Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-11
RAIDER GROUNDS
AFTER LONG RUN
Seeadler. British Prize, Captured
by Hun and Manned as
Norwegian.
CAPTAIN SMITH TELLS STORY
Piled Up on Shore of Pacific
Island and Deserted-Pris-
oners Abandoned.

full story of The cruise OF the German
commerce raider Sceadlcr has been OBJ
! tanned by tho Navy Department from
( Captain lIaldor smith Of The American
/ schooner X. 9. Sladc and three other
J mariners who landed AT Tutuila in an
/ open boat ON September 80. after be-
ing marooncd on Mopcha Island by the
Ilrastcr of The Sccadlcr when the raider
grounded and VAS abandoned.
/ The Sccadlcr. formerly the American
! ship Pass o: Halmaha. belonged to the
:oston Lumber Company. and was in
: tho Nova Scotia ;radc'bcforc the war.
Af;cr the war broke out she WAS put
under thc American flag and was cap
itured by In" British and a prize Of
/ iiccr was put aboard her with instruc-
/ ticns 80 take her TO Kirk wall. Scot
land. Ca the way she was captured
| Ey a German submarine and sent to
/ Bremen and fitted out as a raider. y
picked crew Was placed aboard. some
( of whom spoke Norwegian. and sent
out int" ;hc Atlantic under the Guisc
| OF a Norwegian ship.
! The rusc worked so well that. after
leaving Bremen on December u. 1916.
the Sceadler was held up by the Brit
ish auxiliary cruiser Highland Scot;
examined and passed. Sailors idcntifi-
! cation books issued by the Norwegian
government were furnished tho men.
although they probably were taken
from captured Norwegian vessels and
given TO tho men who seemed to Fl;
the descriptions given. These. to-
se,her with pictures of Norwegian
! Kings and Queens. gave the ship the
appearance Of a Norwegian.
n..i, III 10
cruising in the Atlantic thirteen ships.
valued by the Germans a, $1,000, 600
marks. were captured. and four in the
Pacific. the X. Z. Slade, the American
schooner y. Is. Johnson. the American
schooner Manila and the French
schooner Lutecc.
Relating the story of the capture Of
his ship. the Sladc, Captain Smith
said
Il left sydney on April "A. 1917. and
proceeded without any incident until
tho evening of June Il. when | was in
latitude about north and longitude
100 west. ON the evening of June IT,
about o'clock. the second mate re-
ported TO me that ship was firing
on us. | went on deck and looked aft
and instantly, as ! came on deck. they
fired again. and | saw the shell fall
snort ABOUT Two miles. she was about
eight miles of. There was heavy
spuall starting to eastward-wind
favorable TO this timc-and | thought
it possible 10 get away, and kept hold
ing on. But she kept firing on me at
intervals of about five To ten minutes,
and was coming up on me fast.
GAVE AMERICAN TIME
TO PACK BELONGINGS
The ninth shot. fired about 6 o'clock,
struck very close passing the poop and
splashing water on the ship. Then I
concluded that there wasn't any use.
and l lowered down spanker, clewed
down topsail hoistcd American flag.
and hove to. About ! o'clock the
raider was up alongside and asked
what ship. told him what it was,
and he told me to lower down sails
and stand by. and he would send an
officer aboard me. Shortly after the
prize officer came aboard and a doctor
and about ten men. These officers
were in uniform. They told me to
leave the ship and TO 80 on board the
raider, and they would give me time
in the morning TO pack my clothes
They took all our men aboard the
raider except tho cook. Next morning
| went back ON board with all my mon
and packed up. We left tiv, Ship with
our belongings June IS. We were pat
on board the raider again. Shortly
after | saw from tho raider that they
cut holes in the masts and placed dvna
mite bombs in each mast and put fire
to both ends Of the ship and left her
! saw the masts go over the side and
the ship was burning from end to end,
and the raider steamed away"
tn ii
full-riggcd ship of steel or iron about
$500 tons, propelled by oii-burning en-
gines. Her captain was Felix Graf Won
Luckncr acting captain -licutcnant; the
first lieutenant. Alfred King: prize Of
ficer, Richard Pless. There also was n
chief engineer. navigating lieutenant.
a mate and doctor All told. her
complement was siXty-eight officers and
men Mounted between decks she car
ricd two four-inch guns COS cent?
metcrs) and two machine guns. The
rame on her bow was Irma.
when the men from the Slade ar
rived aboard the raider they found nine
prisoners from the American schooner
n. H. Johnson, of San Francisco. cap
tured three days before. On July 3.
smith stated. the schooner Manila was
captured and dynamited after the ten
c!ilcers and men had been taken off !
aboard the Seeadler. he said was a |
iioliander who had been taken off the
hrst ship captured and was kept aboard I
because he had made an insulting re-
mark TO the captain about German
money.
WAS DRIVEN ASHORE
On ISLAND IN PACIFIC
For about three weeks the raider
kept beating up and down. looking for |
passing ships. Meeting none. they |
went south to Mopeha on July 81.
anchored on the Ice side of the island. |
and on August the ship was driven |
hard and fast ashore The three Amer
lean captains had gone ashore with the !
German officers on picnic. and the |
prisoners were left on the ship. Can
non were fired to tell the party the
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