Chapter III: Part ONE: Captured by Pirates (2)

At this time everybody was herded into the one compartment--captains, mates, engineers, firemen, sailors, cooks and flunkies, all together--white men, niggers, Turks, Greeks and Japanese. At night everybody slept in hammocks and during the day these hammocks were "made up" and piled away in one corner, thus leaving enough room for several rough plank tables and benches to be set up. There were no lockers or any compartments where a man could put his spare clothing or shaving gear, therefore no man's gear was safe from theft. A man who didn't have a shirt would steal one from a man who had two; this made it impossible for a man to have any more clothes than just what he stood in. Later on many of the men were given empty cases or boxes and fixed them up to keep their spare gear in.

The sanitary arrangements at this time were very poor, there being only three toilets for all hands. Certain squads of men would take turns in keeping these quarters clean, the whole place being thoroughly scrubbed out three times a week. I mean thoroughly in the full sense of the word. Everything moveable, excepting the clothing boxes, was taken on deck, then the room scrubbed with heavy brushes and sand. Next the tables and benches were scoured with sand and canvas, the hammocks scrubbed and the various tin dishes used for food were scoured bright. After everything was dry it was put back in place and the prisoner officer made an inspection. It was very seldom that he found anything to complain of, as the men seemed to welcome this house-cleaning as it gave them something to do to occupy their time. Reading material was very scarce, so the time passed very slowly.

There was supposed to be a regular daily routine; but owing to the many interruptions, such as gun practice, fire drill, boarding drill and drills with small arms, this routine was not always carried out. At 5:30 A.M. all the prisoners were waked up and by six o'clock all the hammocks were made up and stowed away. Then the tables were set up in place and the table laid for breakfast. At seven o'clock the squad flunkies would get their gear ready, and promptly at 7:20 breakfast would be ready. Immediately after breakfast the dishes were cleaned and the quarters given their regular daily clean up. Usually during the forenoon, after their work was done, the prisoners were allowed to go up on deck and enjoy the fresh air. Dinner at 12:30 noon, coffee at 3:30 P.M., and supper at 6:30. Very seldom was anybody allowed on deck after coffee. At 8:00 P.M. all lights were extinguished excepting three, one over the steps at the exit and two at the back of the quarters.

The distribution of the fresh water was also very poor. Each prisoner was allowed half a gallon per day for washing, drinking and bathing purposes. This amount, properly conserved, will answer the purpose, but unfortunately the method of distribution was so poor that not all got their regular allowance; and the loss of this water caused the unfortunate ones great inconvenience, especially during the time that the _Wolf_ was in the tropics. Many of the men used tea to brush their teeth in; and I have heard of cases where tea had been used for shaving purposes, but imagine these cases to be rare.

While there, a Captain of a big British oil tank steamer that had been captured and sunk told me the following piece of history. I afterwards verified this and can vouch for its truth. While the _Wolf_ was lying at Sunday Island undergoing repairs to her boilers, the prisoners were furnished with fish hooks and line and a couple of jolly boats and allowed to row into the rocks and catch fish. Each boat, of course, was in charge of an armed sentry. After fishing they would return to the _Wolf_ each night. On the night before the _Wolf_ was to sail two men, the chief mate and first assistant engineer of the S.S. _Turitella_, dropped overboard and swam for the shore. Before leaving the vessel these men had secreted on their persons a supply of fish hooks and lines, a small hunter's hatchet, two large sheath knives each, matches and a good supply of tobacco. The matches and tobacco were securely wrapped in waterproof oilcloth. Just at dusk, as the prisoners were being ordered below, these two men slipped over the side, sliding down a rope into the water. They then swam under the stern and climbed up on the rudder and sat there in such a manner that they could not be seen from on deck. A confederate in the meantime had taken care of the line hanging over the side. About nine o'clock, when it was good and dark, they again slipped into the water and swam for the shore some half a mile distant. There is a strong current setting parallel with the shore in this particular locality and, as the water is infested with sharks, the betting among the men was two to one that neither of them would make it.

Later on, from some of the officers that had been on shore at Sunday Island, I found out there had formerly been a family living there, but at this particular time they were away on a visit, probably to New Zealand, as they had left their house fully furnished and with quite a supply of provisions on hand. Everything indicated that they intended returning at a later date. A calendar hanging on the wall indicated that this family had left there between April 17th and 23d. When the loss of the prisoners was finally discovered there was a great rumpus, and as a punishment all the prisoners were kept below for twenty-eight days, being allowed on deck for only one hour each day, weather permitting, for exercise. The British captain said that those were the most awful days he ever experienced in his life and that each day he and the rest were getting perceptibly thinner. Just about this time I got the sign from the sentry that the prisoner officer was coming and I had to beat a retreat. Afterwards I found out that it was not the prisoner officer but the mine officer, Lieutenant Dedrick, who proved to be a humane officer and a champion of the prisoners. Dedrick came down below into the hell hole and got one good lungful of the rotten atmosphere and went immediately to the Commander and reported conditions. Commander Nerger at once called both doctors and accompanied them aft on a tour of inspection. The next day everybody was chased on deck and the "Hell Hole" below was cleaned out and better ventilation arranged for; it was also painted; also the captured captains and ships' officers were given quarters to themselves, while the whites and blacks were separated. On the whole the conditions for these two hundred men were improved one hundred per cent. The prisoner officer was confined to his room for five days for allowing such conditions to exist. Nerger had inspected these quarters before, but only when the men were on deck and the place freshly cleaned out. Personally I do not think he knew how bad conditions were.

Along in the first part of January I learned by wireless that of the two men who swam for shore at Sunday Island the first assistant engineer was drowned, while the other reached shore in an exhausted condition. He and his companion while swimming ashore became separated in the dark and the mate did not know for a certainty whether his chum was taken by a shark or drowned from exhaustion. He stayed on the island for somewhat over two months, living on the provisions that were left in the house and on fruit, of which there was a great abundance. He was finally taken off by a Japanese cruiser whose attention was attracted by his signal fire, which he kept burning day and night. The cruiser finally landed him in New Zealand.

All this time we were steaming in a northerly and westerly direction. When we arrived at the southernmost end of New Guinea we stopped and lay to for a couple of days. I soon learned that we were waiting for a steamer and expected her any minute. During these days the _Wolf's_ hydroplane would go up to reconnoitre three times a day. It would travel fifty or sixty miles on clear days, and from a height of three thousand metres it had a vision of ninety miles, so the Germans claimed. One of the German sailors told me that in another day or so we should have plenty of beer--that they had picked up a wireless message stating that the Australian steamer _Matunga_ would soon arrive in Rabul with five hundred tons of coal and three hundred tons of foodstuffs, so many hundred cases of beer, etc., for the Government. Sure enough, on the morning of August 4th I was awakened by my orderly with the usual supply of cotton batting for our ears. Shortly thereafter there was a bang from one of the cannons and the _Matunga_ stopped. Lieut. Rose and the prize crew went on board and took charge. In about an hour the launch came back with the _Matunga's_ captain, Donaldson, and his officers and crew, also sixteen Australian soldiers who were en route to the Islands. Both steamers then proceeded north, arriving on August 10th at a place in northern New Guinea that we named Pirate Cove.

SHOWING 4.7 "ORDINARY" PORTSIDE GUN FORWARD ON "WOLF."

LIEUT. ROSE WITH BINOCULARS.]

On the way to Pirate Cove Commander Nerger practised all kinds of naval manoeuvres with the _Wolf_ and the _Matunga_. At one time he would engage her in battle and finally after a fierce encounter, by superior manoeuvring he would destroy her. The next time the _Matunga_ would be an enemy's merchant vessel and the _Wolf_ would sneak up to her, suddenly dropping her ports, and make the capture. This manoeuvre was carried out quite realistically, the boarding crew supposedly meeting resistance and finally taking charge of her after a fight on deck, in which the boarding crew's bayonet drill would come in handy. At another time the _Matunga_ would be a German cruiser and Nerger would direct her attack against the enemy. At this time he was probably anticipating being made an Admiral on his return to Germany and was getting what practice he could.

At Pirate Cove naked New Guineans, men, women and children, came out to the _Wolf_ in thirty feet long canoes for tobacco, which was the only understandable word they could say. They offered to swap parrots, pigs, cocoanuts, sugar cane, bits of coral, woven mats of garish colours and queer pattern, showing whales, birds and primitive human figures. The _Wolf's_ officers got first whack at the bargains and went in strong for the fancy mattings, but when they got them aboard found them full of native vermin. These souvenirs for their wives and sweethearts were promptly turned over to the antiseptic department and cleaned, for the _Wolf_ had on board a complete dis-lousing plant through which all new prisoners were put, whether they needed it or not. The German sailors had second choice after their officers and went in strong for parrots and cocoanuts. The prisoners, who could buy tobacco at the _Wolf's_ canteen, if they had any money, had last choice of the New Guinea merchandise. I had no money on the _Beluga_, having sent mine by draft to Sydney, but I had stacks of clothes, and to get a little ready "canteen" money I sold some of them, the _Wolf's_ officers paying me $25.00 for second-hand suits and $3.00 for second-hand shoes.

The natives were cleaned out by the _Wolf_. Among the purchases was an alleged New Guinea pig, which had the legs and body of a deer and the head of a porker--and it had fur, too. God! I never saw anything like it. It didn't have an orthodox corkscrew tail but a compromise between a pig's and a deer's tail. The pig mascot was given the freedom of the _Wolf_ and dashed if it didn't lick every dog on the ship. We had seven dogs on board, taken from sunken ships--dachshunds, fox terriers, all sorts--and the pugnacious deer-pig cleaned them all up. But the Germans were too much for it. After two months in German company the pig couldn't stand it any longer and, after the slaughter of the _Hitachi Maru_, of which it was an eyewitness, it committed suicide by leaping down an open hatch to its death fifty feet below. The Germans buried the pig at sea with military honours.

While we were lying in Pirate Cove the cargo and coal of the _Matunga_ were transferred to the _Wolf_; also nine of the _Matunga's_ passengers and the balance of her crew. Quarters were provided for these prisoners on the same deck where I was. There was a Colonel and a Major with his wife, belonging to the Australian medical corps; three Australian military captains; three civilian planters, who were en route for the plantations on the Island, and the stewardess of the _Matunga_. This addition of prisoners to the top side was a welcome change to myself and family, as it gave us somebody else to talk to, and I was also able to get news of the war from another source than the German. I was anxious to learn what steps America had taken or contemplated taking. To hear those Australian chaps talk you would have thought that the war was a high lark, and that just as soon as Great Britain got around to it she, ably assisted by the Australian forces, would chase Fritzy off the map.

The addition of these passengers to the top deck squad made it necessary for Commander Nerger to make certain rules and regulations to be observed regarding the distance we could go from our rooms. We were allowed a seventy-foot run-way. Also when anything was going on, such as gun practice, boarding drill, fire and boat drill, we were chased into our rooms. This caused a lot of grumbling but no doubt it was justified. I may add that there was nearly always something doing on the _Wolf_. They drilled and practised almost continually--practised sinking imaginary ships, indulged in "battle practice," and even practised abandoning the _Wolf_ in boats and sinking their own ship.

While lying at Pirate Cove we had an exciting experience. It seems that some of the Germans had a suspicion that some of the prisoners were going to try to escape by swimming ashore. They doubled the guards both below and on deck and in addition had twenty-four Marines sleep on the afterdeck with their muskets alongside of them. On this particular night the German sailors had stolen a couple of cases of whiskey from the cargo of the _Matunga_ and many of them were pretty badly intoxicated. At 11:30 P.M. one of the guards down below aft imagined that he saw someone making a sneak for the stairs leading on deck. Next moment he shouted "Help! Help!" and blazed away with his revolver in the general direction of the stairway. Naturally the prisoners sleeping on the far side of the stairs made a rush to get out of the line of fire. The guard saw this crowd rushing his way and ran on deck immediately. A general alarm was sounded and men and officers poured on deck from all directions. Just then a shoal of fish some little distance away in the water made a disturbance and the German crew, thinking that somebody was attempting to swim ashore, opened fire on the fish with two machine guns. Also everybody who had a rifle or a revolver opened fire at something. One officer, who stood in front of my room, emptied his revolver into the air, just shooting because everybody else was doing it. Meanwhile, Chief Officer Schmell and three sailors had jumped into the launch and also mistaking the shoal of fish for prisoners trying to swim ashore, made for the spot--and were enthusiastically fired upon by the German machine guns in the dark. It sure was bum team work and a miracle that Schmell and his men were not killed. The launch was punctured in several places. As soon as the big searchlight was put into commission, it became apparent that there was nobody in the water. All the prisoners were then mustered out and counted, and as there were none missing, the Germans decided that it must have been a false alarm and everybody blamed everybody else. When Schmell got back on the _Wolf_ he was raving mad at having been fired at by the machine guns. He wasn't red, but green with anger, and he talked so fast that I couldn't make out what he said, but I heard afterwards that he wanted to court-martial everybody, including the cook. It always will remain a miracle to me that some of our own fellows weren't shot as the frenzied guard emptied his gun before running on deck.

On account of the high hills surrounding our anchorage the _Wolf's_ wireless was not of much account, so the members of the wireless squad erected a station on the top of one of the highest hills. Here they would pick up any news that was flying around and transfer it to the _Wolf_ by means of an ordinary flash light. This was easily readable with a pair of glasses, but unfortunately there was nothing of interest excepting the "press"; however, it gave me an insight of just how much reliance to put into the press reports that the Germans would let us see from time to time. This, of course, was all British press and reports were given as to advances and repulses on the various fronts and also the weekly sinkings. Should the Allied forces advance or the Germans lose a position, their press did not note it, but on the other hand, if the Germans had a victory or there were any political reports in their favour, the news was given us in full detail.

From one of the officers who had been ashore I learned that the native settlement, which at one time evidently had been quite large, must have been visited by some dreadful plague, as the houses in the village were deserted, not a single native living on that side of the bay. He also said that in many of the houses the skeletons of the dead still lay, some inside and some outside of the huts, leading a person to believe that this sickness struck them down suddenly and that they died nearly instantly, as on the porch of one of these huts there was a skeleton with some kind of a dish alongside of it, making it appear that death had come suddenly.

Here at Pirate Cove the doctors were greatly worried on account of fever and malaria and dosed us vigorously with quinine. Lord! I ate enough quinine to last me the rest of my life. There were no capsules on board and we had to eat the raw article, and there was no way of dodging it. Each morning and evening all hands, officers, crew and prisoners, were marched past the hospital steward's office and each was handed his little bit on a spoon, with a glass of water to wash it down. The only satisfaction I had was that it tasted just as rotten to the Germans as it did to me. Strangely my little girl did not dislike it a great deal and I was greatly pleased as I anticipated a riot when she got a taste of the first dose. My wife's share, she being still confined to her room, I used to throw overboard, giving her only an occasional small dose. The quinine used to cause a drumming in my ear and make me halfway deaf.

Undoubtedly it had the same effect on the German sailors yet they were forced to work transferring coal from one vessel to the other. They usually worked three shifts in the twenty-four hours. They would go down in the hold with nothing but a breech cloth on and when they came up they would resemble negroes and their bare bodies would be just running in sweat. At these times I used to feel sorry for them; then they would sink one of our vessels and I would wish them doomed to eternal labour of this kind.

Among the _Matunga's_ heterogeneous cargo were two large horses and one small pony. These were taken care of by the butcher department and I suppose I ate my share. I afterwards told my wife about her eating horse flesh and nearly lost a handful of hair for my information.

On August 26th both _Wolf_ and _Matunga_ proceeded to sea and at 1:20 P.M. the _Matunga_ was sunk by three bombs. From the time of the first explosion until she disappeared beneath the waves was just six and a half minutes. She sank stern first, and as she made the final dive the rush of air below decks blew out the forecastle bulkhead, making it appear as if there had been a fourth bomb concealed there.

Here I am convinced was the only time during the eight months that I was a prisoner on the _Wolf_ that there was ever any serious thought on Nerger's part regarding landing the women, children and medical officers. Before taking the _Matunga_ to sea to sink her, they transferred one of her large life-boats to the _Wolf_, also a small gasoline launch. These were hoisted on deck and placed in such a manner that they could be put overboard again easily, also they were in such a position that it interfered with the movements of the gun crew, thus proving that they were there only temporarily. One of the officers asked me if I had ever had any experience with gas engines and was familiar with this particular make. I told him I was, having owned at one time an engine of this make. After giving the officer this information he was overheard by one of the womenfolk repeating it to the Chief Officer. We top side prisoners were some worked up, believe me. We had it all "doped out" that after sinking the _Matunga_ we should proceed off some island that was inhabited but had no wireless or cable connections, there the women, children and medicos would be put in the life-boat and I would tow them with the launch to some nearby harbour.

This would have been the logical thing to do if Commander Nerger wanted to conform to the articles of the Geneva Convention, which specifically states that medical officers in event of capture shall be set free at the first available opportunity. Nerger also told me and my wife that he would land us in some safe place at the first opportunity, provided he could do so without jeopardising his own safety. He also told the medical officers and the rest of the women the same thing. I maintain that at this time Nerger could have landed us with perfect safety to himself and his ship--as the _Wolf_ was about to leave the Pacific Ocean, having finished her activities in that locality. At that time nobody had information regarding the _Wolf's_ previous movements nor any knowledge of her mine-laying operations. However, at the last minute he must have concluded that this was too "humane" a procedure and ordered the boats over the side; they were fastened to the _Matunga_ and went down with her. I claim this to have been the acme of inhumanity. He might just as well have condemned the women and children to death right there, because at that time there were ninety-nine and a half chances to a hundred that they would be either killed in action or drowned. I don't believe that there were five men in all the crew of the _Wolf_, officers included, who ever expected the _Wolf_ to win safely into Germany. There is another point to consider: why did Nerger and his officers continually assure us that the womenfolk should be landed shortly? If he had told the truth like an officer and a man and said he had no intention to land us, then we would have had more respect for him and would not have suffered the bitter disappointment that we did.

PART TWO: A PRISONER ON A
PASSENGER STEAMER