The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-10-12
hun SEA Rb|DERl
WASNQTFARFROM
!. HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
Captain Smith Of Vessel captuf-
ed BY Germans In South Seas
Arrives and Tells Thrilling
Story ..
TALE SOUNDS LIKE .....
YAKN OF PIRATE DAYS
Prize Commander Press Well
Known Here As Former Off.
!, Ger Of Steamer Cleveland

q
Captain Halbor smith master Of the
iil,fated American achooner r. G. siade,
SINK BY the German sea raider See Ad.
Ilkt in the South Pacific on June II,
4 1917; passed through Honolulu yesfer-
4 day On route from samoa to the Pacific
Coast, his narrative OF the daring opcr
ations Of the German raider reading
likeSa chapter, from the lives Of the
lpirates Of Captain Kids time, with
/ the possible exception that none OF the
victims was compelled to walk the
/ plank. Jiaf ,fe< latt1st IN &. rf,fs. nttNHf
Captain Smith y personal experiences
in the capture OF his vessel, the capture
of himself apdieBtire crew; their prison
life aboard the See Adler; the straudiDg
and abandoning Of this vessel on the
coral reefs Of Mopeha Island; the cap.
tuFe by the pirates Of the French
schooner butece and the arming OF IL
and putting TO sea insearch OF further
victims; the 4 ,000-mile trip in an open.
boat by Captain Smith from Mopeha
Ialand to Tntuila, Samoa, in search Of
assistance for his campanions left ma
Epoped upon theislet; all read like
romance. and Is another example of
truth being even stranger than fiction
Lutsce Lying m want
just where the Luteee is now is un-
certain, but that armed with heavy
guns she IL drifting about, lying in
wait in the South Seas for passenger
liners is undoubted, particularly as it is
only q month or mere since she was last
heard Of sEt ta8. Il
-Four inch shells were fred at the r.
G. Slade and compelled the master to
surrender when he saw il was impossi.
BILE 10 escape. On June II, just three
days after the raider destroyed the
A. b, johnson, the Slade was near Lati-
tude North and $50 West, about 100
miles north Of the equator and 240 miles
from where the johnson was sunk. At
six O'Clock Sunday evening Captain
Smith was informed of the presence of
| nm nnidentifed ship nstern. Shortly
afterward q shot was fred at the Slade,
which was then eight miles ahead.
When nine shells had been fred Captain
Smith heaved to and ten German sail
ors, with an officer and doctor boarded
the vessel all Armed. The American
flag had been run up on the Slade but
the flag WIS not seen in the dark and
went down with, the vessel.
Sec Adler Wrecked
Count Felix Graf won Luekner, was
commander of the See Adler, formerly
the American steamer Pass Bahama,
which had been bought by British ship
owners in 1914, loaded and sent to q
neutral European port, and captured
49, ka q h. al
out as a raider, given Norwegian clear.
ance papers and although boarded by
officers from a British cruiser, she was
passed D. X. and in a few hours she
had become an active raider, passing to
the South Atlantic and thence into the
Pacific, until her career was ended on
the reefs of MOpeha Island, and her
destruction was even due to the wiles
of the American captains who were
prisoners aboard, and who induced the
count TO anchor close to the reefs. That
was the undoiug Of the See Adler for
she was driven upon the reef and had
to be abandoned. Just at this time the
French schooner Lutece entered Nope.
ha waters and was captured, the guns
transferred from the See Adler and
leaving all the captured crews behind
on the island started out ON q raiding
career.
Captain Smith 5 crew were allowed
to take their effects of the vessel to
the See Adler and the ships money
was claimed by Captain Smith as his
own. Holes were then bored in the
hulb dynamite put aboard, time bombs
set for seven minutes, the copra cargo
set afre and then the vessel was soon
raging mass of flames.
Manila Is Burned
After this experience the raider
drifted around for three weeks, and on
July 8 fell in with the schooner Manila,
This was in Latitude 10 North, Longi'
tude 14l West, which would have been
about southeast of Honolulu and be.
yond Tanning Island, or about three
days from Honolulu. As with other
captured vessels, provision stores and
equipment were removed to the See
Adler and the Manila was set afre.
After this sinking and until July p
the raider eruised about in the vicinity
Of the equator, and reached Mopeha
Island July 81, as the commander wish,
ed to let the men ashore to stretch
their legs. s->. ..g
The American captains aboard as
prisoners were very friendly, suddenly,
with Count Luckner when they were
asked questions about anchorages. They
gave advice freely, and being con,
WINGED that there was not much danger,
Captain LuckneT brought his vessel to
anchor. The first day part Of the Ger
mans went ashore. The next day a
picnic ashore was arranged and the
Americans were invited to go with the
German officers, Hardly had Z they
started of on land when signal came
from the vessel, and il could be seen a
gale was endangering the steamer.
When II was seen the vessel could not
be saved, stores, ammunition, and so
forth, we're brought ashore. The motor
launches and boats were saved. The
wireless plant was taken ashore and set
up between two palm trees, and there
messages from all parts of the Pacific
were caught, They also caught a mes
sage which made them believe that an
officer and party which had set out in
motor launch had been captured by
the British. This turned out to be q