Evening star., 1940-12-19
BY JAMES BONE.

A NORTHWESTERN BRITISH
PORT, Dec. 10 P.-One hundred
and forty passengers and crew of the
liner Western Prince. torpedoed in
the Atlantic Saturday, were landed
here yesterday from cargo steamer
which courageously came to their
rescue.
Her name cannot be given at
present, but it will be remembered
by the rescued so long as they live.
Nothing could exceed the skill, re-
source and complete hospitality
which the captain, his officers and
crew gave us.
The Western Prince was torpe-
doed about o'clock in the morning
darkness with strong seas running.
The captain drove the engines as
tern to relieve the pressure on the
bulkheads. The torpedo started a
red glow, just before the ship
plunged We heard two blasts on
the whistle. That's the Old Mans
Capt John Reed's) last words,
goodby to YOU" said a sailor near
me in lifeboat No. 3.
Six passengers and II of the
crew are missing, including Capt.
Reed, a Scot of Sc, heavily built.
deliberate. with the look of a man
of strong resolution. It's not thought
by his colleagues that he intended
to go down with the ship, but that
events and his own sense of re-
sponsibility to others brought that
end about
Capt. Charlton, former captain
of the Furness Witty Line, who
played a large part in the conduct
of the departure and the rescue,
told me Capt. Reed had handed him
his overcoat and had told him to
have lifeboat around later. Capt.
Charlton thought Capt. Reeds in
tention was to try for boat or a
raft at the last moment.
The second officer. r. F. White,
who remained with Capt. Reed, was
rescued from raft before the res
cue ship was boarded. Lifeboat No.
3 tried to rescue Mr.. White but the
rope slipped and he was carried past.
The third man who remained aboard
the Western Prince was Franks, q
steward, who had personal at
tachment to the captain. He was
seen by one of the last passengers
off the ship with the purser's key
going down to get the Spitfire fund
raised by the crew to bring it to
safety.
Another passenger told me that
Franks, who was a taciturn man
with dark hair and a grim humor,
said when pressed to hurry tnat he
was staying on, that he was going
Ito do bit of looting."
Canadian Official Crushed.
Gordon Scott, financial adviser to
the Canadian Ministry of Num-
tions and Supply, who was one Of
the four members of their mission
on board the Western Prince. is
missing, with little hope that he sur
wives. He was in a motor lifeboat
which was upset at the side of the
rescue ship. He was seen holding
on to rope and being crushed
badly between the ship and the
boat.
Afterward, without the rope. ne
was seen drifting away, his head
all bloody. Mr.. Sprouts, a young
nautical instrument expert born in
Alberta and one-time mile cham
pion of Western Canada, told me
this.
Mr.. Sprouts lost his wife, who was
in the cabin of the motorboat when
it was upset owing to the movement
of the occupants suddenly to one
side as they got blast from the
ships exhaust.
Mr.. Scott's heart wasn't strong,
and it was courageous of him to
come over with the mission; Sir
Andrew Duncan particularly desired
his presence in London He selected
the motorboat himself. considering
it better risk c. D. Howe, Cana