Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-03-24

Mystery or OVerdue vessels winch rac
Not Been Heard From Cleared by Re-
ports That the German Raider Had
Sunk Them-Had Been at Sea For
Several Months.
The return of the German raider
Moewe, which arrived at Wilhelms-
haven the other day with prisoners and
loot from fifteen vessels of the enemy,
all taken within a few months, is re-
garded by shipping men of this
try as the most spectacular marine feat
of the war.
The fact that the Moewe got back to
Germany while British cruisers were
searching for her over the seven seas
and lying in wait for just such a sneak
home adventure as she accomplished
puts her achievement In the first rank,
they say-a little better than the long
months of successful raiding done by
the Emden, the Prinz Ethel Friedrich,
the Kronprinz Wilhelm and the dar-
ing voyage of the seized Appam from
the African coast to Newport News.
The work of these lone commerce pi-
rates, roaming the seas, protected by
nothing except IA few guns and eyading
capture through the wits of a naval
genius in command, is not regarded as
wonderful by the officers and members
of their crews. Captain Thierichens,
master of the interned Prince Eitel, in
formed a reporter soon after he reach
ed Newport News that it wasn't hard
to catch merchantmen and keep away
from British cruisers.
Sea Is a Big Place.
"The sea is Il mighty big place." the
captain said, land a handful of war
vessels can't be everywhere. All you've
got to dc is to send no wireless, listen
to the enemy's ships talking and go
where they are not
Passengers who anne in ON the cap
tured steamship Appam declared that
the Moewe was nothing more than the
fruiter Ponga, a small craft, with spe-
cially constructed sides to conceal her
guns. German sailors on the Appam
told them, several said, that she was
n of nine vessels of this type that
were made over at Kiel and that one
other got away with her on Jan. 1,
1916.
If the German official report Is cor
rect the little raider made a cleanup OF
fifteen vessels averaging $500 tons.
The return of the Moewe recalls a
similar feat of the prize crew from the
German cruiser Karlsruhe which was
put on board the Lamport & Holt liner
Vandyke, the first big merchant prize
of the var taken in the south Atlantic.
The vessel was too costly to destroy
if she could be taken to Bremerhaven,
and the German crew took her there.
Information reached the local agents
of the line that the Vandyke just as
she was when captured was taken up
the English channel flying the British
flag and safely berthed in Bremerha-
ven. No once, it is said, was she halt
ed by the fleet of British patrol vessels
through which she passed.
Sheds Light on Lost Ships.
The return of the Moewe has shed
some light on the fate of the Saxon
Prince, a sister ship of the Indian
Prince. which was sunk a year G off
Brazil by the Karlsruhe. The Saxon
Prince, out of Norfolk on Feb. u for
Manchester, was due at the latter port
about Feb. 81. She had not been heard
from, and, although a few days over
due, was not regarded by her owners
as lost. She probably was Oyerhauled
by the Moewe as the latter was steam
ing we'll off the French coast on her
return to Germany. 1t probably was
in the same waters and about the same
time that the Moewe got within firing
range of the French freighter Maroni,
bound for Bordeaux on Feb. 10 from
New York.
Yankee steamship men regard the re-
port from Berlin as true, but marvel at
the ability of the little fruiter to get
through the fairway of the English
channel.
Nothing was known of the Moewe
until the captured British steamship
Appam came into Newport News in
charge of a prize crew. She was re-
ported several times as having been
seen off the Brazilian coast, but the
reports were speculative.
The Moewe's exploits again came to
public notice in the latter part of Feb
ruary, when the British steamship
Westburne put into the Canary islands
to discharge prisoners taken by the
Moewe. The Westburne's captiyes re-
ported that the Moewe had captured
and destroyed five steamships off the
Brazilian coast and parted company
with their vessel OF Feb. 8.
Count von Donna, commander of the
Moewe, is of the Silesian branch of the
family headed by Prince Richard Won
Donna. He was in command of the
gunboat Using Tau in the early part of
the war.