THE FIRST shot of the World War fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the flag of the Central Powers was fired by a detachment of the 65th Infantry; the firing took place prior to our declaration of war against the Central Powers; and although fired to enforce our neutrality as declared in accordance with international law, the shot was fired in violation of international law! The firing and circumstances leading thereto occurred at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and their narration should be of particular interest to the naval service as a reminder of exigencies to be expected in the event of our neutrality during any future wars between other powers.
Early on the morning of August 3, 1914, the Praesident of the Hamburg Americanische Packetfahrt Aktien Gesellschaft (Hamburg American Line) arrived ahead of schedule in San Juan from its home port at St. Thomas. The Praesident under the command of Captain L. Schlimbach was a vessel of 1,849 tons gross tonnage and had been built at Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1905 for service in the West Indies and South America. On board when she arrived were about thirty German army reservists who were expecting to receive further orders in San Juan from Mr. Waldemar Hepp, the German Consul. These reservists were disembarked immediately upon arrival and awaited further orders in San Juan, thereby helping to increase subsequent difficulties for the German Consul as the German colony at that time was the largest foreign colony in the island. No passengers or freight were taken on board, and as quietly as she entered, the Praesident cleared the same night many hours ahead of schedule for a regular run to Santo Domingo and Haiti. The only freight presumed to be on board was a large shipment of condensed milk which had been received from the Hamburg American Line headquarters at St. Thomas where the docks and warehouses of that shipping line were the largest and best provisioned in the West Indies.
Editor’s Note.—See photograph of the Praesident, page 1318.
After clearing the harbor entrance on the night of the third, the Praesident was not sighted until the early morning of the twenty-third when she steamed into Havana Harbor, a long trailing cloud of steam from her forward funnel proclaiming to one and all her jubilant feeling after having outwitted the French and British cruisers which were reported to have sunk her the day following her departure from San Juan. Heavily loaded with coal and provisions she cleared the same night for a return passage to San Juan and as soon as she was clear of the harbor entrance all her lights were extinguished and she disappeared on a northerly course. Twenty days was her time for the trip from San Juan to Havana while the return trip was made in five days as she returned on the twenty-eighth for fuel and provisions before continuing on to her base at St. Thomas. Where had she been in the meantime? The German cruisers Karlsruhe, Dresden, and Strassburg were reported to be in the vicinity of the Leeward Islands but it did not seem plausible that with only a load of condensed milk the Praesident would have gone out of her way to contact the German men-of-war.
That initial war voyage of the Praesident was the first of several other momentous ones to follow. With enemy cruisers advised concerning her movements, thanks to the co-operative services rendered by the cable company operators, the Praesident outran and escaped capture on several occasions. During the last week in September as she steamed out from St. Thomas, the French cruiser Condé was sighted 3 miles out waiting to end the mysterious errands of the Praesident. Without attempting to turn around in the narrow entrance, she reversed her engines and backed into port to safety. A few hours later under the cover of darkness she cleared again for San Juan with a load of rice and more cases of condensed milk and once more was off on another voyage similar to others, calling for visits to Santo Domingo and Haiti according to her originally issued clearance papers but invariably terminating at Havana. On this last trip Captain Schlimbach, before clearing from San Juan, took an oath before the Collector of Customs that the Praesident had no supplies for any man- of-war on board. After a rather long trip and after escaping from two enemy cruisers off Haiti, she again arrived at Havana. Her trips were made with just enough coal on board in her steaming bunkers to make the voyage. No extra water was carried and due to her rather peculiar construction for work in the rivers of the West Indies and South American ports where a flat bottom was necessary for navigation, the Praesident steamed very light and, with a draft of only 8 or 9 feet, escaped her pursuers over the Bahama shoals. Every succeeding trip became more exciting for Captain Schlimbach until the trail either became too hot or orders received from an unknown source directed him to run into San Juan and remain there. His last entrance past El Morro witnessed the Praesident sailing in under the colors of Great Britain in order to escape detention by enemy cruisers off the harbor entrance.
In connection with the activities of the Praesident while operating along the Leeward Islands, two German firms in San Juan did a thriving business. During the early months of the war both Korber & Co. and Fritzie, Lundt & Co. were busily occupied in receiving and transshipping supplies ostensibly from Havana. Korber & Co., the local agents for the Hamburg American Line, attended to the ship movements of the Praesident, while the firm of Fritzie, Lundt & Co. engaged in a most profitable business in connection with the dispatching of cargoes received for the Cuban port. The firm of Sobrinos- Esquiaga in San Juan established a large warehouse along the malecon for the purpose of collecting materials which were placed at the disposal of the Fritzie, Lundt & Co. shipping concern. Copper and rubber junk was at a premium and the large stores accumulated in the warehouses along the malecon in San Juan seemed to disappear while the cargo for the Praesident invariably was manifested as condensed milk for Cuba. Sacks of coffee from Venezuela for transshipment to Holland appeared to be in proper form as far as external appearances and weight were concerned but inspection by the local customs inspectors by means of long needle-like probes revealed the fact that the sacks contained plugs of rubber. Even two barrels filled with empty 30-cal. rifle shells picked up from the butts of the U. S. Army range in San Juan disappeared from the warehouses assigned to Fritzie, Lundt & Co. during the time of the several trips of the Praesident. Complaints made by interested persons to the British Consul, Mr. G. Ambrose Pogson, were of no avail and the traffic continued until the Praesident elected to remain in San Juan pending the outcome of the war.
Two days after the first surprise visit by the Praesident, the Odenwald of the same line came into San Juan with 30 passengers from St. Thomas. Built in 1904 at Flensburg, Germany, the Odenwald had a gross tonnage of 3,537 tons and was under the command of Captain C. A. Segebarth. Clearing from Hamburg on June 6, 1914, with a passenger list of 11 men, 6 women, and 3 children, the Odenwald started on her last voyage under the German flag to the West Indies. Immediately after her arrival on August 5 at San Juan her passengers disembarked and only cargo consigned to San Juan was discharged. From all outward appearances it appeared that the Odenwald had elected to remain in port, but future events in connection with the ship were to be of serious importance in our relations with Germany prior to our entrance into the war.
After spending a few months at anchor in San Juan, a sojourn broken only by the occasional will-o’-the-wisp sailings of the Praesident, Captain Segebarth of the Odenwald received a new member into the internment circle when the KD III arrived on January 13, 1915. Formerly the British tramp Fran, the KD III had been captured by the Karlsruhe in October of the previous year and in the interim had acted as convoy, lookout, or supply ship for the German raider. At one time the ship had been reported as having been sunk by the Karlsruhe. The former Fran steamed into San Juan under the command of Captain Lubinus, former captain of the North German Lloyd Grafen, at that time a reserve officer from the Karlsruhe and in charge of a prize crew on board. The ship’s provisions were very low although her holds were filled to overflowing with coal. Having been declared to be “a tender to a belligerent fleet” by the State Department and ordered to leave port within 24 hours, the weather-battered vessel was not fit for further active duty without a much-needed overhaul and so the ship was interned on January 25. She was allowed to fly the German ensign and a corporal’s guard from the local U. S. Army regiment was put on board. After a conference in the office of the chief collector of customs, Mr. D. E. Richardson, the officers from the revenue cutter Algonquin were instructed to disable the engines of the ship to prevent her escape.
The Praesident having decided to make the best of a poor bargain and to remain in San Juan for the duration of the war, the interned fleet in the early part of 1915 consisted of the former with a lone customs inspector on guard each day, the Odenwald also with a customs inspector as custodian on board, and the KD III with a small detachment of regular Puerto Rican troops on board from the local garrison at Ballaja, El Morro. Although the wireless room of the Odenwald had been sealed up by the customs officials a few weeks after her arrival in August, 1914, no serious action had been taken toward disabling the ships until the early part of 1915. In the first part of February three link blocks and a throttle valve were removed from the Odenwald while a few weeks later a sextant and a pair of binoculars were removed from that ship and from the Praesident, respectively, to prevent the escape of those ships. No reasons for the delay in taking adequate steps to disable the ships could be offered other than that no authority had been given the collector of customs to hire extra deputies and the regular duties of his small force were such that the extra watches on the interned ships overtaxed the services of his small crew of inspectors. Neither the Navy, Revenue Service, Army, nor Lighthouse Service were permitted to intervene and it was to the credit of the small customs unit at San Juan that more serious breaches of neutrality were not committed against the United States by ships interned at that port.
In San Juan Harbor the three interned ships continued their daily routine of morning roll-call by the customs inspectors or U. S. Army guards, respectively, and regular shore leave for the paroled officers and sailors. Having discharged her cargo of coffee, hides, cacao, and sugar in bond on November 4, 1914, the Odenwald took on no further supplies excepting daily stores until March 17, 1915, when she began to load large quantities of provisions and a deck load of coal. Captain Segebarth applied to Mr. Richardson, the chief collector, for clearance to Hamburg and preparations were made for leaving port.
Clearance papers having been refused by order of the authorities in Washington and suspicion having been aroused that the Odenwald would leave regardless of having received her proper clearance, Mr. Richardson held a conference on Friday, March 19, for the purpose of clarifying the situation. This conference was attended by Mr. Richardson, his assistant collector, Mr. Hayden L. Moore, the U. S. Marshall, Mr. Reese Bennett, Captain Segebarth of the Odenwald, the German Consul, Mr. Waldemar Hepp, and the commanding officer of U. S. troops in Puerto Rico, Lieutenant Colonel William P. Burnham. Having applied for clearance on Wednesday, Captain Segebarth stated that he would have to leave as soon as possible with or without clearance papers as he knew that the local cable operators had already spread the news that his ship was loading prior to departure and that enemy cruisers were in the vicinity ready to capture or sink his ship. Colonel Burnham told those present that he had orders from Washington to prevent the ships from leaving and any such attempt would be met by fire from the battery at El Morro overlooking the harbor. This battery consisted of a 4-inch rifle facing westward and an old 6-inch gun, the latter a souvenir of the Spanish-American War. The larger of the two guns faced to the northwestward and both guns were mounted on the upper platform where the present saluting battery is located.
Increased activity on board during the afternoon of the twentieth convinced the inspector guard on board that the ship was getting ready to leave in the morning and Mr. Richardson being out in the island on business, Mr. Moore called a special conference on Saturday night. Mr. Richardson returned in time to attend the conference between himself, Mr. Moore, the German Consul, and the Captain of the Odenwald. Mr. Moore told the Captain that from all appearances the ship was getting ready to sail, whereupon Captain Segebarth practically admitted that he was forced to leave as soon as possible. After being informed that unless the Captain gave his word not to clear without proper papers, regular U. S. Army troops would be placed on board to prevent him from sailing, the consul, Mr. Hepp, said that he would do his best to have the Captain keep his promise and that the ship would not leave.
The following morning, Sunday, March 21, Mr. Moore notified Colonel Burnham at El Morro about the previous night’s conference and the Colonel gave orders for a machine-gun company to be standing by during the day in the event that the German ship tried to escape. During the afternoon the customs guard on board, Francisco Augustini, was called by the Captain and told that unless the guard went ashore he would be taken to sea as the ship was going to leave without clearance papers, all promises notwithstanding. Inspector Augustini protested the Captain’s actions but the solitary guard was hurried brusquely into his shore boat as the ship began to weigh anchor during the late afternoon. Inspector Augustini upon landing at the marina rushed immediately to Inspector Mathew- son at the customs-house, told what had happened, and then made all haste to the apartment of Mr. Moore. Upon learning that the ship was leaving Mr. Moore called the officer of the day at El Morro and gave the alarm. Mr. Moore rushed to the customs wharf and with Mr. Richardson and Mr. Mathewson in the collector’s boat proceeded to give chase to the Odenwald, which was already turning around Puntilla Point. Meanwhile a machine-gun detachment ran from El Morro, rushed down around by the old prison, and set up a machine gun along the wall below La Fortaleza, the governor’s residence. The officer of the day, Captain Teofilo Marxuach, of the local Puerto Rican regiment, proceeded to the upper gun platform of El Morro and had his squad load the 4-inch rifle. The gun was loaded with a live shell but as the gun had not been fired before and as the gunnery sergeant was a very economical soldier, the recoil cylinders were not filled. Like wildfire the news of the escaping ship spread through Ballaja and San Juan.
As the Odenwald came around Puntilla Point and entered the channel, the machine-gun company detachment opened fire on the ship and by the time the ship came abeam of La Fortaleza a row of machine-gun hits spread along the upper deck and across the pilot-house. Up on the roof terrace of Casa Blanca, the residence of Colonel Burnham, a wildly gesticulating figure was waving to the ship with a white tablecloth. Hearing the shots and realizing the responsibility vested with her husband, Mrs. Burnham was doing her utmost to make the Odenwald go back into port and spare her husband’s career from any difficulties in case the ship did escape. When the machine-gun bullets hit the pilot-house Captain Segebarth feared for the lives of his officers and the numerous German reservists who had managed to come on board just prior to the ship’s departure. The engines were immediately reversed and while the propeller churned the water and the ship slowly moved ahead before losing headway, the battery at El Morro fired a 4- inch shell which threw up a burst of spray just ahead of the ship. As the gun fired it disappeared, and although later stories were current to the effect that Captain Segebarth thought he was being fired upon by a disappearing gun and so turned back, the truth was that the ship had already slowed down when the 4-inch gun was fired, and that the latter, having carried away its recoil cylinders due to the aforementioned sergeant’s economical policy, fell back from its base and rolled down the ramp inside the fort! Surely it was mistaken for a disappearing gun because it did not reappear again until the soldiers had labored with tackles to haul it back up to the gun platform. The other larger gun although loaded was not fired; indeed the consequences might have been disastrous if a 6-inch shell had been fired during the excitement which prevailed. Perhaps that gun too had been spared its requisite amount of fluid in the recoil cylinders.
As the ship stopped and proceeded to back down until she could swing around to go back into port, two flag hoists were run up on her forward yard. No witnesses to the incident could read signal flags, so that part of the incident has been lost. However, as the above took place one lone witness observed a ship coming over the horizon toward the harbor entrance, but after the firing and the display of signal flags this mysterious ship was seen to turn quickly and disappear to the northward. As the Odenwald started to swing around the Captain threw two heavily weighted packages over the side. Seeing the customs officials in the boat which had in the meantime caught up with the ship, the Captain shouted that he had been fired on and that he wanted the customs inspectors to come on board. This request was refused and the ship continued back into port and anchored near the quarantine station at Miraflores. A military guard was put on board and no one on board was allowed ashore that night. The ship was also guarded by a machine gun of the U. S. Lighthouse Service tender Myrtle.
The following morning Captain Segebarth appeared in Mr. Moore’s office. The German’s face was sad indeed. Tears streamed from his eyes and it was evident that he had spent a most restless night under a heavy strain as a result of the previous afternoon’s events.
“Mr. Moore,” the Captain muttered and sobbed, “this is the most terrible thing that has ever happened to me. To think that the United States, a friend of Germany, would ever fire on my peaceful merchant ship.”
“Yes, but you seemed anxious to get away,” the assistant collector of customs replied, “why didn’t you keep on going?”
“But I had sixty extra passengers on board and I was afraid that they would be killed. Think of it, shooting at innocent passengers in a merchant ship. I was fired upon by the United States!”
This last outburst was met by Mr. Moore’s statement that he suspected that the Odenwald was going out to meet some German raider, the Kronprinzessin Cecile or the Kronprinz Wilhelm.
“But, Mein Gott!” shouted Captain Segebarth, “you have no proof of that! Would you have kept on going? Would any sane person do that when he was shot at?”
“Well, Captain, I don’t know if the man was sane or not but we had one admiral who carried out his orders for our Navy when he was fired on.”
“And who was that if I could ask?” came Captain Segebarth’s quick reply.
“His name was Farragut,” said Mr. Moore, “if you want to know.”
“But I did not want to risk the lives of my passengers,” concluded the Captain and returned to his ship.
An examination the same day showed that the Odenwald had taken on board 1,500 tons of coal in addition to her regular bunker supply and a good load of live stock of beef, sheep, and pigs. No trip of the Odenwald from San Juan to Hamburg had ever necessitated such a cargo and the local officials decided that it was apparent that the ship had intended to contact a German raider for the purpose of transferring her newly received cargo.
On March 26 the Odenwald was taken into custody by the U. S. marshal at San Juan as a result of a complaint filed by the U. S. district attorney who charged that the ship “did on the 21st day of March, 1915, attempt to depart from the port of San Juan without clearance and for the purpose of carrying fuel and supplies to a German warship or warships.” This case of libel against the Odenwald was the first case involving a violation of United States neutrality as specified in the resolution passed by Congress a few months previous to the attempted escape.
The action for libel was never concluded. Postponements followed until we entered the war and condemned the Odenwald along with the Praesident and the KD III. However, it was of momentous interest to learn that shortly after the Odenwald incident, the Karlsruhe was intentionally beached along the north coast of South America and abandoned, while a few months before we entered the war Mr. Jack Hass, while acting as customs inspector and guard on the Odenwald, accidently discovered in one of the novels in a bookrack over the captain’s bunk a most interesting message blank. It was dated a few days prior to the attempted escape of the Odenwald and directed the ship to proceed north from San Juan until reaching the 19th parallel; head due east until contacting a German raider; and then after reprovisioning the latter ship and taking off prisoners, to go to Bahia and intern herself there pending further instructions. This compromising message was decoded by our naval intelligence service subsequent to our entry into the war. Perhaps Will Kleis, the wireless operator of the Odenwald, could have explained the origin of the message, for Captain Segebarth never did so.
Upon our entrance into the war arrangements were made to take over the three ships and the U.S.S. Hancock arrived to furnish complements for the ships and to transport the German crews to the United States. Having received word that attempts would be made to prevent the ships from falling into the hands of the United States authorities the Navy and Revenue Cutter Service personnel made a most careful examination of all ships’ engines and appliances. An attempt had been made to sink the KD III by opening her sea valves but the ship settled on the bottom and was soon refloated after Machinist Karl F. Svenningson of the Revenue Cutter Algonquin dived down into the ship’s bottoms and succeeded in closing the valves. The engines of both the Praesident and the Odenwald revealed plenty of loose gear inside the cylinders in addition to incorrectly placed gauges and boiler fittings. A most painstaking search by Mr. C. W. Siegmund, one of the customs inspectors, was rewarded after eight days of work on the Praesident when the German code books were discovered.
On May 23, Captain E. T. Pollock, U. S. Navy, commanding officer of the Hancock, took over the Odenwald for the U. S. Navy. On the same date Korber and Co. turned over to the naval authorities two sextants which had been deposited by First Officer G. C. Clemente of the Odenwald and Third Officer E. Aichem of the Praesident, respectively.
As the Hancock cleared the entrance off El Morro, Captain Schlimbach turned to Mr. Siegmund, who was also en route to the United States as escort and guard to a heavily weighted, canvas-covered parcel, and said, “It seems a pity but those ships will never run again. You Americans are just wasting time.” A few days later the three ships left under their own power and the only one which returned to her haven of internment was the Praesident. She became the U.S.S. Kittery and made many trips to the West Indies as a naval transport. The firm of Fritzie, Lundt & Co. had closed its doors prior to our declaration of war, and with the departure of the three interned vessels the activities of the local German colony’s agents ceased as a result of most stringent alien supervision by our agents.
Over twenty years have passed since the foregoing incidents occurred. Many of the participants still reside in San Juan while others have retired from the government service and live in the United States. Captain Schlimbach of the Praesident although well along in years still follows the sea and last summer participated in the Newport to Norway yacht race, sailing his boat single-handed across the North Atlantic. The accurate whereabouts of the machine gun which fired on the Odenwald are unknown, but the gun which threw the single shell across the ship’s bow and then performed the unexpected disappearing act is still mounted on the lower gun platform of El Morro and can be recognized by ships entering the harbor. A few years ago the U. S. Army ordered the gun transferred to the continent but upon the insistence of the late Colonel George L. Byroade, U. S. Army, then commanding the 65th U. S. Infantry, the gun was retained at San Juan as a souvenir of the regiment’s participation in a pre-war engagement which greatly influenced our relations with Germany prior to our entrance into the war.