Ten months in a German raider : $b a prisoner of war aboard the WolfCameron, John Stanley
History
Ten months in a German raider : $b a prisoner of war aboard the Wolf
Cameron, John Stanley
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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