Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-03-16
DRESDEN IS SUNK
NEAR ''RODINSON
CRUSOE" ISLAND
German Cruiser Hunted Out Of Hid.
ing in Waters of the South and
Sent to Bottom by Brit
ish Fleet.
SHIP HAUIs DOWN ITS ooIoRs
Scene of Battle Off Juan Fernandez
Isle, About Four Hundred Miles
from Mainland.
TWO RAIDERS LEFT ON SEA

LONDON. March 15.-The Brit
ish admiralty announced \ tonight
that 4 the German cruiser Dresden
had been sunk.
The sinking of the Dresden was
announced by the admiralty tonight
in the following statement:
''On March IA, at 9 a. M, His Ma
iesty's Ship Glasgow, Captain John
Luce, r. N; His Majesty's auxiliary
cruiser Drama, Captain John R, Sc
grave, r. N, and His Majesty's Ship
Kent, Captain John d. Allen. c. b.,
r. N, caught the Dresden near Juan
Fernandez Island.
Haulu Down COlors.
IAN action ensued and after five
minutes fighting the Dresden hauled
down its colors and displayed the white
flag. IT was much damaged and set on
fire, and after 1t had been burning for
some time it's magazine exploded and it
sank.
THE crew was saved. Fourteen badly
wounded Germans are being landed at
Valparaiso.
There were no British casualties ana
no damage to the ships"
TWO Raiders Left.
The sinking Of the Dresden leaves at
large on the high seas, 80 far as Is
known, only two German war vessels-the
cruiser Karlsruhe. last reported as oper-
ating in the West indies, and the auxil-
iary cruiser. KronprinE Wilhelm. which is
still raiding commerce in the south At
lanic
The Dresden was a member Of the
German squadron which was defeated
by the British off the Falkland islands
in December. 1t was the only one OF five
German warships to escape. The Dres-
den was said to have fled 10 the west
ward. but there had been no reports of
its whereabouts since that time
Hiding I'm Bay.
1t was reported unofficialiy to have
been seen in the Straits Of Magellan and
later to be in hiding in one OF the bays
on the Chilean coast.
The Dresden was Q sister ship at ths
famo,S Einden. which was sunk IN the
Indian ocean.
Juan Fernandez island, near which the
Dresden was finally finally run down, is
"a Chilean dependency in, the Pacific
ocean. about 100 miles off the mainland,
The solitary residence on Juan Fer
nandez island for four years of a SCOTCH
man named Alexander Selkirk is sup
posed TO have formed the basis OF De
Foes tale Robinson Crusoe."
Carried Huerta.
At the outbreak Of the war the Dresden
was assigned to the West Indies station
tilities IL took Victorlano Huerta, who had
resigned as provisional president of Mex
leo. from Puerto Mexico to Jamaica.
Little was heard Of it until the battle
off the Falkland islands. Late in August
it sank the British steamer Hyades off
the coast of Brazil.
The Dresden, vessel of $500 tons. was
no match for the battle cruiser in the
fleet of Vice Admiral Sir Frederick
Sturdee in the battle off the Falkland
islands and after the destruction of the
Scharnhorst, Gneisenau. Leipsig and
Nurnberg, IT steamed away and escaped
its pdrsuers in the darkness. Since that
time both British and Japanese warships
have searched persistently1 but for more
than three months the cruiser eluded
pursuit,
The dresden armament was compare
lively Aght- 1t carried io4-inch guns,
eight five FOUNDERS, four machine guns
and two torpedo tubes. II was s95 feet
long. Its complement was 32i men.