British Vessel is Machine-Gunned

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 62, 6 December 1937, Page 7

British Vessel is Machine-Gunned

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CONSUL ABOARD Shots Fired by Japanese Nest MEMBER OF CREW KILLED

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(Eeceived 6, 8.45 a.m.) • SHANGHAI, Deo. 4. The steamer Siushan, of 296 tons, owned by the Taikoo Chinese Navigation Co and registered in Hongkong as British, was machine-gunned while approaching Tsungming Island from Shanghai. One member of the Chinese crew was fatally wounded and another was slightly wounded. The vessel was commanded by a Scotsman, Captain N. McMillan, and the passengers included Mr. E. B. Boothby, British vice-consul in Shanghai. The vessel was going to Tsungming Island, which is at present under Japanese control, to discover what had occurred to nine French-Canadian missionary nuns who had not been heard from ior three months. It is .learned that the Japanese had' been notified of the purpose of the visit. The Siushan was flying the Red ' Ensign and had Union Jacks painted conspicuously on. her sides. After the machine-gunning the vessel returned to Shanghai. The Siushan caried three British naval ratings as an armed guard. There were several hundred Chinese passengers, several of whom were slightly injured. A machine-gun opened fire when the ship was a few hundred yards from the island, and the passengers seurried to shelter. A later message says that it was afterwards learned that the shots carae from a Japanese machine-gun nest. The British steamer Tuck Wa, struCk by Japanese war planes Taiding Wuhu, was set on fire and burnt out. The British steamer Tatung also was struck and beached. There were no casualties. Both ships prominently displayed the Union Jack,