ORDEAL IN CHANNEL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 191, 15 July 1941, Page 5

ORDEAL IN CHANNEL.

ADRIFT FOR EIGHT DAYS

RUGBY, July 13

An eight and a-half days' ordeal undergone by a bomber crew of four drifting in the English Channel provides a typical example of British endurance, 'the bomber had set out for a, raid on Dusseldorf, but soon after crossing the. enemy coast the port engine began to give trouble and the pilot turned back over the coast. This engine failed and ten minutes later tho starboard engine began to lose power, resulting in a forced landing in the Channel. Unaware that,they were in the midst of a minefield, the crew climbed into the dinghy. "The trouble was." the pilot said later, "\vc were down in the 'drink' and no one knew anything about it. The wireless operator sent an 5.0.5., but it was not received because the generator was run off one of the motors."

Then followed a continuous ordeal of raised and dashed hopes as British aircraft passed and repassed without seeing the dinghy crew in spite of their waving and Hash signalling. Tho crew's rations were a few boiled sweets, a tin of food tablets, a few ounces of concentrated chocolate, a pint of water, and a small bottle of rum. The sweets and tablets lasted about four days. WATER RATIONED.

"After tho second day we didn't feel hungry," the pilot said. "What we wanted was water. "We began by allowing ourselves a tablespoonfut each twice daily and measured it out in the Jids of tins. I was the official measurer. After three days we cut the water down to a tablespoonful a day and on the seventh day our ration only just wet the bottom of the lid. "Wo were beginning to feel very thirsty by then.

"Wo made a fishing; line by unravelling a piece of cord from the dinghy and tying Hie pieces together, and made a spinner from a piece of tin. "Wo could sec plenty of fish but none would bite. One day when -we were trying to sec who could hold his head under -water the longest the .navigator lifted his head out of the water. " 'There's a damn great mine down here,' he said. "We began to realise then why we hadn't seen any ships and vc made up our minds to try to paddle toward where we thought the coast was. AVo started at 1.1 o'clock one morning and kept it up till S o'clock that night, working two at a time in half-hour shifts.

"Next day we had a go at it from 8 o'clock in the morning till 8 o'clock in the evening. We tried to keep it up through the night as well, hut our strength was going. 1 found I couldn't oven stand up in the dinghy. We had to keep pumping the dinghy with a hand pump and we were so weak that we couldn't do more than a dozen strokes at a time. SIGHTED AT LAST.

"On the eighth evening a Hampden escorted by two Hurricanes appeared from the west at 20,000 ft and turned north almost above us. We all waved but they did not sec us. By now -we were out of drinking water and our tongues were beginning to swell and crack. We rinsed out our mouths with sea water but didn't drink any. "At 8.20 a.m. on the ninth day a Hampden came out of the sun at about 2000 feet and passed us <a quarter of a mile away. We waved and Hashed our mirrors. The Hampden did a half turn, banked and put its nose down and then we realised that we had been seen. We joined hands and sang 'Auld Lang Syne.' "The Hampden signalled by an Aldis lamp: 'Help coming.' Then it dropped its dinghy on the water. AVe paddled over, got the water bottle from the dinghy and shared out the water. Then we hitched the two dinghies together and sat "waiting. At last we saw a spurt of foam which quickly got nearer and nearer. Then we saw a launch.- When we got on board we couldn't walk without help.' The four men are now sitting up in their beds in an R.A.F. hospital, taking an enforced rest.—Official AYireless.