FIGHT WITH BOMBER.
COURAGEOUS CREW OF TRAWLER. LONDON, Oct. 16. The creAV of the trawler Ben Screel, from North Shields, by skill and courage saved their ship and themselves from an attack by a German twinengined bomber. The first bomb blew off the rudder, damaging the stern posts, and snapped one blade of the propeller and the tip of the other. Meanwhile, the Ben Screel was filling rapidly and the men made ready to launch a boat. A high swell was running and it was necessary to bring the trawler stern on to it to get the boat away, but the rudder was blown away.
Thinking quickly in the hail of bullets, the skipper got over the side, but by using the winch to veer and haul it, the trawlboard Avas made to act as a jury rudder and the Ben Screel came slowly stern on to the swell. The traAvler continued to fire at the aircraft Avhich eventually turned for home, losing height and Avith smoke pouring from it. Steering Avith the improvised rudder and with the pumps barely keeping pace with the incoming Avater the Ben Screel made for the Tyne at the best speed its crippled propeller could give it. Doggedness and fine seamanship nursed her to safety. Later, the skipper said the ship could not have lasted more than 60 minutes longer Avhen she reached port, but she lives to fight another day.— British Official Wireless.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19411018.2.41
Bibliographic details
Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 6, 18 October 1941, Page 5
Word Count
240FIGHT WITH BOMBER. Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 6, 18 October 1941, Page 5
Using This Item
Ashburton Guardian Ltd is the copyright owner for the Ashburton Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Ashburton Guardian Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.