NO WARNING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23769, 24 September 1940, Page 7

NO WARNING

EARLY CASUALTIES CHILDREN OBEDIENT SPLENDID BEHAVIOUR SURVIVOBS' STORIES (Received September 23, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 23 "We had no warning, and after the attack the ship listed heavily," said Mr. W. B. Forsyth, of London. "There were casualties almost at the start, and the darkness added to the difficulties. The children behaved magnificently, and obeyed every instruction. How the boats remained afloat I do not know. Rain and hail followed." Some of the children are believed to have been filled by the explosion, and many others lost their lives when boats were swamped. Children on Rait A woman who believes that she was the last to leave the ship said she put two of her three children on a raft. It lloated clear, and then she jumped and managed to land on it. Later her 11- 3'ear-old daughter was washed off, but a man put her back again on the raft. The third child was also saved. This survivor paid a tribute to the courage of Mr. Eric Davis, who was °a his way to Singapore.- "The liner was, heeling over, and it looked as if she would fall on us," she said. "Mr. Davis, swimming with one arm, pushed the raft clear just in time." Water up to Waists "We had been §ve days at sea when we were torpedoed," stated one woman survivor. "J was sitting knitting, and I understand the torpedo went through the children's quarters. We went to the boats and they were launched all right, but one came down on top of another." This survivor said the boat she was in was partly filled with water. They were in the, water up to their waists for 18 to 20 hours. "Mother, my brother and I were on the same raft with one of the ship's en gineers, and were the last to get said a nine-year-old girl survivor. "We' were the only party in which everyone was saved. For some hours we were tossed about. When we stood up we were blown down again by the terrific wind. My mother and I ■were worried about my sister, but she turned up in a warship."

Survivors in one of the boats -were rescued when someone put up a piece of cloth on an oar and naval men saw it. The survivors included a New Zealarider, Mrs. Lillian Hose Towns, who Avas an official escort. She was a schoolmistress in New Zealand, where she married Mr. F. G. Towns, an optician, of Clapham. Mr. and Mrs. Towns came to England three years ago. They had arranged to evacuate their daughter to New Zealand. Went Down With Ship Colonel J. Baldwin-Webb, Conservative M.P. for Wickin, Shropshire, who was going to Canada in connection with Ked Cross ambulance services, went down with the ship. The commander of the ship was last seen on the bridge shouting: "Everybody take to the lifeboats." He also went down with the ship.

The five children of one London family, whose home had been bombed, all perished. The father, who is aged 42 years and who fought in the last war, has now joined up again to get his revenge for what he calls "this coldblooded murder." The survivors have been landed at a west coast port. The little handful of children are well and in good heart. Two of the children in the torpedoed ship were on board the liner sunk in the Atlantic last month, which was also carrying evacuated children, all of whom were saved.

ESCORT VESSEL LOSS OF H.M.S DUNDEE LONDON, Sept. 22 The Admiralty announces that the British escort vessel Dundee was torpedoed by a U-boat and subsequently sank. H.M.S. Dundee was an escort vessel of the Falmouth class, built in 1932. She was a vessel of 1060 tons, armed with two 4in. anti-aircraft guns and fitted for minesweeping. It is possible that her armament was recently increased. SPANISH TRAWLER SUNK GIBRALTAR, Sept. 22 An Italian submarine torpedoed the Spanish trawler Almirante Carranzo off riorth-west Spain. There was one survivor. It is believed the submarine mistook the trawler for a British patrol vessel. GERMAN U-BOAT CLAIMS LONDON, Sept. 22 A Berlin communique states: "A Üboat sank eight British merchantmen, totalling 61,300 tons. Other U-boats sank eight more, totalling 35,000 tons."