Adventures of Napier Man at Sea

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 4, 5 January 1940, Page 10

Adventures of Napier Man at Sea

U-BOATS AND MINES Something of the perils and tragedy involved in crossing the Atlantic during war time 33 given by Mr. Frank Price, formerly on tho staff of tho Herald Tribune, in a letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. Price, of Napier. Mr. Price, jun., made a safe, even if anxious., journey, and en route vessels immediately in front and to the rear of his vessel were mined. “After leaving Halifax, Canada, we came over to England by a secret route,” he writes. “I was surprised by how far north and liow far south wo went. Wc struck heavy storms and thick fogs in the danger zones which helped *us to dodge the submarines more effectively. Wc had to travel carefully in the fog, for wc were not allowed to blow a fog-horn or show a glimmer of light. How the captains avoided a collision is a mystery. “We were just b'v-ind the 10,000-ton Japanese liner, the Terukuni Maru, when it was mined and we altered our course at the last minute,” he added. •* ‘ We were expecting to be mined at any moment. It was a pitiful sight to see the vessel slowly sinking and the passengers and crew being rescued by small boats nearby.” ’ r’eriodica-.y .. . - . practice, Doth anti-submarine and anti-aircraft,” :ontinued Mr Price. “We kept a constant watch (day and night) for submarines, floating mines, the pocketoattleship Deutschland and bombers. We saw the wreckage of four vessels including the Simon Bolivar and passed a fair amount of the floating remains of vessels. Providence was with us all tho way—the vessel in front of us was mined, while one behind us was also nined.” Mr Price mentioned in his letter that he had sent in another application to join the New Zealand army unit in England, and said that there was a small unit in training at Aldershot. Even the outward journey from England to the West Indies and British Guiana in South America was no‘. undertaken without excitement, for the vessel he was aboard was unsuccessfully attacked by a German submarine. "We have just been attacked by a submarine,” he wrote in a letter to his brother, Mr Jack Price, a pupil of Massey College, Palmerston North. “The chief officer saw the torpedo coming. Quick as a flash, he ordered full steam ahead, swung the boat around and told everybody to go to their lifeboats. The torpedo just missed :he stern of our boat. “Then the submarine turned and attacked an oil tanker. They hit it in the middle; there was a terrific explosion and the survivors took to lifeboats as the vessel slowly sank. A British destroyer came to the rescue and the Nazi submarine hurried away. The women and children showed fine oairaee.”