The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-04-12

he vas kicking the water in our eyes
'Wss Too Good A SPORT
When we boarded him, he received
us with every. courtesy.
q" ! am your prisoner, he said. but
7 told him he was too good a sport
10 make prisoner, I arm going to
let YOU go. captain. I want you to
take care of some OF my prisoners'
we transferred about &o0 men and
women to the Chase Hill and told the
captain 10 put them ashore at the
nearest port. The Chase Hin was n
freighter, but VIC transferred a lot
OF mattresses. quilts and blankets and
made passenger liner out of her.
Then We gave her some provisions
aud coal and told her to go. when
we pulled of from her We saluted the
csptsin and he saluted us in return.
We were glad to get rid of the
four hundred prisoners We had on
board and we felt better for not send
ing the Chase Hill to tho bottom"
An officer wearing the uniform Of a
lieutenant who appeared TO be speak
ing for tho captain, made the follow
ing statement: We took 1853 men and
14S passengers from the French liner
GuadeIoupe. She had small quantity
of provisions on board. The prize
proved costly to us. We had to feed
the people We took off of her and we
already had more than wanted.
ON March "a. We sank the British
steamer Talna bound from Santos to
Havre. She had $4,000 sacks of coffee
on board. We ran up to her off the
Brazilian coast We took off thirty
three officers and men and sank the
ship, We took off as much coffee as
we thought we could use and still have
room on board.
Four days later we Dame upon the
British steamer Coleby, bound from
Rosario to St Nincents with wheat
Captain Cr!eton aud his crew are now
on board
Needed Coal and Water
We were short of provisions before
We captured the Colehy and got only
a scant supply from her. But we could
have remained at sea several weeks
longer without replenishing our food
supply. but we were short on coal and
water and we had TO make for port
From the French liner Gaudeloupe we
took a large quantity of grey cloth.
Our crew needed new clothes and when
we found the cloth Il came in just
handy. We found a number OF men
on the ship who could sew and they
we're all put to work. and the crew
in a few days were all clad in grey
uniforms.
we took a moving picture outfit
from the Highland Brae. but the films
were not entertaining, We managed to
give performance once "a week. which
was added to by songs and musical
selections by our own crew and mem
bers OF crews from other vessels
Captain Thierfeldt was thirty nine
wears old yesterday and il was also the
birthday OF First Surgeon Pernon. We
had banquet on board the Wilhelm
last night with the ship in total dark
ness. We were making twenty four
knots an hour and we were almost In
the midst OF feet of our. enemies
warships. Our wireless operator re-
peated several messages he heard. one
OF which stated that "a British steamer
whose signal letter we did not under
stand had reported US in 81 position
about zoe miles east of where We
were last night We came dangerously
near being captured south by British
warships. We were sighted BY one
and they asked us for our name. Who
re you? they sisnaled. Who are
you" We answered. This is British
warship. What is your name and
where bound We told them We were
a British vessel and bound to Havre.
Fooled the British.
w mad q barge standing by Just
before we were sighted. and we took
this In tow TO throw these warships
off
We figured that the British officers,
If they had any suspicion that we
were German, would let us go when
they saw that we were not trying
to get away and had barge in tow
which, OF course. impeded our prog
gress.
THE warships flashed n signal
proceed and we kept on our way.
When the warships was about four
miles off we lost no time In casting
the barge adrift and put on fun
speed in another direction.
Our trip up the Virginia coast was
full of danger. We Rugged the shore
as close as possible and steered a
westernly course. The enemy's war
ships were steering east. as judged
from the positions we had been ad-
| vissd they occupied, and we came
from an opposite course.
We We're chased for thirty hours
/ by a warship and we started for
New York. We were within a hun
/ dred miles Of that port when we
picked up wireless messages from Brit
ish warships which cause lis to go
| further out TO sea and make this
coast We saw warship off the
capes before dark last night She
iappeared to be paying no attention
to us We were not able TO identify
her"