ON THE SEAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 May 1942, Page 5

ON THE SEAS

CANADIAN LINER SUNK. (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) OTTAWA, May 19. The C.P.R. annou'nce the Admiralty has granted permission for publication that the Empress of Asia was sunk by Japanese dive-bombers on February 5, near Sumatra, whilst transporting troops to Singapore. Most of the 2500 Imperial troops were saved. The Japanese dropped 80 bombs and scored five direct hits. Soon the whole ship was aflame. About 100 seamen escaped, but 44 are known to have been lost. Escape by lifeboat was impossible for they, too, were burnt.

The little Australian sloop, Yarra, was the heroine of the rescue. Coming alongside the blazing liner, she took the Empress of Asia’s troops off, at the same time firing constantly at the enemy bombers. freighter-sinks u-boat. (Recd. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, May 19. A United States merchantman was torpedoed off Bonaire Island, where 19 survivors were landed. A battered Free French freighter arrived at an eastern Canadian port, after a three-hours running battle with a U-boat. Members of the crew declared that the merchantman's gun scored a direct hit on the U-boat, which is believed to have been sunk. The freighter was hit twice by two torpedoes which failed to explode. ADMIRAL "CUNNINGHAM

ALEXANDER, May 19. In a farewell message to the Fleet Admiral Cunningham said: “It has been my greatest pride that throughout the war the Mediterranean Fleet has consistently shown itself to be master of the enemy in all branches of naval warfa.ro. This has enabled us for two years to impose our will on the enemy to a very high degree, in spite of his superiority in every class of ship and his almost overwhelming air strength. This achievement, in the world’s most strenuous naval fighting, is one I treasure as greatly as the privilege of leading the Fleet in that period. “Our world-wide commitments at present mean that we have not always as large forces as we would like, to carry the war to the enemy's front. This will not always be so. I look forward to the day when the Mediterranean Fleet will sweep the sea clear and re-establish our age-old control of this waterway.”