Captain's Chase

Like the typical seaman he is, tall, lean Captain Hans Kieff of the Hamburg-American Line is adept at battling the elements, poor at talking about them. At 52, he has been everything on ships from cabin boy to U-Boat commander during the War. Lately he has been master of the S. S. Deutschland.

Last month, when the Deutschland was in Manhattan, he was ordered to take over the staff captaincy of the cruise ship Reliance, then at Hamburg. Promptly he sailed for Germany, ran into storms, arrived after the Reliance had steamed out for Manhattan under Commodore Fritz Kruse. Captain Kieff boarded the Europa as a passenger, headed back across the Atlantic in pursuit. Last week the Europa ran into heavy weather, arrived ten hours after the Reliance had churned off south on a round-the-world cruise. Grimly the taciturn German skipper stamped aboard the Furness Liner Eastern Prince, sailed for Rio de Janeiro, where he is scheduled to arrive the same day the Reliance is due there.

When newshawks twitted him on his long chase after his vessel, solemn Captain Kieff became huffy, remarked: "It is an act of God."

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