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Show i PRISONERS OF APPAM LANDED B j Story of the Sinking of British B !'l Ships in the ' I Atlantic. M J M RAIDER A LARGE SHIP H I i H I Armed With Six Masked Guns j j Which Are Concealed H II by Canvas. H Old Point Comfort, Va Feb. 2. H j Two hundred and forty-five persons H j held prisoners by a German prize m j crew on the former British passenger B 5. liner Appam, were Informed tonight H that they were at liberty to land on B fij American soil. More than two hun- H R dred others, Including the German H r captors, the captain and crew of the H i liner, and certain passengers alleged H J to belong to the armed forces of Great H l Britain, will be held on board until H & the United States government defin- H i 1tely determines their status and that H i of the ship itself. H This arrangements was reached on 1 orders from Washington after a con- V ference between representatives of 1 the British and German governments !" U at the Old Point wharf Avhere the Norfolk collector of customs, Norman K. Hamilton, acting as intermediary. Naturalized Americans. B The captured liner, at anchor in j j Hampton Roads off Fortress Monroe B since she put into the Virginia Capes j I Tuesday morning, will move to New- H j Port News tomorrow to disembark her AVJl passengers. j Lieutenant Berge, the Gorman re- ' 'servist commanding the prize crew, H ! stul maintains full authority on board M i tho liner, but he 1b acting under or- t j ders from the United States govorn- ' i ment Ho has agreed to move the W ship to Newport News and hold her .' there ponding further developments. H After the conference on the wharf, H the British representatives told. Col- H j lector Hamilton that those aboard H ) who were free to depart had some M 'uncertainty about their rights to go, M He prevailed upon Mr.. Hamilton to B return to the ship and make tho same H statement ho had made at the con- ference. M The passengers wore assembled In m the dining salon and Sir Edward B (Merriwether introduced Collector H Hamilton. The latter then explained j 1 that all those aboard were free to B leave except the German prize crow, H i the crew of the Appam, and twelve passengers who, the Germans con- H tended, havo British military connec- H' A Passenger who spoke as the rep- H. iresentativo of these twelve men asked ; Collector Hamilton whether they r j von6. havo the protection of tho ' United States government while the H ship was within American territorial - waters. Lieutenant Berge spoke to the M passenger using tho torm "American m. protection' reminding him that he H was aboard a ship flying the German H flag, which was equivalent to being on H , Gorman soil. The collector interceded H for the passenger. H Protection of the United States. H ( "You havo sought asylum in a port m ;( , of the United States," said Mr. Hamll- H r toa addressing Lieutenant Berge. J "While you are In those waters you I will be aiforded protection and all the I I others will be given similar protec- B . ! The passengers expressed their ap- B I gi oval byr applause. "Verj' well," returned Lieutenanl Berge. A selected group of Englishmen, In eluding Sir Edward Merewether, Fred erlck Seton James, Frances Charles Fuller, Dr. F. E. Rice and the Ap. Dam's purser, and the masters of the six British vessels captured by the raider which took the Appam, were brought ashore to aid in perfecting arrangements ar-rangements for the landing of the others on board. Reports agree that all the passengers passen-gers were accorded tho best treatment treat-ment possible by tho prize crew in the circumstances. Food and water ran shod, during the last few days of the long voyage from th African coast, but the passengers say they had the same fare as their captors and had no complaint to make. Mystery 0f the Sea. Versions of the Identity of the German Ger-man raider which captured the Appam and the other craft still differ. Prince Hatzfeldt of the German embassy at Washington asserts that she is the German cruiser Moewe, built in 1913 or 1914 for the imperial navy and commanded by Captain Count Dohna. All of the captured British skippers agree, however, that the raider Is a converted merchantman of about 6000 tons, named Ponga, probably completed com-pleted a few months ago, mounting six masked guns of nearly six-Inch caliber, and having two torpedo tubes The Englishmen believe she was fitted fit-ted out recently as a commerce de stroyer and slipped out to tho high sea3 from tho German naval base at the Kiel canal shortly beforo sho began be-gan her career off the coast of Africa by capturing the steamer Farringford on January 11. "They may call her what they please, said Mr. James tonight, "but I havo dined aboard the old Moewe and she was only a 600-ton ship. May-bo May-bo they are calling the raider tho Moewe now." Raider Is New Ship. Captain David Barton of the steamship steam-ship Corbridge, tho second prize SJSV thTeaIder. s a prisoner anLher beforo he was transferred ferred with his crew to the Appam. He says the raider is a brand new ship built for the fruit trade, with her decks strengthened to carry a battery that would do credit to a no c s naval commerce destroyer Some of her plates inside had not even been painted when I saw her" CaP,nt Barton said, "She is a fit her hold fitted for carrying fruit Her guns six of them probably are five and seven-tenths inches' bore. Four or them are mounted forward, masked by a collapsible steel forcastle, which falls away when the ship gets within m I h,er prc'- Two others are mounted aft, one of them on the poop, and both so placed that they are not readily observed "Although I was confined below boar,?1"11 m3t 0f my Etay 0 ooard, I managed to makn n th,. 2leDe inspection. On a plate tho name Ponga' was engraved and sev- r! .US,t,Bro tho same namo on papers in tho commander's cabin nlehfT011 tbe boat beginning the bn f.,Janiiai7 U' mF snIP having 2PCfUrela few hourB after the SfJSni0 h0r work y taklQK the rringford. The ship was manned manvn5Wi.of sevoral hundred mem Paw U' ,0thera had 'H- M. S a AnrJ: sJn fnct' thero ro half a dozen different names. Whenever tho German was after a prize all of us wero kept below under Srf and JieT "rtUaJly UOthInE of hanpd Attacks the Appam. "Wo were followed by the raider for an hour or two during the after' noon, but I paid little attention to her as she appeared to be steaming along easily, and when within a few 32, t- of us I made out the British flag al her stern. Just at dusk she fired ;i warning shot and unmasked her bat- teries and I hove to " ' Except for minor details, all the stories of the captured Appam pas i sengers agreed that the liner was four 1 days out from Dakar, French West Africa, for Liverpool, with passengers and 8000 tons of general cargo, when 1 she sighted the German January 15 Tho raider was moving at a fair rate of speed, but seemingly making no at tempt to make for the Appam. Almost immediately sBe began to gain speed, and beforo Captain Harrison was aware that danger Impended the German Ger-man had changed his course and sent a warning shot across the liner's bow Captain Harrison immediately hove to. The raider's forcastle had fallen away, exposing her battery of guns trained upon the Appam. A small boat put out with a boarding party and In a short time a prize crew was m possession of the ship. There were twenty-two men in the prize crew under Lieutenant Berge, and some twenty Germans on board tho liner bound for prison camps In kne'and were pressed into Bervice. The Appam was the seventh English Eng-lish vessel taken in a period of four days, all the operations occurring less than 200 miles off the coast of Spain On January 11 the steamers Corbridge and Farringford were overtaken about 150 miles northwest of Capo Finis-terre; Finis-terre; on January 13 the Dromnhv Author Trader and Ariadne was captured cap-tured In the Atlantic still farther at sea and northward. It was-about sunset Saturday when tne Appam was captured. Throughout Through-out tho night and into the next day tho raider followed her olosely and on the evening of January 16 she drew o7ay ,to ttack tbe Britl8h steamer Clan MacTavish. Accounts differ as to the distance from tho Appam that the attack upon the MacTavish took place. It is variously estimated at from five to ten miles, but flashes of riro were visible from the liner. Only the prize crew, however, had a fair view of the capture, for the passengers passen-gers and other prisoners were kept below decks and glimpses through port holes had to satisfy them. Dettalls of what happened still are unavailable, as the Germans refuse to talk. It appears, however, that tho MacTavish, mounting a little six-pounder six-pounder on her bow, attempted resistance resist-ance and was subjected to a heavy fire from the raider's big guns. Fif-teen Fif-teen of her men were killed and many wounded before the merchantman ivni J.' T1lere wcro tw terior explosions as she sank. The fate of the master of the MacTavish is un- mnnT'W ,8 beM6Ved b many of his crew on board the raider. The Appam steered close, but wan or- Tavlsh s crew, three of them severely wounded were sent aboard the ISer in a small boat. Off For America. Then the prize crew h, i. pam westward and proceeded In com pony with tho raider, untlfthe nex' ! morning JU8t when the ra der dis-I dis-I appeared and what direction she took I S0 th0 EnGlishn?en as thero has been no word of her sin?! that day, January 17. aince The Appam, according to tho Fn lishmen, appeared to be steerirS ? westward course until some tw x? day night, when she bejn to lZ near the three-mile limit off Vo VI? ginia capes. Sho took tltttii L for the journey, ateamlnr Jll n5ayf nine knots an hour most 0f?h Sho carried no flag, folow?ne tLt it of many British merehaSfmS ? Is said to have display?'? rUlah coT ors as she entered tho Virginia oai" During the long cruise, many S passengers had no Idea where ??. were, nor whnt their destination be. but the experienced BriUsh Jg pers had no difficulty la foUowlngJ : the course fairly accurately by their i porthole surveys of the stars. They soon decided what the prize commander command-er was about and were not surprised i when the ship hove to for a pilot at the entrance to tho Chesapeake. In the meantime the liner had run up the German naval ensign, which still flies over her stern "to give her status in American waters,' the Gorman Gor-man officials explain. |