1936-02-10 — Page 18

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1936.

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MONDAY, FEB. 10, 1936,

Sinking Of

the German Fleet

noon on June 21, Athen discussing

PEACE conference wns. Luggage was boing thrown ounce of steam in an effort to

escorted into the Firth of Forth, to?”

ridos ?"

1919, seven months other things, the distribution boats drawn alongside.

Among from

their quarter-decks into reach the doomed vessels before after the Armistice, 74 among the Allies of the seventy was an air of grim finality about

There they sank. ships of the German four German vessels anchored in the proceedings.

Two destroyers, their decks Navy interned in Scapa the Flow.

I hurried to the chartroom, wash, had already been taken Flow were scuttled by winter afternoon seven months for joy

My mind went back to a grey- "Do you allow the crows to go the shore at full speed in an at- in tow by tugs now making for their crows.

I naked a earlier ten days after the arm- lieutenant of the Sochosin, point-tempt to beach them. istice when the surrendering ing to the crowded gangways. The ships included ten seventy-four German

Clinging to the mast of the Vessels, "Certainly not," he replied.

He focused his binoculars and which remained above water, Hindenburg, scarcely six feet of battleships, five battle-under Admiral von Reuter, had

arrived off Rosyth.

regarded the scramble with a was a German sallor. cruisers, eight light Between two avenues of war. puzzled look. cruisers and fifty-one ships the Germans had been "What on earth are they up, He was struggling to secure destroyers.

the German ensign to its head. Admiral Beatty was on the Suddenly a gleam of under- At last he succeeded. Among them was the He rapped out

bridge of the Queen Elizabeth, standing showed on his face.

an order. A Then he shouted, "By Jove, I

There were cheers from a cruiser Karlsruhe, fore- bugle sounded.

believe the blighters are scut near by boat of Germans, runner of the ship of It was sunset. The German tling their ships?

Then a splash. the same name now in white Ensign took their places.

flags were hauled 'down.

The sailor They were.

had fallen into the water. As he spoke the great shape Hongkong harbour. A band played. Once again of the Friedrich der Grosse be-

The waves washed the flutter- Britannia ruled the waves, Of these fewer than a

gan slowly to heel over to port, ing pennant. It curled limply The German Fleet had subse It was an awesome sight. round the mast. dozen ships remained quently been brought to Scapa

I stood fascinated as the giant afloat. The total loss in Flow and put in charge of vessel shook like some sick The Hindenburg was gone.

It disappeared into the waves. British patrol boats. tonnage was 400,000 and in monetary value £70,000,000.

*

*

k

*

NIGHT and day for

The

beast.

鱿

An hour passed. Two,

One by one the German vessels EN were jumping from her had been going down.

and swimming to- Then across the horizon there

the decks past six months a strict

A number of the ships Burveillance on the fleet had wards the boats, now being was a billow of smoke.

firm.

*

*

By BERNARD F.

I

had

her.

was the

Nearer came the British ships.

As

have since been raised the terms

towards the been maintained, although by rowed frenziedly

of the armistice shore.

The First Battle Squadron was a British salvage the British

no right Orders rang out in the Socho- returning. I could make out the to place our own men sin. She slewed round,

Revenge. aboard their ships, and had no We were racing towards the jurisdiction in the matter of foundering ship. their internal discipline.

And then began one of the Tugs and patrol boats were sull The German vessels were un- most exciting scenes I have ever racing over the waters of the Flow picking up boatloads of GRIBBLE

der the command of Admiral watched. von Reuter and skeleton crews. To our starboard

Germans. The Sochosin was a German Frankfurt. The same feverish

There were very few German. WAS aboard the So- minesweeper captured towards activity was going on aboard strips left by now,

chosin.

the end of the war.

The lieutenant veered the through this amazing scene, the the Revenge steamed The reason for my presence She was one of the aboard her was a commission Sochosin in her direction.

last of the cruisers, the Bremse, several

the American Navy to "We'll make a start on. her," small patrol from

gave a shuddering, plunge, and boats guarding the in- make sketches of the interned he said grimly.

disappeared. Already her boats, crowded terned German fleet in I had been living aboard the with German sailors, were being

Admiral Fremantle and his Scapa Flow.

Revenge, the flaship of the First lowered into the water.

staff watched this last episode British Battle Squadron ata-

"Cutlasses and rifles ready," through binoculars from the famous sea basin in the South than three hours before had

She drifted lazily on that tioned at Scapa Flow, which less ordered the lieutenant.

bridge of the Revenge. We drew alongside the boat- Orkneys which.during the four weighed anchor and left for the ful of Germans.

When eventually the Emden. years of the great war had open sea to carry out tactical

An officer stood in her prow. was salvaged two secret docu- proved an impregnable strong- exercises.

He was ¿

wearing yellow kid ments were found in von Reu- I had stayed behind to finish gloves and smoking a cigar. hold for the British naval forces.

ter's cabin. One was dated. The Iron Cross decorated his May 9-six weeks before the. my work.

tunic. He grinned impudently scuttling took place and was from Admiral von Trotha, chief

THE LEAGUE'S RECORD Although its handling of the Italo-Ethiopian dispute has not thus far produced effective re- sults, it can be said that at no time in its history has this or- ganisation, formed for the pur- pose of preserving world peace, attracted more universal atten- tion than during the past twelve months, It is just sixteen years ago, last month, that the League was brought into being, and although it has experienced its ups and downs, the past year has without question been the most important of its career. The moment is appropriate in which to take note of the record of some of the League's activi- ties to date. The League's Covenant embodies two simple principles. The first is that when nations quarrel, and their dispute is likely to lead to the to protect the victim of an un-

The war was over.

vessels.

*

**

at us.

*

*

ten battle "Return to your ship," of the German Admiralty:" use of violence, they agree that just war. Twice in the League's A ships, ele bile shouted the ficute out thi

Ger-

*

It hinted that, rather than before resorting to war they life have the conditions for the eight light cruisers and fifty- a megaphone. will bring the subject matter of fulfilment of this promise, occur-one destroyers of the

swallow the bitter pill of aur- render to the enemy, Germany their dispute before the League red. In 1931 Japan wrested man Navy were moored in the

Flow on this brilliant June T donic smile from the officer altogether, so long as they were THE only retort was a sar- would prefer to lose her ships tribunals. There are several Manchuria from China by force. morning. instances of this being done in After long and perhaps too| The destroyers were cabled and jeers from the ratinga.

lost with the German flag stil! the League's short history, patient enquiry, in 1933 the close to the shore in pairs. The

Their boat rocked от

the flying. Two of fairly recent date may League's Assembly condemned bigger vessels were lined arc- waves.

The second document was a Its oars had been discarded. copy of orders aent from the be noted. Denmark and Nor- Japanese aggression, but the wise further out. way brought their antagonistic League-or rather the Powers Kaiser, and the Grosser Kur sin threw a fresh supply to the on June 17 to every officer aboard. There were the Markgraf, the A petty officer in the Socho- Emden by Admiral von Reuter claims to the sovereignty of the that compose it-never, made furst, battleships whose gunfire Germans. There was no excuse the interned ships. East Greenland Coast before the any attempt to take co-operative at Jutland had accounted for the for disobedience. The order was. It gave full detalls of the League's World Court, and when action against Japan. In the British armoured cruiser De- repeated. Again it was ignored, time and method of the scut Rifles were raised. A shot tling, which was to take place that body declared Denmark en-year that has just passed Italy fence, in which Sir R. Arbuthnot

board rang out. One of the ratings immediately on receipt of the titled, the disputants shook similarly broke her League's and every soul

perished.

staggered back into the arms of apparently innocuous code sign- hands at

once and have been pledges and plunged into an ag-

The Von der Tann, too, which his comrades. better friends

gressive war against Abyssinia, at the same action had in seven-

al: "Paragraph 2 of to-day's There was an indignant oath orders," which delineated meant: since. ever Again when Persia tore up its fellow member of the League. teen minutes, sunk the British from the officer.

Indefatigable, contract with the Anglo-Persian The question naturally arose: battle - cruiser

"We are prisoners of war," "Sink ships at once." he yelled. "How dare you?" Oll Company (in which the Would the fiasco of 1933 be re-leaving only two survivors.

Also the Seydlitz the Moltke, "Nothing of the sort," bawled IT was further revealed that a peated? It was well-known British nation holds a pre- that the prestige of the League and the Derffinger, which had back the lieutenant. "Do as copy of these orders was de- ponderating interest), the mat- had been seriously shaken by its taken part in the bombardment you like in your ships. Now livered to each commanding

submitted to Was

the feeble treatment of the Far borough during the first year of

officer by a German sailor. of the Hartlepools and Scar- you're under our orders." League's Council, a Committee Eastern

Another shot. question. Happily

This man, to evade the vigi- the war.

Another rating sagged over lance of the British guard boats,

weeks from one ship to another

ter

on

boat.

**

**

of which advised a compromise. Great Britain awoke to her res- In the far distance I could the gunwale of the German swam every night for several This advice was accepted by all ponsibility and gave a splendid discern the dat

lend-and France and fifty parties, with results that have other nations followed that lead. What a dance the first arro- The white flag of truce flut- under cover of darkness.

*

*

been profitable to Persia, Great For the first time in history the Bant little cruiser of that name tered in its midst.

had led us!

We shifted our position to

The ordinary methods of con Britain and the Company alike. | right of a powerful nation to

nearer the boat. One of the veying messages and orders by The point is that whereas in the impose its will upon a weaker

Sochosin's crew jumped aboard. heliograph and semaphore had old days, it is doubtful whether one has been seriously chal-UDDENLY from her a helio. A rope was throws, and we been prohibited.

lenged, The issue of the graph flashed, and flashed took her in tow. any solution could have been obstruggle will be determined this again. I watched Interestedly,

It is also significant that five... Set.tained without threats or the year.There can be no doubt, for Admiral von Reuter was There. was another boat full ment from von Trotha a German A bullet whistled past my ear. days before the date on the docu- actual clash of arms-leaving provided that the spirit of fear-aboard her.

LANE

CRAWFORD, LTD.

of Germans aft the Sochosin. boat, 'the Dollart, arrived in

both parties sore after the con- less justice shown in 1985 docs A pause. More hellograph We took that, in tow too. And Scapa Flow. fict-under League auspices League can come out of it all,

not weaken in 1996, that the signals.

then another. peace and justice in the cases incalculably strengthened so as scem very important.

I read the message. It didn't They showed no sign of re- Reuter's orders two other ships, Also that on the date of von. quoted have prevailed and the to render any repetition of these

sistance. relationships of the nations in aggressive policies by any nation gen Tage. Beatatigen." which battleships were fast. settling food, clothing and supplies for

"Paragraph II. Vom heuti All around us the

the Bardenia and Schlesuig, German arrived ostensibly to bring dispute have improved rather almost impossible. Public translated meant:

down, than deteriorated. But there is opinion, however, is in no mood "Paragraph 2 of to-day's Pandemonium! The deep note the German sailors aboard, ac

to condone faint-hearted treat- orders. Acknowledge.” of megaphoned orders. The sus armistice.

cording to certain articles of the Immediately answering sig-tained shriek of syrens The

9

a second principle. If any nament of the issues involved in tion for reasons of greed or Im- the present crisis. patienco refuses to follow the handling of the situation, the rest of the German battleships. of desperately wielded oars, documenta were concealed in By its nala were semaphored from the clatter of chains, The splash There is little doubt that the League procedure, preferring League will either emerge with The next moment I noticed war to impartial enquiry and greater strength and influence, sailors' swarming down the maze of drunkenly slanting clothing..

And · against the horizon a loaves of bread or articles of conciliation, all the other nations or be written down as a futile gangway stairs of the Friedrich masts. that are members of the League experiment to evolve an Instru- der Grosse, the flagship of the Now tugs from the shore, at the moment for his signal to the Von Reuter had well chosen agree to take co-operative action security, justice and peace.

ment capable of establishing German fleet. And down the tracted by the warning ayrens, officers of the interned fleet to

sides of most of the ships.. were chugging, away their last sink the ships.