CAPTAIN’S SUICIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1940, Page 8

CAPTAIN’S SUICIDE

MAN WHO ELUDED U-BOAT. A NERVE-RACKING JOB. A captain of a Union-Castle liner, whose skilful seamanship enabled him to elude a German submarine, was found dead with his head in a gas cooker at his home at Waddon, Croydon, England. He was Captain Samuel Drew, aged 54, and at the inquest the verdict, recorded that he took his life while the balance of his mind was disturbed. The coroner said that Captain Drew had suffered recently from depression following influenza. It was stated in court that, shortly after the outbreak of war, Captain Drew commanded the Rothesay Castle on the return voyage from Cape Town when she was chased by a submarine. By skilful seamanship, he eluded the submarine and brought his ship safely to a British port. Mrs Effie Drew, who is staying in Devonshire, last week received a letter from her husband telling her he was back from another voyage and hoped to pay her a visit at the weekend. The letter said: "Everybody at the office is very kind, and I think they all realise what a nerve-racking job ours is now."

Captain William M. Tomkins, assistant marine superintendent of the Un-ion-Castle Company, said that when Captain Drew called at the company's offices he said he had just heard that, a month previously, his cousin—a captain employed by the same company — had committed suicide. Recording his verdict, the coroner said the recent strain in his work had probably affected Captain Drew.