The Republican journal., 1916-04-06

s5,t Of the fourteen months she was
anier water, "
F-om The Pacific Commercial Adver-
.ssr March s, 1916:
Romance out of the South Sea came
,-a Honolulu harbor yesterday morning
~ he "orm of a snub nosed, black, tur-
r.f-sscsad vessel, bearing still the marks
nj German shell-fire, flying the Ameri-
e,r flag ard having on her bow in great
vrsz tiers the name Republic.
She was once the German steamer
Wskre captured by the French at the
Isgruing of the war and taken to Pa
pF-,t. Tahiti; target for German guns,
Qse- Won Specs Pacific squadron bonn
tsrit the French port late in 1914, and
ssotI4d by the French, her seacocks be-
Iyc opened; sold slast year to John A.
g1puer Of San Francisco and raised by
Cgpt l., Curtis, who brought her into
this port.
Romance and dollars, dollars and ro-
nance. go hand in hand here, as they
sometimes do. For it is reported from
San francisco that the Walkure was
sold to Hopper for $685. by the French
government as she lay in eleven fathoms
= water at Papeete and that the ex-
usrse of raising her was not more than
Sla0l0.
Now Worth Half a Million.
II today's war prices, she is worth
half million If she Is worth cent.
TIE Walkure has 800 tons of copra
AMI SHELLS and about 1000 tons of phos-
prate rock, the latter having been in her
H., L
s.sctarged here for the Pacific Guano
sal Fertilizer Company. Captain Cur
tie asked San Francisco for instructions
Yesterday afternoon The vessel will
TAKE bunker coal and will be here until
Thursday or Friday al least.
Wu=u the war broke out the Walkure
1ss captured by the little French gun
t1a Z-lee. Inasmuch as the Zelee took
Il Tahiti the first news of the beginning
Of osJ'jties, the Walkure really didn't
hal q great opportunity to escape.
Members of her crew were held prison
-r seven of them arrived here Sep
..mlr %, 1914, IN the harkentlne, S.
N Castle with other Germans deported
IRON iahiti.
So th= Walkure and Zelee lay in the
rarbol at Papeete when the German
CRUISERS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ar
rived 10 lombard the city.
several Shells Struck Vessel.
Il time, was about the Republic yes
-Hta., talking Tahiti Polynesian to
s'E- of the Society islanders of the
.G-E He said that the French attempt
r lock the harbor channel with the
II Al.
I. ay between her and the fire of the
larIan cruisers. She suffered, at any
rate Several shells struck her. One
,re through the stern, from port to
srooard, as she lay port side to the
Tarsmps, doing the greatest damage,
ami others struck her hull and super
structure. The Zelee broke in two amid
SHIPS and sunk, Wider said.
But all the shells had struck the Walk
uTe above the Waterline, and she would
have remained afioat had not her sea-
cocks been opened. The French scuttled
her to prevent the Germans from get
ting 1000 or 1900 tons of coal in her
b1nkers. Even with her seacocks open
she remained ahoat for about ten days,
Wider continued, and she was drawn
INTO shallower water, where she finally
went DOWN IN some eleven fathOmS,
Captain Curtis said, the stern being sub
merged more deeply, as there was thir-
ty feet of water above her main deck
ait, but only eight feet or so above her
tocastle deck.
Was Submerged One Year.
Only the flying bridge of the super
structure remained above the water. On
The doors of the officers cabins, when
she arrived here, was the mark where
the w terline had been.
Thus she lay for a year, until the
French took it into their minds to sell
her. She went for about $29, 900. In a
January issue of the Saturday Evening
Post Peter B. Kyne wove the Walkure
INTO Cappy Kicks story, which may
nave told the ''inside" of her sale.
Captain Curtis, formerly master of the
Of tanker Santa Maria and son of Capt
Eben Curtis of the ship Tillie E. Star
buck, famous old craft of the Planters
Inc, was surveyor for the San Francisco
board of marine underwriters. He was
gwen leave of absence by his employers