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The Nazi Pirates That Stalked The Pacific Ocean During WWII
A forgotten tale of sailors far from home
On the night of June 18th, 1940, the RMS Niagara was sailing from New Zealand en route to Canada. The journey was a routine one for the Niagara. The freighter had made the journey over a hundred times moving between Sydney, Auckland, and Vancouver. The freighter traveled hundreds of thousands of miles during its career connecting the Commonwealth nations of the Pacific. But the trip on the night of June 18th would be it's last.
The freighter struck a contact mine setting off a massive explosion off Bream Head. The explosion stunned the passengers and crew who did not expect to encounter any mines in the relatively peaceful waters around New Zealand. The freighter was carrying large amounts of small ammunition, gold bullion, and important officers. The materials were supposed to make it to the United States and Britain in order to help the war effort which was going south in Dunkirk on the other side of the planet.
The freighter went to the bottom without any loss of life but the shock value and material losses were high. The mines were laid by a stealthy German auxiliary cruiser that was stalking the vast wastes of the Pacific. The ship that laid the mines near New Zealand was the Orion, one of two German pirate raiders…
