MANY LIVES LOST.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 248, 27 July 1940, Page 5

MANY LIVES LOST.

SINKING AT EVACUATION.

ATTACK ON THE LANCASTRIA. i'' LONDON, July 26. ' Further details of the sinking at anchor Off the north-west coast of France of the British liner Lancastria (16,-243. tons) during the last days of the evacuation reveal than the vessel was sunk on June 17 at St. Nazaire. German aeroplanes ineffectually bomb-Led-the-liner for half- an hour-before scoring hits. A heavy list hampered the launching of lifeboats, aild the Germans machine-gunned the boats and rafts on which troops were endeavouring to escape. . _ The „ Lancastria was anchored . when the 'attack occurred. Three aerial torpedoes found their mark, one going directly down the- funnel, nnd-explod-ing in the boiler-room. Captain R. Sharp was the last to leave the ship, which went down as lie was going over the side. The ship’s surgeon rescued the captain. Meanwhile the Germans wore ma-chine-gunning other survivors. They killed everyone on one large raft. The majority of the survivors wore picked up by small craft, which had boon ferrying other personnel from the docks to the troopships. Some survivors swam ashore and may have fallen into enemy hands. The survivors all paid tribute' magnificent courage of the troops 4ind crew. The Tommies bsafig‘"*?Roll Out the Barrell” and “There Will Always Be Ail England” as the ship went down.

Two Church Army sisters rushed on deck when the order rang out - for women and children first, and jumped into a lifeboat, while men slid into the sea by ropes, and others leapt overboard.

One said: “As the German ’planes swept down we saw bullets spurting the water where men were swimming for their lives. When our boat was moving away, soldiers watching from a porthole saw we were wearing lifebelts. They cried: Give us a chancet Upon which wo took off our belts and flung them into the sea. “Royal Air Force aeroplanes arrived and dropped lifebelts. Two old Belgians and a little boy were in the water. Tho child was praying while the others encouraged him to keep aonflt. They were saved. A French trawler picked us up.” An Army cook said: “I saw a soldier grab a young girl whose Jogs, .were broken, and swim with her. Both wore picked up. The girl died on board the rescue ship.” A member of the crow described bow :a.'so)dier; blinded by the first,explosion, -was led to the ship’s hospital, where a second explosion killed all there, including the'doctor. A survivor who was flung into the sea when the Lancastria lurched, said the water-was almost a solid mass of men clinging together like flies, and covered with thick, black oil. It was a ease of every man for himself. Overhead three aeroplanes, continually swooped, bombed and machineguriried the men struggling in the water, some of'whom were horribly burnt by the explosions. - -