TANKER BLOWN TO SKY

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1940, Page 6

TANKER BLOWN TO SKY

ATTACKED BY U-BOAT HAWERA MAN'S LETTER "SICKENING EXPERIENCE" The suddenness and completeness of the destruction of an oil tanker by r. U-boat, which approached within striking distance of a British convoy somewhere north of Scotland, is graphically told in a letter written by Sergeant D. P. Trim, a gunner in the Royal Air Force, and received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. P. H. Trim, Hawera. Of the 43 persons aboard the tanker only five escaped death. "I have been posted t.o guard the depth charges we carry for anti-U-boat work," wrote Sergeant Trim. "My hours on duty are 3 a.m. to 4 a.m., 11 a.m. to noon and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Yesterday (July 16) during my middpy watch I had just sat down to read for a while when I felt and heard a muffled boom. I looked up instantly and saw a tanker engulfed in a cloud of blackish smoke. Side of Boat Blew Out. "A split second later a terrific roar boomed out, and the side of the boat blew out releasing a flood of fiercely flaming oil, the deck rose up in the air followed by a huge column of black smoke and flames, which rose to a height of 300 feet or more," continucd Sergeant Trim. "I could see large pieces of wood or some thing of the sort flying in all directions some going even higher than the smoke column. The explosion occurred j'lst aft of the bridge and it seemed to rae to take half of the bridge with it and I cannot imagine anyone on the bridge escaping death. "All that I have written happened in about one and a-half to two seconds and not more," he continued. "I jumped up and to say that I 'had a severe fright' is putting it mildly indeed. People wero running aft from all directions and every face told the same story of shock and horrjfied surprise. The tanker lay about a quarter of a mile astern and slightly to starboard of us. In a matter of seconds, perh^ps three, she was ablaze from almost stem to stern. She swung , aeross wind and moved about 200 yards away, leaving a huge patch of burning oil on the sea. The smoke by this time had become like a huge column at least 1000 feet high and 60 to 70 feet through at the base, and hundreds of feet thick at the top. One Boat Escapes Wreck. "A cheer broke out when a tiny dot broke away from the blazing ruin, one boat having managed to get away," he raid. "Our three destroyers in escort and a Short-Sunderland' flying-boat were on the hunt immediately and were joined by another flying-boat. Our escorting sloop stood by to pick up survivors, and while this was going on the remairtder of the convoy was racing round, zigzagging, and generally making as tough a target as possible if the U-boat intended to let. loose another 'tin fish.' "Gradually the scene of the disaster dropped behind, but two hours later although the burning tanker vms far over the horizon we could still see the two columns of smoke Teaching skywards," he said. "The destroyer which is to accompany us when the convoy splits up, some going to the east. coast and some to the west coast. came up during the early part of the afternoon. and informed us that the U-boat was located. Three depth charges were dropped and it is thought that the U-boat has had 'finis' written to her career. "The scene presented by the blazing wreck was wonderful, terrible, aweinspiring and sickening— terrible in its suddenness and completeness, awe-in-spiring in the demonstration of power, a little metal and chemicals and the ingenuity of man's brains could produce, and sickening to think it was comrades in the Empire's service in that hell."