SIX VESSELS SUNK

Description

Date: 18 June 1915

Transcript:

SIX VESSELS SUNK
NORWEGIAN BARQUE LEFT DERELICT

Six vessels were reported during the weekend to have been sunk by German submarines. Two of them were barques, one belonging to Norway. Another vessel was the Leuctra, a Liverpool steamer of 3,027 tons, and the remaining vessels were trawlers. The Leuctra's crew of twenty-four hands were landed at Barmouth [sic] on Saturday by the Goole steamer William Mason. The Leuctra was bound to Hull from Rosario with a cargo of 4,000 tons of linseed. She had been thirty-four days on the voyage, and was within a day's steaming of her destination when she was struck, without warning, off Shipwash Sand, between Harwich and Southwold. The crew state that they saw the periscope of a submarine draw alongside, and the next minute the white wake of the torpedo, which struck the Leuctra amidships on the starboard side. The crew had time to launch their boat, and were soon afterwards taken on board the William Mason. The Leuctra sank within thirty minutes, and every member of the crew were saved some of them even being able to save part of their belongings.

NORWEGIAN SHIP DERELICT.

The steam trawler Queen Alexandra arrived at Milford Haven on Sunday with thirty-three men picked up from boats in the Channel. They had formed the crews of the two barques Crown of India, of Liverpool, and the Bellgrade Tonsberg, of Norway, which were attacked by a German submarine on Saturday evening. The Liverpool vessel was sunk, but the Norwegian was left derelict.

The captain of the Crown of India said that his vessel was bound for Pernambuco, and left Barry Dock on Friday afternoon. At half-past five on Saturday evening, when they were seventy miles west-south-west of St. Ann's Head, he observed a submarine. Two shots were fired across the ship as a warning to them to get into their boats. The crew rowed some distance from the vessel, and then the Germans fired nine shots into the barque, which sank stern first with all sails set. Afterwards they saw another barque, and were pulling towards it when they saw the submarine attack the vessel. Both crews were picked up by the Queen Alexandra.

The captain of the Norwegian vessel said that he saw the English ship attacked, and stopped his barque when the crew pulled towards him. He himself was then attacked, after the submarine commander had called him aboard with his papers. He had a cargo of timber from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Sharpness; and the commander said this was contraband, and he must sink the ship. The submarine, however, had fired only two shots when she suddenly disappeared on the approach of the Queen Alexandra.

THE THREE TRAWLERS.

The crew of the Grimsby trawler Waago were brought into Hartlepool on Saturday morning by another trawler. The Waago was torpedoed by a submarine in the North Sea. The crew barely had time to get into their boat before the vessel sank.

The Grimsby trawler King James on Saturday night brought in the crew, nine in number, of the Grimsby trawler Plymouth, which was sunk by a submarine on Friday morning. The rescued men state that the submarine was sighted a long way off, and the skipper cut away the gear and made off at full speed, but he was chased and, after being fired at, stopped. The crew had five minutes to get into their boat, and then the Plymouth was sunk by shell fire. They were adrift for nineteen hours.

The crew of the Hull trawler James Leyman were landed at Hull on Saturday night by the trawler Earl. They reported that their vessel was sunk by gunfire by a German submarine in the North Sea. The skipper attempted to escape, but was overhauled, and the crew were ordered to leave. They were taken aboard the submarine, and subsequently cast adrift in their boat. Ten hours later they were picked up by a herring drifter, which transferred them to the Earl.

Source:
'Six Vessels Sunk.' Abergavenny Chronicle and Monmouthshire Advertiser. 18 June 1915. 3.

• https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4121317/4121320/17/ (link opens in new window)