There were still a few people on her, and the _Wolf's_ motor launch made three trips between the two ships before the German Captain and bombing officer left the _Hitachi_. 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 1.33 p.m. the Captain arrived alongside the _Wolf_, at 1.34 the first bomb exploded with a dull subdued roar, sending up a high column of water; the explosion of the other bombs followed at intervals of a minute, so that by 1.36 the last bomb had exploded. All on the _Wolf_ now stood watching the _Hitachi's_ last struggle 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. There the two ships now rested, the murderer and the victim, alone on the ocean, with no help for the one and no avenging justice for the other. The _Wolf_ was secure from all interference--nothing could avert the final tragedy. The many witnesses who would have helped the victim were powerless; we could but stand and watch with impotent fury and great sorrow and pity the inevitable fate to which the _Hitachi_ was doomed, and of which the captors and captives on the _Wolf_ were the only witnesses. But one man among us refused to look on--the Japanese Captain refused to be a spectator of the wilful destruction of his ship, which had so long been his home. Her sinking meant for him the utter destruction of his hopes and an absolute end to his career. The struggle was a long one--it was pathetic beyond words to watch it, and there was a choky feeling in many a throat on the _Wolf_--for some time it even seemed as if the _Hitachi_ were going to snatch one more victory from the sea; she seemed to be defying the efforts of the waves to devour her, as, gently rolling, she shook herself free from the gradually encroaching water; but she was slowly getting lower in the water, and just before two o'clock there were signs that she was settling fast. Her well deck forward was awash; we could see the waves breaking on it; exactly at two o'clock her bows went under, and soon her funnel was surrounded with swirling water; it disappeared, and with her propellers high in the air she dived slowly and 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. [Illustration: NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA S.S. _HITACHI MARU_.]