STORY DENIED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1940, Page 5

STORY DENIED

ALLEGED TORPEDOING OF U.S.A. DESTROYER AN INTERCEPTED MESSAGE. SHIP SAID TO BE SINKING. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 7. The United States destroyer Barry, en route to Balboa, to take Mr A. J. D. Biddle (Ambassador to Poland) to London, sent an S.O.S. that she had been struck by a German submarine, 400 miles from Spain, and was sinking. It was not stated whether she was torpedoed or struck in a collision. The Mackay Radio intercepted a message, allegedly emanating from the Barry, saying that she had been torpedoed by a German submarine at 1.15 p.m. and adding: “Slowly sinking, can last three hours.” The Mackay Radio informed the Press that there was some doubt of the authenticity of the Barry message and said it made contact with the liner Manhattan in the immediate vicinity and asked the liner to investigate. It was also doing its utmost to obtain the Navy's confirmation or denial. NAVAL INTIMATION SHIP SAFE IN NEUTRAL WATERS. (Received This Day. 9.45 a.m.) WASHINGTON. July 7. The Navy Department has denied that the Barry was torpedoed and said it had received a communication from the vessel which “was not in distress but safely anchored in neutral waters.”