Evening star., 1942-01-27
Sub Masquerading
As Lightship Tricked
Crew Of Ore Carrier
Venore Lured by Folse
Signals Before Attack,
Survivor Says

Si9hoiS DeToIe AttoCks
Survivor Says
A new technique of trickery adopt
ed by German submarines lurking
on the Atlantic seaboard was cred
tied today with inflicting another
loss on American shipping, as sur.
vivors Of the ore carrier Venore, res
cued after So hours In lifeboats, re-
counted their experiences when the
ship that picked them up docked at
Norfolk.
Shelled and torpedoed Saturday
morning. by sub masquerading as
a lightship, the fate of the Venore
became known only yesterday after
noon. Believed lost in the attack
of the Carolina coast were Capt
Fritz Duurloo and 81 members of the
crew Of 43. The ore carrier was the
eighth ship to fall afoul Of the coast
al >'siderS.
Allen Harte, able bodied seaman
of Baltimore, one of the ~ survivors,
told newsmen that those Boches
are certainly smart. 80 They fooled
us completely"
Il was in the crows nest on watch
when we sighted light" he related.
THE light blinked in code that the
vessel was lightship. She told us
to come over near her. We started
toward her, still thinking she was
the lightship when a shell hit us in
the bow. 1t didn't do much dam
age, but we were called to our sta
tionS."
General Alarm Sounded.
"Then the submarine moved
around to our port side and a tor
pedo hit us. A general alarm was
sounded and darned If that sub
when it circled us that time, didn't
signal with her lights as if she were
a buoy. She didn't fool us that time
and when the second torpedo struck
us We were ready for it as much as
you can be ready for such a thing
Some of the survivors said they
saw the sea swamp a lifeboat carry
ing 19 men and saw third lifeboat
with 2 men in 1t, but reported they
were unable to go to the aid of the
others because their own boat, with
81 aboard. was overloaded and ship
ping water.
The Venore, which was carrying
$4,000 tons of ore, was the tanker
Charles M. Black prior to her con-
version to an ore carrier. She was
owned by the Ore Steamship Co. of
New York
Peter Karlson, 62-year -old quar-
termaster of Baltimore, who was at
the helm when the attack began,
said he remained at his post until
Capt. Duurloo took over and ordered
him into a lifeboat.
The captain still was in the wheel
house when last seen by the sur
vivors.
Skipper "Cool As Cucumber"
Praising the skipper for his con-
duct under fire, Quartermaster
Karlson said Capt. Duurloo was
cool as a cucumber" Other crew
members said the masters only
chance to have escaped was to have
launched a life raft on the deck
amidship.
r. L. Garrett, first assistant engi-
neer of Christian City. Fla, said
Capt. Duurloo ordered the men not
to launch the Hfeboats while the
ship was running toward shore at
full speed. Some of the men, how
ever, became panic stricken, Garrett
related, and lowered three boats, one
of which was swamped as the ship
moved ahead at about 10 knots
kicking up the sea, Garrett added.
Harte said the survivors remained
on the bottom Of the lifeboat not
only to keep the wind OF them, but
also to keep the submarine from
firing on them. Those dirty Ger
mans" Harte said, have a habit
now, you know, Of coming up along
side lifeboat and machine gun
ming the men. We were not going
to take any chances that way, so
we stayed in the bottom"
If the men in the lifeboat had not
been afraid that the sub might fire
on them, Harte said, they could
easily have rowed ashore, but we
could not use our oars after pulling
away from the Venore because the
darned sub keep hanging around.
So we drifted with the Gulf Stream.
We were pretty sure we would be
saved because we had sent out an
SOS before the second torpedo
struck U.s."
Garrett related that when the
shell struck us we didn't know
what had happened, so we just kept
on with our work, but when the
first of the two torpedoes hit we
knew what that was, believe me!
Water sprayed down on us through
the ventilators and the ship soon
began to list"