LIKE SLAVE SHIP

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21557, 20 January 1940, Page 9

LIKE SLAVE SHIP

Floating Prison For Merchantmen

Navy Hunt# German

Tanker

United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received January 20, 12.20 a.m.) LONDON, January 19. Treatment reminiscent of slave traders was meted out to British merchantmen placed as prisoners aboard an unnamed tanker, supply ship to the Graf Spee, according to first-hand stories. It is now revealed that the men were herded in overcrowded quarters, the mattresses were covered in lice and vermin, the water ration was a quart daily for both drinking and washing. For one period there were several hundred prisoners aboard and only 20 bowls for the use of masters and officers and the while and Lascar crews. No soap was provided. The food was scarce and bad. Eating utensils, improvised from old condensed milk tins, are provided. Exercise in the fresh air was limited to 75 minutes a day if the weather was good. Smoking was strictly prohibited in the first fortnight, after which it was strictly limited. Anyone smoking at an unauthorised time or place was sentenced to three days’ solitary confinement in a cell the size of a locker, on bread and water. The organisation of the prisoner's life was based on concentration camp methods. The German captain, a ruthless Nazi with a marked political bias, was a striking contrast to the Graf Spee’s captain. Deliberate steps Were taken to humiliate the British officers in front of the crews, particularly the Lascars. Machine-guns posted at vantage points, manned day and night, continually covered the prisoners. It is believed that at least 300 prisoners are still aboard the tanker which British warships are hunting through the Atlantic. It is understood that some of her prisoners were transferred to the Graf Spee and subsequently put ashore at Montevideo.