Machine-Gun Attack On Yacht

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7412, 20 December 1930, Page 22

Machine-Gun Attack On Yacht

ENGLISHMAN AND WIFE FIRED ON BY FASCIST MILITIA

S’ AMAZING story of Italian Fascist Militia firing with machineguns and rifles on the British yacht Frefrada, off the coast of Ponza, an island to which Italian political prisoners are sent, was told by Captain F. F. Wessel, the ow T ner of the vessel, on his return to London recently.

with his wife and a crew of two, was making for Civita Vecchia, on the Italian coast, and after 20 hours decided to anchor for the night off Ponza, which he found described in an official guide as “a pleasant little island with a well-sheltered bay.”

As he approached the harbour he found a fleet of fishing-vessels half a mile from the shore. He was carrying full navigating lights, but, in order to steer a course through the fishers, he switched on his searchlight and made for a bay a little to the north of Ponza port.

Ponza is one of three Italian “confine” islands, and is one of a group lying about 50 miles to the west of the Bay of Naples.

Captain Wessel, who was cruising

“We were feeling our way very carefully,” said Captain Wessel, “when sudtenly a motor-boat came alongside, and a very arrogant voice commanded us to go into the port. “I knew nothing of Ponza, and I replied that I was an Englishman proposing to drop anchor where I was, as we were very tired, and needed rest. “The order was repeated, and. we gave the same reply. Again came the order for us to put into port, and I then saw that the boat contained six men of the Fascist Militia, only one of whom was in uniform. “Argument was useless, so I pulled up my anchor and headed for the port. “After we had gone 40 or 50 yards there w r as a rattle of

machine-gun fire, and bullets struck the deck and the rigging around us. “Our crew flung themselves full length on the deck, and my wife and I sheltered behind a lifeboat and an outboard motor.

“Bullets struck these shields; but for them we should have been hit. “I stopped the yacht, and the motorboat again came alongside. This time the men levelled revolvers and rifles at us, and as my wife attempted to put a fender between the vessels she was stopped by a man who thrust a revolver in her face. “When we got to Ponza I asked the port captain for an explanation, and then, for the first time, we learned that Ponza was a ‘confine’ island, to which Italian political prisoners are sent, “The militia said they were afraid we were going to help a prisoner to escape. This, of course, was perfectly ridiculous, as we had no idea what the island was used for. “It is curious, too, that the previous day Prince Paul of Greece had left us after a short cruise, and he was m possession of Fascist passes admitting him almost anywhere.”

Captain Wessel was detained at Ponza for four days, during ivWca time lie and his wife were '‘shadowed by Fascist agents and, as he described it, “generally treated like criminals. The British Ambassador at Rome was informed of the position Captain Wessel and his wife were in, and certain other legal action has been taken, but the only redress Captain Wessel expects to receive is “a written letter of apologv,” which, as he pointedly puts it, would have been no use to anyone who had been shot.