FIVE ALLIED SHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 May 1943, Page 3

FIVE ALLIED SHIPS

SUNK OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA DURING PAST FEW WEEKS. MAJORITY OF THE CREWS SAVED. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 7. Five Allied merchant ships have been sunk by Japanese submarines operating off the east coast of Australia. The majority of the crews were saved.

The sinkings were announced today in General MacArthur’s communique, which said: “Five Allied merchant vessles, namely, one medium-sized United States freighter, one large and two small Australian freighters, and one small Norwegian freighter, have been lost as the result of enemy operations against our shipping indicated in the oemmunique of May 1. The majority of the crews were saved, due to prompt action by our naval patrol craft. Our shipping continues to operate in undiminished volume under the protection of our naval and aircraft units.” General MacArthur’s communique of May 1 stated that enemy submarines were raiding “in some force” in areas east of Australia. ATTACKS WITHOUT WARNING. Stories from some of the survivors of the sinkings have now been released. Men rescued from the first ship of the five reported sunk reached the coast in a damaged lifeboat half-filled with water, and on a raft towed behind. This vessel was steaming in a moderate swell within sight of the coast when ’ a submarine attacked. A torpedo ripped into the hull, tearing the vessel apart, and the men were soon struggling in the water. Among those missing is the master. Those on deck saw the torpedo racing toward the vessel, and latei' the conning tower of a submarine about half a mile away. A fishing launch found survivors following the attack. Six young Australian seamen were crouched upon a raft in moonlight for an hour watching the Japanese submarine which sank another of the ships. They feared they would be detected and machine-gunned. Eleven were saved from this ship, but ethers, including the captain, were lost. Three of those saved were injured. This freighter had been steaming all day along the east-coast of Australia.ln the early evening a torpedo struck without warning, and the ship went down by the stern. The submarine surfaced after the attack, and men on a raft saw the periscope and conning tower quite plainly in the moonlight. The ship’s cat and her six kittens were the only casualties on the American ship. All 81 members of the ship’s complement were rescued from lifeboats 12 hours after their vessel went down. The master of the ship said the weather was fairly clear and the sea moderate when the ship was hit. He saw the wake of a torpedo 50 yards away, but could not swing the ship clear. The ship settled rapidly and the order to abandon was given immediately. SALVAGE EFFORT FAILS. A New Zealander, William Shand (address unknown), a seaman on an Allied cargo vessel, got away in a lifeboat, but volunteered as a member of the salvage crew when it was decided to attempt to tow the stricken vessel to port. However, the ship settled so rapidly that he and other volunteers dived overboard just three minutes before the vessel actually went down. He was in the water half an hour before he was picked up. “It wasn’t cold,” he said, “but we were all scared .of sharks.”

No details are available of the other two sinkings. Though no specific dates are given in the communique, all these vessels have been lost in the past few weeks. On one of the Australian freighters two-thirds of the crew were lost.