Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-18
FIVE ALLIED CRUISERS SEARCH THE
ATLANTIC SEA LANE FOR GERMAN RAIDER

r.r,Inued from Page One
,,..rs of various nationalties Although
~ ~ then, had been closely confined aboard
a,'.ir cantor, they identified her Gs Ger
IN smV cruiser Of the Vneta or Mocwe type,
ST disguised so her warlike character was
not revealed.
..aat number the total of those aboard the
shIns known to have fallen victim TO the
Ssarn,an commerce destroyer. The fate of
several hundreds is unknown.
From stories told by these survivors at
pernambuco, the following narrative of the
German raiders operations may he con-
structed:
The German vessel left ISe a number OF
.uoots ago and swung directly southwest
yard across the path OF transatlantic COM
r,erce Gradually she worked her search Of
tbe seas southwark taking prizes right and
left Several of these vessels the raider
tnok along with her putting German prize
crews on board and confinng the captured
crews below decks. Finally the st. Theo-
dore, a British ship of about 5000 tons,
, vns chosen by the commerce destroyer a.
t,Nn fleet prison ship and on board her
Ydre transferred all of the survivors.
They were poorly fed and confined SO
oloAey that there was great suffering.
Every preCaution was taken by the raiders
captain that his prisoners should not learn
the skorv of his escape through the Gordon
Of Allied battleships guarding Iliel or of
his future plans, and that they should not
by any chance warn other merchantmen
which the raider encountered of their fate.
Despite these precautions, some Of the
survivors, managed to witness the German
vessels nuaneuvers when she captured the
French schooner Nantes and their story
was fully confirmed by Captain Days, Of
that vessel.
According to their version, the German
slipped far ahead of her convoy Of prizes
f,I thn Irit n.aer ,,t hnv act
head. She rapidly overhauled the slow
sailing vessel and then sgnaled her to
lay to- This Nantes obeyed-and the mo-
ment she came to a stop the raider hoisted
her true colors. bringing her guns to bear
on the Frenchman. a prize crew was sent
over to take charge of the schooner
SCHOONER DYNAMITED
Some time later, however. the sailing
vessel being unable to make the speed that
the raider and her prizes desired. the ves-
sci was stripped OF food and supplies. the
original French crew and the German prize
crew taken off and hole dynam.ted in
the vessels bottom.
"The German didn't look anything like
a varship," says Captain Days. "and had
no hesitancy in obeyng her order to heave
to- Besides ! had no chance to escape, as
the raider could easily have overhauled me"
After the Nantes was captured and sunk
the survivors were distributed among the
several prizes and finally all transferred to
the st. Theodore. Then, on January r. the
Hudson Naru was Overhauled. seized and
her Japanese crew confined a German prize
crew taking her place At this time the
raider evidently Judged her depredations
on commerce were likely to have reached
the attentive ears of Allied warships dot
ting the Atlantic and she made preparations
TO skip away from the hampering convoy
of prizes. Many of the survivors were put
aboard the Hudson AIaru from the St
Theodore and the Japanese steamship head
ed toward port. What became of other
prize ships which traied along with the
raider and in particular what was the fate
Of the st. Theodore is unknown.
REPORT 400 LOST
The report still persisted in Rio today
that 400 persons had pcrished in the sinking
Of some unnamed ship but neither the
survivors at Pernambuco nor wireless pleas
for Information sent over the seas brought
either confirmation or denial.
The few survivors landed at Pernambuco
do not represent by several hundred the
number of those who must have been
aboard the twenty-four or twenty-siX ves-
sells sunk or captured by the raider What
has become of the others is not known.
They may still be aboard the ST. Theodore
or some of the other prizes, headed, under
German prize crews for other South Allan
tic ports. Many may have perished The
close under-decks' confinement of the sur
vivors who have already landed was ef-
fectual in preventing them from ascertain
ing moro than the most meager facts about
their captors and her career. The fact that
no survivor could definitely identify the
raider is significant commentary on how
rigidly the German commerce destroyers