ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1917, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

RAIDERS IN NORTH SEA. TWO DESTROYERS SUNK. CREWS LEFT TO PERISH. MERCHANT VESSELS ESCAPE. ' STRONG COMMENTS BY ADMIRALTY. i I A. ami N.Z. Cable Assoc, and Iteutcr. , Received Get. 21, 11.5 p.m London, Oct 20. The Admiralty reports that two fast. heavily armed German raiders attacked on Wednesday a convoy in the North Sea, between the. Shetland Islands and the Norwegian coast. Two British destroyers— the Mary Rose and Strongbow j —which formed the escort, engaged the ! raiders, and fought until they were sunk, after an unequal engagement. Theif gallant action delayed the raiders, enabling the three merchant vessels to escape. Five Norwegian, one Danish and three Swedish vessels, all unarmed, were sunk without examination or warning, and regardless of the lives of the crews and passengers, A lengthy comment on the action of the Germans is unnecessary. This only adds another example to. the long list of criminally inhuman deeds of the German navy. The Admiralty adds that the German vessels, anxious.to escape before the British forces could intercept them, made no effort to 'rescue the crews of the British destroyers, and also left the crews of the doomed merchant ships, leaving the British patrol vessels to rescue thirty Norwegians and others, of whom no details are yet known. The German navy, by this act, once again further degraded itself by the disregard of the historic chivalry of the sea. GERMAN LIE FACTORY AGAIN. An enemy official message states that the attack was within territorial waters in the neighborhood of Shetland Islands. That all the escort and vessels, including the destroyers, were sunk, excepting one of the escort and fishing steamers. AN OFFICIAL DENIAL. The Admiralty declares that the German statement of the locality of the attack and the destruction of the escort vessels is untrue. The enemy raiders succeeded in evading British watching squadrons during the long, dark nights. both in their hurried outward dash and their homeward flight. It is to be rei grettcd that S8 offtceTs and men of the Mary Rose and 47 officers and men of the Strongbow were lost. U.s. transport SUNK. Washington, Oct. 19. A United States transport, inward bound, was sunk. New York, Oct. in. An American transport has been torpedoed. ENTENTE REQUISITIONING SHIPPING. Rome, Oct. 19. The Agenzia Volk states that tho Entente is constituting a large internal fleet from enemy and requisitioned vessels, which will he distributed where most needed by a general Allied board. ITALIAN VESSEL SUNK. Las Palmas, Oct. 18. A Spanish ship brought 45 survivors of the Italian vessel Cupera, which, with an important cargo of explosives, caught fire and sank on the coast of Morocco. SAILORS RESCUED FROM BUOYS. Renter Service. -Received Oct. 21,11.45 p.m. Bergen, Oct. 20. Ten men, including two officers of the Mary Rose, were landed here, having oeen rescued by the lifeboat of a Norwegian steamer from two buoys, to which they had clung.