The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
By the beginning of December, 1914, the German raider was in the South
Atlantic, and while there heard wireless messages exchanged between
the ships of the British fleet that took part in the battle off the
Falkland Islands. The bark _Isabella Browne_, flying the Russian flag,
was the next ship overtaken by the _Eitel Friedrich_, on January 26,
1915. She was boarded and all of her provisions and stores were
removed to the German ship; after her crew and their personal effects
were taken aboard the German ship she was dynamited and sank. On that
same morning the French ship _Pierre Loti_ was sighted, and while the
_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ put an end to her, after first taking off her
crew, the captive crew of the _Isabella Browne_ was sent below, but
was allowed to come on deck to watch the sinking of the French ship.
The American ship _William P. Frye_ was sunk soon afterward, and her
crew, also, was made part of the party on board the raider. After
sinking the French bark _Jacobsen_ the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ stopped
the _Thalasia_ on February 8, 1915, and let her go on her way, but on
February 18 the British ships _Cindracoe_ and _Mary Ada Scott_ were
sunk. On the 19th the French steamer _Floride_ was overtaken off the
coast of Brazil; all persons aboard her were transferred to the German
ship and most of her provisions were also taken aboard the latter; the
_Floride_, the largest steamer destroyed by the German ship, was set
afire and left to burn. On February 20, 1915, the British ship
_Willerby_ was overtaken and nearly sank the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_
before being boarded. As the German ship passed across the stern of
the other at a short distance the British captain, knowing that the
end of his own ship was near, decided to take his captor down with
him. He tried to ram the German ship with the stern of his ship, but
failed in the attempt.
On the evening of February 20, 1915, the wireless operator of the
_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ heard British cruisers "talking" with each
other, one of them being the _Berwick_. The German captain now saw
that his long raiding cruise was up, for though he could replenish his
stores and bunkers from captured ships he could not make the many
repairs which his vessel needed. To put them off at a neutral port or
to let them go in one of the ships he captured would mean that his
position would be reported to British ships within a week. He
therefore decided to end his raiding and put in at Newport News. His
vessel was interned in the American port.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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