Closer & Closer

The tanker Gulftrade, out of Port Arthur, Tex. with a cargo of oil, ploughed through the heavy seas off Barnegat Light, some 60 miles from her destination, New York City. When the lookout reported several vessels in the vicinity, chubby, moon-faced Captain Torger Olsen imprudently ordered his darkened ship's lights turned on. Said he ruefully: "I saw we were up to Barnegat and I thought they shouldn't be able to get us any more. I made a mistake."

A torpedo caught the Gulftrade squarely amidships, neatly halved her. Blessing the heavy sea that extinguished the fire before it could spread to the oil-slicked water, Torger Olsen and six of his crew took to a boat, were rescued 30 minutes later. Nine elected to stay with the half-ship; they were taken off by rescue vessels. Eighteen of the crew were unaccounted for. The attacking submarine cruised insolently for several minutes between the floating halves of the ship.

Survivors of a sunken U.S. tanker told of a submarine that callously ran down two lifeboats and a liferaft. But another sub commander gallantly permitted a fully lighted neutral vessel to approach a sinking freighter and pick up survivors.

In Washington the Navy Department grimly conceded the loss of ten Allied merchant ships during the week. Ruled Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox: hereafter announcements of sinkings, save in rare instances, will not identify the vessels beyond type--"small, medium, large"--will contain no information that may conceivably give information or comfort to the enemy.

A communique from Adolf Hitler's field headquarters boasted of 151 ships sunk with a tonnage of 1,029,000. A me-too Rome broadcast claimed that Italian submarines have accounted for 71,700 tons.

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