Five Months on a German Raider | Page 4

was slowly sinking, we pushed off from her
side as quickly as possible. There were now four lifeboats in the water
at some distance from each other. The one in which we were contained
about twenty-four persons. There was no officer or member of the crew
with us, while another boat contained officers and sailors only. No one
in our boat knew where we were to go or what we were to do. One
passenger wildly suggested that we should hoist a sail and set sail for
Colombo, two days' steaming away! Search was made for provisions
and water in our boat, but she was so full of people and impedimenta
that nothing could be found. It was found, however, that water was
rapidly coming into the boat, and before long it reached to our knees.
The hole which should have been plugged could not be discovered, so
for more than an hour some of the men took turns at pulling, and baling
the water out with their sun-helmets. This was very hot work, as it must
be remembered we were not far from the Equator. Ultimately, however,
the hole was found and more or less satisfactorily plugged. Water,
however, continued to come in, so baling had still to be proceeded with.
An Irish Tommy, going home from Singapore to join up, was in our
boat. He was most cheerful and in every way helpful, working hard and
pulling all the time. It was he who plugged the hole, and as he was
almost the only one among us who seemed to have any useful
knowledge about the management of lifeboats, we were very glad to
reckon him among our company.

The four boats were now drifting aimlessly about over the sea, when an
order was shouted to us, apparently from a Japanese officer in one of
the other boats, to tie up with the other three boats. After some time this
was accomplished, and the four boats in line drifted on the water. The
two steamers had stopped; we did not know what was happening on
board either of them, but saw the raider's motor launch going between
the raider and her prize, picking up some of the men who had fallen
into the sea when the boat capsized. Luckily, the sharks with which
these waters are infested had been scared off by the gunfire. We
realized, when we were in the lifeboats, what a heavy swell there was
on the sea, as both steamers were occasionally hidden from us when we
were in the trough of the waves. We were, however, not
inconvenienced in any way by the swell, and the lifeboats shipped no
water. There was no one in command of any of the boats, and we
simply waited to see what was going to happen.
What a sudden, what a dramatic change in our fortunes! One that easily
might have been, might even yet be, tragic. At half-past one, less than
two hours before, we were comfortably on board a fine ship, absolutely
unsuspicious of the least danger. If any of us had thought of the matter
at all, we probably imagined we were in the safest part of the ocean.
But, at three o'clock, here we were, having undergone the trying ordeal
of shell-fire in the interval, drifting helplessly in lifeboats in mid-ocean,
all our personal belongings left behind in what we imagined to be a
sinking ship, not knowing what fate was in store for us, but naturally,
remembering what we had heard of German sea outrages, dreading the
very worst.
[Illustration: HITACHI PASSENGERS AND CREW IN LIFEBOATS
AFTER THEIR SHIP HAD BEEN SHELLED.
From an enlargement of photo taken on the Wolf by a German officer.]
CHAPTER II
PRISONERS ON THE "WOLF"
Escape in any way was obviously out of the question. At last the raider

got under way and began to bear down on us. Things began to look
more ugly than ever, and most of us thought that the end had come, and
that we were up against an apostle of the "sink the ships and leave no
trace" theory--which we had read about in Colombo only a couple of
days before--the latest development of "frightfulness." Our minds were
not made easier by the seaplane circling above us, ready, as we thought,
to administer the final blow to any who might survive being fired on by
the raider's guns. It was a most anxious moment for us all, and opinions
were very divided as to what was going to happen. One of the ladies
remarked that she had no fear, and reminded us that we were all in
God's hands, which cheered up some of the drooping hearts and
anxious minds. Certainly most of us thought we were soon to look our
last