Trucking A Way

On 30 September the 5050-ton British tramp steamer Clement was stopped and sunk off Brazil with twenty thousand cases of kerosene bound from New York to Salvador, Brazil. Graf Spee radioed the location of Clements lifeboats and Clements captain and first officer were placed aboard the neutral Greek steamer Papalemos a few days later. Graf Spee stopped the 4,650-ton British tramp steamer Newton Beach on 5 October with a cargo of maize. Newton Beach served as a prison ship with a prize crew until 8 October. The 4,222-ton British steamer Ashlea with a cargo of sugar was stopped and sunk on 7 October.[12] The 8,196-ton British liner Huntsman with a cargo of tea was stopped on 10 October, and became a replacement prison ship.

Graf Spee used Huntsmans radio to transmit a deceptive message indicating Huntsman had been attacked by a submarine at a different location. Huntsman was sunk after transferring the prisoners to Altmark on 17 October. Graf Spee machine-gunned the bridge and upper deck of the 5,299-ton British steamer Trevanion (loaded with ore concentrates) on 22 October when that ship tried to radio a distress message.

Graf Spee moved into the Indian Ocean on 28 October and sank the motor tanker Africa Shell (in ballast) in the Mozambique channel in 15 November. Graf Spee returned to the South Atlantic and sank the 10,086-ton Blue Star liner Doric Star on 2 December with a cargo of meat, dairy products, and wool. Doric Star radioed a distress message; and sabotaged its engines so it could not be taken as a prize. Graf Spee sank Tairoa with a cargo of meat, wool, and lead on 3 December after the 7,983-ton steamer radioed a distress call.

The 3,895-ton steamer Streonshalh with a cargo of wheat was sunk on 9 December. Captain Hans Langsdorff strictly adhered to the rules of mercantile warfare at the time and saved all of the crew members of these ships; not a life was lost in these sinkings. The captured crews were transferred to the tanker Altmark. Later, these 303 crew members were freed by force in neutral Norwegian territorial waters by the British destroyer HMS Cossack (the Altmark Incident).

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