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.
RISKY WORK FOR SKIPPERS
Very few of the supercargoes, however, accomplished their aims. The Berwind reached a point near Trinidad where Supercargo Poeppinghaus directed the ship to lie to. Presently five German ships, the Cap Trafalgar, Pontus, Elinor Woerman, Santa Lucia and Eber appeared, and after the task of transferring the supplies to them was begun, the British converted cruiser Carmania came up. A brisk fight ensued between the Carmania and the Cap Trafalgar, lasting for two hours, and ending when the German ship sank.
One representative of the Hamburg-American Line sought to use bribery to effect his purpose. One of the ships chartered was the Unita, in charge of Eno Olsen, a Canadian citizen of Norwegian birth. The German supercargo made a mistake in thinking that Olsen was friendly to Germany. When, however, the supercargo explained to him after they had got out to sea, what the purpose of the cruise was, Captain Olsen baulked.
“‘Nothing doing,’ I told the supercargo,” Captain Olsen testified, with a Norwegian twist to his pronunciation. “So the supercargo offered me $500 to change my course. ‘Nothing doing—nothing doing for a million dollars,’ I told him.
“The third day out he offered me $10,000. ‘Nothing doing.’ So,” concluded Captain Olsen with finality, “I showed him my citizenship paper. I said the Unita cleared for Cadiz; and to Cadiz she goes. After we got there I sold the cargo and looked up the British Consul.”
The provisions for each ship were ordered under directions from the Hamburg-American officials who eventually provided the money. The Hamburg-American Company received three payments of $500,000 each from the Deutsche Bank in Berlin. In addition, $750,000 was sent to Boy-Ed by exchange through Kulenkampf’s firm, Wessels, Kulenkampf & Company, from the Deutsche Bank, making $2,225,000 in all. Telling of the receipt of the money, Kulenkampf testified:
“Some time after that, Captain Boy-Ed came to me and asked if I had received money from Berlin. I said, ‘Yes,’ and he told me that it was for him. I asked him to obtain instructions, and a little later I was telephoned to hold the money at the disposal of Boy-Ed. I followed the instructions of Captain Boy-Ed. He instructed me at different times to pay over certain amounts, either to banks or to firms. I transferred $350,000 to the Nevada National Bank in San Francisco, $150,000 to the North German Lloyd, $63,000 to the North German Lloyd. That left a balance of approximately $160,000, which was placed to the credit of the Deutsche Bank with Gontard & Company, successors of my former firm. That amount was reduced to about $57,000 by payments drawn by Captain Boy-Ed’s request to the order of the Hamburg-American Steamship Company.”