HEROIC FEAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 May 1942, Page 4

HEROIC FEAT

OF AUSTRALIAN SLOOP YARRA RESCUES FROM STRICKEN LINER. SEVERAL ENEMY BOMBERS SHOT DOWN. (By Telegranh—Press Association —Copyright) SYDNEY, May 20. Members of the - crew of the Empress of Asia vyho came to Australia teil the full story of the sinking and how the sloop Yarra, in the face of grave danger, rescued a large proportion of the liner’s troops. Mr W. H. McArthur, one of the engineers on the Empress of Asia, said that on the morning of February 4 the Empress of Asia was in convoy with four other transports in Banka Strait, which at that time was known as “dive-bomb alley.” Suddenly at breakfast a formation of Japanese bombers came over 'and dropped bombs all round the ship, but without effect. On the following day, when the Empress was within sight of Singapore, the Japanese again came over in ’force. One bomb crashed through the decks and exploded in the first-class saloon, setting it on fire. Desperate but futile efforts were made to control the fire. Then a second bomb burst just astern of the bridge. Speed was diminished and the ship was soon in a bad way within sight of her destination. The Australian sloop Yarra then came on the scene. “I take off my hat to those Australian sailors,” said Mr McArthur. “We were at that' moment drifting into a minefield, and our ship was ablaze, but that did not deter the commander of the Yarra. He brought his little ship alongside our port quarter and made fast with lines. Troops and rnembers of the crew swarmed over the decks into the Yarra. “By this time the fire was so fierce that the soldiers and crew forward were cut off by a wall of flame, and all they could do was to take flying leaps into the water and wait to be picked up. Few of them, however, were injured. Even while the rescue --was going on the Japanese were still lashing at us, and the Yarra’s antiaircraft guns, meanwhile, were right on the mark. They brought down three bombers to my knowledge; two fell simultaneously in the sea. “There must have been 2000 of us on the Yarra, and I heard the commander shout a warning not to move from our positions for fear of capsizing the sloop. “We managed to escape the minefield, and the commander stuck to his perilous job till no more could be rescued. “We crawled into Singapore, with our ship still blazing in the distance, and all of us were thankful to be spared to tell the story of the miraculous escape in the nick of time.”