Evening star., 1917-11-11
TELLS FULL STORY
OF SEEADLER CRUISE
Capt. Smith of American
J Schooner Relates How Ger
mans Worked RuSe.
WAS FAMOUS AS A RAIDER

WAS FAMOUS AS A RAIDER
The full story Of the cruise of the
German commerce raider Seeadier has
been obtained by the Navy Department
from Capt Haldor Smith of the Amerf-
can schooner r. G. Slade and three
other mariners who landed at Tutuila
in an open boat September % after
being marooned on Mopeha Island by
the master of the Seeadler when the
raider grounded and was abandoned.
The Seeadler. formerly the American
ship Pass of Balmaha, belonged to the
Boston Lumber Company and was in
the Nova Scotia trade before the war.
After the war broke out she was put
under the American flag and was cap
tured by the British and prize officer
was put aboard her with instructions
TO take her to Kirkwali. Scotland. On
the way she was captured by a Ger
man submarine and sent to Bremen
and fitted out as a raider. picked
crew was placed aboard, some of whom
spoke Norwegian, and sent out into
the Atlantic under the guise OF Nor
wegian ship.
The ruse worked so well that after
leaving Bremen December u, 1916, the
Seeadler was held up by the British
auxiliary cruiser Highland Scot, eX-
amined and passed. Sailors identif1ca-
tion books issued by the Norwegian
government Were furnished the men,
although they probably We're taken
given to the men, who seemed to At
the descriptions given. These. to-
gether with pictures of Norwegian
kings and queens. gave the ship the ap-
Capt. Smith learned that while cruis-
ing in the Atlantic thirteen ships.
valued by the Germans at 60.000,000
marks, were captured, and four in the
schooner A. B. johnson, the American
schooner Manila and the French
schooner Lutece.
First Shell Falls Short
Relating the story of the capture of
his ship. the Slade. Cant. Smith said:
II left Sydney April "a. 1917, and pro-
ceeded without any incident until the
evening of June II. when I was in
$50 west. On the evening of June II,
about 5 o'clock, the second mate re-
ported to me that a ship was firing on
US. l went on deck and looked aft.
fred again, and I saw the she'll fall
short about two miles. She was about
eight miles off. There was a heavy
sQuall starting to eastward-wind ia
vorable to this time-and 1 thought it
possible to get away and kept holding
on But she kept firing on me at in
tervals of about five to ten minutes
and was coming up on me fast.
The ninth shot. fired about 6 o'clock.
struck very close, passing the poop and
splashing water on the ship. Then 1
concluded that there wasn't any use,
and ! lowered down spanker. clewed
down topsan. hoisted American flag.
and hove to. About o'clock the raid
er was up alongside and asked what
ship. I told him what it was. and he
told me to lower down sails. and stand
by. and he wo1ld send an officer aboard
me. Shortly after. the prize officer
ten men: These officers were in uni
FORM They told me to leave the ship
ana to go on board the raider. and
they would give me time in the morn
fng to pack my clothes.
Saw His Ship Destroyed.
They took all our men aboard the
raider except the cook. Next morning
went back on board with all my
men and packed up. We left the ship
with our belongings June 1a. We were
put on board the raider again. Short
ly after l saw from the raider that
they cut holes in the masts and placed
dynamite bombs in each mast and put
hhre to both ends Of the ship and left
her. l saw the masts go over the side
ana the ship was burning from end
10 end, and the raider steamed away"
Capt Smith said the raider was a
duiIorigged ship OF steel or iron. about
$500 tons. propelled by oiI-burninr en-
gines. Her captain was Felix Graf Won
Luckner. active northumberland the
nrst lieutenant. Alfred Killing. and
prize officer, Richard Pless. There also
was chief engineer. a navigating lieu
tenant. mate and a doctor. All told
her complement was sfxty-eight officers
and men. Mounted between decks, she
carried two four-inch guns G0-5 cent?
meters) and two machine guns. The
name on her bow was Irma
When the men from the Slade ar
rived aboard the raider they found
schooner A B. johnson Of San Francis
Co. captured three days before. On
July s. Smith stated, the schooner
Maniia Mani was captured and dynamited
taken of. Aboard the seeadler. he
said. was a Hollander who had been
taken on the first ship captured and
was Kept aboard because he had made
an insulting remark to the captain
about German money
Raider Kept Watch for Ships.
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. an
chored on the lee side of the island
and on August the ship was driven
hard and fast ashore. The three
American captains had gone ashore
with the German officers on a picnic
and the prisoners were left on the ship
Cannon were fred to tell the party the
ship was in danger, but when they re-
turned they found the propeller twist.
Cd on the coral reefs and the vessel be.
yond help. After working all after
noon. they gave her up as lost and
took ashore everything they could
move, including the boats, gear and
wireless: The wireless plant, a yery
powerful one. was set up between tive
cocoanut trees. It was equipped witt
sending and receiving apparatus ant
without difficulty they were able Il
hear Pago Pago. Tahiti and Honolulu
On August %. Capt. Smith related tn,
German officers fitted up and armed Z
small boat and started for the Cool
Islands, or the Fiji Islands, where they
hoped to capture an American ship and
9ome back for the crew. Count voI
Luckner, the master. was in charge
Ihey were never heard Of again a
Mopeha Island.
After their departure wireless mes
pages In code from Pago Pago to tn,
american consul were intercepted, ant
ned been captured. On September s.
French trading schooner from Papeete
The Lutece. put in at the island. Firs
Lieut. King took a motor boat and ma
chine gun and captured the ship. sh,
1ad Q large cargo of flour. salmon ant
peef and q supply of water King and
MS crew diSmantled the wireless plan