579 Survivors of Columbus At New York

Northern Advocate, 21 December 1939, Page 5

579 Survivors of Columbus At New York

(Received 2 p.m.) 'NEW YORK. December 20. r fHE UNITED STATES CRUISER TUSCALOOSA HAS ARRIVED WITH 579 SURVIVORS OF THE SCUTTLED GERMAN LINER COLUMBUS (32,505 TONS), WHO WERE TAKEN TO ELLIS ISLAND.

Immigration authorities ruled that they are distressed seamen, allowed to enter the United States legally without visas, but they must reship to a foreign country within GO days.

'A muster of the crew of the Columbus had shown that two firemen were missing. :

'The liner was on fire from stem to stern, and was sinking slowly when the Tuscaloosa left: her.

It is believed there were no other casualties,

The German Legation at Mexico City, however, states that there were G3O Germans on board.

Menace To Navigation,

Seventeen Chinese members of the crew refused to make the dash across the Atlantic, and three Italians had deserted earlier. The Tuscaloosa reported that the hull of the ship, and 22 boats from which the crew were picked up, constituted a menace to navigation. , It is believed the Tuscaloosa stopped to destroy these and also to make certain the Columbus was sinking. The Tuscaloosa is due in New York at 2 p.m. tomorrow and the Germans will be disembarked at Ellis Island. ' Admiralty Statement.

The Mexico City representative of the United Press states reports are circulating there that the cargo of the Columbus included thous-’. ands of Mexican shoes for the German Army, and also half-filled drums of oil, which were to be dropped overboard for submarines^ “Ominous News.” The “New York Times” says in an editorial: “By this scuttling, the‘Germans have lost whatever prestige they may have gained by the escape of the Bremen fodm Murmansk.” , The “Herald-Tribune” : .says:. “The liner’s fate is unmistakably ominous news. . . ' “A regime that expects to win the war would hardly be likely to take such extravagant risks with a costly possession that was. anchored. .in a neutral port, from which victory for Germany would have, redeemed, her.” Despair of Winning War It is reported from Berlin that neither the Press nor the radio announced the scuttling of the Colombus. The Columbus is the eighteenth Nazi merchant ship scuttled since the outbreak of war, said the British Official Wireless message. In neutral, as, well as in the British Press, the practice of scuttling ships is inevitably interpreted as indicating the German Government’s despair of winning the war. The “Daily Herald,” in a leading article headed “Herr Scuttler,” asks why the Columbus sent herself to the bottom. “There was no need for it,” "says the paper. “She was in .no danger .of capture. “She need never have left Vera Cruz, while she could have run into any United States harbour ami stayed there for the duration of the war—if Germany had won. “This policy can mean just one. thing—the German High Command fears Germany is going to lose the war and that, at the end of hostilities her ships will become Allied property” Afauca Attached The Arauca has been attached by the Imperial Sugar Co. of Galveston, Texas, which will prevent her sailing until a bond is posted, even if the skipper is willing to risk the gauntlet of a waiting British destroyer. Treasury officials said a partial investigation disclosed no reason for. a warrant for detention. .....

The British Admiralty announced: "The Columbus set fire to herself 400 miles north of Bermuda on sighting a British warship. “The crew abandoned her.”

The United States immigration authorities say that the crew of the' Columbus will be allowed to remain in the United States for a period if it can be shown that they are bona fide merchant seamen.

If they are naval men, other steps will have to be considered. Since the outbreak of the war

the Germans have scuttled 23 passenger and cargo ships, totalling nearly 140,000 tons. There is a strong possibility that the German freighter Arauca, which anchored at Poi’t Eviglades after fleeing from a British cruiser, will be declared a German auxiliary naval vessel and will be interned.

It is understood in Washington that air investigation has been ordered to determine how the vessel, which left the Mexican port of Vera Cruz five days ago with New Orleans as her declared destination, happened to be near Florida.

As she was carrying Mexican oil, it is felt that possibly she was preparing to refuel naval craft. The Arauca’s radios, apparatus has been sealed. Consternation !

The scuttling of the Columbus and the forcing of the German motor-ship Arauca into port have brought the war closer to the United States than at any time since it began.

Thousands of German-Americans living in New York’s “German section” gathered in bars and at street corners discussing the Reich’s latest setback. There was consternation at the New York offices of the North German Lloyd Line when the news was received.

“Oh my God!” said the manager, Mr John. Schroeder. “It is one blow after another.”

Crew Entitled To Stay In U.S,

He added that, as the Columbus was unarmed, he believed the crew were entitled to an indefinite stay in the U.S., where the line would take care of them.

Asked whether they would be returned to Germany, he replied: “How could they be?” There is much speculation as to why an unarmed ship left the safety of a neutral port. The “New York Herald-Tribune” suggests that the most plausible theory is that the sacrifice was risked in order to refuel some important warship short of oil.