Later he was
sentenced by the Commander of the _Wolf_ to three years' imprisonment in
Germany and a fine of 2,000 marks. From this time all the Spanish
officers were relieved of their duties.

The Germans had told us that, in the event of the prize being captured
while the weather was rough, the ship would not be bombed or sunk, as
they had no desire to endanger the lives of the women or children
amongst us. In fact, so they said, the ship would not be bombed under
any conditions when once the _Wolf_ had got all the coal she wanted. It
was indeed difficult to see what purpose would be served by the Germans
sinking the Spanish ship, if she were overhauled by an Allied cruiser.
The Allies could not keep her, as she would have to be restored to
Spain; the Germans said they would not keep her, but return her to her
owners. To have deliberately sunk her would only have meant a gratuitous
offence to Spain. Nevertheless, the next time we met the _Wolf_ a new
supply of bombs and hand grenades was put on board our ship. At the same
time an extra Lieutenant came on board, additional neutrals were sent
over to help work the ship, and the prize crew was increased from nine
to nineteen. All the prize crew now wore caps with the words "S.M.S.
_Otter_" inscribed thereon. Somewhere about this time the American
Captain and the second mate of one of the captured ships had returned to
them their instruments which had been taken from them at the time of
their capture.

The Kaiser's birthday, which fell on a Sunday, was honoured by the
sacrifice of the last calf, and was marked by a most terrific storm. The
wind was raging for hours at a hurricane force between eleven and
twelve, the seas were between thirty and forty feet high, and it seemed
impossible that the ship could live in such a sea. It seemed that she
must inevitably founder. But notwithstanding terrible rolling, she
shipped very little water, but all of the prisoners were alarmed at the
rough weather and the rolling of the ship. The wireless aerials were
brought down by the storm, and any seas that did come on board smashed
whatever deck hamper had been left about.

From this day onwards we lived in a condition of great misery, and death
stared us in the face many times. The prospect was a gloomy one: just
when my wife and I had reached the time to which we had been looking
forward for many years it seemed daily increasingly unlikely that our
lives could escape a violent and b