NAVAL HUNT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1939, Page 7

NAVAL HUNT

QUEST FOR NAZI RAIDERS BRITISH FORCES DRAWING NET CLOSER. PROBLEMS FOR THE ENEMY SHIPS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON. December 5. Swift, heavily armed British naval patrols, strung out I'roin the Arctic Seas across the Atlantic to the fringe of the southern Polar walers and eastward to the Indian Ocean, are drawing the net tdoser round the German raiders, .who are get!ing hard pressed for overhaul and adequate refuelling facilities and face the severity of tin l advancing winter. The Dominion navies are assisting in sweeping the seas from the African coast to the Pacific.

A summary of the latest report confirms that the German pocket-battle-ship, Deutschland, has lately been operating in northern seas while the Admiral Scheer is in the eastern Atlantic, in the vicinity of the "deep water route” to Australia. It is unlikely that the raiders have materially changed their zones of operations during the past few days because of the importance of conserving fuel and the necessity for making wide sweeps from normal waters to avoid the British hunters. DUTCH SHIP STOPPED BUT ALLOWED TO PROCEED. AMSTERDAM. December 5. The “Telegraaf” announces that the Admiral Scheer stopped the Netherlands ship Mappia (9389 tons) south of Madagascar on November 16. but allowed her to proceed. AN OFFICER’S STORY ATTACK ON THE AFRICA SHELL. LONDON, December 5. The Durban correspondent of “The Times” says the officers of the tanker Africa Shell, which was sunk by the Germans, are under the strictest orders not to disclose the identity of the raid- ■ ers or the waters in which the attack occurred. The chief officer, Mr Frank Masefield, detailing the attack, said "The raiders appeared at surprising speed and fired a warning shot from three miles away. They swung broadside on and lowered a boat half a mile away. The boarding party wore lifebelts and were a nondescript crew clad in white and blue oilskins and boiler suits, with no names on their caps. “An officer who spoke perfect English ordered us to the boats. The Germans placed bombs in the ship and departed at 12.30 p.m. The foredeck blew up at 12.40 p.m. and the engineroom al 12.55 p.m. The funnel was blown in the air and wreckage was everywhere. "Our two boats were beached and we encamped near native fires. A mail plane flying overhead dropped a message attached to a spanner, but it fell in the sea. We swam out, but could not find it. Then we walked 25 miles to Zavora Point lighthouse and got a rescue party.”