SUNK BY PLANE

Mt Benger Mail, 3 November 1937, Page 3

SUNK BY PLANE

BRITISH VESSEL JEAN WEEMS OFF THE CATALAN COAST BOMBS FROM REBEL MACHINE Madrid, Oct. 31. Insurgent war planes, dropping 15 bombs, sank the British steamer Jean Weems 16 miles from the Catalan coast. Twenty-six survivors landed in two lifeboats near Gerona. They included two nonintervention observers. The steamer was going to Barcelona from Marseilles with a cargo of wheat and condensed milk. CREW LAND SAFELY Valencia, October 31. It is reported that an Italian type of seaplane sank the Jean Weems stern first a quarter of an hour after a fire started aboard. The seaplane warned the crew to take to the boats before machinegunning and bombing from a height of 500 feet. All safely landed after 6£ hours. BRUNO MUSSOLINI PILOT London, Nov. 1. The Daily Herald’s Barcelona •correspondent says that the intelligence service announced that Bruno Mussolini piloted the plane which sank the Jean Weems, explaining that the skull and crossbones on the machine were his identification mark. A survivor says the plane came from the direction of Majorca, where, according to the Manchester Guardian, there is a garrison of 30,000, including 6500 Italians. 500 Geramns, and over 100 aeroplanes, of which one>-fifth are German. All the aerodromes are under Italian control.