The Altmark—known as the "Nazi hell ship" because of the manner in which prisoners were treated—had been seeking to evade capture for over three months. Only a few hours before the interception of the Altmark, a German wireless an-ouncement said the ship had suc~ cessfully evaded the British destroyer Intrepid (1,370 tons).
"The German wireless alleged that the "Intropld attempted to capture inside Norwegian ter~ metres {fom German ship escaped by the clever mangeuvéring of her captain and the: Intervention of two Norwegian tor-
Answering questions concerning the Altmark, an authoritative spokes man in London declared that if the Brilish Navy had not intervened in the ease, Norwegian territorial waters would have been made the channel for the unneutral act of conveying British prisoners of war to Germany. Such prisoners, the British Government was confident, the spokesman added, would not have been permit ted by the Norwegian Government to be taken over Norwegian territory.
This British action, he continued, {followed on the failure of the Norwegian Government to secure. the neutrality of its own waters, There had been, " the spokesman alleged, continued use of Norwegian waters by [Germany to escape British pursuit.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.