The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1917, 1915-03-16
CAPTAIN MAKES
A STATEMENT

port until the end or The European
war;
This declaration was made tonight
to a representative Of the Associated
Press by Captain ii. II. kjehnc. mas
ter of the American sailing ship Will
liam =. Frye. which the German
raider destroyed in tile South Al
lantic ocean January 2S last.
Captain Kjehne had just conclud-
ed his; arduous work here since land
inr on American soil 10 tell the story
of his VESSELS fate to the world last
Wednesday. llc had badc farewell 20
Commander Thicr:cheDs. Of the Ger
man cruiser. had paid of his crew
and WAS leaving fOr Washington to
reveal the details Of his ships de-.
struution directly TO heads Of the
government.
Why do you make such positive
statement" the American captain
was asked.
Notwithstanding this the cOmman-
der of the Ethel Friedrich tonight
rei;era,e ell his insisting that II is his
purpose to leave American waters AS
soon as possible
Regarding the reasons for the sink
ing by the German cruiser of the
American ship Frye. il was reported
tonight thar officers OF the convert
ad cruiser reached Il decision after
finding in the Frye's papers record
thar the ship with It's cargo of wheat
was bound for Queenstown. Fai-
mouth or Plymouth for orders" Tn
der the British proclamation on con-
,raband. 1t was pointed out, that
fDodstulfs were classed as condition
al cOntraband If consigned to for
titled port.
Ships Tactics Changed.
Captain Kjehne also threw addi-
tional light tonight Oh the coming Of
the. Ethel friedrich to this Ameri-
can port and insisted that the Ger
man commander did not choose New
port News hazardly as a port of snfe-
~.
after February 90" said the cap
tain. "the Germans entirely changed
their tactics. Up to that time, when
eTer smoke simudge was sighted.
therr was cry of alarm. alarm
Every man was ordered to the guns
and the ship sailed straight for tie
smoke. After the sinking of the
Willerfy. there WAS change.
From then on the Friedrich ran
from everything. On this last three
| nights | knew that the officers were
getting the wireless from British
cruisers. On the last two nights be-
fore passing into the Virginia capes
the order TO TIE crew was. Every
body TO the guns; nobody to sleep
On the last night two OF the British
cruisers were within zen aiiles Of u.s."
Captain kjelne said that several
of the German officers asked him 10
or II days ago il he l:new where they
were going TO land.
II told them | knew they were 60
ing to Newport News. where they
could find good shipyard," said
Kiehnc ii,
"They they asked ME what con-
sidercd the best course to follow To
escape detention. told them to hang
to the longitude right up and then
10 strike due westerly into the coast.
That IS exactly what they did"
! Some Refuse Pay.
Two of Captain kychnc's crew re-
fused to accept payment today be-
cause OF decision based on statutory
law, tha, they we're entitled TO wages
only until January 2S, the day tbs
Frye was sunk. All other members
Of the crew accepted payment under
protest and urged that the German
go.crnment should pay them for AZ
lays spent Oil board the raider.
But despite their. shortage of pay.
the crew of the Frye tonight de-
monstrated their reciprocity by
sending with their compliments Ia
the German cruiser eight kegs of
beer for the crew and cigdrs for
the officers mess
hoard InsDects Vessel.
Late to-day IL naval board of
Read Admiral Deattle. headed by
Naval Constructor DuBose. inspected
the Eitel Friedrich They came to the
shipyard from Norfolk. Under regu-
lations which require that all war
Ships coming into American ports
be examined. they made survey of
the ship. Naval Constructor DuBose
would not discuss his report which
VIII be forwarded to Washington at
once for information In guiding Off
Gals with reference to the request
of the Friedrich's request for time
TO repair his vessel Other members
of the board were Lieutenant Com
mander Norris and Lieutenant AL
len.
Following this Inspections the Eitel
Friedrich. having been scraped and
painted below the water line, 1t was
announced that she would withdraw
from dry dock tomorrow morning and
move In the shipyard piers to await
Information from Washington as 10
the request for repairs.
| Collector of Customs Hamilton To-