arguments regarding neutrality laws were carried on. On all the trip
the Colonel had been quoting the Geneva convention, until we had all
concluded that this particular convention was held for the express
benefit of the medical officers of the army. I asked the Colonel if he
remembered anything in the Geneva convention regarding the grounding
of a belligerent's prize on neutral ground. He answered by saying that
clause so and so, paragraph so and so, expressly stated that all
medical officers should be exempt from ... at this point I butted in
and told him to "go to hell"; that there were women and children and
other prisoners on board as well as medical officers. All throughout
the trip this man had behaved like a dog in a manger, being the
quintessence of egotistical selfishness, and despised by us, one and
all. The conclusion of all our argument was that might was right in
this war, and that the Germans would do just what they liked, provided
they could hoodwink the Danish officials.
The manager of the Danish salvaging company, on arriving at the
lighthouse and talking with the various people there, concluded that
perhaps things were not just right with the _Igotz Mendi_ and that he
had better get in touch with the Danish naval authorities before doing
anything. He called up the Commander of the Danish cruiser _Diana_
and stated the case, saying that things didn't appear to be just
right. The Commander, a Lieutenant Lagoni, getting in touch with the
authorities, 'phoned the manager of the salvage company that he would
come right down to investigate. At about midnight the _Diana_ arrived
and Lieutenant Lagoni, being a gentleman and also a shrewd, wide-awake
officer, took his chief officer on board the _Igotz Mendi_, telling
him that he, the commander, would keep the captain of the _Igotz
Mendi_ busy answering questions in the saloon while the chief officer
should have a good look around and gather what information he could.
As soon as the Danish commander arrived on board we were all pushed
and shoved into our rooms and the doors closed. When Rose started to
take Lieutenant Lagoni into the chart room above the Lieutenant said:
"Oh, no, Captain, let's go into the saloon; it is not customary to
entertain the commander of a cruiser in the chart room." So they came
into the saloon. Just as he came through the door he saw some of us
being hustled out of sight--but said nothing. Shortly one of the ladies
would shout down the alleyway: "Oh, Mrs. So and So, won't you come to
my room for a minute? Don't be frightened." All this for the benefit
of the Danish officer in the saloon. In the meantime the Danish chief
officer was wandering around the _Igotz Mendi_, taking notice of all he
saw. While strolling through the bunkers, where our "temporary" warm
place was, he noticed Nita's "kewpie" doll lying where she had dropped
it. There were men standing around all through these quarters. Suddenly
the officer turned on a man standing there and said: "You're not a
German." The man answered saying: "No, sir; I am a Dane." "Well, what
are you doing here?" was the next question. The Dane, Jensen, told him
he was from the _Wolf_ and was working here on the _Igotz Mendi_, and
that there were American and British prisoners on board, including some
women and children. After completing his rounds, the Danish officer
went on deck and told Lieutenant Lagoni that he was ready, and calling
him aside, told him what he had found out. Lieutenant Lagoni then gave
orders to disable the wireless plant and told Rose that the tug could
not assist him off the beach, and that at the end of twenty-four
hours the vessel would be interned providing she was still under German
flag, and advised him to land any prisoners he had.
[Illustration:
"IGOTZ MENDI" ASHORE ON THE DANISH COAST. TAKEN THE MORNING WE LANDED,
FEBRUARY 26TH, 1918.]
[Illustration:
LIFE BOAT LEAVING THE BEACH FOR THE STRANDED "IGOTZ MENDI".]
Of course during all this talk we prisoners knew nothing at all of what
was going on, and when we saw the Danish officers leaving we came to
the conclusion that our case was lost, and as there was an armed sentry
pacing back and forth in front of the two doors leading from the cabin
to the deck, it looked black indeed, and I for one felt very, very
disappointed. The strain was beginning to tell on my wife again; so we
both lay down on the bunk with our clothes on and listened to Rose on
the bridge, ringing the telegraph and working his engines in a vain
attempt to get his vessel off the beach. As I lay there thinking, I
could not but pity Rose, realising how he must have felt.
Just imagine what his feelings must have been on realising that after
spending fifteen months on a raiding and mine laying cruise, and
always evading his enemies, he had run his vessel aground almost at the
gates of Germany, and in place of receiving the Iron Cross first class,
there was the possibility of his facing court martial on his arrival
home, provided of course he was lucky enough to escape internment.
Thinking this I fell asleep and at 6:30 A.M. of February 25th (shall I
ever forget the date?) I was awakened by one of the German seamen named
"Hans" knocking at my door and saying: "Kapitaine, Kapitaine, wake up
and get ready to go ashore in the boats." I'll bet we broke all speed
records getting on deck. Rose asked me to get into the life-saving boat
first, as the Danish crew could not speak English, and then I could
help the balance as they came down the ladder. I got Juanita firmly on
my back and climbed down into the boat. There was a large sea running
and as the _Igotz Mendi_ was stationary on the bottom and the life-boat
was riding on the seas, one moment it would be even with my feet and
in another would be fifteen feet below. The idea was to jump at that
instant the boat was even with me. This was easy enough with myself and
wife, who understood such things and had had previous experience, but
to the balance of the passengers it was hard to make them let go at the
right time; they all having a tendency to hang on until the boat had
started to go down again. Then, if they should let go, the drop was so
great that the men in the life-boat could not hold them when they tried
to catch them.
In some cases it was necessary absolutely to tear the passengers off
the ladder by main force. However, we finally got all the women,
children and men into the boat and we started for the beach. When we
got into the breakers and the seas washed clean over us, many thought
it would be a case of swim or drown, not reckoning on the kind of
life-boat we were in or on the class of men that manned it.
I have seen various life-crews at drill and I spent a season on the
beach at Cape Nome, where everything is surf work, but these old Danes,
averaging fifty years of age and the living caricatures of that great
soap advertisement, "Life Buoy Soap," familiar to all the reading
public, were in a class by themselves. On entering the breakers, they
dropped a kedge anchor with a long line on it, and literally slacked
the boat through. A gigantic comber, one of those curling ones, just
commencing to break, would rush upon us; up would go the stern of the
boat and just at the instant that I would expect her to go end for end,
the old "Sinbad" tending the anchor line would check her and in another
instant we would rush for the beach, just as the Kanakas ride the surf
on a board at Honolulu. When we finally grounded the men from the beach
ran out and seized the women, the balance then ran the boat higher
up the beach. The natives must have thought that we were a bunch of
raving maniacs, the way we carried on, getting our feet on good "terra
firma" again. We danced, we shouted, and cheered, and made damn fools
of ourselves generally; but to my mind the situation warranted it.
What a fitting climax to an adventure of this kind ... eight months a
prisoner on a Teuton raider, and set free at the very gates of Germany,
at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute. It is hard to realise
just what this meant to us all--possibly the very lives of my wife and
kiddie, as I feel sure that they could not have stood much more, and
at the best, there was from one to a possible five years' being buried
alive in a German internment camp, and living under the conditions that
I know to exist in that country.
We were taken to the nearby lighthouse, where the keepers and their
families did everything possible for us, drying our clothes and giving
us hot coffee to warm ourselves. About midday we went into Skagen, two
miles distant, and separated, going to various hotels. My family and
I put up at the Sailors' Home and were excellently taken care of by
our host, Mr. Borg Hansen. I wish to go on record here as saying that
at no place that I have ever been in have I met a more whole-souled,
more hospitable or more likable class of people in my life than
these Danish people of the little town of Skagen. I met people there
who were the quintessence of courtesy and hospitality; in fact,
they were "regular Danish ladies and gentlemen." Here at Skagen our
various Consuls took us in charge and sent us to Copenhagen, where we
separated, going our several ways.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
During her fifteen months' cruise the _Wolf_ laid approximately five
hundred mines and captured fourteen vessels, as follows:
1. _British tank s/s._ "TURITELLA," 7300 gross tons, Captain S.G.
MEADOWS, captured on February 27, 1917, in the Indian Ocean, bound
from Rangoon to Europe with a cargo of oil. The captain and officers
were taken off this vessel and transferred to the _Wolf_. A crew of
German officers and mine-men were put on board of her, under charge of
Lieutenant-Commander BRANDES, ex-chief officer of the WOLF, and she
was sent away as a mine layer, laying mines at BOMBAY and at CALCUTTA,
and was afterwards captured at ADEN, while laying mines, by a British
gun-boat; and her crew of Chinamen were sent back to China, while her
German officers were taken prisoners.
2. _British s/s._ "JUMMA," 6050 gross tons, Captain SHAW WICKERMAN,
bound from Torreirja, Spain, to Calcutta with a cargo of salt. Captured
in the Indian Ocean, March 1st. After what coal and stores she had on
board had been removed, she was bombed on the morning of March 3rd in
latitude 8 degrees 9 minutes north and longitude 62 degrees 1 minute
east.
3. _British s/s._ "WADSWORTH," of London, 3509 gross tons, built in
1915, Captain JOHN SHIELDS, captured on March 11th, in latitude 54
degrees 30 minutes north and longitude 67 degrees east. After taking
off about fifteen tons of rice and ship's stores the vessel was bombed
on the 18th. _Wadsworth_ was bound from Bassinia, India, to London with
a cargo of rice, and was six days out from Colombo.
4. _Mauritius bark_ "DEE," 1200 tons, Captain RUUG, bound from
Mauritius to Bundbury, Australia, in ballast, thirty-nine days out.
Captured May 21st, 300 miles off the west coast of Australia. Crew of
blacks and stores taken on board the _Wolf_ and the vessel immediately
bombed.
5. _New Zealand s/s._ "WAIRUNA," of the Union S/S. Co. Line, of New
Zealand, Captain JOHN SAUNDERS, with general cargo from Auckland to San
Francisco. Captured May 21st off Sunday Island by seaplane. The _Wolf_
was lying behind Sunday Island cleaning and repairing boilers at the
time of capture. The flying machine flew over the _Wairuna_ and dropped
a message attached to a sandbag, saying to steer towards the _Wolf_ or
the flying machine would drop bombs on her. Thus she was taken by the
raider. After taking off some forty live sheep and ship's stores and
about 900 tons of coal, she was sunk by one bomb and fifteen shells.
While towing the _Wairuna_ to sea, _Wolf_ discovered the schooner
_Winslow_.
6. _American schooner_ "WINSLOW," 566 gross tons, Captain TRUDGETT,
bound from Sydney to Samoa, with general cargo. Captured off Sunday
Island on June 7th by the seaplane while _Wolf_ was sinking the
_Wairuna_. After removing ship's stores and some 450 tons of coal the
_Winslow_ was sunk on June 21st by four bombs and thirty-nine shells,
the old wooden box simply refusing to sink.
7. _American bark_ "BELUGA," of San Francisco, 590 gross tons, Captain
CAMERON, bound from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia, with a cargo
of benzine. Captured latitude south 26 degrees, on July 9th. After
removing 300 cases of oil, the stores and boatswain's supplies, the
_Beluga_ was set on fire on July 11th by gun fire, by the nineteenth
shot.
8. _American schooner_ "ENCORE," 651 gross tons, Captain OLESON, bound
from Columbia River to Sydney, Australia, with a load of lumber.
Captured July 16th in latitude south 21 degrees and longitude east 169
degrees. After removing stores she was set on fire and left.
9. _Australian s/s._ "MATUNGA," of the Burns & Phillips Line, Captain
DONALDSON, en route from Sydney to Rabul, New Guinea. Captured August
4th, about 122 miles southwest of Rabul. Both vessels proceeded from
this point to Pirate's Cove, at the northernmost end of New Guinea,
arriving there on August 10th. Transferred cargo to the _Wolf_,
amounting to some 850 tons of coal and 350 tons of supplies; also
prisoners (passengers), including two army medical corps officers and
three military captains. On August 26th _Wolf_ proceeded to sea and
sunk the _Matunga_ by three bombs, vessel sinking in six and one-half
minutes. Full particulars of the _Matunga's_ cargo was picked up by the
_Wolf_ in a wireless message to her consignees, giving a copy of her
outward manifest, also all sailing dates from time to time by Burns &
Phillips themselves.
10. _Japanese s/s._ "HITACHI MARU," of the N.Y.K. Co., 6558 gross tons,
Captain KOKMOA, en route from Colombo to England, via African ports.
Captured on September 26th off the Maldive Islands and proceeded to
southernmost group of the Maldives, where 800 tons of bunker coal were
transferred to the _Wolf_, also 250 tons of copper and tin, silk, tea,
approximately 400 tons of rubber, further cocoanuts and hides. On
October 7th both vessels proceeded in different directions, the _Wolf_
seeking for another vessel with coal while the _Hitachi_ loafed along
in a general southeasterly direction. _Wolf_ picked up _Hitachi_ again
on October 19th, forty-two miles west of the Chagos group. On October
20th both vessels arrived at the Chagos Islands and tied up together.
Additional rubber and silk and remaining coal were transferred to the
_Wolf_. On the morning of November 7th both vessels left Chagos and the
_Hitachi_ was bombed.
11. _Spanish steamer_ "IGOTZ MENDI," of Bilboa, 4648 tons. Captured in
the Indian Ocean November 10th, en route from Delagoa Bay to Colombo
with a cargo of coal. This vessel was sent to Germany, but grounded off
DENMARK.
12. _American bark_ "WILLIAM KIRBY," 1200 tons, of New York, Captain
BLUM, from New York to Port Elizabeth, Africa, with a general cargo;
captured on November 15th. Crew, provisions and stores were taken off
and the vessel bombed on November 16th. She was captured 320 miles
southeast of Port Elizabeth.
13. _French bark_ "MARECHAL DAVOUST," 1100 tons, from Delagoa Bay
to France with a cargo of wheat. Captured on December 14th. This
vessel was armed and equipped with wireless. Guns and provisions were
transferred to the _Wolf_ and the vessel sunk on the 15th by bombs.
Captured 130 miles southeast of the Cape of Good Hope.
14. _Norwegian bark_ "STOREBROR," 2000 tons, Captain MOLLER, bound for
Europe from Montevideo in ballast. Captured on January 5th in latitude
18 degrees south and 27 degrees west. Crew, provisions and stores
transferred to the _Wolf_ and vessel bombed.