SMUGGLING SUPPLIES TO RAIDERS
Two years before Germany sent a declaration of war to England, and just when a crisis in European affairs was impending, Dr. Karl Buenz, who never before had engaged in steamship business, came to New York as the American head of the Hamburg-American Line. Prior to that he had been a judge in Germany, a consul in Chicago and New York, and a minister to Mexico. One of the first things which came to his attention was the completion of a contract between the Admiralty Division of the German Government and the steamship company for the provisioning, during war, of German warships at sea from America as a base. Arrangement also was made for communication between these ships and the company by the Admiralty’s code. The documents dealing with this agreement were kept locked up in the German Embassy in Washington, and the Hamburg-American officials declined to produce them at the trial, “because in that agreement,” Prosecutor Wood asserted, “I venture to say the whole plan whereby false clearances should be obtained is worked out in detail.”
When Germany stood on the brink of war and England stood ready to pen her in by a blockade, the Admiralty Division sent its orders to make ready to provision the raiders. Dr. Buenz himself, on July 31, 1914—before the war—received a cable which he read, and then at once sent to the German Embassy for safe-keeping. Straightway Boy-Ed was in and out of Dr. Buenz’s office, giving directions as to the warships needing supplies and whither the provision ships should proceed by routes outside the regular freight lines. He kept urging upon Dr. Buenz the necessity of haste, and even before the German Government advanced the cash, the ships were chartered—others purchased—under bonds that guaranteed payment to the owners in the event of seizure. Twelve or more ships in all set forth from Atlantic ports, carrying coal and food supplies bought with Hamburg-American cash.
The steamship Berwind, which had been chartered and loaded in a hurry, was the first to sail. When some of the conspirators met in Dr. Buenz’s office, there was hesitancy as to who should apply for clearance papers—documents of which Dr. Buenz testified he knew nothing. They finally told G. B. Kulenkampf, a banker and exporter, that the Berwind was loaded with coal—she had coal and provisions—and told him to get the clearance papers. He did so, swearing to a false manifest, as he afterwards admitted. In getting such clearance papers, Germany’s agents aimed to prevent the Allies from learning about the supply ships. Germany desired, naturally, to carry on this work secretly in order to deceive her enemies and prevent her adversaries from knowing where the German cruisers were.
Such a ruse may be a legitimate trick in war, but the German Government or her agents had no right to use the American Government in such an enterprise. So men employed by the Hamburg-American Line went to the collector of the ports from which these ships sailed, making affidavits as to the cargo—generally false—and the destination for which they sailed—also false. On board these ships—the Berwind and the Lorenzo, sailing from New York presumably for Buenos Aires on August 5 and 6, 1914, respectively; the Thor from Newport News for Fray Bentos, Uruguay; the Heina from Philadelphia in August, for La Guayra; the Mowinckle, Nepos and others—the officials put supercargoes bearing secret instructions. These men had authority to give sailing orders to the captains once they were outside the three-mile limit. They knew that the ships were not bound for the ports designated, but to lonely spots on the high seas, where they would lie in wait for the arrival of the German cruisers, whose captains would receive the “tip” by wireless.