Current History, Vol. VIII, No. 3, June 1918: A Monthly Magazine of the New York TimesVarious
History
Current History, Vol. VIII, No. 3, June 1918: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times
Various
World War, 1914-1918
It was on the morning of Aug. 5, when the Matunga was nearing the coast
of the territory formerly known as German New Guinea, that she fell in
with the Wolf, which was mistaken for an ordinary tramp steamer, as the
two vessels ran parallel to each other for about two miles. Then the
Wolf suddenly revealed her true character by running up the German flag,
dropping a portion of her forward bulwarks, exposing the muzzles of her
guns, and firing a shot across the bows of the Matunga. At the same time
the Wolf sent a seaplane to circle over the Matunga at a low altitude
for the obvious purpose of ascertaining whether the latter was armed.
Apparently satisfied with the seaplane's report, the German Captain sent
a prize crew, armed with bayonets and pistols, to take possession of the
British ship. Before their arrival, however, all the Matunga's code
books, log books, and other papers were thrown overboard. During the
time the prize crew, all of whom spoke English well, were overhauling
the Matunga, it was learned that the Germans had been lying in wait for
her for five days, as they had somehow learned that she was carrying 500
tons of coal, which they needed badly, and that the German wireless
operator had been following her course from the time of her departure
from Sydney toward the end of July.
The two ships, now both under German command, proceeded together to a
very secluded natural harbor on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea, the
entrance to which was watched by two German guard boats, while a
wireless plant was set up on a neighboring hill and the Wolf's seaplane
patrolled the sea around for about 100 miles on the lookout for any
threatened danger. The two ships remained in the Dutch harbor for nearly
a fortnight, during which time the Wolf was careened and her hull
scraped of barnacles and weeds in the most thorough and methodical
manner, after which the coal was transferred from the Matunga's bunkers.
The latter vessel was then taken ten miles out to sea, where everything
lying loose was thrown into the hold and the hatches battened down to
obviate the possibility of any floating wreckage remaining after she was
sunk. Bombs were then placed on board and exploded, and the Matunga went
down in five or six minutes without leaving a trace.
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