Evening star., 1942-04-25
Submarines
Continued From First Page,

Earle's Son Among Survivors.
Lawrence w. Earle, 18-year-old
son of Pennsylvania former Gov
George H. Earle, who was among
the l69 survivors OF the cargo pas
senger ship who were landed at Nor
folk, Va, said the crew Of their
rescue vessel told him they had cer-
tainly destroyed one of the UNDER
sea raiders and believed they had
destroyed another.
Ninety-five of this ships passen-
gers and "a crewmen were rescued
after being adrift for Is hours In six
lifeboats.
Capt. Robert w. Hart of Ruther-
ford, N. j., remained on the bridge
and went down with his ship. Mr..
Earle told newsmen In an interview
at Birth Sholom, Jewish social cen
ter, where the American Red Cross
hastily set up cots and served meals
for the rescued, most of whom were
Puerto Ricans.
Rescued with young Earle, who
was en- route to visit a relative in
the West Indies. was Harry King,
jr., IS, of New York, whose father
is member OF the War Production
Board. Survivors also included
honeymoon couple. william r.
Henry, 81, of New York, and his Is
year-old bride, Blanche Mr.. Henry
is a painter. He said he lost eight
Oil paintings In the sinking.
Earle Praises Seamen.
There was very little confusion,
considering the circumstances" Mr..
Earle said in describing how the
ship was abandoned. The men were
very courteous" in getting the wom-
en- and children in the lifeboats
first.
Young King said he saw sub
marines following the ship through
out the day--Sometimes two and
sometimes three.
One Of the attacking submarines
fired torpedo into the passenger
ships port side just aft of amidship.
Earle said. The raiders waited until
about Is minutes after the last of
the six lifeboats had been launched
and then pumped about 30 shells
into the vessel.
Earle said he saw only two sub
marines, but several other survivors
told of seeing three, one large and
two small ones.
The freighter sank Sunday night
about IL minutes after a single tor
pedo struck aft on the port side,
newsmen were told by deck engineer
Etbino Villanova of Brooklyn, N. Y.
He said that from his lifeboat he
saw two submarines signaling back
and forth with lights.
Promised Rescue Of Victims.
One of the submersibles ap-
preached to within 10 feet of his
boat, Villanova related. and the
commander, speaking in English
with a German accent, asked the
ships name, nationality and ton
mage.
Able Seaman Alex Andrews of
Gary. Ind. said the submarine COM
mander ended the brief converse
tion by saying;
Good luck, don't worry. We will
send a message and you will be
saved" The submarine, described
as large one. then disappeared into
the night with its fellow raider
which had remained about so yards
distant.
At New York it was reported that
medium-sized Norwegian mer-
chant ship traded shots with an at
tacking submarine. and United
States destroyers and airplanes ap-
pearing on the scene forced the sub
marine to retreat. The ship reached
New York harbor safely with one
dead and two wounded.
BoatSwain Killed.
The Norwegian captain said the
submarine was sighted early on the
morning Of April % from so to 100
miles off the Atlantic coast. The
ship turned her stern to the sub
marine which began firing shells.
The first few shells had no effect
quarters and killed the boatswain.
The ship, meanwhile, returned the
fire and shot IA shells before her
ammunition was exhausted as fire
below decks exploded the ammuni-
ton compartment. The submarine
fired so or so shells. in less than 30
minutes, scoring hits with about
a quarter of them.
Shells started other fires aboard,
burned out the mechanical steering
apparatus and wrecked the radio
shack. The bridge and the hold
were also hit.
! A United States plane. warships
and a blimp were attracted to the
scene by the noise and depth
rharCeS u-eye fr0,reS rear the slth