SUNK BY U-BOAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24250, 16 April 1942, Page 8

SUNK BY U-BOAT

CANADIAN LINER DEATH-ROLL PROBABLY 250 BABY GIRL AMONG SURVIVORS NEW YORK, Jan. 29 The sinking of the Canadian passenger liner Lady Hawkins, with the probable loss of 250 lives, became known yesterday after the arrival of 71 survivors in San Juan, Porto Rico, West Indies. They reported that the vessel had been toi-pedoed without warning on January 19 and that they had passed five dayß at sea in an overcrowded lifeboat before they were picked up by a rescue ship. The Lady Hawkins, a 7988-ton vessel, owned and operated by the Canadian National Steamship Company, carrier 212 passengers, including an undetermined number of women and children. and a crew of 109. Captain Huntley Giffin, of Goldboro, was master of the liner. Five Die In Crowded Boat

Among those rescued from the Lady Hawkins were 17 Americans. A 24-year-old girl, with her mother and father; 22 members of the crew and a group of construction workers also survived the hardships of five days in an open boat, which proved fatal to five of those crowded into it. "The little girl was very brave," said the first officer of the Lady Hawkins, who also praised the behaviour of the other passengers. The child, Janet Johnson, was carried to safety in the arms of her father, who jumped from the sinking ship and swam to the lifeboat," closely followed by Mrs. Johnson. It was so crowded that those aboard were forced to stand. Janet is resting in the San Juan Naval Hospital, apparently none the worse for her experience. Afloat 25 Minutes Every light on the ship was put out of commission by the torpedoing, but the passengers and crew groped their way along slanting compamonways and decks to the boats. Several boats were launched in the 25 minutes before the Lady Hawkins plunged to the bottom. Chief-Officer Percy A. Kelly, of Halifax, rigged up a sail on the heavilycrowded lifeboat that was picked up and began navigating the oraft toward the nearest land. He was highly praised by the survivors, who said they owed their lives to his calm courage and able seamanship. It was almost midnight when the steamship Coamo of the New York and Porto Rico Line sighted the lifeboat. Captain Nils Helgesen of the Coamo sent a boat to aid the weakened survivors and quickly brought them aboard his ship.