as seems to be the custom with battle ships, and not
off Trinidad Island, we should probably have carried out the regular
schedule of freedom via Spain. Of the two, I should much have preferred
the Brazilian navy to rescue us, as then I should have been sure of
freedom, while on the other hand, I had only Rose's word that we would
proceed to Spain. There was a bitter gloom on our ship for a good while
after this; in fact the spirits of the prisoners never regained their
previous buoyancy. The great question now was "What next?" We could
see only Germany ahead of us, and that was not very encouraging. For
myself, I felt quite confident that we should never get through the
blockade and the mine fields. Captain Rose had often told us that in
the event of our meeting a cruiser, we would go into the boats and the
ship would be bombed and sunk. This was a very alluring proposition
for a family man to look forward to but was better than the conditions
on the _Wolf_, as there now were nearly 800 crew and prisoners on
the _Wolf_, while its life-boats and rafts under the most favourable
conditions could hold only 400, so it can easily be figured out just
how much chance our poor chaps had of getting into the boats, in the
event of the _Wolf's_ meeting a superior enemy. Probably they would
be battened down below in the hold, and would be sent down to "Davey
Jones' Locker" with the _Wolf_. In our case on the _Igotz Mendi_ we
were about thirty souls to a boat, and if the weather conditions were
favourable and we had a little luck, we should have been all right. The
women naturally lived in a continual dread of having to go into the
boats.
We had all been looking forward to eating our Christmas dinner at the
island of Trinidad and were going to have a royal feed, as our German
"hosts" were going to kill a pig and a cow that were on board the
_Igotz Mendi_ when captured. However, the Brazilian navy changed our
plans as to where our dinner was to be eaten; though we had "Sir Pig"
just the same. Owing to the sudden change of our plans (gaining freedom
via Spain) we all felt very blue on Christmas day, which was not the
enjoyable affair it would have been if everything had worked out as
expected. I know I had the blues all Christmas as I got thinking about
other Christmases spent under more enjoyable circumstances, which
thoughts naturally didn't make me feel any more cheerful. Lieutenant
Rose was around bright and early, wishing us all a merry Christmas
and "many happy returns" of the day. I intend next Christmas, if Rose
is still interned in Denmark, to write him a letter returning the
compliment, and then he can possibly appreciate the subtleties of a
joke of this nature. My wife wanted to stick a hat pin into him when he
came around with his "many happy returns of the day." The German crew,
too, appeared to be blue on Christmas.