Evening star., 1940-10-28
Empress Of Britain
Sunk, IS Probably
LOST, London Admits
AZ, ,348-Ton Liner Hit
By WarpIunes and Set
Afire, Admiralty Says
n the AsSociated Press.

Bs the Associated Press.
LONDON, Oct. 2s.-Loss Of the
Empress of Britain, 42,34S- ton pride
of the Canadian merchant fleet,
with a probable death list Of As
persons was acknowledged today by
the British Admiralty and War Of
fee.
OF the 643 persons on board, most
" military families and "a small
number of military personnel" 598
already have been landed by war
ships in British ports, joint COM
nunique reported.
German reports said the great
liner was smashed by air attack
Saturday and finished off by two
torpedoes from a submarine early
today. They described the Empress,
which took King George vi and
Queen Elizabeth across the Atlantic
when they returned from their
pilgrimage to Canada and the United
States, as transport
Blew Up and Sank.
The British announcement merely
said the ship had been damaged
"by enemy action" and later blew
up and sank while in tow.
The one-time flagship of the Ca
madam Pacific feet was the biggest
merchant ship sent down in the
war. She was almost 10000 tons
larger than the second biggest, the
32,581-ton German liner Columbus,
scuttled by her crew last December
10 off the coast of Virginia when she
encountered a British cruiser.
The Empress took part in the
transportation of the first Canadian
troops to Britain, and late last jan
uary took over a second contingent.
The sl5000,0O0 vessel, one of the
worlds 10 largest, was commissioned
by the British Admiralty soon after
the outbreak of the war.
Her last commercial voyage, short
ly after the war began, was trip
from Southampton to Quebec with
thousands of Canadian and United
States fugitives from the war zones.
A communique said:
"The Admiralty and War Office
regret to announce that the S. S.
Empress of Britain has been lost as
the result of enemy action. The
Empress of Britain was attacked by
enemy aircraft and set on fire and
1t became necessary to abandon ship.
Salvage operations were COM
menced Immediately but whilst in
tow the Empress of Britain sub
sequently blew up and sank.
Some 598 survivors out of the
total on board of CAB have already
been landed by British Warships.
Included in this number we're mill
tary families and small number
of military personnel.
THE resolute and efficient han
ding of the Empress of Britain's
anti-aircraft defenSes contributed
largely to the high proportion of
the complement being saved
Decks Machine Gunned.
A German plane bombed the ship
$50 miles west of Ireland on the
afternoon of October 26, it was
stated.
Survivors said the raider also
machine gunned the decks.
Women and children were among
the passengers who got into life
boats without panic, some as long
as two hours after the attack, and
were picked up by British warships
about six hours later. Some life
boats caught fire from incendiary
bombs before they could be
launched.
The youngest passenger, IL
month-old Neville Hart, was tied
with a blanket papoose fashion to
the back of a sailor who slid down
a 6o-foot rope to a lifeboat. Today
he is safe in rescue port hotel
with his parents, sister and brother.
The Press Association said the
ships skipper, Capt. Charles Howard
Sapworth, was saved. He was deco
rated in June, 1899, after bringing
the King and Queen back from their
visit to the United States and
Canada.