RAIDS ON SHIPPING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1940, Page 5

RAIDS ON SHIPPING

: ITALIAN VESSEL SUNK IN NORTH SEA NAZI PLANES ATTACK CONVOY. DRIVEN OFF BY BRITISH FIGHTERS. Neutral ships again suffered in Nazi air raids in the North Sea, off the east coast of Britain, a Daventry broadcast reports. A Norwegian vessel was bombed and machine-gunned. A lifeboat escorted her to port, but six members of the crew are adrift on a raft. A Latvian ship of 3000 tons was also bombed and machine-gunned by two German planes. An Italian ship of 4300 tons sank after an explosion in the North Sea. A number of survivors have reached port. One of the crew was killed and eleven are missing. Nazi planes attacked a British convoy, but no damage resulted. Fishing i vessels were also attacked, but the! raiders flew off when British fighters j appeared.

FRENCH STEAMERS LOST FOUR MEMBERS OF CREW KILLED. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, March 1. Four members of the crew were killed when the French steamer P.L.M. 25, 5391 tons, sank in the North Sea on February 27, after two explosions. A British warship rescued and landed the remaining 39 members of the crew, nine of whom were admitted to hospital seriously injured. A radio message reports that another French ship, the P.L.M. 15, of 3500 ton 3. was lost with all hands. The ship was torpedoed during the last fortnight ol February. NINE STILL MISSING FROM MINED ITALIAN SHIP. SURVIVORS LAND IN BRITAIN. (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, March 1. The Italian steamer mined in the North Sea was the Mirella, of 5340 tons. Two of the ship’s lifeboats were washed ashore on the East Coast. The first contained nine persons completely exhausted, with little clothing, and one dead. The second boat carried six men, including a pilot, and had been adrift for ten hours. Nine members of the crew are still missing. BRITISH STEAMER SUNK (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, March 1. The British steamer Pyrrhus, of 7418 tons, was sunk by enemy action off the West Coast of England. Eight Chinese firemen are missing. NORWEGIAN VICTIM DAMAGED BY ENEMY BOMBERS. (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, March 1. The Norwegian steamer Brott arrived at a East Coast port with a heavy list, after being bombed. It is believed that six of her crew are adrift on a raft. >