SUBMARINE SUNK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 485, 15 October 1928, Page 13

SUBMARINE SUNK

From gatirrdPty’g T..g.t.e Edition.

' -TY-TMREF, MEN LQS r ’ RAMMED BY GREEK SHIP STRANGE delay in reporting (United P.A. — By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) LONDON, Friday. It is ascertained that a Greek steamer sank the French submarine Ondine, with three officers and 40 men, off Oporto on the night of October 3. The Ondine, a vessel of 600 tons, was making a test cruise from Cherbourg, and should have arrived at Bizerta yesterday. Nothing had been seen or heard of her since her departure on October 1. Apart from grief at the loss of the Ondine and its crew, about which there is now no doubt, there is a feeling of soreness regarding the circumstances of the sinking. The Ministry of Marine received news from the French Consul at Rotterdam, who telegraphed that the master of the Greek steamer Ekaterina, on arrival there, reported colliding with an object off the coast of Portugal, between Vigo and Oporto, at 11 o’clock on the evening of October 3. The master said he was unable in the darkness to ascertain the nationality of what he had struck. He cruised backward and forward for two hours, but could not trace any survivors in the wreckage. The sea was rough. French officials say the usual course would be to await daylight and continue the search. They also think the master should have gone to Vigo to report, instead of waiting eight days until his arrival at Rotterdam. The master of a French steamer arriving at Rouen reports that he intercepted on the morning of October 4 a wireless message from a foreign steamer, saying it had struck "a fishing boat or floating wreck.” The position given by the Greek captain coincides with that of the Ondine, therefore there is no doubt she was sunk with all hands. The depth of the ocean there is between 4,500 and 6,000 feet. The Ondine is one of the 12 shins of the Ariane class, and was laid down under the 1922-23 programme. She was launched in May, 1923. Her surface displacement is 600 tons; length, 216£ft. She has two sets of Diesel engines and electric motors of 1,200 h.p. Her speed