REBEL BLOCKADE BEATEN

Southland Times, Issue 23180, 22 April 1937, Page 5

REBEL BLOCKADE BEATEN

British Ship Takes Food To Bilbao CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER ON BOARD LABOUR AGAIN ATTACKS GOVERNMENT POLICY (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received April-21, 7.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 20. The Seven Seas’ Spray, a British ship, ran the Spanish rebel blockade at Bilbao and arrived there from St. Jean de Luz (France), laden with 4000 tons of foodstuffs. Captain Roberts, the master, who had his daughter on board with him, slipped out of St. Jean de Luz without informing the harbour master. He secretly assembled the crew at dusk. An engineer’s wife was also on board. “We have shown that the blockade is tommyrot,” said •Mr A. J. Pope, of Porthcawl, the owner of the Seven Seas’ Spray. “I wanted to prove it was possible to get into Bilbao, and I asked the master to make the attempt. I was certain that what the Basque Government told me was right.” Captain Roberts, his daughter Fifi, and his crew were feted everywhere in Bilbao, where everything had been ready for their arrival. The coastal batteries were manned, aeroplanes performed aerobatics and destroyers and armed trawlers escorted the vessel to berth in triumph, ignoring the Espana and the Almirante Cervera, the rebel cruisers, which were 15 miles offshore. The militia presented arms as Captain Roberts proudly megaphoned: “Make her fast as she lies, Mr Bosun.” Describing his departure from St. Jean de Luz, Captain Roberts said that an F class destroyer—one of those relieving the B class flotilla—sent him a wireless: “Whither bound?” Captain Roberts said: “Bilbao.” The destroyer asked: “On your own responsibility?” “Yes,” said Captain Roberts. “Good luck,” the destroyer replied. First Lord’s Explanation In the House' of Commons, replying to further Labour criticisms of the Government’s attitude towards the Bilbao blockade, the First Lord of the Admiralty (Sir Samuel Hoare) declared that the British Navy was strong enough to deal easily with “both the Spanish navies if Britain adopted a policy which meant pushing ships into Spanish ports. “We will follow the situation closely, and if we decide that the so-called blockade is no longer effective we will be the first to accept the state of affairs,” said Sir Samuel. The First Lord said that he wanted to make it clear that the Navy was able and ready to carry out any policy adopted by the Government. Information from various sources showed that for the first time in the Spanish civil war one side had succeeded in isolating and investing by land and sea a particular part of Spanish territory. That created a new situation in the policy of nonintervention.

Advice received from these sources indicated that while conditions varied from time to time an effective blockade had been established at Bilbao by the insurgent fleet, which had a concentration of one battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer and several armed merchantmen, against which the Government forces consisted only of one destroyer, one submarine and one armed trawler, and that the insurgent vessels were able to operate freely inside territorial waters.

The information about mines was necessarily less precise, but the British merchant ship Olavus, which left Bilbao only a few days ago, had reported just missing a mine. “Believing that ’:he position was dangerous to merchant, shipping, what other action could the Government have taken than to warn British merchant ships of the dangers and advise them against taking serious risks, while at the same time assuring them of naval protection on the high seas and also informing General Franco that that protection would be given?” asked Sil- Samuel. “To fail to advise shipping of the dangers would not have been honourable. To have used force to secure a passage of the blockade would have endangered the agreement on non-intervention.”

On The High Seas There was no question, the Minister insisted, between the Government and the Opposition about the protection of British ships on the high seas. That protection would be given in the form considered most advisable. A convoy to the limits of territorial waters was neither consistent with the Government’s attitude in giving the advice it had given nor, incidentally, necessarily the best form of protection for a ship seeking to run the blockade. Opening the debate, Mr A. ,V. Alexander (Labour) said that the body of opinion in the country concerned with defence, liberty and justice regarded the attitude of the Government as foreign to the best British tradition. He questioned the existence of an effective blockade at Bilbao, and cited in his support statements in a telegram received from a passenger on a British merchant ship, the Seven Seas’ Spray, which had made an uneventful passage into Bilbao. Mr David Lloyd George complained that the Government’s action over Bilbao had given the impression that it had taken sides in the Spanish war. The Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) wound up the debate. He said that the crucial question was whether the Government was justified in the warning it gave to British ships, and he claimed that on the information it had before it, it could have taken no •other course. The Opposition’s motion of censure was defeated.