The Washington times., 1915-03-12

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. March IL
Like a battered leviathan cast from the
waters on an ellen beach. the Prins
E,itel Friedrich, so lately the terror OF
shipping in the south Atlantic. lies this
morning above the reach of wave ana
tide i'm a dry dock just below the city.
Her barnacled strakes show In all
their nakedness the manner in when
the sea has had its way of her. Yet even
trussed UP so that her defects may be
repaired, the German converted auxii-
larry still presents the greatest anomaly
in the way OF seacraft which has Visi'eo
this port in many years.
Great five and six-masted schooners
lie along the water front side by side
with those veterans of shipping now al
most extinct, the squarc-rlgged ship. a
whaleback cargo boat ungainly anu
strange, which lies stranded below her.
Yet all these strange craft and their
sister ships belong TO some one class
and rig, while the Prince Eitel Friedrich
belongs exclusively to no particular
category.
Bludgeon Behind Skirts.
The sailormen look at her and snake
their heads, as IL the sight of the guns
peeping out above her hull, which is In
mistakably that of a passenger boat, af'
fccts them In the same way the sight OF
a placid faced old lady hiding bludg.
con behind her skirts might appeal to
them. H. Date.
Eitel cease with her lines and her arm
ament. Aboard her crop out IN IN,
most oddly assorted ships compan!
ever assembled within one hull sine
the ravaging days of priVateersmel
and bearers Of letters OF marque AM
reprisal
He commanded the Prinz Eitel in tn
days when she was less sangulnar.
and more addicted to plowing the
sedate sea lanes of ans-Pacifc pas
senser traffic and he looks Isol,,s MS par, par,
whose present uniform in which sol'
lace predominates. sets but Ill upon hi
, slightly stopped shoulders.
His Labor of Love.
When the newspapermen, who wer
the first to arrive on the scene afte
the converted auxiliary dropped he
mudhooks out at Newport News, board
cd the German. and asked for "a
odessy Of the cruise of the raider" the
were turned over 10 tHo SeSoiu SNP
tain. Ponderously he recites the ex
ploits of the staid old liner. who in he
age has been sent to the seas Of wal
He told Of the prizes she had take
and spoke Of dynamite bomb and fam
ing torch in the most casual of tones.
He recounted the last plunge of tn
stricken prizes with tho same manne
he has probably used in the past year
! in reprimanding recalcitrant steward
and when 1t was all over. he rose. an
left the disappointed scribes, to call 70
| a glass Of water He stood pensivel
and poured 1t upon q few sick lookin
geraniums and as he performed his la
Dor Of love, the only note of enthusiasm
manifest in the entire interview crep
into his voice:
II brought them all the way fror
Easter Island" he said.
There is chow dog aboard th'
Prinz Eitel. He came from Using TIA
at the time the auxiliary was pursuin
| her peaceful calling. Normally. per
| haps, a chow dog might have nothin
in common with big gray ape, bu
| apparently. having imbibed some @
the anomalous atmosphere which pre-
| walls aboard the craft, these two hav
become fast friends, and have admitte
| into their circle a dog of less aureat
| origin than this Celestial dogship.
| They are the mascots of the tripl
crew of the vessel. an institution whic