The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-04-21
STORY OF ROVINGS
OFFICER TELLS OF CRUISE OF
KRONPRINZ WILHELM.
Commerce Raider Stayed Out for 255
Days-Captured Two Guns Of
British Ship

Days-Captured Two Guns Or
British Ship
The second German raider to ar
rive in this country brings as thrill
ing e story as did ner precedessor, the
Eitel Friedrich. Her record Of de-
struction, however, was accomplished
with only four guns, two taken from
the German cruiser Karlsruhe and
two captured from the British meT-
chant steamer Lacorrentina, sunk Oc
tobe Z, 1914. The most connected
story of the voyage from New York,
255 days in all, during which the
ship never touched land, was told by
Over Lieut.. Alb Warneke, the first
officer.
eve left New York August 81
said Lieut.. Warneke. 'Three days
out, off the Bermudas, we met the
German cruiser Karlsruhe. We took
from her two 3-inch guns, which we
mounted. Lieut.. Capt. Thierfelder,
navigating officer of the Karlsruhe,
took command of our ship. We also
took II of the Karlsruhe's junior Of
ficers and men.
eve made for the South Atlantic
and The first ship We encountered was
the British steamer Indian Prince,
which we sunk September 4, 1914. I
want to say that Sir Edward Grey,
the British premier, has been kind to
US and that if Great Britain had been
organized as well as we were to pa
troll 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 Lacor-
rentina on October Z. The Lacorren-
tina could not use her guns because
she didn't have any ammunition. At
ter We took the guns and what Of her
cargo we wanted, we put some bombs
into Eer and down she went. Some
of the merchant ships we sunk with
our own guns, some we blew up with
bombs and in some cases we were
compelled to ram the ships.
eve took on board from enemy
ships during our voyage more than
10000 tons of coal
1--WE made the uniforms for all our
crew from cloth which we captured
from the French steamship Guada-
loupe February %. We wanted dark
blue, but could only find this gray
blue, and so you see we are strange
looking German sailor men to-day.
From the Guadalupe we also got
shoes. leather and thousands of dol
lars worth of things which were on
their way for the French army"
Lieut.. Warneke was asked II the
Kronprinz Wilhelm had not hoped to
get belp from the German steamer
| Odenwald, which was held up by the
United States at San Juan, Porto
Rico, several weeks ago. He made
no direct reply to the question, but
declared that the action on the part
Of the United States in denying clear.
ance to the Odenwald was "the worst
| thing America hod done"
''Why did yea Americans not give
clearance to the Odenwald?" he ask.
ed. eve heard all about it by 'ou1
wireless. We didn't need any news
papers. we had good wireless ap-
paratus aboard all the time. The de,
NAL of clearance to the Cdenwald
was the only bad thing America has
done. You simply held that ship VI
in Porto Rico until the British ships
could come and try to catch up"
Lieut.. Warneke said that most Of
the one thousand sailors and passen'
gers taken from British and other
allied ships were sent from time tc
time by German ships to Beunos
Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambucc
and Santos. Three hundred and sixty
from the French steamer Guadalupe
were sent ashore at Pernambuco.
Several weeks ago, the officer said
the Prinz Wilhelm was getting short
of coal and supplies and some of he1
crew and prisoners were afflicted
with beri-beri, caused by the lack oi
vegetable food. I had hoped to gel
supplies from the German ship Mace
donia, which was reported to have
escaped from Las PalmaS. This yes.
sci, they learned, however, had beer
captured by British ships. This hope
gone, they steamed north and were
in touch with events transpiring re-
garding the Prinz Eitel Friedrich.
It was reported that the Wilhelm's
original destination was. New York
but that warnings were given not tt
attempt to make that port. Although
officers would not admit it, the VIII
helm is declade to have been wait.
ing for out in the ocean of Newport
News until the Eitel Friedrich wa:
interned. As soon as this new!
reached her she was ordered to. creeI
in through the allied ships off the
Virginia coast should they remain
there.
That four allied ships were off the
CapeS was asserted by several of the
Prinz Wilhelm's officers. One Of them
declared they were so close that the
sputtering of the wireless on the Brit
ish and French warships could be
heard. The signals from four Of then
were plainly heard, he declared.
A member Of the crew Of the Prinz
Wilhelm, who formerly was in the
United States navy, declared the ship
| witnessed an encounter between the
Karlsruhe and the British cruiser
Bristol. when off the Bermudas, >
he sad, ''the British cruisers Bris.
tol, Suffolk and Berwick came up and
we were forced to run. While the
! karlsruhe was engaging the Bristo.
we were steaming straight away.
eve never heard from the Karls,
| ruhe after that, except once. Our
last message from her told US that
the Bristol had been damaged and
was making for some port for re-
pairs. The message said the Karls-
ruhs bad been only slightly damaged
and that no one had been killed.
"O1 November 21, we sank the
French steamer Anne de Bretagne
On December u, just as our coal sup
ply again was running short, we took
possession of the British steamer
Bellevue, with 1000 tons of COAL
Our next prize was the French steam