Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-11-26

~
tpro.~ S 70. ns..svyJ
A-Armor plate drops. placing Gin. guns.
B-Forecastle peak.
C-Ammunition hold.
D-Torpedo tube rails.
E-Torpedo tubes.
Poop deck
GAIT wheelhouse
| H-Deck house.
J-Holds.
K-Disappearing guns aft, mounted on
elevator.
L-Sea gates.
could not see us for the dust on the
ocean and we just had to stand there
and SILVER till we shook the deck, al
most Then / went and sat down on
he pipes that feed the deck winches.
them and was beginning to feel more
comfortable when I got good clout
alongside of the head for sitting there
and trying to keep warm. 1t was a
German garby and he started calling
me. all the various kinds of schwein-
hunde he could think Of and he could
think of lot.
Finally they mustered us all on
another part of the deck, then drilled
us down into the forecastle and read
the martial law Of Germany to us.
AT least | guess that is what it was.
1t might have been the Help Wanted
Dog Catchers" column from the Ber-
lin Lokal Taggabble for all most of us
knew or cared. 1t shows what cards
the Germans are-reading all those
four o-the-pound words TO us SILVER
ing garbies, who did not give dime
dozen whether we heard them or not.
Fritz is like some other hot sketches
he is funniest when he does not mean
to be. Every German is a vaudeville
skit when he acts natural.
There were hammOcks there and we
jumped into them to get warm, but the
Germans came down with their re-
vOlvers and bayonets and took the
hammocks away and poured water on
the decks and told us to sleep there.
They could not have done worse
trick than that.
Then they put locks on the portfolios
and told us that anyone caught fiddling
with the locks would be shot at once.
This was because we might sight a
British or French man-of-war at any
time and as the Moewe was sailing un-
der the British flag and trying to keep
out o. trouble they did not want US
at the ports signaling our own war
ships for help. If they had bucked
any of the allied ships and had fight
we would have died down there like
rats.
The Moewe had already captured
the Voltaire, Mount Temple, Cambrian
Range and the King George and had
the crews of these vessels between
decks with us. These men told us
how the Germans were treating them
and it looked to me as though the eve
ming would be spent in playing games
and pleasant time would be had by
all-not.
The crew of the Mount Temple were
on deck working when the raider sud-
denly opened fire on them. Two or
three men jumped into the water and
the Germans turned a gun on them
while they were swimming and killed
them. That was just a sample of what
had happened to them.
The men now began running I'D and
down In a line to keep, warm, but /
took little run on my own hook and
treated myself to as much of a once
over of the ship as / could. / do not
believe the Moewe had more than
three-fourths-inch armor plate but be-
mind that she had three rows of pfg
iron, which made about foot in thick
ness. There was nothing but cable
strung along the deck and when saw
that | would have given anything to
have had crack at her with a 14-inch
naval. And / sure wished hard enough
that one of our ships would slip I'D on
us, whether we were caught between
decks or not. 1 went aft as far as the
sentry would let me and I saw that
she had three spare six-inch guns I'M
der the poop deck and two six-inch
pieces mounted astern. The guns were
mounted on an elevator and when the
time came they ran the elevator ND
until the guns were on level with the
poop deck, but otherwise they were
out of sight from other ships.
For our first meal they sIung a big
feed bag half full of ship biscuit
hardtack-to US and some dixies of
tea. After this festival we began
roaming up and down the deck again,
because it was the only way to keep
warm / guess we looked like some
of the advertisements in magazines.
where they show a whole family SIT
ting around a Christmas tree in their
underwear and telling each other that
Whosis Unions-the Roomy Kind
were just what they wanted from
Sanity. Only we did not have any
Christmas tree to sit around. We must
have looked funny. though, and would
have had a good laugh if 1 had not
been so cold.
we could not go to sleep because
the decks were wet, nor could we sit
down with any comfort for the SANS
reason. Besides. We thought we might