OCR Text |
Show RAIDER COMES INTO DARDOR I Kronprinz Wilhelm at Newport New-port News After Escaping Many Warships. Newport News. Va . April 11 The German converted cruiser Kronprin. : Wilhelm, the elusive raider of com 1 merce in the South Atlantic, slipped jlnto this port today and asked for fuel und provisions. Many times reported report-ed destroyed, the former North Ger-man-Lloyd liner had evaded hostile warships for eight months while she sent fourteen merchantmen to the bot-itom. bot-itom. Her officers said she was forced forc-ed to steal her way past four allied cruisers off the Virginia Capes to reach this refuge. ' We got In without being seen by the enemy and we can get out the same way.' declared her commander, I Lieutenant Colopel Paul Thierfelder. I formerh navigating officer of the I German miser Karlsruhe, in a state-Irnem state-Irnem tonight. Norman K Hamilton collector of customs, reached Newport News from Norfolk early in the flaj nftc, the I wilhelm had anchored in the James river In almost the same place taken bj the Prinz Bite when she reached here March I" The collector went aboard. Instructing the commander he must leave port within 1 w entv-four hours unless he needed coal and provisions pro-visions and time to make repairs The German commander i ame ashore with tbe collector and asked for 3t0 tons of coal and supplies for three days. Collector Hamilton, aft er consulting Washington, allowed him 150 tons and provisions for three days. What repairs are necessary the German commander was unable to determine and the United States naval na-val board will be asked to make an i xamlnatlon. When Collector Hamilton took i ommander Thierfelder back to bin ship there stood on the Wilbelm's deck Commander Thicrii hens and his xtaff of the Interned Trinz Bite Fried- j erich. As Commander Thierfelder reached the deck, the two embraced and retired for a consultation Does Not Salute. When the German raider wns re le:qri frnm ruiarantinp anH nncneil on to this port, she steamed past sixteen six-teen American battleships In Hampton Hamp-ton Roads. The Wilhelm. however, neimer saluted nor dipped her flaj;. a fact which aroused considerable (oinment among the American sailors. sail-ors. Of the fourteen ships that Hie 000;ton cruiser sank nine were British, Brit-ish, four French and one Norwegian. The value of these ships and their cargoes, officers of the Wilhelm tonight to-night estimated at $70,000,000 When the Kron Prinz arrived off Thimble shoaJs after passing in the Yirginta Tapes early today, two United States submarines convoyed the German raider to quarantine Commander Thierfelder reported sixty-six of the crew and prisoners were ill with beri ben and requested that they be taken to a hospital. In her raid of the seas since she slipped out of Ncyv York liarbor August Aug-ust 8 last yeai as a German mcrchani and passenger steamer the Kron Prinz Wilhelm never touched land and took f60 prisoners from various vessels destroed Most of these were sent to South American points at different times in German ships, which met the raider In response to wireless calls. The sixty-one now on board, who will be landed here tomorrow, are British sailors from the steamBhlps Tamar. destroyed March 15. and Coleby, destroyed de-stroyed March 27 last. Brings Thrilling Story. The second of the raiders brought as tbrillinK a ston as did the Eltel Friedrich Her record of destruction, destruc-tion, however, was accomplished with only four guns, two taken from the German cruiser Karlsruhe and two captured later from the British mer chant steamer La Correntlna. sunk October 7 The most connected story of the long vovage from New York 25." das in all was told by Lieutenant Albe Warenke. who left New York harbor with the ship: "We left New York August H and put out into the great, big ocean," said Lieutenant Warncke "We were not a warshlo then, but three days out, off tbe Bermudas, we met the German cruiser Karlsruhe We took from her two 3-inch guns, which we mounted on the bow of the ship and took Lieut Capt Thierfelder her navigating navi-gating officer, to command our ship. We also took seventeen of the Karlsruhe's Karls-ruhe's junior officers and men "We made for the South Atlantic and the first ship we encountered was the British ship Indian Prince which we sank September 4. 1914 From that time on we remained on the ocean, destroying the enemy where we might find her. Capture Two More Guns. "I want to sa that if Great Britain Brit-ain had been organized as well as we were to patrol the South Atlantic we never could have remained alive these many months. Sir Edward Grey sent us those two big guns on our after deck He sent them to us on the British La Correntlna on October 7. When we got those four Inch guns we felt pretty safe "La Correntlna couldn't use her guns because she did not have any ammunition We dldn t. give her bat-: bat-: tlo because she was helpless, but after we took her guns and what of her j cargo we wanted, we put some bombs into her and down sbe went We imade ammunition for her guns on I board ship Some of the merchant j ships we sank with our own guns, some we blew up with bombs and in some cases we were compelled to ram the ships also i "Sir Edward Grey was also kind to us In sending us coal, for we took I on board from enemy ships during I our voyage more than 20 000 tons "We were a peeuliar looking crowd until France came to our rescue with (the uuiforms Wfl wear We made I Uniforms for all our merchant crev. from cloth captured from the Trench steamship Guadeloupe February From the Guadeloupe we also got shoes, leather and thousands of dol laiV worth of things which were on their way for the French army. I tell you the sinking of the Guadeloupe Was a bad stroke for the French, Lieutenant Warneke was asked It the Kron Prinz Wilhelm had not hoped to get help from the German steamer JOdenwald, held up by the United States at San luan, Porto Rico, several weeks aeo He made no direct roply, but declared the action on the part i of tbe Fnlted States in denying clearance clear-ance to the Odenwald was "the worst j thine America had done." "Why did you Americans not give clearance to the Odenwald?" be asked. "We heard all about It by our wireless. wire-less. We didn't need any newspapers. We bad good wireless apparatus aboard all the time and Sir Edward Grey klndlv sent ns several new sets when we needed them The denial of clearance to the Odenwald was the only bad (bins America has done" Ran Short of Supplies. Several weeks ago, the officer said, the Prinz Wilhelm was getting short of coal and supplies and Bome of ber crew and prisoners were afflicted with beri berl, caused by lack of vegetable food. Tbe Germans had hoped to get supplies from the German ship Macedonia, Mace-donia, which was reported to have escaped from Las Palmas several weeks ago This vessel they learned, however, had Keen captured by British vessels This hope cone, they steamed north through the middle of tbe Atlantic At-lantic and were in touch with events transpiring regardless the Prinz Eitel It was repurte,) tonijrht that the cruiser'H original destination was New York but the warning! were eiven not to attempt to make that port Althonsm officers would not admit It, the Wilhelm Wil-helm Is declared to have been waiting far out in the ocean off this port un til tbe Eltel was interned So soon as the news reached her she was ordered to creep throuch the allied ships off the Virginia coast, should they re-mo re-mo in there That four were off the canes last night was nsserted by several of the Prinz v llhelm's officers. One of them declaird they were so close that the sputtering of the wireless on the Rrit-ish Rrit-ish and French warships could be heard about 3 o'clock this mornlnc Describes Fight. A member of the crew of the Prin?: Wilhelm, who was formerly in the United States navy, declared the crew witnessed an encounter between the Karlsruhe and the .British cruiser Bristol "Off the Bermudas." he said, "the British cruisers Bristol. Suffolk and Berwick came un and we were forced to run. While the Karlsruhe was engaging en-gaging the Bristol we were teaming straight away We madr twenty-six knot In that flight and we never heard from the Karlsruhe after that except once "Our last meSBSge from her told ns that the Bristol bad been damaged and was making for some port for repairs, and that the Karlsruhe had been only slightly aamageo a net no one nad been killed. We then began our cruise as a warship First we ;ot the Indian Prince and then the Ia Correntlna We did not take another prize until November 11, when we overhauled the coal-laden French bark Fnion. "On November 21 we captured and sank the French steamer nne De Breiagnc Captured British Coal "On December 12, just as our coal supply again was running short we captured the British steamer Belle ue, w hich had about 4000 tons of coal Our next prize was the French steamer Mont Angel On December 2R we overhauled the British steamer Hemisphere and from her secure. i '!00o tons of coal '1 his enabled us to proceed without any fear of run ning short of fuel Our next capture was the British Steamer Potaro, which we sent down January 10. On January 14 we came upon the British steamer Highland Brae We took stores from her, trans ferred the rew and passengers to the Wilhelm and sent the steamer to the bottom. On the same day we overhauled the British sailing ship Wilfred M She was loaded with fish and potatoes "The Norwegian sailing ship Semantha, the only neutral ship we sank on our long voyage, was overhauled over-hauled February 8. Tins ship, we were told, had on board a cargo of wheat consigned to the British army and navy and we sent her down because be-cause she was carrying contraband Of war. On February 22. we captured the British freight steamer Chasehill and after taking coal and provisions! from her, we put our four or five hun ! dred prisoners aboard and told her! captain to take them to the nearest port. "While we were transferring coal to the Wilhelm the French passenger Steamer Guadeloupe with a crew of 155 men and officers and 143 passen gers, came up and wo took her in charge. The prisoners were also placed aboard the Chasehill and after taking what we wanted from the Frenchman, we sent her down by opening ner seacocus. "We did not sight any more ship? until March 24, when the Roval Mail line steamer Tamar was overhauled off the Brazilian coast Four days later we captured the British steamer steam-er Coleby from Rosario for St. Ylu-c Ylu-c c uts, w ith wheat " Dash Into the Roads. Describing the dash of the Prinz Wilhelm into Hampton Roads, tho narrator said ' After we arrived off the irginia Capes, a little to the north. I think, we turned due west and put on all possible steam We started about 7 o'clock Saturday evening. From that time until 4 o'clock this morning we ploughed the sea at a rate variously estimated from twenty -three to twen tv five knots. All lights were out and it was an anxious time for us ll hands were on dock and the crew at the gun We bad heard of the internment in-ternment of the Prinz Eitel and we judged that the enemy ships off the capes might not be so vigilant In fact we heard that some of the ships had steamed south but as we got nearer the wireless told us that they were still in the vicinity." Lieutenant Thiericlder said tonight he hoped to be able to leave port, but the general belief here is that tbe Kron Prinz Wilhelm will intern. |