I slipped back into my room, closed the door and switched on the light. I dressed my little girl while my wife got into her clothes. This did not take long as we always slept with our clothes in such a position that we could get into our "emergency outfit" in short order. Every moment while dressing I expected to hear and feel the crash of the _Wolf's_ guns, but fortunately the other fellow didn't see us, and in a few minutes the signal was given to swing the guns in. The danger was past, but there was a mighty nervous crew of men on board the _Wolf_ that night. On the other hand, it was perhaps just as well for the Japanese cruiser that he did not spot us, because the minute he had made any signal and given us any indication that he had seen us, the _Wolf_ would have launched both torpedos and given him a broadside, and at that short range they could not have missed very well. Personally I was satisfied the way things turned out, as I did not like my chances of getting the family into a boat under the circumstances, neither did I have any wish to be present when the actual firing began. While counting my chances of getting the family safely into the boats, should an engagement ensue, I thought of just how much chance the poor devils down in the hell hole had of being saved. They would have been battened down and probably would have gone down with the vessel, should she have been sunk, without a fighting chance for their lives. Even if the German crew had released them at the last moment, what chance did they have of being saved? Under the most favourable circumstances the _Wolf's_ equipment of life-boats and rafts was probably sufficient for only three hundred and fifty at the outside, and there was a total of about seven hundred on board. It would be only natural for the German crew to have the life-saving equipment themselves and our poor chaps would have been left to drown, there being no articles of an inflammable or floating description around her decks. On the wall of my room was a typewritten notice over Commander Nerger's signature, stating that in event of the _Wolf's_ engaging an enemy a boat would be lowered and the women, children and medicos would be placed in same, under my charge. This provided that there was sufficient time and the weather conditions favourable. I could imagine just about how many chances we had that there would be sufficient time to execute this manoeuvre. However, this sign served the very good purpose of alleviating the women's anxieties to a certain extent. It is quite possible that this was the only reason this notice was given us. However, I am grateful for the part it played. The preceding was the tensest crisis in the _Wolf's_ fifteen months' history. Commander Nerger sent down word to me afterwards that it was a Japanese man-of-war, and to keep the news from my wife if possible.