th the propeller had been constantly
racing and sending shudders through the ship from stem to stern. On this
day this feature, which was always disconcerting and to a certain extent
alarming, became more marked, and the thud with which the ship met the
seas more and more loud, so loud indeed that on one occasion the Captain
thought we had struck a mine, and rushed from the saloon to the bridge
to ascertain what damage had been done. Luckily for us, the engines were
British made. No inferior workmanship could possibly have stood the
terrific strain put on these engines during these weeks of terrible
storms. The Captain and crew had by this time become very anxious as to
the fate of the _Wolf_, as no news had been received concerning her. Day
after day the Captain told us he expected news, but they went by without
any being received. But on the evening of the 19th the Captain informed
us that he had received a wireless message announcing the safe arrival
of the _Wolf_ at a German port. The Germans seemed singularly little
elated at the news, and hardly ever mentioned the subject again after
that evening. This was so different from what we had expected that most
of the prisoners did not believe the _Wolf_ had got home. We hoped that
she had been intercepted and captured by a British cruiser, and that
with any luck a similar fate might be in store for us.

The _Wolf_ had certainly made a wonderful cruise, and the Germans were
naturally very proud of it--almost the only exploit of their navy of
which they reasonably could be proud. They had successfully evaded the
enemy for fifteen months, and had kept their ship in good repair, for
they had first-class mechanics and engineers on board. But she must have
been very weather-worn and partly crippled before she arrived at a home
port. She had touched at no port or no shore from the day she left
Germany till the day she returned to the Fatherland. She was, too, the
only German raider which had extended her operations beyond the
Atlantic. The _Wolf_ had cruised and raided in the Indian and Pacific
Oceans as well. She had sunk seven steamers and seven sailing ships, and
claimed many more ships sunk as a result of her mine-laying. Besides the
prizes already named, she had captured and sunk the _Turritella_,
_Wordsworth_, _Jumna_, _Dee_, _Winslow_, and _Encore_, the last three of
which were sailing vessels. Her first prize, the _Turritella_, taken in
February 1917 in the Indian Ocean