THE CHINA MAIL, DECEMBER 21, 1939.
Full Story Of Attacks On British Trawlers WHOLE INCIDENT WITNESSED
BY DANISH VESSEL
London, To-day.
was flying the British mercantile flag and was engaged in fishing.
no
The German aircraft gave warning whatever before open- ing'fire and' had apparently flown 350 miles from Gérmány for the set purpose of murdering Scottish fishermen.
THE LATEST FISHING BOAT to be sunk by Nazi aeroplanes is the trawler Trinity, which was bombed on Tuesday at a point some 75 miles further similar outrages. from the Scottish coast.
The evening papers give details of
The trawler Trinity was bombed and machinegunned in the North Sea.
The attack was watched by a Danish trawler, which The survivors while escaping
amile
away at the time.
The German deroplane, the crew of the Danish boat reports, dived onto the British trawler many times, bombing and machine-gunning it.
The cfdw took refuge in the cabins and it was not until the Trinity was on the verge of sinking that they took to their boat.
After the Trinity had sunk beneath the wayes, the eight British survivors were picked up by the Danish boat and landed in Denmark yesterday.
One fireman went down with the Trinity, while the cook died of his wounds not long after being rescued. --Reuter.
***The Trinity, a vessel of 203 tons, was owned by A. G. Brown, and re- gistered at Granton, Built in 1914, she was 115 feet long.
:
COMPLETELY FUTILE
London, To-day.
chant-ships, including neutrals.
They now dare to operate only Against neutrals inside territorial waters;
In the Baltic; Machinegunning trawlers and Minelaying trading lanes normal- ly used by neutral shipping.--Reuter. "NAVAL VICTORIES"
LONDON, TO-DAY. THE NAZIS ARE NOW CLAIMING
AS "NAVAL VICTORIES" THE AT-
TACKING AND SINKING OF DE- FENCELESS FISHING BOATS BY FISHING AEROPLANES; BOATS ARE
"BRITISH PATROL FORCES."
Yesterday, they jubilantly announc-
THE CALLED
from
the sunken ship were machinegunned in the water by Nazi bombers. Two of the crew of nine were killed and
one wounded.
Last night the German radio an- at- tacks on 24 defenceless fishing ves- sels and tried to excuse them by describing the vessels as warships and naval auxiliaries!-British Wireless.
nouncer brazenly admitted air
4
EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNTS
!!! ???
Peiping, To-day. According to a reliable, source
a local German bank is advising | German eflents to get 'eld "of holdings in Swedish Kronor as soon as possible.--Räuter.
ADMIRALTY STATEMENT
London, To-day. An Admiralty cómmunique repßes to the German High. Command com- munique Issued yesterday regarding the sinking of "British light naval forces," including the Pearl, Serenity; New Choice, Ilkeway, Evelyn, Sedge- fly and Trinity.
London, To-day. The bombing of unarmed trawlers spraying helpless crews with machinegun fire
but turning tall when faced with Royal Air Force The Admiralty communique states planes.
the Pearl, New Choice and Trinity Eye-witness accounts of this latest | were fishing trawlers, and the form of German air activity in the Serenity an unarmed coastal steamer. North Sea were given yesterday by The Ikeway does not exist and the are Admiralty grim-faced Scottish trawlermen when Evelyn and Sedgefly
vessels trawlers overdue some time ago and they brought their battered and dead and wounded into port. presumed to have been lost.
With the wheelhouse practically In the last three days, it adds, 35 blown away, the funnel and ventila-vessels, two of which were neutrals, tors burst, torn and riddled with ma- have been attacked by German air- chinegun bullets and with a gaping craft.
Nazi air attacks on naval vessels /ed that the British had lost 23 patrol hole in her side, the Aberdeen traw-
have proved completely futile,
and
no naval vessels have been sunk by this method.
The principal German successes
unarmed have been against
mer-
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Two other members of the were injured.
crew
boats. The claim is completely un-
ler Star of Scotland was towed into true.
Only six boats, not 23, were lost-port carrying the bodies of two of the crew killed by a bomb from a and they were fishing boats and
German warplane. had nothing to-do-with-Britain's defence forces: The Admiralty an- nounces that the Navy has not lost a single ship in the past few days.- Reuter.
"ISABELLA GREIG"
London, To-day.
of
DELUGE Of bulletS The skipper, describing the attack, said: "A plane circled round us and deluged us, with machinegun bullets as we tried to launch a small boat." The recent German campaign
The skipper's son said the Ger- bombing and machinegunning unarm- ed trawlers and small fishing vessels, man plane turned tail when R.A.F. which is provoking considerable in-planes were sighted. dignation here, is generally consider- ed to result from the failure of German endeavours both in the illegal other minelaying campaign and all forms of sea warfare.
Skipper J. M. Hall, of the trawler Isabella Greig, gives an account of how his ship was bombed and ma- chinegunned by German aircraft last Sunday-an example typical of many such cowardly and merciless attacks.
The "trawl was down when two aircraft, recognised as twin-engined Heinkels, were sighted coming from the east. The trawler's crew of ten took cover.
WING-TIPS NEAR WATER The aircraft came on flying low and passed one on each side of the trawler with the rear gunners fir- ing with their machine guns.
Altogether they circled the Isabella Greig eight times, their the wing \tips nearly touching water they turned. Besides machinegunning they also dropped between. 15 and 20 bombs.
During one short respite the crew started to lower their boat but the aeroplanes returning opened heavy
fire and wounded two men.
The skipper meanwhile with great difficulty had managed to get off a wireless signal.
Finally the boat was lowered and was put into the water riddled with bullets and the water barrel punctur- ed.
The crew, taking two wounded with them, abandoned ship, and the air- éraft went off to the north-east.
When the boat was 500 yards away from the trawler, which was still afloat, the aircraft returned
and opened fire on the boat, fuckily with out result, and dropped three more bomba
British aeroplanes then appeared and the Germans made of in
NO WARNING:
the
Only three were noval units and the attacks were therefore unsuccess- ful.
One coastal steamer was sunk and fishing trawlers were sunk-Reuter.
reached port after attacks by Ger- man planes.
. The skipper of the Isabella Grieg, which was sunk by bombs, sald two of the crew were wounded when the vessel was attacked by two Heinkels.
He said that even after the crew abandoned ship the German bombers Three other trawlers-one with opened fire on the lifeboat and drop- survivors from a sunk trawler-ped more bombs.—Reuter.
OFF THE RECORD
ED REED
“Er, I'd like to make an 'appoint ment to en
Here's Luck
By Ed Reed
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EWO BEER
Tel. 30311
This trawler,