KILLED BY OIL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20275, 17 June 1940, Page 2

KILLED BY OIL

MENi OF MINESWEEPER SURVIVOR’S STORY When, H.M. Minesweeper Sphinx sank off the Scottish coast while being towed to port after an attack by Gei> man planes, some of the crew were choked to death by oil. It had been poured from the ship to calm the sea, says the London Daily Telegraph ana Morning Post. One of the 44 survivors, a 19-year-old seaman living in Norfolk, gave an account of the bombing and machinegunning of the ship by the German machines, and the struggle of the men in the water the Sphinx capsized.

“Two planes dived at the ship,” he said. Their machine-guns started and a bomb hit the ship. The men narrowly escaped, but Commander Taylor and men were killed. The Whole forecastle*’’seemed to lift up and fold back without breaking into fragments. - • , “I was amidships dodging machinegun bullets. So far as I could tell only one bomb actually hit the ship. We retaliated with our guns. “The seas were very heavy and it was with difficulty that another vessel got us in tow. Early next day the tow rope parted, and we were left almost helpless in the rough seas. “Our engines were out of action and we drove about for a long time. Then a huge wave hit us broadside and capsized the Sphinx. “I saw some men going down with the ship and then found myself clinging to an oar with other men in the darkness. All over the sea was a coating of oil fuel that we had cast out and it must have got into many men’s lungs. “When I sa v a wave coming I held my nose with my fingers until the wave and the oil on It had passed, but some water and oil began to choke me.

“Heads kept bobbing up all around and men kept calling out odd words about their families at home. Then a searchlight showed on the water. I struck out and caught hold of a line that had been thrown out. I was pulled on board a ship utterly exhausted.”