VICTIM OF U-BOAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 8

VICTIM OF U-BOAT

BRITISH LINER SUNK ATTACKED IN THE ATLANTIC WARSHIP RESCUES SURVIVORS LONDON, Oct. 5. (Received'Oct. 6, at 9.10. p.m.) A British warship has picked up and landed at a northern British port survivors from the Highland Patriot, which was torpedoed in the Atlantic while on a voyage from South America Twenty-seven officers, 109 members of the crew, and 33 passengers were rescued, i ■ ; The British warship saw dense smoke on the horizon, raced up, hoping to attack a German raider, and found the lifeboats, from which it embarked the survivors. It was reported that three men were killed in the engine room and four others who were hurt were taken to hospital. The passengers included a number of Britons en route to jpifi the forces in England, also two stewardesses and two women passengers. A U-boat fired two torpedoes. The first set fire to the ship,: which blazed for several hours before sinking. The second narrowly missed the < lifeboats, which were manned in seven minutes. The Highland Patriot m January had a two' hours’ fight with a U-boat, which fired five torpedoes before it was driven off by the ship’s guns.

The Highland Patriot, of the Royal Mail Lines, was built in 1932, and was a twin-screw motor passenger and cargo liner of 14,172 tons.