RAID ON U-BOAT FOILED

Southland Times, Issue 23310, 21 September 1937, Page 7

RAID ON U-BOAT FOILED

Traitors Attempt To Bribe Loyalists CREW TURNS TABLES ON REBEL AGENTS (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received September 20, 7.40 p.m.) BREST, September 20. The Spanish Government submarine C2, while repairing her engines in Brest harbour—the majority of the crew was ashore—was boarded by 12 men from a rowing boat. They covered the guard with automatic rifles and their leader demanded to see the captain (Commandant Jose Ferrando), whom he is alleged to have told that he was the commander of the Spanish submarine C 4, which is at present being repaired at Verdon, near Bordeaux. He added that he, with his crew, had gone over to the insurgents, and offered Commandant Ferrando 3,000,000 pesetas to join them with his ship. Commandant Ferrando refused, upon which he and his skeleton crew were bound and gagged. , Their captors fruitlessly endeavoured to start the engines, and had gathered on the deck to deliberate upon the position when a sailor belonging to pre C2, who had hidden in the conning tower, sounded the siren and emptied his evolver into them, killing one. The others escaped in their boat, dragging off Commandant Ferrando and the chief engineer. They disappeared in motor-cars from the quayside. The police searched the countryside and arrested six, including the commander and the prisoners. Papers in the possession of Juan Lasharas, commander of the C 4, included a letter from General Toncoso, commandant of Irun, offering him 2,000,000 pesetas and guaranteeing him safety if he joined the rebels with the crew of his submarine. The man killed aboard the C2 was a Spanish terrorist, Gabaria, wanted by the police for a bomb outrage at Marseilles. Those arrested include Emmanuel Morendain, a Spaniard who is believed to have placed a bomb in a Spanish Government ship at Bayonne in March.