CARE OF CONVOYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1940, Page 6

CARE OF CONVOYS

KING ATTENDS PORT CONFERENCE MEETING WITH MERCHANT SKIPPERS. LONG TALK WITH DUTCH COMMODORE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 11.45 a.in.) RUGBY, December 29. The King has personally, assured himself of the great care with which arrangements for convoys are worked out by the naval authorities. He recently visited a port for this purpose and he attended one of the informal conferences at which the captains of merchantmen and escorting warships meet to discuss their problems before leaving. The skippers and naval personnel were seated together round a table, receiving instructions from a naval captain, when the King walked into the room, accompanied by the com-mander-in-chief at the port. At the conferences, which are always held a few hours before a convoy sails, the position each ship shall take is decided, as well as the methods to be adopted in case of attack either by a surface raider, U-boat or aircraft. The King was shown on a chart the positions each ship would take and also where the escorting warships would be positioned, and he listened to the discussions of the conference. Afterwards his Majesty met the skippers and talked with them individually. Several of the skippers were from Allied countries. The commodore of this convoy was a Dutchman and the King had a' long talk with him.