Ten months in a German raider

by John Stanley Cameron

THE GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER, RAIDER AND MINE LAYER "WOLF" LEAVING KIEL ON HER FIFTEEN-MONTH CRUISE, NOVEMBER 21ST, 1916

In a short while we received instructions from the Wolf to proceed due east for sixty miles and wait there for them. The Wolf then left us, going off at right angles. I learned from some of the German sailors that there was a large steamer approaching and that the Wolf would probably run along parallel with her during the night and capture her in the morning. About nine-thirty that night this steamer passed us about a mile and a half off, heading to the southward and westward.

She was apparently a large steamer of about seven or eight thousand tons, heavily loaded. She resembled in appearance the type of vessel used on the Pacific Coast as an oil tanker, having the high forecastle head, long bunk deck amidships, and her engines and stack away aft; she was probably a freighter of this description belonging to New Zealand, bound from San Francisco to Australia. When she came abreast of us she signalled by Morse Code, asking what vessel we were; but the German prize crew took good care that none of us could answer or make any signals of any kind. I can use both Continental and Morse and had a signal lamp on board, so that if I had had an opportunity I could have warned this steamer that there was a raider about.

One of the first official acts by Lieutenant Zelasko after taking charge of my vessel was to call the cook up on the quarterdeck where he was standing and give him instructions to cook a good large meal for his men, and not to forget to have plenty of white bread. To assist him in preparing this meal for the unwelcome addition to our family, he assigned one of his men as an assistant in the kitchen.

In the meantime the balance of his crew were searching the vessel and making an itemized list of everything that they thought would be worth transferring to the Wolf. I had a chance to look over this list later on and was surprised to find how complete and businesslike it was. It gave the name of the article, the amount, where located, and a remark as to how best to remove it, whether in the original package, to be repacked, or carried in bulk in large canvas sacks, furnished by the Wolf for that purpose. This is only one incident showing the method and thoroughness with which even the minor details of their business were carried out.

During the evening I had a chance to get acquainted with Lieutenant Zelasko, the prize officer, and found him a very decent chap indeed. He, and all the rest of the Wolf's officers, excepting the Commander and the Artillery Lieutenant, were members of the Imperial Marine, or Naval Reserve, men that in peace time commanded and served as officers in the merchant service, like myself. In fact, I found that Lieutenant Zelasko had served part of his time as able-bodied seaman on the American ship Roanoke, a vessel that I had been in some years before. He had the second class Iron Cross which he had won at Antwerp.

Lieutenant Zelasko assured me on his word of honour that my family would receive nothing but the best of care possible under the circumstances on board the Wolf. In fact, after finding out that the Wolf was manned by ex-merchant marine officers and men, my fears for the safety of my wife and little girl subsided greatly. My wife herself cheered up a great deal after hearing this, thinking that people from our own walk of life could not be as barbarous as we had been led to believe.

Early in the morning of the tenth we arrived at the position where we were to wait for the Wolf. Here we hove to, and the prize crew, assisted by my sailors, who were forced to do all the work pertaining to the handling of the ship, took off the hatches and took on deck three hundred cases of benzine, ready to be transported to the Wolf when she showed up. During all this time there were always five or six guards or sentries posted at various positions around the ship, and also the balance of the prize crew always wore their side arms, whether they were working or not.