AMERICAN SHIP SUNK

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22064, 10 September 1941, Page 5

AMERICAN SHIP SUNK

Bombed In Red Sea

Stronger Policy Is

Forecast

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright

(Rec. 12.15). WASHINGTON, Sept. 8.

The State Department announced that the American freighter Steel Seafarer, 5719 tons, was sunk in the Red Sea by an aerial bomb on September 7 from an unidentified plane. All hands are safe. There are no further details. Large quantities of war materials have been shipped to the British armies through the Red Sea recently in American freighters, Mr Roosevelt having allowed them to use these waters since the British drove the Italians from their African colonies bordering the Red Sea. It is predicted that when Mr Roosevelt makes his postponed broadcast on Thursday he will warn Germany and Italy that America insists on freedom of the seas. He is expected to ask Congrer r at least to prepare the people for an amendment of the Neutrality Act and a stiffer maritime policy. Comment on Greer Incident Japanese newspapers, in obviously German inspired articles, refer to the Greer incident as a warning to the United States. The “Japan Times-Advertiser,” official organ of the Foreign office, states that in future when American and German warships meet in the blockade zone there will be battle. A state of undeclared war exists between the United States and Germany, the paper adds. Other papers state that as long as America ignores the blockade zone, war is inevitable. The Nazi propaganda machine Is carrying out a violent attack on President Roosevelt as a result of the Greer Incident. Roosevelt Attacked The German radio described the President as a “Bolshevik who takes his orders direct from Jewish Criminals,” and also calls him “the world’s record liar,” and an “insolent liar.” The German press states that America has given Germany a thous-and-fold provocation, but Germany will not be provoked. The “New York Times” expresses a hope that Mr Roosevelt will announce that the first shot will automatically be fired by an American warship when it sights a U-boat on the route to Iceland.