Five Months on a German Raider,

[206thCEF]

Hitachi Maru and the German Raider "Wolf".

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.

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Joe