TRUCULENT DISASTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27291, 18 January 1950, Page 5

TRUCULENT DISASTER

Statement From Divina’s Master

Unaware Of Collision

LONDON, Jan. 16. Captain Hommerburg, master of the Swedish oil tanker Divina, did not know he hit the submarine when he came into collision with the Truculent in the Thames Estuary last Thursday. He said today that he was the only one on board his ship who could work the radio, which was old. He had no time to get an S.O.S. message away. -> Why no S.O.S. was sent by the Divina has been one of the mysteries of the Truculent disaster in which 64 men died. The first radio of the crash came from the Dutch ship Almdijk more than an hour later.

Captain Hommerburg said he did not know for two hours that he had hit the submarine. Of his radio he said: “ It often takes 20 minutes of twisting dials before you can contact a shore station.”

The Divina’s crew comprised four Germans, three Spaniards, a Portuguese and an Englishman. The British Admiralty has no exact information on how many men might be left in the Truculent, it was stated at the inquest at Gillingham, Kent, on nine men whose bodies have been recovered. The inquest was formally adjourned