OCR Text |
Show COAST GUARD RESPONDS TO S. 0. S, CALLS Position Given Is In-s In-s i d e Neutrality Zcne Announced NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (U.R) The British freighter Coul-more Coul-more was feared today to have been sunk in an attack that brought the war close to American shores. Six coast guard ships and two airplanes raced to the scene of the attack, about 450 miles east of Boston. The first one to arrive there found no trace of the freighter or its crew. The search continued in heavy seas. Attacker Indefinite The Coulmore's distress calls last night indicated that it had been attacked by a submarine. But this was not definitely confirmed. con-firmed. British naval circles discussed dis-cussed the possibility that a German Ger-man surface raider perhaps a pocket battleship made the attack. at-tack. The United States, trying not only to save the Coulmore's crew but to obtain all possible information informa-tion on naval operations near these shores, mobilized all available avail-able rescue ships. If the Coul-more Coul-more reported its position correctly, correct-ly, the attack occurred inside the American neutrality zone proclaimed pro-claimed by the Panama conference. The cutter George M. Bibb, first to arrive at the position given in the SOS. reported a moderate southerly gale was blowing and that it was continuing its search northward "in very heavy seas." The Bibb expected to make contact con-tact soon with a coast guard flying fly-ing boat which left New York shortly before 7 a. m. Another coast guard plane was enroute from Cape May. N. J. The cutter Campbell was also expected to reach the position latitude 40:20 north, longitude YWCRQ west soon. The cutters Chelan, Argo, Hamilton and Du-ance Du-ance were enroute. Two or more merchant ships also were making their way toward the Coulmore s position. The coast guard cutters, cut-ters, it was announcedtat Washington, Wash-ington, were being joined by navy destroyers and planes. Captain's Wife Aboaru It was reported that the wife of Capt. Ernest Davies, master of the Coulmore, was aboard the 3,670-ton 3,670-ton freighter. The Coulmore was believed to have been enroute from Baltimore to the British Isles. British naval sources at London were not prepared to believe that a German U-boat was in North American waters, but said that a Nazi sea raider might have attacked at-tacked the ship. The German warships Deutschland, Admiral Scheer and Emden have been reported re-ported in the Atlantic at intervals, but nothing had been heard of them recently. The vessel's SOS was followed b-- the call "SSS Submarine," indicating in-dicating that it had been attacked by a U-boat. The SOS first was intercepted by the RCA station at Cape Race, Newfoundland, at 1:30 a. m. (EST) MacKay radio said here. The first indication that the distressed ship was the Couemore came from Canadian Ca-nadian stations, which sent out calls to the freighter. Later, however, how-ever, the Boston coast guard station sta-tion identified the vessel as the Coulmore by her call letters, "GYXC." |