DESTROYER LOST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 43, 20 February 1940, Page 7

DESTROYER LOST.

MANY MEN MISSING. Fantastic German Claims Of Successes. " FOUR CONVOYS ATTACKED." United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 19. The Admiralty announces that the destroyer Daring has been torpedoed and sunk. One officer and four ratings have been picked up, but nine officers and 148 ratings are missing and feared lost. Among the missing is the captain of the Daring, Commander S. A. Cooper. A Berlin communique states that "U-boats in various ocean areas successfully attacked enemy convoys. They sank steamers and oil-tankers in three convoys, and a destroyer belonging to the protective force was sunk in the fourth convoy." British naval circles discredit the German claim that four convoys were successfully attacked. The comment is that "the claim is fantastic, as German claims usually are."

Of 137 a tons displacement, H.M.S. Daring belonged to the Defender class, which comprises eight destroyers. She mounted four 4.7 in and six smaller guns, and eight 21in torpedo tubes. Her top speed as published was 30 knots. The Daring was on the China station in 1938, but it is not known when she was transferred. This craft is the sixth destroyer lost in the war. The Blanche, Grenville, Gipsy and Exmouth were blown up either by mine or torpedo, and the Duchess sank after a collision.

TERRIBLE ORDEAL.

British Seamen 78 Hours In Open Boat. GALLANT TANKER CAPTAIN. (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 19. In a terrible state of exhaustion and most of them semi-conscious, the captain and 13 members of the crew of the British steamer Langleeford (4622 tons), which was sunk by enemy action on February 14, reached the shore after 78 hours in an open boat. Two members of the crew died from exposure and were buried at sea. Captain S. Miles, with his 10,000-ton tanker almost cut in half by a torpedo explosion, and half-submerged, sailed her for four days in the North Sea until a warship landed him and 41 other survivors of the crew of 44 at a Scottish port. The British Navy has captured and sent into port two of six German ships which tried to make a dash to Germany from Vigo, Spain—namely, the Morea (1927 tons) and the Rostock (2542 tons).

The Morea had a cargo of manganese ore. She was biought to a West of England port and her crew of 30 were interned.

Danish seamen met and suggested that their Government should stop all sailings in the North Sea until Britain provides control ports outside England and Germany ceases torpedoing ships without warning, says a cable from Copenhagen.

The German official news agency claimed to have sunk the French liner Emile Miguet, giving no details, but later cancelled the claim.

Holland has protested to Berlin over the sinking of the Arendkerk on January 15, and has demanded compensation, says a Hague message.