Shelled Trawler Reaches Port

Front Page - The Daily Telegraph

In the lead up to ANZAC Day, this is my wife’s great grandfather, Captain William Reid, who was shelled by the Japanese Imperial Navy off the New South Wales coast, south of Sydney at Moruya.

5 Aug 1942

Sydney

Shelled Trawler Reaches Port.

A British trawler of 200 tons, recently shelled at point-blank range 17 miles off the east coast of Australia, has reached an Australian port.

Two of her crew of 12 were killed, and four wounded in the attack.

Swept By Machine-Guns -

The submarine surfaced in bright moonlight, and attacked with shells and machine-gun fire.

Men on the trawler sought shelter behind the steel sides of the ship, but the shells cut through the metal.

When the submarine approached within 50 yards the trawler's captain, William Reid, ran to the bridge and shouted that the vessel was "only a helpless fishing craft."

The Japanese immediately reopened fire, and a shell carried most of the bridge away just as Reid had regained the deck.

The two men killed were hit by a shell and machine-gun bullets as they attempted to get the lifeboat into the water. Their bodies were riddled again as they lay on deck.

The trawler was struck by 12 shells.

The attack was seen from a fishing town, and N.E.S. officials summoned aid for the trawler's crew.

Members, of the crew: —

DEAD

Alexander McPherson, of New Zealand; Arthur Stoble, of Cardiff.

SERIOUSLY INJURED

Alexander Thomas Reid, mate, of Station Street, Mortdale.

WOUNDED. ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

George Reid, chief engineer; Frank Temple, fireman, of Pyrmont; Lawrence Wilson, radio operator, of Sydney.

TREATED FOR SHOCK

Capt. William Reid, of Burns Street, Rozelle.

William Miller, cook, of 358, Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. William Bray.

John Gunderson, 2 Ann Street, Surry Hills.

Jack Reid, 40, engineer, Marlborough Street, Drummoyne. Theodore Anderson.

Eight of the survivors will return to Sydney today.

Captain W. Reid (55) is married, and has two sons and two daughters. Both sons are in the Army.

The first engineer, George Reid (43), is a brother of the skipper. He has a daughter and a son in the Navy.

The mate, Alexander Reid (46), also a brother of the skipper, is married, and has one son.

The second engineer, Jack Reid (40), is a cousin of the skipper. He is married, and has two children.

Jack Reid said: "We were shelled and machine-gunned for nearly an hour. It is a wonder that any of us are alive.

"We had just brought in the nets and I was getting Into my bunk when the submarine attacked.

"The sea was choppy, but there was a moon at intervals and we could see the big submarine.

"Shells and bullets came so fast that they seemed to be chasing one another.

"We tried to launch the boat, and the Japs fired at us all the time.'

"The lifeboat was soon so full of holes that it sank when it hit the water.

"The Japs fired whenever we moved, but we made several attempts to launch the big raft.

"The firing would die down while we hid under cover, but as soon as we ran to the raft there would be another hail of bullets.

"The raft was too heavy and we had to give up trying to launch it.

"Two men who had jumped into the water for protection swam around the ship, but the submarine circled round the trawler, and they were under fire as often as not."

William Miller said: "We had nothing to fight back with, and it was just plain murder.

"When the second shot broke the steam pipe we had no chance of escaping.

"The Japs gave us no time to launch the boat, though they must have known we were helpless."

Glass and Wire Used In Shells:

Another member of the crew said:

"The ship was taking heavy seas. The decks and fittings were drenched, otherwise the trawler would have caught fire, and we would all have lost our lives."

One man said that the submarine was about, 300ft. long, and was obviously capable of travelling thousands of miles.

Another member of the crew said that the submarine must have used glass and wire in shrapnel shells.

Broken glass, which, he said, was not wreckage of the ship, lay about the decks, and one Injured man had a piece of wire in a wound.

A police sergeant with a constable and a fisherman went out from the fishing town through rough seas in a 22ft. launch, but were driven back when within three miles of the trawler.

They turned back when they saw a second trawler rescuing men from the helpless ship.

When the rescue ship reached the wharf, N.E.S. workers were waiting with stretcher parties and first-aid groups.

The organiser of the N.E.S. first-aid squad, gave a graphic eye-witness account of the attack.

"Terrific shellfire shook the whole town," she said.

"I saw flashes from the submarine's 4in. guns lighting up the sky as it poured shell after shell into the defenceless trawler.

"We mobilised the first-aid stretcher and ambulance party of 14 and rushed to the wharf.

"Then the gunfire ceased and the submarine submerged.

"Men went out to the rescue in a small trawler.

"Another fisherman also put out to his boat, but was forced back by the heavy seas.

"The rescuers had a terrible time trying to keep alongside the shelled trawler, but finally got the crew on board.

"I shall never forget the sight as the rescue ship reached the wharf.

"The wounded were to a pitiable condition.

"They were treated by a doctor and members of our first-aid party.

"One of the crew had been killed by a direct hit from a shell and an other riddled with hundreds of bullets from a machine-gun.

"The body of one of the wounded officers was like a colander with shrapnel wounds.

"Three other men suffered terrible shrapnel and lead pellet wounds."

The N.E.S. organiser said that some of the crew told her that it was impossible to lower the ship's life boat as it was holed with hundreds of machine-gun bullets.

Michael Sharpe is the National Director for Industry at the?Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, a Director of the?Sharpe Family Office?and Founder of the?Nuclear Skills Forum.

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