SHIPS ATTACKED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21842, 20 December 1940, Page 7

SHIPS ATTACKED

Napier Star Reported Sunk By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, December 18. It is reported from New York that the Mackay radio picked up a message stating that the Blue Star liner, Napier Star (12,196 tons), had been torpedoed in a position 58 degrees 58 minutes north, 23 degrees 13 minutes west. The Napier Star, which was well known on the New Zealand coast, was a twin-screw vessel. She was built in 1927 at the yards of Lithgow’s, Ltd., Glasgow. An earlier message from the Mackay radio reported that the Norwegian steamer Dalfonn (9860 tons) was being attacked by a submarine in a position 58 degrees 27 minutes north, 18 degrees 11 minutes west. The Dutch steamer Pendrecht (10,746 tons) is also reported to have been torpedoed in a position 59 degrees 5 minutes north, 17 degrees 48 minutes west. Only one lifeboat remained. Suspicious Tanker The Eire radio stated that a sus-picious-looking tanker flying the Dutch flag is reported to have been in the vicinity of the tankers Pendrecht and Dalfonn, which were attacked by submarines off north-west Ireland. The Pendrecht radioed that she had been torpedoed and lost two of her three lifeboats. Immediate help was required.