GERMAN SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 64, 15 March 1940, Page 8

GERMAN SHIP

SUNK OFF JUTLAND

LITIGATION OVER ATHENIA

HANNOVER AS PRIZE

(U.P.A. and Official Wireless.) (Received March 15, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 14. The German official 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 ship settled down slowly. Authoritative naval circles in Lon- J don state that reports that the British 10,516-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. * LIMIT OF LIABILITY. 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 Athenia, 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.] WAKAMA AFFAIR. The skipper of the German ship Wakama has denied a statement put out by the German radio that ths 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. Oslo reports that the Germans intercepted the Norwegian cargo ship Balder (1129 tons) bound for Bergen (Norway) and took her to Wesermunde (Prussia). Efforts to obtain its release have been unsuccessful.