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WW1 - 1914-1918
" Looks of War photographers "
" Regards de photographes de Guerre"
9000 photos
438 pages
THE COMMERCE RIDER
WOLF
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SHIPS SUNK or CAPTURED
by WOLF
Turritella
Completed 1906 as Gutenfels for Hansa Line.
1914 captured at Port Said and renamed Polavon.
1916 converted to a tanker and renamed Turritella for Anglo-Saxon.
1917 captured by German raider Wolf and used as a minelayer under name Iltis.
3-1917 intercepted by HMS Odin and scuttled by crew.
SS Jumna
SS Jumna
Wolf sinking British steamer Jumna
MID NARA111-SC-41673-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
SS Wordsworth
SS Dee
SS Wairuna
Wairuna steaming to Sunday Island after being captured by a flying machine
MID NARA111-SC-41652-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
SS Wairuna
New Zealand steamship, Wairuna (right),
anchored next to the German armed merchant raider, SMS Wolf.
SS Wairuna
SS Wairuna
SS Wairuna
The Wairuna, a steamer en route from Auckland to San Francisco, was captured by the German raider SMS Wolf and later sunk near the Kermadec Islands.
The crew of 42 was taken prisoner.
The Union Steam Ship Company’s Wairuna (3947 tons) was passing the Kermadec Islands (these lie 800–1000 km north-east of the North Island)
when a seaplane flew overhead and dropped a weighted canvas bag on the forecastle head.
Inside was a note ordering the steamer not to use its wireless and to surrender to the nearby German commerce raider Wolf − or face attack.
When the seaplane dropped a bomb 20 m in front of his ship, the Wairuna’s captain had little choice but to comply,
especially as the powerfully armed Wolf was now approaching.
On 17 June, after its 42 crew members, cargo of live sheep, 900 tons of coal and other provisions had been transferred to the Wolf,
the Wairuna was sunk by scuttling charges and shelling.
An American schooner, the Winslow, which stumbled upon the scene was also seized and sunk, its 15 crew joining the New Zealand prisoners.
Some of the Wairuna’s crew suffered greatly in captivity in Germany before they were freed at the end of the war.
Photo :Wairuna in Wellington Harbour, c. 1913-1915 (Alexander Turnbull Library, 1/2-016638-G)
Winslow
Winslow Paint
The American schooner WINSLOW as painted by Woolston Barratt, c.1916
Winslow
Winslow
NARA111-SC-41639-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Winslow
Blowing up US schooner 'Winslow'
MID NARA111-SC-41670a-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Beluga
Beluga
Burial of 2nd Mate of American bark Beluga from deck of Wolf
MID NARA111-SC-41674-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
SS Matunga
SS Matunga entering Rivalo Cove, New Guinea
MID NARA111-SC-41650-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Matunga
The SS Matunga at Madang Wharf, Papua New Guinea, in 1914.
Picture: Courtesy of the AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
Matunga
Single-screw steamer, 1618 tons. Built UK, 1900. Burns, Philp& Co. Captain Alex Donaldson.
Left Sydney in August 1917 for New Guinea with passengers and cargo.
She was was three hundred miles off Rabaul when she radioed her destination and expected time of arrival - and mentioned her cargo - five hundred tons
of coal, and, more important to the townsfolk of Rabaul, a months liquor supply.
The ship never reached Rabaul and there was no sign of her passengers, crew, nor wreckage.
At the end of the war it was discovered that the Matunga had been boarded by the German raider Wolf, and the passengers
and crew captured on 6 August 1917.
No lives were lost when the Wolf, disguised as an old tramp steamer, suddenly turned on the Matunga and placed a shot across her bows.
Captain Alex Donaldson offered no resistance, and the ship was calmly and rather politely captured as was the way of the Wolf.
The capture took five minutes.
With a prize crew on board the Matunga, the two ships steamed toward the north- west tip of the then Dutch New Guinea.
Off the little island of Waigeu, the coal from the captured ship was transferred by hand to the Wolf.
On 26 August 1917 both ships moved a few miles out to sea where time bombs were placed on the Matunga and she disappeared stern first beneath the waves.
The Wolf continued west toward the Indian Ocean and over a period of fifteen months, captured and sunk a total of thirteen vessels.
The crews and passengers of the ill-fated ships were captured and held in the holds of the Wolf, and in a second ship.
The Wolf and her prisoners reached Germany in February 1918.
Hitachi Maru
Hitachi Maru
Sinking of Japanese steamer 'Hitachi Maru'
MID NARA111-SC-41671-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Hitachi Maru
Hitachi Maru
Gun on SS Hitachi Maru taken on board the Wolf before sinking Japanese ship.
MID NARA111-SC-41667-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Hitachi Maru
The liner Hitachi Maru with a number of passengers and a valuable cargo was in the neighbourhood of One-and-a-half Degree Channel, at
the southern end of the Maldive Islands, when she was chased by the German commerce raider Wolf on September 26th, 1917.
The Japanese vessel was equipped with one gun, and with this Capt. Tominaga endeavoured to beat off the raider,
at the same time sending out wireless calls for help.
If was only after 14 of his men had been killed and six wounded that he decided to surrender.
For more than a month the Japanese liner lay with her captor at a lonely atoll being cleared of her coal and cargo.
The passengers and crew were transferred to the Wolf, among them Capt. Tominaga who was so distressed that he jumped overboard some weeks later.
On November 7th, when the ships reached the Cargados Carajos Group, the Hitachi Maru was sunk by time bombs.
The Japanese cruiser Tsushima spent most of the month of October searching for the missing vessel and at last the Japanese Admiralty concluded
that she had been wrecked.
The search for survivors was continued throughout November by the French cruiser D'Estrees but without avail, and it was not until some months later
that the loss of the liner was attributed to the depredations of the Wolf.
Source: Five Months on a German Raider
Being the Adventures of an Englishman Captured by the 'Wolf'
Author: Frederic George Trayes
Igotz Mendi
Igotz Mendi
Igotz Mendi
Igotz Mendi
The steamer was captured by the German armed merchant raider, SMS Wolf, on 10 November 1917, south of the Mauritius Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Although the Igotz Mendi was a neutral ship, she was carrying 5000 tons of coal for the Royal Navy.
A prize crew was placed on board and 1000 tons of coal was transferred to the raider as they sailed for the Cocos Island.
Both ships were painted grey and they travelled around the Cape of Good Hope and proceeded across the South Atlantic towards the Ilha da Trinade.
During February 1918, the SMS Wolf and her prize sailed through the North Atlantic en route for Ruhleben via Iceland.
Both ships had been badly damaged when the raider had coaled from the collier at sea in rough weather.
Conditions for prisoners on board both ships were almost unbearable, the temperature reaching as low as minus 10 degree Celsius.
Violent storms were encountered with huge waves that constantly washed over the decks.
The two ships made the coast of Norway on 21 February 1918 but before reaching the safety of the port of Kiel the Igotz Mendi ran aground off the Danish coast in thick fog on 22 February 1918.
A Danish gunboat retrieved the crew and prisoners on board but the Igotz Mendi remained firmly aground and was abandoned by the raider.
John H Kirby
Sinking of American Bark Kirby
MID NARA111-SC-41675-ac
Source of Photograph: National Archives RG 111
Storebros - Afon Alaw
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Storebros - Afon Alaw
Green Collection – State of Victoria
Storebros - Afon Alaw
Green Collection – State of Victoria