ARMS CARGO DENIED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20073, 20 October 1939, Page 9

ARMS CARGO DENIED

ATHENIA SUGGESTION REPLY TO PASSENGER (Reed. Oct. 20, 9 a.m.) MONTREAL, Oct. 18. An officer of the Donaldson Atlanic Line has denied that the Athenia :arried arms and munitions as was ;uggested in a Washington message ,-csterday.

“She had only a small cargo of 880 :.ons aboard, consisting of Are bricks, whisky, soft goods, steel, machinery and small merchandise,” he declared. •It it apparent that with only 880 ons no arms and munitions could possibly have been carried.”

A cablegram despatched from Washington" on Tuesday said that Justav Anderson, a travel bureau operator, who was a passenger in the \thenia, had filed an affidavit with he State Department asserting that he Athenia was carrying coast defence guns to Canada and was being fitted out as a raider for the return

rip. The assertions were based upon ■illeged remarks by the chief officer, Mr. Copeland. Anderson stated that lit department had received several cores of affidavits from passengers. The American Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, told press repreentatives that Anderson’s statement •as the first intimation from any mirce that the Athenia carried guns. To promised to publish the full de- - ils when the departmental inquiry

•as completed. The First Lord of the Admiralty, ,'lr. Winston Churchill, in the House >f Commons on September 6, said: 'The Athenia was not defensively irmed—she carried no guns and her leeks had not even been strengthened or this purpose.” There was not the slightest doubt that the Athenia had left before the declaration of war, m a peaceful mission, totally unirmed, taking passengers who in:luded Americans across the Atlantic, md it was quite clear that the subnarine must have been in position vaiting to pick up a prey upon the route.

Commenting on the statement that he Athenia was carrying coast defence guns to Canada and was to be fitted out as a raider for the return trip, the Dominion stated: This item constitutes one of the minor nonsensicalities of war propaganda. Assuming that the chief officer of the Athenia discussed such a matter with a passenger, and assuming the presence of the guns in the vessel, the following points arise: The guns; being for coastal defence purposes in Canada, were cargo, just like any other cargo; the guns were loaded into the ship before the war; the ship sailed the day before war was declared. As for the tale that the Athenia was to be fitted out in Canada as a raider—what was she intended to raid? Britain has no use for raiders. Her task, while the blockade is clamped on Germany, is to combat raiders. Probably the germ of truth in the allegation is that the Athenia, when she reached Canada, was to have been fitted with a gun to defend her against submarine attack.