NELSON’S DAYS ARE BACK AGAIN

Northern Advocate, 19 February 1940, Page 5

NELSON’S DAYS ARE BACK AGAIN

British Sailors Freed From “Hell Ship” Altmarck

Naval Boarding Party In Norwegian Waters

LONDON, February 18. HUNTED BY THE BRITISH NAVY DAY AND NIGHT SINCE 11 THE SCUTTLING OF THE ADMIRAL GRAF VON SPEE LAST DECEMBER, THE INFAMOUS GERMAN “HELL SHIP,” ALTMARCK, WITH BETWEEN 300 AND 400 BRITISH SEAMEN FROM SHIPS CAPTURED BY THE GRAF VON SPEE—INCLUDING AT LEAST NINE NEW ZEALANDERS —WAS LOCATED ON THURSDAY IN NORWEGIAN TERRITORIAL WATERS NEAR STAVANGER. As the result of the firm attitude of the British Government and the bold action of the navy in one of the most dramatic episodes of the war, the British seamen are now back in England, free once more, and the Nazis are giving vent to hysterical expressions of impotent rage. When the British Admiralty received word that the Altmarck was in Posing Jjord, destroyers were ordered to the scene and one of them intercepted the Altmarck which was under escort by a Norwegian gunboat. The British vessel withdrew outside Norwegian territorial waters.

Hid in Fiord

But late on Friday afternoon, on orders from the Admiralty with the full support of the British Government, the Cossack commanded by Captain P. L. Vian. re-entered the Fjord. Captain Vian suggested to the Norwegians that the Altmarck should be taken under Anglo-Norwegian escort to Bergen for investigation. The Norwegian officer refused the request but said that he was obeying the orders of his Government. He gave an assurance that the Altmarck was unarmed and said that there could be no British prisoners on board her because she had been examined twice in Norwegian ports. Captain Vian then suggested that this assurance should be put to the proof and invited the Norwegian officer to accompany a British party to board the Altmarck. The Norwegian agreed.

Tried To Emm €mmek

Meanwhile, the Altmarck, which had been jammed in the ice pack at the top of the Fjord, began to work her engines. In spite of an order to stop, she broke free and tried to ram the British destroyer, but succeeded only in going aground. The Cossack immediately grappled her. A party of 25 bluejackets armed with cutlasses and revolvers swarmed across the grapples to the Altmarck and firing broke out on both sides. One member of the British party was severely wounded. The Altmarck’s bridge was rushed, and the captain was thrown from the controls. A search revealed over 300 British prisoners locked in shell rooms, store rooms and an empty oil tank. While the prisoners were being released some members of a German armed guard put on board the Altmarck by the Graf Spee escaped over the stern and made away over the ice, and from the shore they opened fire with rifles.

Fighting €ln The See

The British sailors returned the fire and two Germans scrambling across the ice were killed. At about the same time a German fell into the water amid broken ice and two officers of the Cossack plunged in and saved him. The British party found the Altmarck armed with two pompoms and four machine guns. One of her officers said that Norwegian officials had visited her twice but there was no search. This, states the Admiralty, would explain why 300 British prisoners on board, clamouring for release, were not noticed. Once the British seamen on board had been embarked the Cossack sailed out of the Fjord and joined the rest of the British forces including the destroyer Ivanhoe, which a few hours earlier had saved the crew of the German tanker Baldur after they had scuttled her. The British ships returned to Leith. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill, in a message to Captain Vian said that the force under his orders was to be congratulated on having, in a single day achieved the distinction of a double rescue—Britons from captivity and Germans from drowning. The latest news of the Altmarck is that she is still aground with 100 men on board. The captain, on finding himself trapped, intended to blow up the ship, but abandoned that plan on orders from the German Legation at Oslo.