SEA MARAUDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23851, 30 December 1940, Page 9

SEA MARAUDER

A RAIDER DESCRIBED INDIAN OCEAN EXPERIENCE SINKING OF PORT BRISBANE A clear view of the raider which sank the Port Brisbane and Mnimoa in the Indian Ocean last month was obtained by the '27 men of the former ship who escaped in the only lifeboat to avoid capt lire. The description given yesterday by Mr. T. ('. Lloyd, a <|iiartermaster of the Port Brisbane, who is now in Auckland. conforms with an Australian official description and has several additions which -Mr. Lloyd thinks may reasonably be looked for on a ship which, he says, probably alters her appearance from time to time. As lie and his companions lay on their oars in the moonlight of November 21, the raider was only about 300 yards from them, and later, during a sweep which she made right round the stricken Port Brisbane, she came to within about 75 yards of the lifeboat. Mr. Lloyd saw her to bo a ship of about 0000 tons, with a high and sharp

cut-away how, a long, low well-deck stretching from the forecastle for the full length of the ship to a low poop, ending in a cruiser stern. The line of the deck was broken only by the bridge housing, a single, squat funnel and "goalpost'' masts both fore and aft. These masts are really Samson posts for cargo handling, with a topmast rising from the crossbeam that gives the Samson posts their goalpost appearance.

From the height at which they ranged on to the Port Brisbane. Mr. Lloyd said, the raider's searchlights were apparently mounted on the masts, and lie thought they would be of .'Win. diameter. They were obviously very powerful. The raider's colour was light, probably either buff or white, and this and her simple silhouette, he said, would make rapid changes easy. False housing could quickly be added to the line of the well-deck, another funnel could be erected and the colour could rapidly be changed. Her low freeboard made her a difficult target. She was a motor-ship, and her funnel gave olf only a faint smoke. Included in her armament were torpedo tubes, which Mr. Lloyd said he was sure were mounted just, forward of tho bridge bousing on the well-deck. Other descriptions have placed the tubes alt, but Mr. Lloyd said that while they lav watching the raider they saw the track of a torpedo clearly going from forward to the Port Brisbane, which was struck under the forepart of the bridge. Mr. Lloyd said be also thought the raider carried hydrophone apparatus to listen for the beat of other ships' engines. Such equipment would increase her radius of effectiveness. Finally, he thought she carried a seaplane which she could lower over the side.