Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Hi, can you help
 
I am trying to get as much information as I can on the Raider Wolf and the capture of the Matunga.
 
My grandfather Eric Minns, was a cabin boy and the youngest crew member on the Matunga when she was captured.
 
Any assistance would be great.
 
Thanks
 
Greg Minns

Greg,

I am sure you have looked at my: Marauders of the Sea. German Armed Merchant Ships During WW1, and the account of the Wolf, her capture and then sinking of Matunga.

There is not a great deal available about Matunga, she was a Burns, Philip & Company Ltd ship, this group between the 1880's and early 1970's operated for varying periods of time up to 38 ships, around the coast of Australia and in the islands to our north.

Their ships carried a black funnel with a black and white check band, and a distinctive Scotch Thistle house flag.

Matunga, a single screw 1,618 ton ship was built in UK in 1900. Under Captain Alex Donaldson with a crew of 45, she sailed out of Sydney on the 27th. of July 1917 bound for Rabaul. She had 500 tons of coal ( which Wolf was aware of, having read her message about sailing with a general cargo, coal, and the grog ration bound for Rabaul, the Captain of Wolf, badly needed that valuable coal, and meant to have it! )

Wolf's aircraft found her, and on the 6th. of August 1917, she was captured, after sailing in company with the Raider, she was sunk off Waigeu Island, Dutch New Guinea on the 26th. of August 1917. All her crew and passengers were taken aboard Wolf, and there were no casualities at the time of her capture.

All of this group ended up at Kiel in Germany when Wolf finally made it home in February 1918.

R.R. Alexander a radio operator and a prisoner in Wolf, wrote the book: The Cruise of the Raider Wolf. It was published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney in 1939.

I could not find any photograph of Matunga.

Sorry I am unable to help you further.

Best Regards,
Mac Gregory.

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