Her commander, Korvettenkapitän Count Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, had taken Möwe around the World in 1915 and early 1916, sinking several vessels and fighting one engagement on 16 January with a UK cargo ship.

With a veteran crew and ship, Kapitän Dohna-Schlodien eluded the Allied blockade of Germany in December 1916 and headed for mid-Atlantic, taking several vessels along the way.

[2] Several shots hit Möwe at a range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m), badly damaging her before her crew managed to return fire.

The last men to leave were the Chief Officer, Roland McNish, and the ship's carpenter, who jumped together.

The damage caused by Otaki started fires in Möwe's coal bunkers, which burned for two days and nearly reached her magazine.

[5] She also sustained serious flooding by being holed by Otaki's shells; this had required counter-flooding to correct the list, and more was let in to quench the fires.

Within a month she was back in German waters after running past the Allied blockade a fourth and final time.

Möwe's captain, Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, described Otaki's resistance as "a duel as gallant as naval history can relate".

[7] After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 more details of the battle reached the UK authorities, so in May 1919 Smith was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross[6] and McNish was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.

[4][8] At the time civilians were ineligible for the Victoria Cross, so Smith was posthumously commissioned into the Royal Naval Reserve as a lieutenant to receive it.

His parents commemorated their son by giving his school a William E Martin prize to award annually[11] for English and modern languages.