Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-01-19
GERMAN WOMEN
PICTURE Flight
FROM TSINGTAU
CONTINUED from page one)

The siege lasted seven days. When
IL commenced We could see the Jap
anese ships ctrcling about outside the
harbor. II took the Japanese long
time TO get the range Of the German
forts. The Germans kept firing at
them and in this way used quite lot
OF ammunition before The siege really
had begun. ...
Many of the reports about the dam
age done in Tsingtau by bursting Jap
anese shells are untrue. The Japan
csc fired very little solid shot. A pc
culiar thing was that most Of the
shrapnelloaded shells refused to ex-
.plode when they struck.
Air Bombs Do Damage.
The greatest amount OF damage,
believe, was done by the Japanese
airships. which flew over the city and
dropped bombs. Many of these ex-
ploded and set fire to the city in sew
eral places.
Sister Elizabeth concluded by say.
ing that the siege of TsIngtau was her
first experience with actual warfare
and admitted that IL was one which
she will long remember. The man.
ner in which she spoke indicated that
she was eager to get to Germany and
resume her work on the battlefront.
Honolulans who have been following
the war reports will remember the ad-
vices received here Of the capture in
the China Sea of the little steamer
Paklat, with 240 German women and
children aboard, by British torpedo
boats. Mrs. Orlob was among the
passengers and the story which she
told the Star-Bulletin centered largely
on the experiences OF the trip.
Mrs. 0rlob said that when the Ger
man officials IN Tsingtau received
the first authentic news of the i'm.
pending japanese siege an order was
issued that all German women and
children leave the city. A "coolie"
steamer, the Paklat, was chartered as
quickly as possible as il was feared
the Japanese would get word of the
departure of the steamer and capture
&C. Women and children numbering
240 we're placed aboard the vessel.
which left the afternoon OF August %.
The officers OF the vessel were in
structed to land the passengers at
Tientsin, neutral port. The vessel
was small and the passengers crowd
cd, but everyone was cheerful and
Tade the best Of their surroundings,
she said.
Captured IN Night.
I'VE left Tsingtau on the afternoon
of the I'D and were captured the
same night at o'clock she con-
tinued. Most Of us were asleep. We
were awakened by the sound OF firing.
Coming on deck we were told that five
English torpedo boats we're after us.
Some more shots were fired and the
vessel stopped. The shots did no dam
age. II was very dark and we could
not see. We had been out of sight of
land for several hours.
Everyone was frightened, as we
thought that the torpedo boats were
Russian or Japanese. But when II
was learned that the boats we're Eng
lish everyone was very much relieved.
Several English officers came on
board and began to search the ship
for contraband. The captain of the
Paklat told them that there was no
contraband aboard-only women and
children. But the search was carried
out. nevertheless. The English Off
GERS then told the captain Of the PAX
lat to put out all lights. They were
afraid of being seen by German cruis-
ers which were known to be in those
waters.
I'VE waited there for some time,
about an hour. think. The English
officers made many trips from the
Paklat to the torpedo boats, confer
ring on each occasion with the cap
tain OF the former vessel Then all
the lights on the Paklat were put out
The torpedo boats took stations on
each side of us and We started to
move ahead slowly. One of the tor
pedo boats, the Kennel, while endeay-
oring to make sharp turn, rammed
the bow Of the Paklat just above the /,
water line. fortunately.
Beat Dirty and Hot. \
Il win have to admit that many of
us were frightened. But when l look
back now, can really see nothing
which we could have been afraid of.
1t was the, condition OF the Paklat
more than ANYTHING else. guess. II
was dirty and close and hot and I !,
don't think there was woman or
child aboard who was not wondering
what was going TO happen next
I'VE moved ahead all night. Early
In the morning We sighted the Eng.
lish cruiser Yarmouth. 1t came along
side the Paklat and sent warrant
officer and 90 bluejackets aboard;
sent them aboard to guard us women
and children.