Ermans

[?]R Drama In Tahiti

[?]Rench Gave

Air Warning

'RTHER sidelights on the story of the German bombardment of Papeete in 1914 (told in Sep )er PIM) are contained in news »r cuttings and a letter from a ed American captain. They p mainly to the German \hter “Walkure,” which had been ured at Makatea by the French )oat “Zelee” and was anchored iete Harbour at the time of the ember bombardment. [ days before the Papeete aombardment the Maitai had irrived at San Francisco with German Consul and his family i Tahiti, under safe conduct un ity; and two days before the bardment the barquentine SN le had arrived at Honolulu a party of German business and some of the crew of the cure. icy had, very sportingly, been red to get away by the Governor r rench Oceania, who, on un al receipt of word that war had en out, advised them to depart he opportunity then offering, :e official advice of the outbreak ar was received. Some of the nan business men had left their ch or Tahitian wives at Tahiti, use of the limited accommoda in the SN Castle. ptain Fred. K. Klebingat, of Pedro, California, writing to a d in Tahiti, has added a foot to the story. already stated, some of the nans in Tahiti had departed for >lulu as passengers in the tntine SN Castle a few days sr. In command of the brigan was Captain von Dahlern. was he who bought the wrecks xe Trenton and Vandalia after

the great Apia hurricane,” writes Captain Klebingat. “He also transported the coffins of all the dead to San Francisco in the brigantine Sea Waif, of which he was then (1888) part-owner.”

Captain Klebingat, now associated with the San Francisco Maritime Museum, was Second Mate in the SN Castle.

Captain von Dahlern undertook to deliver the German merchants and seamen to a neutral port at a fare of $2OO each, but the fares were later refunded by the shipowners.

“We had Algoewer, Rambke,

Kurka, Gustav Meule, Sanders, and several minor clerks of the SCO— all of whom will be remembered by Tahiti old-timers.

“Then there was Captain Westphal, two mates, and three engineers, and the cook of the captured Walkure, and a man named Seefeldt, who had been down in Papeete installing the engine in the schooner Moana.

“I never saw any of them again after we landed them at Honolulu, but in 1940 I met one of Algoewer’s sons, who was in the fur business in Post Street, San Francisco.”

German Admiral Count von

Spec’s task force defeated British Admiral Craddock’s small force at the Battle of Coronel, eight days after leaving Tahiti, but the end came for the Germans on De cember 8 in the great Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee’s squadron sent von Spec’s flagship Schamhorst to the bottom with all hands, and also sank the Gneisenau, Nurriberg, and Leipsig.

Another, Dresden, escaped, but was scuttled when intercepted off Juan Fernandez Island in March.

Thus was the bombardment of Papeete, the loss of HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope at Coronel, and the attack on Fannng Island cable station, avenged by the Royal Navy.

Papeete still wears at least one scar. If the host of the old Yacht Club Restaurant (as it now is) is asked, he will lift a framed picture on the wall to show where an un exploded shell passed right through the building, felling a coconut palm on its w r ay out. t British interest in the develop ment of New Guinea has been stressed by Mr. G. R. B. Patterson, senior Australian Government Trade Commissioner in London, who is making a three months’ visit to Australia and New Guinea to discuss marketing of goods in Britain.

t Wealth from the Coconut, a valu able little book on the selection and handling of seed coconuts, written by Mr. W. V. D. Pieris, has just been published by the South Pacific Com mission and is available from the SPC Literature Bureau, GPO Box 5254, Sydney, for 2/6 Sterling (3/2 Aust.). The book is available in

English, French, Malayan, !F Rarotongan, Fijian, and Tong.

If Te Karibanang, a Gilbert Is assistant administrative off; supervised the arrangements fo first party of Gilbertese settle Gizo, British Solomons, in tember.