Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 300, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1918 — TOE VON STUBEN CHRISTMAS SHIP [ARTICLE]

TOE VON STUBEN CHRISTMAS SHIP

BOAT ON WHICH RENSSELAER BOYS HAVE SAILED TO HAVE ' XMAS CELEBRATION. 1 1 ' T ‘ • The U. 8. S. Von Stuben, on which <our three naval boys, Donald Wright, Donald Beam and Herman Ames, have made many trips across the ocean, is to 'have a very novel setting in the War Camp Community 'Service in New York Christmas day. The following is taken from the New York Sim: During its extraordinary career this vessel, which was the German steamship Kronprinz Wilhelm, has •bee none of the swiftest and most luxurious passenger lines, a daredevil Hun raider, an interned-enemy ship, a convoy and transport for American soldiers and now is to become a Christmas boat. A great tree, its branches weighted with gifts, will 'be set up by the War Camp in the vessel’s dining hall and hundreds of children of American soldiers and sailors will share the happy event with the crew of 1,150 men. Some of the dark history of the Kronprinz Wilhelm is well known, but most of its adventures will remain wrapped in mystery. This #as the liner that slipped out of New York harbor a few days after Germany began the world war, and under pretence of obeying orders to report in Bremen, headed for the South American waters.

There during her 255 days as a raided she sank twenty-eight vessels, destroyed millions of dollars worth of property and had many encounters with French and British cruisers. Her orders were to keep afloat and do what damage she could, so she attacked only merchant ships and ran from everything that looked lake a warship.. Her speed was 23.53 knots, it was not difficult for nes to ’ outdistance the craft she feared. The few tales of her engagements with French and British ships serve to emphasize the gallantry of America’s allies. One of these vessels was the British steamship Lo Corentina, whose captain, though he had not an ounce of ammunition on board, refused to surrender and put up so brave-a front that, it was pot until the Kronprinz Wilhelm had fired across her bows and received no answering flash that the helplessness of their adversary dawned upon the officers of the raider. In April, 1915, the Kronprinz Wilhelm, her sides battered, boilers corroded, the walls of her costly suites and salons blackened from the coal stored in them and her half starved crew ill fed from beri-beri, slipped into Hampton Roads for repairs, having evaded the vessels in search for her. x Since being taken over by the United States her adventures,' though of a decidedly different nature, have been almost as numerous as when she was a pirate. She has both convoyed and transported troops. Once she narrowly escaped disaster in a collision with the Agamemnon. On ! another voyage she was blown about i over the ocean for four days. ’. the Halifax disaster happen-

ed the then Von Stuben was only forty miles away. At first the officers mistook the mountainous peaks of smoke for an iceberg. But they soon saw the flames. The detonations reached them later. Going intmediately to the stricken city, thC'-captain sent the crew to aid the workers in efforts to relieve the suffering. Now the Von Stuben is undergoing a period of inaction in the Morse dry dock. The crew of 1,150 men tell strange stories of her nine trips across the Atlantic as a transport. On the decks one still secs long rows' of rafts for use by the men w]je nthe lifeboats are filled. And in fthe lookout are the numerous telescopes which were needed night and day. One twist of a harmless looking apparatus serves to a awaken a pandemonium of' bells' and siren toots as deafening as New York’s peace was, for this was the danger signal during the tense days and nights of the war. But except for these things the Von Stdben might still be mistaken for a meyedSerehafitmaai, grown worn and shabby from user On Dec. 25, in Her hew role as a Christmas ship, she will appear even more guileless. Yet at Christmas-, 1314, she was the terror of the Southern seas, and last Christmas she was taking thousands of soldiers to France. She is to play Santa Claus* this year <to children, some of whose fathers will never return from the field of battle.