ADVENTURES AT SEA

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21043, 21 February 1940, Page 8

ADVENTURES AT SEA

CREW OF THE ACHILLES HAMILTON SAILORS’ LETTER Interesting details of the activities at sea of the New Zealand cruiser, H.M.S. Achilles, and her engagement with the German pocket-battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, are contained in a letter from two Hamilton members of the crew to relatives here. The writers are A. F. and R. BywaterLutman, petty officers on the cruiser and both old boys of the Hamilton High School. They say there are about 20 Hamilton lads on the cruiser. “We were certainly the luckiest ship afloat that day as we did not get one direct hit on us,” states the letter, referring to the engagement with the Graf Spee. “That was oue mainly to the skipper’s magnificent handling of the ship.”

One of the sailors is chief wireless operator on the Achilles and the other a writer. It is considered probable that they did not see a great deal of the Graf Spee during the fight as their quarters, when in action, are well below the water-line. Part of the work of a writer is calculating the controls of the guns by means of mathematical instruments and rangefinding tables. The letter states that the Achilles had been almost completely round the coast of South America and the writers wondered where it would go next. “We hope we will get a trip to England but, of course, while this war is on one cannot tell what is going to happen next or where one will go,” they say. “Since leaving Auckland we have been about 120 days at sea and only about 10 in harbour, and since we commissioned at Portsmouth last February we have steamed close on 60,000 miles —not a bad effort in less than 12 months.”