NEW GERMAN THREAT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 October 1939, Page 5

NEW GERMAN THREAT

NEUTRAL SHIPS TORPEDOED CAMPAIGN OF FRIGHTFULNESS The German Admiralty appears to be carrying into good effect its threat to sink at sight all neutral vessels suspected of carrying contraband. On Saturday the Norwegian freighter "Gustav Adolf" (1450 tons) was sunk by a German submarine. A Norwegian oil tanker, was also sent to the bottom during the weekend and the twenty-three members of the crew rescued in the North Sea. A Rumania:! tanker of 0048 tons was also torpedoed and sunk yesterday.

Reports from Mexico indicate that a German tanker has left with a full cargo of oil barrels and provisions, ostensibly for a Spanish port. It is however considered that her real mission is to refuel U-boats active in American waters. The radio operator from the British ship Heronpool, which was torpedoed in the Atlantic, her crew being rescued by the American vessel President Harding, gave a graphic account of the attack.

He said that his ship had scarcely left the convoy when the submarine appeared. With their one gun, the crew put up a fight lasting four hours. The ship zigzagged all over the ocean, with the U-boat keeping a safe distance from the guns. However a well directed torpedo sank the vessel her crew of 36 being saved.