YOUTH’S BRAVERY

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 147, 16 March 1940, Page 11

YOUTH’S BRAVERY

Cadet Of Ship Bombed By Nazi Planes ATTEMPT TO RESCUE OFFICER (British Official wireless.) (Received March 15, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, March 14. Further information has become available of the courageous action of a young cadet of the Domala, the ship which was bombed and set on fire by Nazi aircraft in the English Channel on March 2. Seventeen-year-old Cadet Duval, after it had been decided to abandon ship, lowered a raft into the sea with nine other survivors, including the second officer. It was bitterly cold, with seas breaking over the raft. Men dropped off one by one till only’ Duval and the -second ollicer were left. Duval clambered on to the raft and tried to drag the second ollicer with him, but the officer’s weight was beyond Duval’s strength, and he took off the belt of his mackintosh, passed it round the ollicer and hold him up till he himself lost consciousness. Duval remained insensible till he found himself on board a warship more than an hour later. The second ollicer was drowned. Duval, who is still bandaged and limping from his injuries, has expressed his intention to go to sea again as soon as he is recovered. GERMAN STEAMER SUNK Damaged British Tanker Safe (British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) LONDON, March 14. The German ollicial news agency reports the sinking of the German steamer Eschersheim (3300 tons), which was laden with coke, from Bremen to Oslo, off Jutland. Nine of the crew of 33 were lost. Messages from Copenhagen state that observers on shore said that it looked like a scuttling, because the shiji settled down slowly. Authoritative naval circles in London state that reports that the Britisli 10,51 G-ton tanker Charles F. Meyer, which was damaged in an explosion on March 4, has been abandoned are entirely without foundation. The captain and the crew, despite the severe damage to the vessel, remained aboard and worked through the night to save the ship, which was towed- into harbour by a British warship. -She now lies safely docked, with her cargo intact. Atlienia Case. A message from New York states that Donaldson Atlantic Lines, Ltd., has petitioned the Federal Court for an order freeing the company from liability for loss of life and property in the sinking of the Atlienia, which was torpedoed early in the war, or the limitation of the company’s liability to 200,000 dollars. The claims at present total 732,000 dollars. The German vessel Hannover, with a prize crew aboard, and escorted by a warship, has arrived at Kingston, Jamaica. [The Hannover was set on fire by her crew, but the fire was extinguished by British: sailors who boarded the vessel.] The skipper of the German ship Wakama has denied a statement put out by the German radio that the crew of the Wakama were machinegunned by the British cruiser when they were rowing away from the ship. He asked permission to make a voluntary statement in which he said that the Wakama’s crew were picked up by a British cruiser, and the captain of the cruiser ordered the derelict boats to be sunk because they might be a danger to shipping. He says he was treated With the greatest courtesy by the British cruiser and the South African authorities. It will be recalled that he previously asked the Admiralty to convey a message to Germany that the report of machinegunning was untrue and that they were all safe. U-BOAT COMMANDER’S CLAIM LONDON, March 14. A Berlin report states that Lieutenant Schuhart, commander of the Üboat which torpedoed 11.M.5. Courageous last September, on returning from a raiding expedition, reports that he sank 24,000 tons of enemy shipping, his total for two raids -being 00,506 tons.