The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-11-27


The losses reported today included
the German Merchantmen Borkum
which was captured by q British
warship and sunk by shells from q
German submarine after q British
prize crew had taken It In charge.
Prize Ship TOrpedbed
The Admiralty announced that
the German merchant ship Borkum,
$3.50 tons, had been captured by a
British warship and while en- route
to a harbor In charge Of o British
prize crew, had been attacked and
set afire by a German submarine.
The Borkum was driven ashore, at
a place not disclosed, and 1t was an
nounced that there had been no cas-
ualties among the British prize crew
but that four Of the German sailors
had been killed.
The admiralty also announced that
a British warship had captured the
German merchant ship Konsul Hen
dirk Fisser, 4,458 tons, and brought
1t to port.
At 1855 a. m. a 300-ton German
Trawler, northbound, struck o Ger
man mine off Langeland Island
Denmark, and sank In one minute
at the same place where German
mine layer struck one of its own
mines and went down Saturday with
loss Of IL lives.
The fate of the trawler's crew was
not learned,
Another victim today was the g.
857-ton Dutch liner Spaarndam,
which struck q mine and sank in
the Thames Estuary outside London
The ship carried general cargo but
no passengers. 1t had left New Or
leans September az, entered the
Dows, then started for Gravesend to
unload.
The sinking had not been an
nounced here but was confirmed by
the ships owners at Amsterdam.
Still Strewing Mines
At Paris, today's war announce
ment said that German warplanes
had continued ito strew mines In
the mouth Of tn eThames all day
yesterday and last night but that
increasing F'rancoAB British air pa
trolls were making the laying of
parachute mines more difficult and
the Allies were planning an aeria!
dragnet which they hoped would be
effective soon."
This announcement meant that
the French air service had come to
Britain's aid In the sea crisis
Germany's mine warfare had
reached new fury on the eve 10
Great Britain,s invocation of a
blockade on German exports.
Two major disasters contributed to
tn eweek-end havoc-the sinking OF
the British merchant cruiser, Raw
alpindi, 1897 tons with the loss OF
all but II Of It's crew of 800; and the
sinking Of the l6,000-ton Polish
liner, Pilsudski, with q loss of eight
lives.
The Rawalpindi had been luxury
liner before the war on the Orient
run Of the p. and o. Steamship
Company. 1t was taken over by the
Admiralty at the outbreak Of the
war and heavily armed as an aux
iliary cruiser. She was the ninth
British warship lost In the war and
her casualties raised the navy's Co
tai to 1900 officers and men. The
cause Of her sinking was not dis
closed but was believed to have
been q mine.
Pilsudski Flew Union Jack
The Pilsudski, taken over by Bril-
tain after the collapse Of Poland,
flew the Union Jack and was the
largest merchant ship so far lost.
Survivors reported two explosions
that might have been either mines
or torpedoes.
Both ships were on the Germans
list of armed merchantmen subject
to being sunk without warning.
A third disaster was the sinking
by a mine Of British pilot boat of
Southport with o loss OF % OF Its
crew. A helpless crowd stood on the
shore watching the boat 60 down 500
yards out. A raging storm kept them
from sending help and overturned
two nfeboats on the way In. Some
tried to swim ashore; others dashed
themselves to the rigging as the ship
settled until Its deck was awash
Seventeen were washed ashore
Fourteen Of them were dead and
three were revived. Those dashed To
the rigging had to wait 10 hours for
the storm to subside To be rescued
/ Protests OF Neutrals
In addition to the losses she was
suffering at sea, Britain was getting
serious protests from neutral coun :
trie against the projected German
export blockade. There had beer
protests from Holland, Belgium
Italy, Japan, Sweden and Denmark
and italian newspapers, In particu-
lar, had begun bitter attack on
British policy.
(Benito Mussolini's newspaper
Popolo Drtalia at Milan charged
that Jews were responsible for the
Anglo French export blockade
Other italian newspapers said "Bri-
tain has gone too far" and called
the attempt to starve Germany into
submission "a shameless violation OF
International Lawn
In spite Of the protests, It was as.
serted both here and In France that
the Allies were going to apply the
export blockade, probably tomor-
row and the French In particular
emphasized that neutrais should
understand that their trade losses
were small In comparison with the
immense effort Britain and France
were accomplishing In putting an
end TO German aggression In Eu-
rope.
None OF Losses Felt
Prime Minister Neville Chamber.
lain was addressing the Empire on
the Allies war aims last night when
he heard Of the sinking Of the Raw.
alpindi and he depressed to say that
none Of these losses affects our
overwhelming naval superiority.
and that time and the blockade were
working on the Allies side.
The Pilsudski and her sister shin.
the Batory had been the pride of the
Polish merchant marine, They were
built by Italy for 100000 worth Of