#1168 Ship Torpedoed by Sub Off Miami Beach - Miami Herald article May 15, 1942
AXIS '8BlPS DAMAGED
LONDON, May 11l.-(JP)-The
NO TDIE-One of the Shenan- admiralty 8II1nounced tod.y that
doab achool teache", W&ll 80 busy ,two enemy ~awlera were left'dlll-
rqUterin, motorists for their g&ll ' ,abled and slnklng after, a fight
ratlonlnl ca.r<U that IIhe hadn't ,with British light naval forces
bad time to obtain her own card off the F~ench coast In, the Eng-
late Tburaday, last day of the lIsh chap.nel last night. ' Tbe act- ;
three-iSay re~stration. She was mlralty aIao 'reported that In an
one of the last-minute applicants ,attack on a ~rman ,convoy
tor a card at b:er achool 'Wednesday morning ..the, Gel'-
" mans suffered considerable dam-
.. TAKE TIl\lE-Some 60 brlefcuea, age ~d cas~altles In' addition . to '
, bulpnl with Important paper~, are the admitted sinking of ,one ' ~f
. ~ detained by customs officials their torpedo boat&,' 'and' that I\.
J."' they can be examined. Their BrltlaJtllght coastal:r daft, wal'
~ ..wnera had to leave M1~1 without milling, ,;!' '
~C'hn Ie ..... :J.A-WIUBLlQIQ)' , ' '" , \ '" ""
, , VlCBY< DElSA.TJ!:SSTAND '
Dla.1L Y NEWS INDEX ~Th~~~:,r~~'k~{'15~""bf::~;:
.~.... ,.ow... .'"..'-C'I'....: VIII'-CU .fr,..a.-
Ilona lupply lines In' the Indian
~n.
'Tb. drltne order means that
dnmesllk airline tra vel wl\1 be
r~ on a full wartime basis In
lhe n...r future, with the army
nl'4'nlUna or cootrolllng. the na-
hon'. entll"ll neet of more than 300
transport planes,
10(, ROORvelt recalled at his con.
r..renee tha.t It wu Dot 10 many
,.....,.. aao that the American pea-
)'Ie Il'OI alan, without commercial
nyin, lIen,1oes and without alr
matI Ilnd .u~.ested that probably
tbey could eet don. with a IIm-
It.ed amount at the.. lIemce. now.
The people, be uld, will UDder.
ItaM.
It. rtmIuke-d that a couple ot
_Iu &(0, About a dozen people
('&JDe down trom New Yorktb Me
blmoo buolnea that had J1.~
to do with the war or wttJr"Uie
~"ot and seven o,f them
UIIl!d planC!A. '
~ TraYel EKpeet.ed
't- T'bat wu all riabt, Mr. Roose-
I' Yelt noted. becauoe the planes
" """" runnln. and It W1U just the
L -..lest t.htDC to do. But, he saId,
:~) ~ luppoeJn, service from New York
"to WashlnJton by p~e was re-
~ ~ dueed by . 'halt, they would have
(, come by train. ud ,1&<Ily,
'V- Oe aatd he wu Inclined to think
~ ~ there ...u' an Increasln, necessity
~'\. In thl. country tor curtatlln, prl-
- ~\."'te plan. travel. '
~ '" Aaked whether hll words should
~ t.. laken to melUl that he thought
") ~ lb.... would be no Ihortage ot rall-
~ ,....... le ..... '._PLANa)
~~'MIAMI'S OWN
~WH,IRUGIG
" ~
New. Behind The News
PAST WORK-Tho Mexican gov-
ernment II to be con,ralulated tor
III fut ud efficient ettortl 0.0
behalf of the crew survivors 0.1
lb. Mexican tanker torpedoed off
VlratDJa key Thuraday morning.
No ~ner had the survlvo", been
broudlt ashore than the Brltisb
War Rellet &Oclety offered clothes,
but the otter was declined with
~Iu. Tbe Mexican government
already had wired enoulb money
to take c:a.re ot the men'l neecla.
t
. .-' -:-T" "-.- _.-J'~'.__'~_'-:- -'~--~'."'-~~"~~:r-T~
' Using a 17 -inch telephonto ~ens, ,DallY,N~'!I~ _$taff!' q~e~~~! "',' ,~~
Ernie Bennett ,madAhe above picture of the,.torped~ilr,{eXican}tank"~, '1101m;C!
er Potrero del Llano at 7:45 a. m., Thursday morning'Jfrom, ~e\ tOP" "Pattiil:
f1~or of. the News Tower. :When t!ie picture was: Intidet'tJ1e(1)!i~g-' .. ~~
tanker had drifted come di$tance from the spot whel'e' th'eNaZi stI1):. , Jneiit'~
marine smashed a torpedo'through her side.Pe~Jozi...t~tPi,Jl@J'"4' ,,'~p~)j
the picture was obtained via' telephone from ,the office'of.SytOn'~ce. ' tev~
EYEWITNESS DESCR'IBfS.' "~'-,..<;,>::"",<;fj~,,'j~,"
, , " .. ,J*tmcnn, , rot
SHIP' BURNING' OFF MIIiJtiJI.<~,,":~ ;;!;~;; )(f~:"'~~
~2 Rescued From Mexi~anTanker . .... t.1rs~M~lh
Torpedoed By Axi.Sub; 14 Dead, .', : , :.,' ;~"~'l, :
, , " ' ',' "", ", "'" J"~tp. ~,u~ll.h~..
A vivid red glare ,shortly af~er 2 a. !Do Thu~y~..;',-~j'~,R~h~dtftansf~
iDg through th~ e~tonal room:wmdoWfl. of tI1eNewi:~~l" ;.~~ '-';~r .<:'~:: .,~..- ~ '
caught,the eyes 'of ~ig~t Watc~a'1t-William,,Ji)':t.arisey air"~~uxlh~,~i11s'~
he was, making his r011l1ds. The' gmre .WB:!5 ~p,:~q~g ,~b,~ ,...,....~~t;~j., ','"
thoug~~,.at"first the fire was s, o11J.ewl\~ in lJayf,_,~on;,;par!t ;..WA$~~GTq,N., ~-115.;
, , JF In,tlle J:>>ay:'neaiby;~.;..~,;;.;,...:~ j"oie~i1"4:,\f'..r\a~ii."t
. - : GrabbiD~.'a,pe.Jr ot, fletd ,l&uej, :aon" il\1cJi&; 'if&P~bhMd' !.Jra
LAT'E N,EWS, he went to -t!ie. top 'floor in t1Jp.e, Culp HobbY, Houston, T~
' to see, the 'tlrst .fl~es l~cldnc' ~t'l~ ' .', , ),
the lII-fated Mexican tanker' Po.' pl\.~r execu~ve, as dlrllOt9}
t:.LA SHES trero del Llano,torpedoeci ott Vir. wo~~n'8' army aJ,IXlIlal'f' co;
r glnla key by aD Axis submarine. 81\.ld , ,that 'rene~ recr.ul~
Later In the day tbousands. of member.. ot tbe W AAC w~
Mlamlana saw the' atm-burning In abo~i three mon~s" ,
and smoking .sblll, on' ,which 13 II\' an ex~~tlve orc\~r e,
men,lncludlnr, the, captain and In, ',tJ;la ;WAAC" Pr"ldent
deck oftlcerl had dled'as-It drifted velt:dlrectedStlm.son'tQ,l~
Dorth out of control.' In the Gulf. inltlal, lllobUlzaUon~ to~,qp
stream, 'The ship 'bad: been tor. The: corpa 'will be' COmIll
pedoed de.plte a ,brilliantly llJhted wome~ v~l~nte~,r. wbo,wI!!,
MexiCan flag painted on ita aides. enU.tect '~~n,;n!>w performl
Release of ' the story I\.boU, t, the tor- taln tYP',~',~t 'noncombatant
pedolD&, Thursday nlgbtf'cbetween 1D all' patt-(ot ,the world.
9 and lOp, m; was U~!1IiJ&J Iii that LOcat',rec~~ltl,n, oftlce.s
the exact Jocatlon of the:> attack read)'.JtJ., al)out, two ,weeks
was ,Iven, ' ';1.'be; ,MeX.t~ ip,Vern- calve ,appllca~lonl ,trOll" c~r
ment. had 'rele.~~,th" 'Sntok'ma'" torthe.f1rlt WAACoftlcerl
tlon, g1~itgJ;8X&ofl0~ .~, ~n.'!8'nd'tbe ,In,. IchOj)L Th, LI IOhOO,I\ II .t.
American' Navy ~ 4ep "mente ,pve cated, at: FOG ,Del ,.Molnel,.
approval tor nowapi 'r.' to use tit, I ,As WAAC ,director, Mra.-
Mexican ltory. ,wlte ot formor, Gov. William
, One Dies 1ft" olpl" r' HobJ;ly ,ot -,Tox8,8, ,w1U~,h~
PBISONEaS BE~D ,Twenty-two sU,rvl\n):". 'were equlvaleDt to',tbat~,o,t~n'arl
TORONTO',May U,_(}l>)";':'Tw9brou'b~ Into, Waml, one' of ~w~m .jor. ,~ra..~ol!~7 Ila 431 ~el
German air, forct! officers wh9 fled ,died at Jackll9D M;enlor,l~l, ho~pitaJ ,m~th~.r._gf ~w!> ,Qblild~~ ~d
tho Bowmanvlle prllon, camp. '9 ,13 hour. atte.. bJ..,I'..C~'\ H. ~~ "p~t ')""r:".btu'>t~~tl;~., .~l
miles ~lIIt of liere, ~edn'sdaYha:v, I!-&dOlfOCalc~~\~tr.~.:' ", ,>>~bUOlty)~xoou~~:Ve'\'ln( tn._,'
been recaptured. the Royal ~ Nlgbt~, W'a~~~"t~r~.l'Ir. ot p..~~n~,' Sbe.~1"'9~cutl
dlan Mounted Pollee announced to~ ,(,~,:to'''~~)f ,P~,~l~l!~~i:~f'~e HOIl4~.n.f
~:ht~~t.:-~~~~ha:t:::i~h.: M' 'R;''->~S':':.''::F'~:D:' i:>:" 'p ':0":' " :/'N' ~f'~I"'!"'i>:e": '1i"~':"~'i~
oape. :w, as captured In the' Be1)e~ ,'..," '.' ';' .,:-,: , - , .)i . 5, ," ,;.'~ ~ ~:: ." "~' < J,', ,)
II I I ;;.... " 1'; .', \" f., -;~ ' . ~ ,'~ "t,rt;" !' (,..:
vi e rat WI\.Y station. The other, ,; ',~ ," ,.J', ",I, d"!I,\,i , '~':~~:t'''\~'t~'!-> ~u ',\ ':"
Lleut. 'Aberhard Wildermutch, wa" W' n" '" :':;E' "~:lf'i';AI~"*T'I\~'Rijl:rl:'G':"~;"
picked, up In the enlOD station he~e., : ; :~,>~:,:;~'"", i,\:I,.y!1,1~: i':: J
. . . ,,', ,.. \'. ..."'" ",r-.",. ", .1 ,
MACVEAGB NAMED
WASHINGTON. May 11l.-(UP)
Prelldent Roosevelt today nomi-
nated Lincoln MacVeagb, pres-
ent minister to Iceland. to be
the new minister to the 'Union of
South Africa.. Thl! pr~sent min-
Ister to the South 4fzl.can domin-
Ion Is Leo J, Keena. '
CANADA CUTS GAS
OTTAWA, May l11.-('/p)"":A 80
per cent reduction III gasoline ra-
Uons In the three Canadian mari-
time provinces was' announced
today by Munitions Mlnl.ter C,
D. Howe, etfectlve at mldnllht
tonllht.
, ' ,.' ~ '
.Fi~st L:ady'Ex'pl,ai~.?:
Need ,FiSt: Fey(J~ty,i
UnderjfIQ1tiU~':;'" i.;"
" B~:.~~~~;~\t:i "'~~
Weari~~'\:whl~~i~' clt..;: ,
Inp aDdfp~,011, ' , ~'l :
g&lollD.~'ii&tlo"ni e~ '
~nor 'R:oo.~;'':' "t
Beacnja:!P~~' : 01<
a' "few).~Y$(l[r '" Z'
. . , . \. s: ..)o...~. , . .
, "I decjded:~, W,a8Il'~'i!nt '
official,', 'h(iii~e:y:'>';tli~ff.;y
,~lrlit"~~" ~~df"buti~
that, l'n~~4~ii'l~~'itWC)'",.( ',,, '"
days In, t.be,j'M'I"M_l;"Jl.unabl.Jle;!'~'\~
. __,. .:' u,..,>>;J~~",-.i:..~~-<I'~.,-;,.._..., -,.",,~...~to .~ ;
t.
\,
~~EWS
'escued
:rck Trap
It Jokes
Pinned
.h Boulder
>1 Ore., May. 16.-
Jt Injured critically,
.
l!}'les Harper Wl18 're-
trom a rock tunnel
~ad been pinned for
,J stretcher, ,he wa~
a long line of men
! ~ hospital.
~ lain under a shaky
lj with a l,IlOO-pound
ills lap pinning. his
uh after the slide he
th rescuers. He Wl18
I! a. m" Pacific war
m. Thursday the Hill
.demy student from
Ih.. lay trapped in a
lperture formed by'
'had fallen from a
>t; Rocky Butte, on
a~emy Is located.
,anlona crawled to
,~
t-l.i
p~ties, pollee and flre-
I~d by the other lads
Ie scene but the dan-
~r slide slowed their
tl highway engineers
;}, direct timbering of
1, n worked, Harper
l,d clprets and Sipped
yslclan stood' by, ready
Dut liarper said there
~r In hi. Ie,. and he
In. He had adequate
td freedom. for move-
Ir~s" His spirits high,
!led through the first
,g~ he' tired later.
athered at the base of
Idlng for houri 81 res-
I ~thelr, work.
.;;.
'f',{
FRIDAY, MAY I~I 1942
'"
Ship Torpedoed By Sub 011 Miami Beach
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) .
3951 Palm ave., Hialeah, said at
first he could see only one end of
the ship burning through ,his field
gll18ses. "But the angry red glare
from the blazing ship became so
strong It soon outlined all of Bls-
cayne and Virginia key," he said.
"At the time I first saw the ship
it appeared to be about 10 to 12
miles hi a straight line from me,
off Virginia key, Soon huge
sheets of flame leaped high In
the all', brilliantly IIghtlng up the "When I l18ked him what' was
whole sea area, as apparently following us," Ramirez said, "he
fresh oil' supplies caught on fire. gave me a knowing look and re-
I never heard any ,noise at any piled, 'a big animal.' I knew what
time. The fire quickly spread un- he meant. I dressed hurriedly and
tll, at about dawn, 118 the ship was was making ~y WilY to the bridge
visible off the Government cut, when, the torpedo struck. There
the whole tanker was a blazing was a blinding flash., The bridge
Inferno." went to pieces before my eyes.
Larlsey said he, ran up to the Jose died with the officers who had
top of the News Tower every 20 been ,watching the U-boat's stalk-
minutes to observe the fire, be- Ing maneuvers,"
tween his routlne rounds. "Three One seaman, Julio Benavides, "of
was a steady drift northwards," Tamplco, declared, "they (mean-
he continued, "and I thought at Ing the sub crew) must be good
first the ship was being towed. shots. They made a target of our
But I soon realized that was not flag."
so as I observed the boat slowly Ramirez said those who were
revolving 118 It moved up the Gulf saved dived immediately Into the
Stream. The second time I wcnt sea, "We saw the sub's conning
up In the tower I saw several tower moving rapidly away," he
searchlights playing on tHe ship declared, "and then the water be-
and over the seas In the area, as came a sea of flames, We were
COl18t guard craft apparently res- fortulllate to bind tOgether plecC1l
cued the crew." of wreckl;\re and In about' three
Prey Stalked For Hours hours, We were rescued by U. S,
The vessel the 7500-ton tanker navy craft."
Pedrero del Uano, :.vas completely Watchman Sees Flare '
and brilliantly illuminated, the flag. The tanker, meanwhile, drifted
of her country centered In the glare northward with smoke belching
of four spotlights, with eV(lry other from her hull. All day Thursday,
the lI~lp ,continued to .s~oke, the
pall over' the Miami docks being
seen by thousands of Miamians. '
Rescued crewmen were highly
Indignant, and voiced the attitude
of their government, which already
has addressed a curt note to the
Axla powers, ,Gormany, Italy and
Japl\.n, demandlnr "complete sat-
Isfaction and a guarantee of dam-
age reparationS" by May 28. Other-
wise, the note threatened, the na-
tlon, wlll ,"take a position In ac-
cordance with'Mexlcan tradition,"
Marked a. Neutral
'We Were a neutral ship," Ra.
mlrez protested, "and were fully
marked 118 a neutral, but with such
an 'enemy, there is no such thing
as neutrality."
The survivors voiced the regret
that their IIhlp wall not armod. "If
we'd been armed," one of them
said, "I would have shot tbat lub-
marine right out of the water, no
matter what the captain might
have said about not shooting," ' .
Victim ClOIO- To Shore, ' " " ,
C~~t. 'l\~J:~or~ ,M;C!re)', llock. j ,i .t,',. ,\~~,'
maate~,a~J!i~!:MIa.ml ~e~c1i~~bam~" , .'" ""..,v,'.- ';""~"''''^','4.., ,"," ...,~,,,., ;,;~ f,' - ,l
_,ii~ii1~ ~.~ni'illuJtf~~J~j~~:;:J~~""
light aboard agleam. That the attack
was premeditated was bome out
by tales told by some of the 22 sur-
vivors, who said the U-boat .pla)l'ed
a cat-and-mouse game with the
doomed ship for nearly an hour.
Edwardo Slbaja y Ramirez of Vera
Cruz, a quartermaster, told of the
helmsman, Jose Magana, coming to
his quarters and awakening him
and declaring, "we are being fol-
lowed,"
CARDS
UlOllfTINUED FROM PAGE ONE)
leaving one White Houlo car and
one lIecret service car at Hyde
Park"
Meanwhile, 'without debate, the
senate rejected 66 to two a pro-
posal to put members on record
as pledging themselves to waive
any special privileges in Obtaining
rationed rasollne,
Senator Downey' (Oem" Cal.) ,
author' of the resolution which
~NES aroused blttdr criticism, and Sena-
tor Pepper (Oem., Fla.), cast the
only, votes for the proposal.
;: "\,,,,'AGO 0'" . Oem..,.tI. Load" 80<_1.,. 01
l ' Kontuclcy, who forced the vote,
:~avel1ng tacllltles, the had attacked the resolution as lm-
~!J1arked ',that people pugnlngthe honor of the senate.
~~. 'th~:ka~:~r~ott:l~ :"
,em for thll'\tlmeb.lng planes were to be diverted to' war
,llnco ,more pooPI~ use" " ' I
tJ9)dn,; ". ~t tbelr' jobl Expr0811nl' "amazement'::-atJhe
\i,~S,;no~..,~~l.ng away,- announcement, which IlI.ve:n~!et-
Lto~o~,g!t.~.t?~faln. -fectlve date, Rep. Nichols '<D,eq1.,
~:t.~~~~' >;'c,. Oltla.). chairman ota lillecial hOllse
:1
. '-
bel' of Commerce docks, al80 wu
on the beach when' the torpedoing .
occufred and said the vessel was .
so close to shore the rescue craft
plainly were visible by the glare
of the fire,
, Missing and considered lost, in
addition to the offlcerJI, are Radio
Operator Enrique Vieyra, Pump-
man Juan Marshall,' Steward Eras-
to Castellanos, Cooks Juan Her-
nandez nnd Francisco pered& An-
cona, and Carpenter Diego VUla-
lobos,
Lost with Capt. Gabriel Cruz y
D1az were First Officer Rafael
Castelan y Orta, Second Officer
Jorge Pawling y Salzar and Third
Officer Jose Virgen y Rojas.
15th Sunk Off Florida
According' to the' Mexico City
newspaper La Prensa, the Portrero
del Llano was carrying 50;000 bar-
rels of crude oil to the: United
States, The ship 'was the 11lth
announced as sunk by the naVy
since May 4 whose survivon have
been landed at FI6rkla ports.' "
The navy also announced "'the
loss of a Panamanian merchant-
man during the week and also an-
nounced t ha t n medlum-a1zed
American freighter had been tor-
pedoed three times and shelled In
the Gulf of' Mexico. but. had nian~
aged to make port In'~w Orleans.
One mcmber of the crew lost hi.
life during the attack. He waa'
Bolger A. Mikkelson of Staten b-'
land, N. Y., who died on a llf.
raft from shrapnel wounds.
~
I,
:..
Pan American Prepared
Following announcementa from
Washington that the federal gov-
ernment would soon take virtual
control of all commerCial airlines.,' , '~
officials of Pan' American A1rwayp,' ~ ".'
said here 'Friday that' the,y,'l'tAv.
been altering their se<vlce'to'serve
,governmental. needs for ~earl)'\.
year. '
They pointed out that their Ha- (',
van a servlc(l has been reduced .from
seven flights dally,to two and that
their Mexican eervice has been cut.
from ,three times weekly to onc.
each week. ,
At the same time service to the
West lndles, the, Canai Zone, and: '
South America has been Incre...e4 t - -
to take care of government needs.."
Officials or Mlaml'e 'two' other ' .
large 'airlines, Eastern and Nation- ,:
ai, were out of the city and coul4
Rot b,c reached for statement&.