SUNK BY BOMBS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1939, Page 5

SUNK BY BOMBS

AFTER TORPEDOING BRITISH SHIP FATE OF ENEMY U BOAT IN ATLANTIC. PLANE MAKES SUDDEN APPEARANCE. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. NEW YORK, September 24. The American Farmer brought 29 survivors from the British ship Kafirislan, which was torpedoed by a submarine on September 17. The master, Captain John Busby, reported that the submarine was sunk by bombs from a plane believed to have been attached to H.M.S. Courageous. The plane arrived unseen and mach-ine-gunned and combed the submarine, achieved a direct hit.

A Daven try broadcast says the survivors of a British steamer who arrived at New York aboard an American ship, gave an account of a battle between an R.A.F. flying-boat and a German submarine, which sank their ship in the Atlantic. Six men were drowned when a lifeboat was launched while the ship was under way. The crew was told by the captain of the submarine that he was sending out an 5.0.5., but that if help did not arrive he would tow the lifeboats astern.

As if out of nowhere, one of the survivors said, a British bomber swooped down like magic. It sprayed the submarine with machine-gun bullets and nine men on the deck of the submarine scrambled down below. Some observers thought that the hatch of the submarine was left open. The bomber wheeled, dropped two bombs, and disappeared. The master of the ship said that one bomb struck the conning-tower squarely, and in his opinion it was a fifty-fifty chance that the submarine sank. TWELVE SEAMEN LOST STEAMER SUNK WITHOUT WARNING. LONDON, September 25. The Hazelside, of 4646 tons, was sunk without warning. Twelve of the crew of 24 are reported to have been lost, including the captain. People on the British coast saw the attack on the Hazelside, which was sunk by a U-boat. The wireless operator, Mr Birket, said the submarine fired without warning. Two lifeboats were wrecked and 15 of the crew had to be put off in a small jolly boat. Seven clambered on a raft. GERMAN PRIZE COURT BERLIN, September 25. The German official wireless announced that the Reich Ministry of Justice has established a prize court, which it hails as proof of the “continued success” of Germany’s counterblockade. It added that the court would pronounce sentences in strict accordance With international law. CONVOY SYSTEM FRENCH PLANS WORKING SMOOTHLY. LONDON, September 25. The “Daily Telegraph’s Paris correspondent says the French navy is using the convoy system so successfully that several big French liners, carrying thousands of passengers, including many Americans, have crossed the Atlantic without the slightest danger.

The North African and other trade routes are also functioning without interruption.