UNARMED SHIPS

Grey River Argus, 16 January 1940, Page 8

UNARMED SHIPS

BOMBED BY ENEMY PLANES RUGBY, January 12. Stories are now available in some detail of attacks on the merchant ship Jevington Court on Tuesday and the fishing trawler Star of Scotland. About 11 a.m. on Tuesday, those on the bridge of the Jevington Court heard the sound of aircraft engines. One Dornier 17 appeared. It was flying very low, and it circled round the steamer to make sure that she was defenceless. It circled again, and as it passed closer over the steamer it opened fire with machine-gun bullets, which tore up the deck pianklng, splintered the sides of the wheelhouse, and shattered the skylights and hatches. One bullet went through the engine-room and put the dynamo out of action. Another glanced oft: the bridge rail and carved a long groove in the mahogany chart table. The machine circled again, and this time it also dropped a salvo of four bombs, but they fell wide because the Jevington Court was zig-zagging. The aircraft returned to the attack with machine-guns and bombs. The bombs fell nearer, and their explosion shook ihe ship, but did no damage. In the next attack, the aircraft, still raking the deck with machinegun fire, a luxther ivo Limbs Men cn the upper deck, in trying to dodge the hail of machinegun bullets, saw these bombs falling, but the vessel was under full helm, and the bombs missed by six feet. The explosion of them, however, seemed to lift the ship z Everything movable wa« thrown about, and even the compasses were lifted out of their gimbals and thrown out of the binnacles. The safety valves of the boilers were lifted off their seatings, and the concussions sent up Ciouds of coal dust through the bunker hatches. The aircraft apparently thought that the bombs had hit and that the ship was sinking, for it disappeared to the eastwards, flying fast and high. The crew of the Jevingtpn Court then gathered themselves together and shook the coal dust out of their eyes. They then discovered that the ship was virtually undamaged, and continued the voyage. By an astonishing stroke of luck there were no casualties on the Jevington Court. This remarkable luck was not the case in the Star of Scotland. That trawler was hauling her trawl off the Shetland Islands when a German bomber appeared and machinegunned her. The crew ran for what shelter their could find. The aircraft circled and returned to the attack, dropping three bombs. One of these hit, demolishing the wheelhouse, wrecking the steering gear, killing two of the crew and wounding two. The crew then tried to abandon ship. They succeeded in launching a small boat under fire, and three men jumped into it, but the aircraft machine-gunned the small boat, sinking it and leaving three men struggling in the water. The aircraft then made two further bombing attacks on the trawler without securing further hits, and flew off to the eastward. The trawler succeeded in picking up the three men who were clinging to the wreckage of the small boat. Then a jury steering gear was rigged, and the Star of Scotland, with her wheelhouse completely smashed, with a gaping hole in her foredeck, and with the casing of her funnel and her upper works riddled by machine-gun bullets, was brought to port with her dead and wounded.