The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-03-10
trrom wednesday Adver.isst)

Ishnb-noeed, black, turret -deeke,I vessel.
bearing eth the marks Of German shell.
ere, flying the American Dag and hay.
ing on her bow in great white letters
the name Republic. 49, =
She was once the German steamer
Walkure, captured by the French at the
beginning Of the war and taken 70
Papeete, Tahiti, target for German
gihnb, when Won Snee ssPacihc squadron
bombarded the French port late In
1914, and scuttled by the French, her
seaeocks being opeiiesl sold last yaaf
to John A. Hopper Of San Ffancihco and
raised by Capt. l.. Curtis, who sbroapht
her into this port. F4 Pa lIst g1Es
Romance and dollars, dollars and rom.
ance, 20 hand In hand here, as thsy
sometimes do. For Il ,is reported from
San Fra cisco that the Walkure was
sold TO Hopper for 5000 by The
French government rs she lay in eiev.
en- fathoms Of water at Papeete and
that the expense Of raising her was not
more thHn 100000. .. :
nov worth HALF q MILLION
Az today's war prices, sne Is worth
half q million II she Il worth cent. ".
The Walkhre has 500 tons of copra
and shells AMI about 1000 tons of phos.
phafe rock, the latter having been in
her holds when she was sunk. This NAV
be- discharged here for the Pacific CIiI-
ano and Fertilizer. Company. > Captain
Curtis asked San. Francisco for instruc,
tions yesterday afternoon, The vessel
will take bunker coal and will be here
until Thursday or Friday at least. =
When the war broke out the walkuke
was captured by the. little French gun.
boat Zelee. Inasmuch as the Zeiee took
TO Tahiti first news of the beginning
Of hostilities, the walkure really didn I
have q great opportunity 20 escape.
MepbeTs. Of her crew were held prison.
ers. Seven Of them arrived here Sen.
tember 20, 1914, in the bafkentine 8. N.
Castle with other Germans deported
from Tahiti. e. .E-..,7. ~
I. SO the Walkure and the Zelee LAY
In the habor at Papeete when the Ger
man cruisers Schafnhorst and Gneise,
nau arrived to bombard the city.
Several Shells Struck vessel as, 4
Ned Wilder, who was at Papeete ct
that time, was about the Republic yes
terdays talking Tahiti Polynesian TO
some Of the Society Islanders OF the
crew. he said that stbel French at,
tempted ito. block the harbori channel
with the captured, German vessel and
that the Zelee lay between her and
the FIRE Of the German criiissfs. She
suffered, at any rates Several shells
struck \ her. One tore through the
stern, from port to starboard, as she
lay: port side to the warships, doing
the greatest, damage, and others struck
her hull and snperstructur The Be-
lee broke in two amidships and sunk,
! y NM asif sid sheIlS hid stffacit tts
Walkure above the waterline, and she
would have remained afoAt had not
her sea cocks been, opened. The
French ,scuttled her to ,pfeyaht the
Germans from getting 1000 or 1900
tons OF coal In her, bunkerss Even
with her sea.eocks open she remained
ahoat for about ten days, Wilder con.
tinued, and she was drawn, into sRal.
lower water, where she finally went
down in some eleven fathoms, Can
tain Curtis said, the stern being, sub.
merged more deeply, as there was thif.
~ feet of water above her. main deck
aft, but only eight feet or 80 above
her fo-eastie deck. Of, %gt'%
Was Submerged One Year ~ q
Only the flying bridge of the super,
structure remained above water. On
the doors of the officers cabins,t when
she arrived here, was the mark where
the water.line had been.
g., Thus she lay for year, until the
French took IL into their minds to sell
ha Fl ahN 4.
q January issue of the Saturday Even
ing Post Peter b. Kyne wove the
Walkure into Cappy Kicks story,
which may have told the inside" Of
her sale 4
Captain Curtis, formerly master Of
the oil tanker Santa Maria and son of
Capt. EbeR Curtis Of the ship 3Tillie
y. Starbuck, fanioassoll craft of.thS
Planters line, was surveyor for the
San Francisco board of marine under.
writers. He was given leave OF &b.
sence by his employers ana ssiled, IN
charge Of a salvage crew, I'M the steam:
or Chehalis from San Francisco. t'f3
The ChehaEs arrived at Rapeefet
November 8; the WallSuTe. was afoat
January 4. Two hundred and nifty,
thousand feet Of lumber had been
taken by the Chehalis TO be nsed In
making q eoffer.dam. In the crew
there were about twenty men, .inelud-
ing four engineers, four divers. ten.
ders, a carpenter blacksmith and
Others. 80
SalytnG Was Notable Job
Four temporary patches were put on
the hull and the Walkure was hoatsd.
Captain Curtis was modest about the
work, but it was a notable job, and
he was congratulated by his old ac-
quaintances at the office of the B. f.
Dillingham; Company, his agents, yes
terday afternoon,
On January 90 the Chehalis sailed
from Papeete for San Francisco, and
the Walkure sailed for Honolulu Feb
ruary Is. First reports from San Fran.
cisco said she would come here; these
were succeeded by uncertainty here,
and finally it was stated in San Fran.
cisco that she had sailed for that port
direct, 80 she was not expected here.
Her engines are in fine shape, due
to the foresight that coated them with
grease when she was facing long idle
ness at Papeete after being captured.
Her boilers suffered more, and they
NM -