The Wilmington morning star., 1942-03-19
ANOTHER WARTIME
SAGA OF THE SEA
Survivors OF Torpedoing
Tell OF Dangerous Days
And Nights On Ocean

SUVA, FIJI Islands, Mar. 18-tR
Another heroic wartime Saga
of the Seas, Of dangerous days
and nights in storm-tossed life
boats, was related today by sur
vivors of two vessels torpedoed
by Japanese submarines last De-
cember.
One group of seven constituted
the only survivors of the Donerail,
the former Danish motorship
freighter Nordhval, which was tor
pedoed the night Of December 9
while en- route from Suva to Van
couver, B. c.
Eleven others survived the tank
er Prusa, torpedoed in Hawaiian
waters December II. A twelfth
man in this group died at sea,
raising the Prusa loss of life to
ten-nine had been killed outright
by the explosion of the torpedo.
For 38 days the Donerail sur
vivors braved the hardships of the
sea and the constant danger Of an
other enemy attack. Finally they
reached land at Tarawa Cook Is
land) in the Gilbert group. The
Donerail, they related, m t
rammed a surface submarine at
night. The sub crash-dived. Later
it came to the surface and shelled
the vessel.
Twenty.four of the 48 persons on
the Donerail were killed by seven
shells fired by the underseas raid
er. Eight passengers - two wo-
men, five men and an 18-months-
old child-were killed when a shell
hit the ifeboat, swung out for
lowering, in which they were sit
ting.
Get Away Safely
The remaining "a, all members
of the crew, got away safely in a
steel boat badly punctured by shell
fragments. The crafts air tanks
kept it afioat, said M. Chambers
of Sydney, one Of the survivors.
For a week the castaways bat
tied a gale while trying to make
one of the Hawaiian islands. The
elements won out and they charted
a course for Tarawa.
For two thousand miles tn ey
fought west and south tow r d
safety. One by one their numbers
diminished. The captain was wash
ed overheard. Sixteen died of ex-
posure and starvation. Food and
water was ruined by immersion
They subsisted on flying fish
which they cleverly caught, on bis
cults soaked by salt water but
edible, on vitamin tablets and tin
ned milk and rain water caught
with a sail.
Seven, all Danes except Cham
bers, reached Tarawa. There they
found a Japanese party had come
and gone. In two groups they made
their way to Nanouti, thence to
Suva.
The group from the Prusa like
wise had been at sea many days
in an open boat. Their vessel, a
tanker with crew of "a, was tor
pedoed without warning in Hawai-
ian waters Nine were killed by
the torpedo and the remaining Is
got away in two boats The group
which arrived here, originally num-
bering IL but reduced to IL by a
death at sea, did not know that
the other lifeboat had been res
cued late in December and its
thirteen occupants landed at
Pearl Harbor, on the island of
Oahu.
Adverse Weather
For 81 and half days the Prusa
group lodged danger and fought
extremely adverse weather as they
edged ever toward the southwest
and the islands they knew would
bring safety. They experienced no
hardships Of food and water; their
boat was amply stocked. After g.
500 miles Of sailing they reached
land in the Gilbert group.
(The eleven from the Prusa who
now have reached Suva were listed
by the Tampa Interocean Steam
ship Co.. at the time they reached
the Gilberts, as Capt. c. H. Boy,
Houston. Tex; Frank H.. Stewart,
Wilmington, Del; James H Dar-
lin, Houston; Bernard Baker, JET
ferson, Iowa; Floyd Nc Williams;
Smyrna, Ca; Carl Knee, Ham
Ind; Thomas B e TT,
City N. c.: j. P. Hig-
gins, Philadelphia; George Bercy,
New Orleans, and Alfred A. Smith
and Eric ]. Williams, both OF New
York.
American imports of wool for
ni1rnoses in 1941 Wer e