Evening star., 1940-02-15
London
Continued From First Page.)
an unofficial total near so for the
war.

Continued From First Page)
an unofficial total near so for the
war.
Authoritative sources reported the
British were prepared to offer con-
voy protection to all neutral ship
ping, whether passing through con-
traband control points or not. be-
cause of German insistence yester-
day that submarines had the right
to sink any ship bound for the con-
troll points.
German spokesmen asserted
today, however, that American
apprehension aroused by the
statement was ill-founded and
that Germany was speaking only
Theoretically
Other authoritative quarters said
the Government was considering spe-
cial machinery to expedite mass per-
mits for British volunteers to Fin
land. without putting any age limit
on those who may volunteer.
There was no hint from official
quarters as to- what ruling would
be made on British and Canadian
soldier volunteers.
The frankly encouraging atti-
tude of the government toward
bolstering Finnish man power left
the belief, however, that troopers
would not find transfer to Finland
too difficult unless they have sre,
cial qualifications useful for Brit
aims own military services.
Among the uniformed men were
members of the British Expedition
ary Force who said they were home
on Today leaves from France and
wanted Finnish service 4
The Canadians included T. S.
Laird, who came over as . private
with the first Canadian contingent.
He explained that they told me l
was too old for the Royal Air Force
this time, so I've enrolled for the
Finnish air force"
Among the doctors conducting
medical examinations of volunteers
was Lord Dawson of Penn, physi-;
sician-in- ordinary to King George vi
and a royal physician since Edward
VII.
OF the new submarine sinkings, the
British claimed vengeance within
half hour against an undersea raider
which torpedoed the 12,306-ton
freighter Sultan Star, bound for
England with 5000 tons of frozen
Argentine beef.
One Sunk in North Sea.
The other was sent down in the
North Sea, where two other large
British merchant ships, the 10,191-
ton Gretaf1eld and the 8,501-ton
British Triumph, both tankers,
were sunk most recently.
Five Of the British Triumph s
crew of At and 13 of the Greta-
fields crew were missing. The first
capsized and sank after an ex-
plosion in the North Sea, and the
other went down in flames of the
northern coast OF Scotland.
Seventy-two survivors of the Sui
tan Star landed today at a west
coast port. Capt. w. H. Bevan said
only one man was lost and two in
jured.
The success of Britains convoy
system against submarine attack is
credited largely to the navy's secret
"asdic" device which enables war
ships to stalk undersea raiders with
depth bombs even after they dive
! once they have been spotted.
Two Neutral, One Nazi Victims.
One German merchantmen and
two neutrals apparently also were
new victims Of war at sea.
A French communique reported
yesterday that "a German cargo
boat has been captured and taken
into a French port" No other de-
tails were disclosed.
| Reuters, British News Agency, re-
ported from Oslo that the Danish
ship Martin Goldschmidt, 1,O95 tons,
was sunk off the west Scottish coast
and that only five of her crew of
20 had been picked up.
The owners of the 1,5O3-ton Nor
wegian steamer Eika were said to
have been notified that the ship
was sunk on a voyage from Spain
to Norway and that submarine
had landed two survivors at Will
helmshaven, Germany.
Cheering Crowd Greets Exeter.
The Exeter was greeted at Ply
mouth by cheering crowd headed
by Mr. Churchill.
The battle-scarred Exeter, which
had been repaired at Port Stanley,
Falkland Islands, for the long voy-
age home, saluted Mr.. Churchill as
q tug led the way to port shortly
after 10 am.
Also on hand to pay tribute to
the crew of the 8,390-ton warship
were Sir Dudley Pound, first sea
lord, and Sir John Simon, chancel-
lor Of the exchequer.
It was happy homecoming for
members Of the crew, called back
to duty last August only three days
after their first leave in England
mad begun following q duty tour OF
nearly three years.
The 32,O00-ton battle cruiser Re-
pulse returned to Plymouth yester-
day for refltting. it was disclosed.
/ Mr.. Churchill, wearing q peaked
yachting cap and q double-breasted
blue jacket Of naval cut, waited two
hours FOR the Exeter's arrival
/ Smoking his ever r-present cigar
he doffed his cap at the roar Of the
ships salute and then went aboard
TO congratulate the officers and mer
while the bend played Rule Brit
annia."
Mr.. Churchill told the officers and
men ab6ard the warship: