SPY ON BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23991, 14 December 1939, Page 8

SPY ON BOARD

MYSTERIOUS LIGHT THRILL FOR PASSENGERS MEDITERRANEAN INCIDENT Passengers on board a ship recently bound from England to Australia through the Mediterranean experienced one of the incidental thrills of war-time life when it was reported that a spy had been found on board. Although they never actually saw her —for it was a woman spy—they heard sufficient to convince them that some person on board was suspected, and for some time the ship seethed even more than usual with rumours as to the identity and the method of operation of the mysterious woman. This was the story told to a Daily Times reporter yesterday by Mr W. G. Squire, of Dunedin, who returned a few days ago after a nine-months’ trip to the United Kingdom and the Continent. Mr Squire, who received his information from a steward on board the ship, was fully aware that many unfounded rumour's would be abroad in a ship passing through the Mediterranean in wartime, but from what he was told it seemed that there was some truth in this particular story. Route Kept Secret The voyage from England started off rather mysteriously in the first place, because although they knew the ship was bound for Australia, the passengers did not know what route was to be followed. “I thought we would probably be coming bv way of the Cape,” Mr Squire said, “and I was. therefore, rather surprised when I saw Gibraltar come in sight. It was shortly after we left Gibraltar that it was suspected that there was a spy on board. “ The story told to me by the steward was that a wireless report was received —apparently from a British warship in the vicinity—that a light was showing on board our ship. As this was strictly against Admiralty orders, an immediate search was made, and it was found that this woman had opened her porthole. How she did so I do not know, because they were all screwed down. She made the excuse that she did not know she was doing anything wrong and had opened the port on account of the heat, but this by no means satisfied the authorities on board the ship, who searched her cabin and warned her against any further action of the kind. At Malta military officers came on board and subjected her cabin to a rigorous inspection, and again at Bombay, where she was taken ashore and interned, Both she and her baggage were thoroughly searched.” Object of Woman’s Action Some weight was lent to this story, Mr Squire added, by a further report that either a submarine or a German raider, or both, had been seen in the part of the Mediterranean through which the ship was travelling when it was discovered that a light was showing, and it was thought that the woman might have taken the action she did with the object of betraying the whereabouts of the British vessel to one or other of these craft. These, however, were only surmises, but from the frequency with which they were heard, coupled with the more authoritative story about the woman, it seemed that there might be some truth in them.