Passenger Ship Sunk By U-Boat

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 226, 23 September 1940, Page 7

Passenger Ship Sunk By U-Boat

HUNDREDS PERISH Many Refugee Children For Canada In Death Roll

LONDON, September 22. * One of the most tragic incidents of the war was reported in a Uaventry news broadcast this afternoon, when it was stated that a British ship on its way to Canada with many refugees had been torpedoed. There were 294 lives lost, including 83 of the 90 children aboard, travelling under the Government evacuation scheme. The ship was attacked by a German U-boat 600 miles from the shore during a storm. It is reported that 113 persons had been saved. The captain, a doctor, nurse and seven of the nine persons attending the children were drowned. A Conservative MR.is also among the missing passengers. Mr. Geoffrey Shakespeare, Parliamentary Under-Secretary ( for the Dominions, who has been supervising the Government s evacuation scheme, has sent a message of condolence to the rela- ' tives of the lost children. 1 1 The captain of the U-boat, when he fired the torpedo, knew i that he was committing mass murder, according to the broad- ] cast. But for the skill and seamanship of the crew of the vessel s and of the warship which helped the rescue work, there would have been no survivors. 'This is one of the most atrocious acts of the Germans and it will not be forgotten in the final settlement of the war," continued the Daventry commentator. "It rivals the atrocities perpetrated by the German Army and the German Air Force." It was stated that the casualties were the first that had been i suffered in the evacuation of children from Britain. N?-r!y 3000 ' children had now been sent abroad to Canada without any loss ' or injury. s

"This deed' will shock the world," said Mr. Geoffrey Shakespeare. "It is only comparable with the brutal and indiscriminate bombing of women and children in London."