Evening star., 1941-03-16
Passenger Describes
Ambushing Of Convoy
By NaziS Submarines
Four Of Nearly Twoscore
Vessels Sent to Bottom
In Two Attacks
BY SAM ROBERTSON,
Canadian Press Staff Writer.

OTTAWA, March 15.-TWice In
the area Adolf Hitler's undersea
marauders usually infest, German
submarines waylaid the convoy with
which I recently crossed the North
Atlantic.
The attacks came in the black
ness found only at sea-one at in
the morning, the other at mid
night.
Out in the darkness that eyes
could not pierce, we knew brave
ships were going down. In the heavy
seas, we knew, brave men must be,
too.
Now that those hours of anxiety
are behind, with solid ground un-
derfoot again, they seem like a
nightmare.
Torpedoes sent at least four ships
maybe siX--to the bottom. More
than 200 seamen were aboard the
four vessels known to have gone
down.
Survivors Unknown.
How many survived? There was
no way to tell Ships that escape
attacks on conveys must plough on.
To stop would be to become sitting
bird. The ship l was on hurried
away.
Wintry waves closed over the
largest of the nearly two score ships
In the convoy, massive Whaler-
factory craft with the lines of an
overgroWn bathtub The others
we're two freighters and an oil
tanker. Two others which listed
badly still were able to make way.
The men of the submarine. or
submarines which made the first
attack may or may not have sur
vived the deadly depth charges of
our naval escorts. If they did, it
seemed probable that they would
signal German bomber base of our
positions. Sky-raiders never came.
1t may have meant that any Iron
Cross awards to the U-boat men for
their nights work may be post
humous.
When the second attack came we
were on the fringe of the danger
area. The moment the first torpedo
let go in the yitals of a freighter
only a few hundred yards off our
starboard beam the convoy dis
persed
Shaken by TorpedOes.
From there on it was each ship for
herself and we did not sight any
of our convoy sisters for the rest
of the voyage.
The first warning that the under
sea terrorS had struck were shud-
ders which seemed to ripple the
steel of our ship. They were the
conclusion of torpedoeS crushing
the four vessels running astern
They electrified most of us out of
our sleep. 1t was 5 am.
I had gone to bed warmly clothed
in Woolen underwear. long stock
ings. flannel trousers and a sweat
shirt. More Woolen clothes and
such blues-chasers as cigarettes and
a flask of rum lay by my bunk.
AS We joined the flow of pas
sengers hurrying to lifeboat stations,
one of my two cabin-mates made a
gallant Jest intended as a nerve
Steadler.
Rotten hour to have a boat drill,
what?" asked J. NJ. Hanlon. a ships
third officer on his way to Canada
to join a new merchantmen.
All of us knew it was no drill
But we all caught his GOODNESS. We
laughed.
Up on the boat deck we expected
a scene at least tinted with hysteria
Among the 50-odd women and girls
aboard, ranging in age from TO
80, were some who had brushed
death at sea before.
There was, for instance, Miss d
Mcmahon, who had seen scores of
children and seamen die in the
sinking of the City of BenareS, the
last ship to sail with refugee young
sters for America and safety.
CaImness Contagious.
There was Mrs. Imri Goeritz,
whose husband and two children
went down with the Simon Bolivar
when a mine found that Dutch
liner. lneTe was announcer, III ner
mid-20's, whose first child was but
six weeks away. But up there on
the wind-combed deck there was
nothing but contagious calmness
A young English housewife, who
had picked up smattering of
Americanese on the way across, ex-
emplified it.
"Hya palsy walsy," she chirped
cheerily. Been up all night?"
Only one woman swooned. She
had been down for 36 hours with
seasickness. A jolt of brandy fixed
her.
Bundled in lifejackets and as
many layers of clothing as We could
snatch up, we stood on deck for
one tense hour. BY that time We
had steamed far from the grim