Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-11
GERMAN PRIZE SHIPS
ONv|EW At NEW YORK
One Time Part of Proud Teuton
Navy, Will be Exhibited
Then Destroyed.
New York Times of Tuesday. Aug. 10.

ing ships came to New York yesterday,
the sole trophies accepted by this coun-
try in token of the victory for which 1t
poured out its treasure and the blood OF
its sons.
No rofled riches. no plundered prov
inceS, no armies of captlves could have
been more eloquent of the triumph OF
ours and the allied arms and the col
lapse of the German madness than was
this dismal journeys end. Deserted by
the men of their own navy, manned by
Young American sailors, flying the Stars
and Stripes as thir sole bits of bunting,
four OF them in two, they crawled into a
slent port 10 await the last bitter meas
ure Of their fate.
Four of them were in the battle OF
Jutland. the fifth has a record OF long
war service. All of them, Germany once
believed, were to play part in reduc-
ing the world to Teutonic thralldom.
And now, like any human felons, they
are 10 meet the ignominy of execution.
For, once the American people have
satisfied their curiosity they are to be
towed out to the waste places of the sea
and there shot to death by the guns oil
the American Navy, to lie at least as
battered Junk piles on the oceans bottom.
The terms of their award TO the United
States bv the Allied Naval Mission after
they had been surrendered under the
provisions of the Versailles Treaty pro-
vide that they must be destroyed within
one year.
FIND CAPTIVE SHIPS DEPRESSING.
There was none of that little company
that went out on the destroyer Caldwell
70 meet them at the Ambrose channel
light VESSEL but was moved by the
death-like stiffness through which they
came. Nor was there officer or man
who failed to find the exultant thrill
with which he first viewed them parad-
ing over the horizon swiftly chilled into
a feeling almost of pity at this open
humiliation of craft that had been so
strong.
And then, each mans gaze would
stray to the L. s s. Transport Han
cock. bringing up the rear of the spread
ing line. Each, as he looked. would
rem ember that here on the decks of the
Hancock were lined the collins of seven
ty-five American sailors and marines
who died in hospitals in France and
whose bodies were being brought back
from Brest And each as he remem-
bered, would forget that instructive feel
ing of pity and would tell himself:
"These beaten things are fitting con-
yoy for those who come behind. ~
The hushed harbor was no sign of IN
difference. Men crowded the rails OF
stately liners and lowly freighters, tugs
and scurrying pleasure crafts slipped
close for view. But though they gazed
and razed they did not cheer, they did
not wave. No wonder then at the word
of some skipper hand would go TO
whistle cord and a blast would follow
the trail of steam across the water.
Then the welcomer would discover that
the scream of his siren was unseemly
and quickly it would be quenched.
There was no agreement about 1T, no
previous understanding; 1t just wasn't
thing for Americans to gloat noislly
about and individually and severaily
they just didn't.
CONTRAST WITH oTHR SCENES.
So there came the inevitable contrast
with other harbor scenes that followed
the ending of the war. Pershlng's re-
turn, the Homecoming of beloved di-
visions, the visits of the King of Belgium
and the Prince of Wales, with all their
fervored frenzy of noisy, joyous greet
ing. were recalled as the five vessels,
with their escort. passed the Battery
and steamed for their anchorage In the
Hudson River, off Eighteth Street, while
the Hancock veered off TO the Navy
Yard No great crowds watched them,
and everywhere those who did but en-
phasized the impression that here was
stark bitter defeat. at which those who
had helped to conquer might look, but
over which they might not shout.
Their bottoms, when now and then the
turnbling water afforded a glimpse, were
foul and Shiny, their plates were bare
and dreary, their paint, where any re-
NAMED was scratched and SCARED.
Ravished Of every bit OF their bright
work. stripped OF instrument, their
rnuted guns wantonly hacked, the three
destroyers marred from their bath in the
Scapa Flow, where the Germans sank
them, the dreadnought showing rudely
patched wounds she got from a mine
while running away after the battle of
Jutland, they were a depressing specta-
Gle of the First Battle Squadron, under
command of Rear Admiral Schmidt.
The Ostfriesland, ninth In the line in
the Jutland sea fight and credited by
the Germans with having sunk the Brit
ish battle cruiser Black Prince, led the
captives. Captain J. T. Hellwig, who
commanded the long, tedious crossing
Just about month from Brest-made
her his flagship because she was the
in tow the fast cruiser Frankfurt, one of
the hardest-worked German craft during
the war.
TUGS TAKE VESSELS IN TOW.
At the channel mouth Captain Hellwig
slipped the cables and let three tugs
take the tow, while he proceeded into
the harbor alone. The minesweepers
Falcon, Rail and Redwing dragged
along the three destroyers, the G-102,
originally built for the Argentine Gov
eminent as the Santiago, and thirty-fve
tons larger than any destroyer in our
navy: the XS-132, of about 600 tons dis
placement and the V-43.
There were twenty-six officers and $50
men on the Ostfriesland, skeleton crew
of fifty or sixty men with handful of
officers on the Frankfurt, while five
seaman had the run of each of the de-
stroyers.
Every one of those who made the
voyage may have said a little prayer
of thankfulness when it was over, for
to the last man they were aware of
taunting German boast that the ships
never would reach the United States.
At first they thought that boast moth
ing worse than the chagrined mouthings
OF frightfulness, but Just before they
reached the Azores the dreadnought
sprang mysterious leak In her water
feed line. 1t was hard to locate, accord
ing to officers aboard, and, before il
was discovered the water was climbing
rapidly toward the fires That meant
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