THE GREAT STORM

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 102, 27 October 1945, Page 7

THE GREAT STORM

COAST AND SHIPS BATTERED

MINES A GRAVE PERIL

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, dctober 26.

Mines set adrift by the gale which has swept the English coast for three days are menacing towns and shipping, and have already caused much damage in coastal towns. Civil defence men and builders are rushing first-aid repairs to Folkestone, where the seafront and shopping centre have been blasted. Four mines were washed up at Brighton. Two of the main hotels, which the New Zealand and Australian Air Forces still occupy as- draft depots, are threatened by a mine which was driyen" ashore opposite them. Mines were also washed ashore at West Kingston, Little Hampton, and Rustington.

The Admiralty announced that there are about 300,000 mines, sown in fields around the coast of Britain. The mines are fitted, under international law, with an automatic device to render them harmless when adrift; but barnacles and erosion might interfere with the mechanism. The worst threat to the English coastal towns is from German mines, which are not fitted with a safety device.

The minesweeper H.M.S. Saltburn and the Admiralty tug Swarthy were wrecked last night by a terrific gale which blew at Spithead, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The Saltburn dragged her anchor, and the Swarthy took her in tow. The towline snapped, and while trying to take the Saltburn in tow again the Swarthy struck a concrete boom. The Saltburn was also smashed against the boom. Both crews were saved.

Walls of water are breaking over the Goodwin Sands, and ships anchored well out are being smothered by seas. Huge rollers, sometimes bridge high, are sweeping over two American Liberty ships anchored half a mile in-

side the Sands. The captain and all 40 members of the crew of the American Liberty ship Charles Glover, which was driven aground on a reef off Saint Nazaire, were rescued. Rescue ships are putting out to save the crew of the small Norwegian cargo ship Sommerset, which is aground on the same reef. Fears are felt for the safety of five men in a fishing boat which left port to assist in the Charles Glover rescue.