SHIP TAKEN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 237, 19 July 1947, Page 5

SHIP TAKEN

JEW IMMIGRANTS ABOARD PITCHED BATTLE OCCURS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30) JERUSALEM, July 18. British naval ratings this morning boarded the Jewish illegal immigrant ship President Warfield, which was expected at Haifa today. According to an official report there was some resistance. The correspondent of the British United Press says the Haganah radio broadcast a series of S O S calls which it claimed came from the President Warfield, stating that the British naval boarding party used gas, also grenades and machineguns. One Jew was killed and 25 were injured seriously in a pitched battle. The ship was damaged’ and is taking in water. Reuter’s earlier stated that the President Warfield’s passengers totalled 4554 comprising 1600 men, 1282 women 1017 youths and 65 children and babies. The ship, originally registered at Baltimore, was bought from _ the shipbreakers’ yard by an unidentified person for £IO,OOO. An official announcement on the boarding of the immigrant ship President Warfield says British naval vessels received some damage and it is believed that the President Warfield was also damaged owing to the evasive action taken.

Officials reported that strong resistance was encountered. Tear gas was used on both sides. No details of the casualties are available. Three British soldiers and one Jewish civilian were wounded In an ambush near a cinema in Jerusalem. A soldier was killed and six others were injured when a truck was blown up near Rehoboth. DEPTH CHARGES DROPPED EARLIER MOVES OF VESSEL (Rec. 11 a.m.) JERUSALEM, July 18. The British Press correspondent at Haifa says that white sheets covered two of the stretchers carried from the President Warfield to the Empire Vigour. The correspondent adds that through a huge rent torn in the hull of the President Warfield young Jews peered at their “promised land,” as tugs guided the vessel into Haifa dock. , , .. British destroyers threw depth charges to discourage attempts ai under-water sabotage. Royal Army Medical Corps stretcherbearers carried 16 injured Jews ashore and on to the Empire Vigour. The immigrants were dirty and dishevelled and many wore bandages or showed bruises received when they attempted to hold off the naval boarding party. Reuter’s correspondent says it is known that the President Warfield was one of eight ships which set out to cross the Atlantic during the war to be used for carrying troops between France and Britain. Three of the eight were lost on the voyage. The President Warfield, after war service, was spld to a shipbreaking firm on the Potomac for 8000 dollars, but two days after the sale was resold for 40,000 'dollars. The ship sailed on February 25 from Baltimore, ostensibly for China, but arrived at Spezia, Italy, on April 30. The vessel, 'shadowed by Italian warships, left Spezia on June 12 and went to the, small port of Sete, near Marseilles, where she took passengers aboard. The ship sailed with papers for Colombia on July 11. OFFICIAL DETAILS . 1 TWO IMMIGRANTS KILLED (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) JERUSALEM, July 18. The immigrant ship President Warfield. arrived in Haifa harbour this afternoon. It is officially stated that three British sailors were injured, on the vessel. Steam, tear-gas and fuel oil were used in an attempt to repel the sailors and it was reported later from Haifa that two immigrants were killed or died from injuries received in the fighting aboard the ship. An official statement said that the naval boarding party opened fire when two men attempted to decapitate a naval rating with an axe. also when another man was about to fire a rifle, ft is believed that the naval fire missed in both cases, but it caused the men to drop the weapons, Reuter’s correspondent says thau the Jewish illegal immigrants offered no further resistance after the brush with the naval boarding party. On arrival at Haifa, under the eye of the chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, they obediently transferred to the ferry ship Empire Vigour, for transportation to holding camps at Cyprus. The unnamed captain of the President Warfield, broadcasting over the Haganah’s secret radio, appealed to the United Nations Commission to intervene on behalf of his passengers. He claimed that the British committed an act of piracy by boarding the ship outside territorial waters. PALESTINE PROBLEM SWING TOWARDS PARTITION LONDON, July 18. The United Nations Committee concluded its hearings on Palestine yesterday, and in a review of what he calls “the impact of the problem on the delegates,” the Jerusalem correspondent of “The Times” says that, whereas a week ago they were leaning toward a bi-national State, there had now been a slight swing toward forming a Jewish State through partition.

Those who were basically in favour of a bi-national State numbering perhaps four or five at present —do not in turn agree on its composition, for one would have a State with parity, another with Arabs mainly. Another two are inclined to think in terms of cantons or autonomous provinces combined with trusteeship. Those who have been considering partition are mainly agreed that Negev should go to the Jews, but are by no . means so certain about Galilee.