The Hartford republican., 1915-02-12
SIDEL|GHTS ON
EUROPEAN WAR
How Australian Troop
Ships Escaped Emden.
Sea Raider Menaced Long Line
OF Transfer Moving
Over Ocean.

changed their daSnluS careers vi sea
rovers for the M ,notonous existence
@. prisoners of war, but the story oi
ire rmden raider will never loss IN
tcr,st.
Soesking in the Australian parli-
am,nt not long ago Senator Pearce,
the Minister for Dcfense, salt tha,
when the EmdeE was sunk 81 Cocos
She vas within 100 miles of the
transports which were conveying "0,-
600 Australian solGicrs now IN Egypt
on their journey frHn Australia 70
Colombo and therce TO Alden and the
Red Sea.
There was thus ne said, doabie
reason for cor graz ulation that one
.f the warships of the Australian
navy mad accO"HttI tor the German
vessel at a time when, had ths enc
nly's ship got as0lg the troop ships.
as doubtless Was the intent ol her
commanded, toe result would Fave
been difficult 10 contemplate. In
dr2 Wer to a question Senator pcarcc
SAID that the Sy'irey was on con-
vCy duty at tho { me. so ste mSst
have been detached from it to attack
the Emden.
II is also known now to all here
that some of the conveying vessels
were japanese, for the newspapers
say that the Japanese men-o'-wars-
men, who came up after the fight
at Cocos. expressed regret that they
had not had hand in the engage
ment
The voyage Of the Australian
iloop-ships was one Of the great fea-
Jwes OF the war, though it has not
attracted much attention. The
Southern Cross has seen strange
sights but none more impressive
than .his long un- OF troop-ships fol-
lowing one another steadily across
the ocean with its convoy Of battle
ships, like a vast regatta at sea.
The rendezvous OF the transports
was Albany, West Australia. There
tho ships gathered from Brisbane,
Melborne, Sydney, Adelaide and Ere
mantle and from New Zealand ports.
On November i the troopships weigh
ed anchor and slipped out of the in
ner barbor at Albany. \. B. Patter-
son, known from one end OF the Com
monwealth to the other as a poet and
short-story writer, thus gives the
picture:
The New Zealand transports. all
painted the same grayish-black color.
with black tunnels, are still at their
anchorage as we steam past, and
they give Ms Honi Hela's old (MaorD
war cry: AXE, AXE, AXE. Kia Kaha'
We will fight on forever and ev-
er.' Past the frowning cliffs and
the lighthouse We draw out to the
sunlit sea, our division following in
beautiful order. each ship swing
ing gracefully round into line as we
set our course for the Leeuwin CCape
Leeuwin) and draw slowly up along
side the other two lines.
Thirty thousand fighting men,
representing Australia, are under
way Tor the great war"
On the fight across the ocean the
writer says
From the leading ship OF our line
We saw great string of ships steam |
ing along in our rear, the one Just
behind us always keeping her dis !
tance. the white foam always at her
bows, her great frame lifting and |
sinking rythmically to the swell
Day and night she is always
there, just behind us, until the pur-
suit bcomes a sort of haunting
thing. One looks aft sometimes to
see II any chance she may have re-
Taxed her pursuit for an instant. but !
the great bow and the towering deck
houses and bridge are always there
Just behind us; and behind her al
ways trails the long line of ships.
The only change is when a vessel
gong trife too fast finds herself
closing on the one in front of her and
falls out of line and makes a slight
detour so as to losse a little dis
tanee without slowing her engines.
Sometimes there are two or three
vessels out of line at once, and il
is a positive relief after the long
grim line of vessels.
1T is a great experience for the
merchant captains, this navigating in
line by day and night. Men-o'-war
navigators are trained to il all I
through their career. and rush
through maneuyers at full speed |
with only a couple OF cables lengths /
between the vessels, but the captain q
Of gigantic merchantmen has no 1
practice at playing tricks with his
vessel and the further away he can