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Off Nauru, the Norwegian '"Vinni" of 5,181 tons was scuttled before she could arrive and then load Phosphates for Dunedin in New Zealand.

As a high swell was runring. the Captains of these German raiders decided that rather than land at Nauru, they would sink any Freighters laying off the island - thus "Komet" sank the N.Z. vessel "Komata." "Orion," not to be outclassed, soon disposed of two British ships, "Triadic," and "Triaster," both of 6,000 tons. 166 prisoners were taken, all achieved without any casualties.

In German hands were now 675 prisoners, of whom 52 were women and 8 were children. This large number posed problems with space, feeding and their general care. To keep all the Raiders fuelled and victualled, as they prowled the oceans, required a tremendous amount of planning, and organisation coupled with coordination to get any individual Raider to meet up with a designated Supply ship or Tanker at a selected spot on a particular chart, at an agreed date and time.

One can hear a Raider Captain asking his Navigating Officer: "Pilot, what course and speed do you want me to set, so that we will make our rendevous on time?" The poor Navigator may not have been able to get any sun or star sights because of bad weather; he is running on dead reckoning and prevailing tides could be playing havoc with his estimated positions.

He crosses his fingers, makes his best guesstimate, and tells the "Old Man" in a casual manner, "Steer 0115 degrees, speed 12 Knots, and we would expect to sight our Tanker at 0725 in the morning." He leaves the bridge, hoping and praying that he will get some star shots that evening which will confirm or deny the accuracy of his advice. Any one of my readers who have had the responsibility of navigating a ship will indeed know all about that hypothetical scenario.

It was time to off load some of the prisoners, try and imagine what it must have been like to be captured by a German Raider. Firstly, comes the trauma of the action when the vessel you are aboard is confronted with an order "to stop, and do not use your wireless!" You need to abandon ship, most likely leaving all your possessions behind. If you have children aboard, you are petrified that something awul may happen to them. You ask yourse lf a woman, "will the Germans rape me?"

Once onboard the Raider, you are confined below decks, and never know where you are heading, or when you will arrive. There are further actions, and more prisoners are crowded onboard, some of whom are coloured, and your life has never before exposed you to such experiences, nor taught you how to cope with such drama.

Now you are to he landed and left behind on a lonely spot in the Pacific, at Emirau Island, situated south of Nauru. Will we be rescued? What other misfortunes could possibly happen to me now? In the event, all those put ashore at Emirau Island were soon to be rescued by the British.

The two German Captains had differing viewpoints on the landing of prisoners. Eyssen from the "Komet" landed everyone who was not a Regular soldier, or a R.A.F. volunteer, but Weyher, would only put ashore coloured prisoners.

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