HORRORS AT SEA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 10, 13 January 1941, Page 8

HORRORS AT SEA

IN PRISON SHIPS SURVIVORS’ EXPERIENCES. SYDNEY, Jan. 5. Survivors from Nazi prison ships described the horrors of captivity. Some said the conditions under which women and children were held captive were "hellish.” One woman said the food was abominable and the washing and sanitary arrangements disgusting. In a small cabin below the ship’s galley 15 women were cooped up for three day;-: and were allowed up only once—to see the burial of a woman victim of the raider's shelling. On another raider children among the captives were treated with kindness, given toys and once invited with their parents to the cabin of the ship’s commander. Sixty of the survivors, among them women and children, were nursing injuries. Many had beem walking about the decks of tne rescue vessel with their arms and legs in splints, which had been fitted by German surgeons on the raiders.

Women Herded Together. Of the 15 women imprisoned in a small cabin, 12ft. by 10ft„ eight were English and seven Polish. Miss Molly Black, who received minor shrapnel wounds, said: “At times we were awakened from sleep to be crossexamined. We refused to give details of ships’ sailing times, or to say whether we had sighted any other vessels, although we were repeatedlyquestioned. Then we discovered a microphone hidden in a ventilator. After that we took great care to give away nothing of importance and not to speak loudly near it. “After three days " in this awful prison with no washing water, the worst type of food, and not a breath of fresh air, we were overjoyed one evening to be allowed on deck. But it was a sad release, for they were burying Miss H. Jones, a 21-year-old girl, who had died from gunfire wounds. Another girl said: “Between meals we just longed for food, but when it arrived our appetites went. It was so bad.” „ “It was absolute hell on our raider, said Mr. W. Jenner, of London, who was one of 130 survivors on a ship with the name of Tokyo Maru. “In a few more days we would have been diseased or dead. We were battened down and a machine-gun was continually trained down the hatch. Rats ran over us squealing day and night, and the food was loathsome. Rice and macaroni were all we were given, and the Nazis handed it to us as through a cage to monkeys. What clothes we had were filthy with cock-

roaches and dirt. Pigs in a pen on board were right next tu us. The heat was staggering, and we got hardly any washing water.” Bread “Impassible to Eat.” “The black bread was often green, and impossible to eat," said Mr C. Henderson, a Rangitane survivor, also in Tokyo Maru. “We slept on bamboo mats, and our only water for drinking, washing, and sanitation came through the hose.” Mr. R. Hunter, a Komata survivor, said: “Many of us broke out in sores and boils, as the stifling heat and bad food began to weaken us.” “Some of us had attacks of malaria,” said A. F. McComish, a seaman. "Often we lay gasping for breath. On one occasion the chief raider captain, who had boarded our ship, noticed our misery, and ordered the commander to open ventilators a'd hatch covers.” Father M. Kelly, of Liverpool, chaplain to the seamen, was imprisoned with the men in this hold. He said they behaved magnificently. “Every night I held prayers, in which all joined,” he added. Impromptu concerts were held below the hatches.