U-BOAT CRIME

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20130, 27 December 1939, Page 9

U-BOAT CRIME

DUTCH SHIP SUNK PAPERS EXAMINED PRIVATIONS OF CREW ADRIFT FOR A WEEK LONDON, Dec. 24. It is now possible to tell a fuller story of the sinking of the Dutch tanker Sliedrecht, of 5122 tons, bv a U-boat. This ship, bound for a neutral pert, was 150 miles from land, in bad weather, and no provision whatever was made for the safety of the crew after the sinking. It may be recollected that Germany sought to cover up this disgraceful act by the statement that a British Q-ship flying Dutch colours had been sunk by a U-boat in the Atlantic. Their claim was naturally dropped when five members of the crew of the Sliedrecht reached a west coast port after having been adrift in an open boat in the Atlantic for seven and .a-half days before being picked up by a British trawler. The Male's Story Pieter Brons. the mate of the Sliedrecht. who comes from Holland, said in an interview in hospital that the Sliedrecht was about 150 miles wes f ol Ireland at 8.30 p.m. on November 16 when a German submarine signalled her to heave to. A small boat was launched and Brons and four others rowed across. Owing to a heavy swell it was only with difficulty that they could get alongside the submarine. After examining the ship’s papers the submarine commander said he would have to sink the Sliedrecht. He gave them half an hour to abandon ship. ’“We told him it was a neutral ship bound to a neutral port,” continued Brons, “but he said he would still have to sink it. We then asked him to "take us aboard the submarine and transfer us to another vessel, but he refused, saying he had no room. Distress Signal Forbidden

“The U-boat commander warned us that if we sent any distress signals we would be immediately sunk without further warning. The sea was so rough that we took nearly half an hour to row back to the ship, and we had only time to tell those on board to abandon ship. The remaining 26 of the crew then launched a lifeboat and rowed away from the tanker. “Soon afterward the submarine fired a torpedo, which exploded with a terrible flash. After the ship had sunk we stayed near the spot in the hope of being picked up by a friendly ship, but none came in sight.” The mate of the Sliedrecht went on to describe the efforts of the boat litwas in to keep in touch with the boat, which was overcrowded. It’had disappeared when the dawn came. Weather Grows Worse “Toward evening of the day following the sinking of our ship the weather became worse, and we set a course as best we could, hoping the wind would blow us toward the Irish coast, in spite of the northward drift of the Gulf Stream,” said Brons. “We had no compass and relied on the stars, when we could see them. "We had only bread and water on board. Our clothes were never dry and we endured cold and hunger for seven days. At last we sighted land on November 16 and were picked up by a trawler, which conveyed us to port.”