Monday - Late in the evening the battleships Naples, Rome and the cruiser Varese off Tripoli on cruise control intercept a steamship: the Rome made very close illuminates it with the projector, observes it carefully, hears speak on board in German and reads stern the name Hamitaz for which it is continued.
The Hamitaz, which was none other than Derna, will arrive in Tripoli the next day, immediately unloading weapons and ammunition. The "mystery" will be solved later when conquered Tripoli you will find that at the stern were originally written, the names Derna and Hamburg, one below the other: the first, the name of the ship, had been erased by a coat of paint while of the second that of the port of armament - the ship had been purchased in Germany - only the first three letters had been preserved by changing the others to read Hamitaz. It will be found half-sunk and later it will be re-floated, recovered and put into service in the Regia Marina as troop transport with the new name Bengasi.
[On Thursday night 21 in the late evening the Turkish steamer Derna, embarked 20.000 rifles Mauser and two million cartridges, after being moved away from prying eyes to the Hardar Pasha pier, on the other bank of the Bosphorus, leaves Constantinople with supposed destination Tripoli. The day after, the consul Oreste Savina will inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome of the fact by adding the 23 that the ship was painting a new name, Hamburg, instead of the original Derna]
(in the photos of Naples and Rome)
