Robert Scarrow was Chief Engineer on SS Scientist when it was engaged by the German raider KMS Atlantis. Robert was then caught up in the subsequent events involving five vessels, which unfortunately cost him his life.

On May 3, Atlantis met a British freighter, The Scientist, which was carrying ore and jute. The Germans raised their battleflag and displayed signal pennants stating, "Stop or I fire! Don't use your radio!" The 75 mm gun fired a warning shot.

The British immediately began transmitting their alarm signal, "QQQ...QQQ...Unidentified merchantman has ordered me to stop," and the Germans began transmitting so as to jam the signals.

The Scientist turned to flee, and on the second salvo from Atlantis, flames exploded from the ship, followed by a cloud of dust and then white steam from the boilers. A British sailor was killed and the remaining 77 were taken as prisoners of war. After failing to sink the ship with demolition charges, the crew of Schiff 16 used their guns and a torpedo to finish off The Scientist.

Taking on many disguises to resemble neutral vessels, including the Soviet Kim, the Japanese Kasii Maru (which was not successful even though some crewmen dressed as Japanese men and women), and later the Dutch freighter Abbekerk, the Norwegian freighter Tamesis, etc., Atlantis sank her first victim, the British freighter Scientist, on 3 May 1940 in the South Atlantic. Then on the night of 10 May 1940 Atlantis laid her 92 mines off Cape Agulhas in South Africa. However, one mine exploded prematurely on 15 May and the Royal Navy promptly swept the minefield. Afterwards Rogge headed east into the Indian Ocean to patrol the Durban-Australia track, with no success. Later Rogge switched to the intersection of the Durban-Batavia and Mauritius-Australia routes, this time with more success.

Atlantis spent the rest of 1940 in the Indian Ocean, where she captured or sank her second to sixteenth victims. Rogge's crew put together half of the British merchant code, and his pilot perfected the skill of tearing off the victim merchantman's aerials with a trailing hook. The bored men on Atlantis befriended their captives, sharing the same uncertain fate of the raider and usually the same meals. For example, the Germans called the Chinese sailors Lung, Chan and Fong Krischman, Franz and Willi respectively. On the 13th victim, the British freighter Automedon, Rogge found some extremely important papers including a British War Cabinet report outlining the empire's defense system in the Far East. Rogge sent the documents to Japan, and, after the fall of Singapore, received a samurai sword from Emperor Hirohito, thus becoming one of the three Germans to do so (the other two being Herman Göring and Erwin Rommel). Atlantis and her men then stayed in the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean, the raider grounded while nearing land, resulting in some nervous and tense moments. Operation continued in January 1941. Atlantis netted more victims, but life on board was tedious and routine. Crew morale was high nonetheless, except for a group of Nazis, who, according to Rogge's adjutant Dr. Ulrich Mohr, inclined to show some socialist characteristics.

Atlantis rendezvoused with some supply ships and an Italian submarine. On 8 April she returned to the Atlantic, where she got her next five victims. On the night of 17/18 April, Atlantis' men got a bad scare when the British battleship Nelson and carrier Eagle, unaware of the raider's presence, brushed by within 7,000 yards.

On 6 August 1941, Atlantis ventured into the Pacific Ocean, where she found only one prize. The raider crossed the Pacific and Indian, and was supplying U-126 in the Atlantic when she was jumped by the cruiser HMS Devonshire. Rogge was outranged and did not fire a shot so the true identity of his ship would not be disclosed. The survivors, including former captors and captives, were left stranded due to report of a U-boat nearby. Later they were picked up by the German supply ship Python, which was suck also when again supplying U-boats. The submarines rescued the survivors, and were later joined by some Italian submarines. By 29 December 1941, all submarines returned to St. Nazaire with Rogge and his men.

When what appeared to be the Dutch ship Abbekerk approached, no-one on Tirranna suspected imminent danger, not even when the foreign shipwas just 5400 meters away, until suddenly a shot was fired. The captain proceeded at full speed (17 knots), while the gun crew ran to their posts and the Radio Operator sent out a distress call, and as the distance increased over the next three and a half hours they had hopes of escaping. But the pursuing ship got in a direct hit, killing the 5 gunners on their posts, and it soon became obvious that Tirranna's speed could not save her afterall. After further intense shelling from the cruiser (39 salvos and 150 shots), the attempt at escape was abandoned, though the distance between them was now 8200 meters. Tirranna stopped in position 22 40S 69 20E, Rogge stopped the firing and Tirranna was boarded. The injured men were transferred to Atlantis, where they got excellent medical care, but 1 of them, Carpenter Johansen could not be saved. He had had his leg shot off below the knee; it was amputated above the knee but he had suffered too much blood loss and died the following day. Others who had been injured were 1st Mate Holst, Able Seaman Christensen, Deckboy Olsen, Boatswain Paulsen and Passenger Bjørnsby.

Captain Gundersen, pale and in shock from having lost 5 of his men was extensively questioned by Rogge. In spite of what he had just been through he answered the questions in a composed manner, a true seaman "as only Norwegians can be" according to Rogge himself. Tirranna was damaged, but not seriously, so after most of her complement had been transferred to the prisoners' area on Atlantis, Rogge decided Tirranna's valuable cargo would be of use in Germany. In addition to the wheat, flour, wool and vehicles, she also had 5500 cases of beer, 367 cases of tobacco, 3000 cases of canned peaches, jam, soap, chocolate, cigarettes, shoe polish, ham and cheese. They also took other items that were considered of value, such as copper and brass items. Additionally, some confidential papers were found, so all in all Rogge's 2nd catch was a valuable one (the British Scientist had been captured on May 3). He placed a prize crew on board under the command of Leutenant Waldemann, and ordered him to proceed further south and wait for orders, whereupon the two ships parted company. 8 of Tirranna's own crew also remained on board, namely Chief Engineer Knudsrød, Machanic Henriksen, 3rd Mate Bjørnebye, 4th Mate Andersen, Ordinary Seaman Hansen, Able Seaman Fuglevik, Cook Eliassen, and Saloon Girl Jenny Jensen (ref. crew list below).

Captain Gundersen's report presented at the maritime hearings states that Atlantis subsequently went on the lookout for a tanker so that she could get enough oil to send Tirranna to Europe, but though she captured two British ships, City of Bagdad, Kemmendine, none of which were tankers(?), she met up with Tirranna again on July 29 in position 31 10S 86 59E, and transferred some of her own oil to the Norwegian vessel. The two ships were together for a few days, until they on Aug. 2 spotted another Norwegian tanker - see Talleyrand, the next ship on this page for further developments. Two brothers who hadn't seen eachother for over 3 years met again that day. They were both 3rd mates, Svend Bjørneby on Tirrana, Finn Bjørneby on Talleyrand.

By the time Atlantis met up with Tirranna again, the raider had so many prisoners on board it became necessary to move some of them. On Aug. 4 about 264 were transferred to Tirranna, which was sent to France the next day, still under the command of Waldemann, assisted by Louis Mund and a 16 man prize crew. (Muggenthaler states Tirranna had 273 prisoners from Atlantis on board when the 2 ships parted company). She proceeded through The Indian Ocean, around South Africa, into the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay without mishaps, but on Sept. 22, as she was approaching the Gironde Estuary she was spotted by the British submarine HMS Tuna (Cavenagh-Mainwaring), which was on patrol in the area, and which sent 3 torpedoes into her, 45 19N 01 20W. A total of 292 people had been on board, 87 died, among them 3 of Tirranna's original crew and 3 from Talleyrand, 1 being a mess girl. (One source says 1 of Tirrannas passengers was also among the dead). 71 Indians, 9 British and 1 German also lost their lives. The survivors spent 3-4 hours clinging to debris before they were eventually rescued by German vessels. The Norwegian prisoners were interned in Royan, France for a while, then departed by train on Dec. 14, travelling through Belgium and Germany, with arrival Oslo on Dec. 17-1940. According to "Handelsflåten i krig", book 3 (Guri Hjeltnes), 30 from Tirranna, 34 from Talleyrand and 6 passengers from Tirranna arrived on Dec. 17-1940. (The numbers don't quite add up here, but with the various sources giving such conflicting information, it seems next to impossible to do).

C' as she was known to British Intelligence. The ship's frequent alterations of course deepened suspicions in the minds of those on Devonshire's bridge.

Atlantis, or ''Raider C', had been built in 1938 as MV Goldenfels, a 7,862-ton general cargo ship owned by the Hansa Line. On 30 November 1939, having been armed with six 150mm guns from the old 1906 battleship Schlesien, one 75mm bow gun, two twin 37mm and four 20mm guns, as well as four torpedo tubes and two Heinkel He 114B seaplanes, she was commissioned into the German Navy. After leaving Kiel in March 1940 and making a daring escape into the Atlantic she had ranged the Atlantic and Indian Oceans sinking or capturing 22 Allied merchant ships, including SS Automeden which was carrying top secret documents relating to Britain's garrison defences at Singapore. On 22 November, however, she had been ordered to rendezvous with, and fuel, U 126, which is what she was doing when found by Devonshire. Although the submarine made an emergency dive there was no escape for Atlantis.

Once Devonshire was within sight of the merchant ship, to frustrate any submarine attack, she manoeuvred to keep a distance of between 12,000 and 18,000 yards away, maintaining a speed of 26 knots with frequent alterations of course. Devonshire signalled the merchantman to stop and to identify herself but no reply was received. Instead she hoisted the 'L' flag meaning, 'Stop, I have something to communicate' and the 'MT' flags meaning, 'My engines are stopped'. Apart from this she refused to answer any signals. At 08.37 Devonshire fired two 8-inch salvoes to the left and right of the ship, hoping to provoke either a return of fire or to induce her to abandon ship. At 08.40 Atlantis transmitted a raider report in the form 'RRR RRR RRR de Polyphemus', a Dutch merchant ship which, eight weeks earlier, had called at Balboa. By 09.34, however, Devonshire had received confirmation that this was false and a minute later, at a range of 17,500 yards, the cruiser opened fire with her main armament. Devonshire's fourth salvo hit Atlantis's No 2 hold, setting it on fire and subsequently blowing up the magazine, and by 09.39 Atlantis herself was on fire and sinking. At 10.14 there was a heavy explosion and two minutes later the raider sank. With the strong possibility of a U-boat in the area there was no question of stopping to rescue survivors and two days later Devonshire returned to Freetown. Later that month and in early December she was back in the Atlantic Ocean carrying out an unsuccessful search for survivors of HMS Dunedin.
Lt. Cavenagh-Mainwaring RN. 22 Sept 40, near the Gironde estuary, France, Tuna torpedoed and sunk a merchant ship (45.19N, 01.20W) which, it was later discovered, was the Norwegian Tirranna, which had been carrying prisoners from Allied merchant ships captured in the Indian Ocean by the German surface raider Atlantis.

On 17 April 1941 the German raider Atlantis had sunk the Egyptian SS Zamzan with over 100 neutral US citizens on board, including the Life photographer David Scherman. It was his smuggled photograph which helped to identify the raider.