Ten months in a German raider

by John Stanley Cameron

We on the Wolf were quite close to the Hitachi Maru and could see everything very clearly. First the "bombing squad" were very busy placing their bombs: two amidships and one each in No. 1 hatch forward and No. 2 hatch, aft. The fuses from these bombs were all led on to the deck and brought to one centre. After everything was in readiness and all of the men, excepting the Mine Lieutenant, were in the launch, the Lieutenant lighted the fuse and ran for the boat. Usually the fuses are set for 12 minutes, which gives the launch ample time to get away. We all stood there gazing intently at the steamer, expecting every minute to see the explosion. The twelve minutes' wait in a case of this kind seems nearer half an hour. Suddenly there was a dull boom sound, and the water was convulsed, and smoke from the burnt powder appeared. And that was all, as the explosions all take place below the water line. The vessel sinks very rapidly at first, and in the case of the Hitachi Maru, the vessel settled evenly; that is, she went by neither head nor stern. Soon the water was nearly even with the rail, and the Hitachi's bow sank a little faster by the head. Pretty soon the waves were breaking on deck, and every moment might be the last; but still she hung on as if fighting for her very life. Suddenly a shudder seemed to pass over her, caused by the bursting of a bulkhead; her head disappeared below the wave, she hung there an instant and then her stern rose high out of the water; she made her final dive ... and the Hitachi Maru, 1st class Japanese passenger steamer, ceased to be.

There were a great many satisfied Ah, Ahs from the German crew as she disappeared, and a general feeling of satisfaction among them. For myself, I am afraid there was a tear in my eye, and all that I can wish these destroyers of good honest ships is that may they sometime think of how they smiled as they sank these ships, when they are standing around with empty bellies waiting for a chance to earn a living as sailors. I can understand a landsman sinking a ship and thinking it a joke, but a sailor, to my mind, should feel sad at seeing the end of an honest vessel, may she belong to friend or enemy.

I know one German officer who told me that, when the Wolf returned to Germany, he would never go in a raider again; that he made his living going to sea and could not stand seeing ships sunk.

From the Chagos Islands we steamed toward the Cape of Good Hope, and on November 10th, at 6:30 A.M., Wolf captured the Spanish steamer Igotz Mendi with a cargo of coal from Delagoa Bay to Colombo for the British Government. This was a very tame capture, the captain stopping as soon as he was signalled, thinking possibly that he was immune because he was neutral. No such luck. Lieutenant Rose and his prize crew went on board and took command, all the Spaniards staying on board. The first official act of Rose was to order Captain Uralda to vacate his room so that he, Rose, could use it. Captain Uralda answered temperamentally by throwing an inkstand at Rose. Unfortunately Capt. Uralda is no Christie Mathewson and the first one was a ball. However, the Spanish Captain gave up his room. Both vessels now returned to the Chagos group and tied up together.

There was weeping and wailing on the Wolf that they did not hang on to the Hitachi Maru for a few more days. If they had, and the Wolf had captured Igotz Mendi, all three of us would have gone to Germany and the Imperial Government would very probably have been richer by many thousands of marks worth of valuable cargo that was sunk with the Hitachi.

The Germans transferred some two thousand tons of coal from the Igotz Mendi to the Wolf at this time. On November 12th, the two Australian medical officers and the major's wife, a British Professor from Siam and his wife, "Father" Cross—an eminent British barrister from Singapore—and his wife, the technical mining man and his wife, one Chinese woman and husband, one Mauritian woman and a little black girl, and two male invalids were suddenly ordered on board the Igotz just as they stood. There was lots of excitement, as the Wolf had picked up a wireless message from a cruiser which was within 30 miles of us, but which unfortunately kept right on going. A couple of German sailors dumped everything in our room on the Wolf into a couple of bed sheets and dumped them down on the deck of the Igotz Mendi for us.

Our quarters here on the Igotz Mendi were fairly good, especially in warm weather, but later on in the cold regions they were far from livable. "Father" Cross, the Colonel and the two sick men were quartered aft under the poop in a room that had formerly been a boatswain locker; the rest of us were housed amidships in what was before the Spanish officers' quarters. The Spanish deck officers doubled up with the Engine room squad, thereby leaving their rooms vacant for us to occupy.

I wish to add here that at the time of the transfer of the prisoners from the S.S. Metunga to the Wolf, Mrs. X, steward of the Metunga, was quartered on the top deck with the rest of the womenfolks. Mrs. X was an Australian woman of middle age and the widow of a Chief Engineer in the same company that owned the Metunga. After her transfer to the Wolf, she was ordered by the German officers to take care of the ladies' quarters. On account of the overbearing and insolent manners of some of her fellow shipmates, she refused duty, stating that she was a British subject and a prisoner of war and entitled to the same treatment as the rest of the women prisoners. In this she was perfectly justified and I am certain it was through Lieut. Rose's influence that this demand of her services was made, as Rose was very partial to one of these ex-passengers. Later on when transferred to the Hitachi Maru Mrs. X was quartered aft in the second class, she being the only white woman there; and things were made generally disagreeable for her. This no doubt was because she was brave enough to show her independence and stand up for her right.

When we were transferred from the Wolf to the Igotz Mendi she asked to be kept on the Wolf, rather than go on the Igotz Mendi under the charge of Rose, stating that she would rather take the chances with the rest of them on the Wolf than be treated as she felt she would be on the Igotz Mendi.

This permission was granted her; but, a few days later on, she was transferred to the Igotz Mendi against her will, and quartered in the same room as the coloured people, among whom was one male.