WITHOUT WARNING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 December 1939, Page 5

WITHOUT WARNING

BRITISH SHIP TORPEDOED WITH LOSS OF SIXTEEN LIVES. CREW CELEBRATING BELOW DECK. The crew of one German submarine chose Christmas Day to sink without warning a British ship, with the loss of 16 lives, states a Daventry broadcast. The ship was the Stanholme, of 2500 tons. TWost of her crew were celebrating Christmas below deck when there was a terrific explosion. There is no doubt that a German submarine was responsible, as one of the crew saw the boat just before the torpedo was fired, but too late to avoid it. The survivors have been landed at an English port. They included the wife of the chief engineer. She saw her husband drowned. The 600-ton Norwegian steamer Lappen has been sunk in the North Sea following an explosion. The crew of 13 were safely landed at a home port. The Lappen was on its way to Great Britain. TWO EXPLOSIONS SHIP SINKS IN FOUR MINUTES. MEMBERS OF CREW JUMP OVERBOARD. (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, December 26. A U-boat sank the steamer Stanholme without warning on Christmas morning,, three hours after leaving a West Coast port. A deckhand saw the submarine too late to raise an effective alarm. Two terrific explosions occurred and the ship began, to sink. The crew jumped overboard. Eleven, including the chief engineer’s wife, clambered into a boat and were picked up by a Norwegian steamer. Fourteen are missing and are presumably drowned. The ship sank in four minutes. RESCUE BANNED DANISH SHIP ORDERED OFF. SINKING OF THE SCOTIA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 25. Fuller information is now available about the torpedoing of the Danish vessel Scotia (2400 tons) on December 7. It is learned on reliable authority that the Danish steamship Hafnia. which went to her rescue and was attempting to pick up survivors, was prevented from doing so by the Germans, who hailed the Hafnia from their submarine, which had come up in the darkness, and ordered them to steam away, and not attempt any rescues under threat of also being torpedoed. A Balboa message states that the German steamer Dusseldorf, which was captured by a British cruiser, is passing through the Panama Canal. The German captain is navigating the ship under the direction of a British Naval Commander and there is a prize crew aboard. A 17-year-old seaman jumped overboard and was drowned after the Dusseldorf was captured. BURNT OUT. BRITISH SHIP INVERLANE. LONDON. December 25. The British snip Inverlane. 9141 tons, mined last week, has been burnt out and must be considered a loss.