ence last night of listening to the Shanghai had the unusual experi-personal narrative of one of the British sailors liberated from the Altmark by the action of H.M.S. core one of the men taken from a vessel sunk by the Grat Shea and. Papal (Shanghai time midnight)
ing over the B.B.C. 4 pin, he told, with a marked North-of Eng-Jand accent, how the 300 men cartied on during their imprisonment. warlies while on board according rs and men organized regular-
to British maritime tradition and by inventive ability of one officer a crude sextant was created and the ' ship's position charted daily. An effort to Zend a message in a tin aided by the ce-operation of a German carpenter, failed when the German ship's Oficers intercepted it with dire results—bread and water and down the hold. Some of the men were placed in one of the ship's tanks.
'The smoking situation was difficult at one pound sterling for a tin of tobacco and sixpence for a box of and he added with North of is,' "a clap. on he Oslo, Feb. 18. "The worst case is the Altmurk incident, but it is clear that if we are not able to defend our neutrality, Germany has not acquired the right to carry the war into cur territorial waters," declared M. Halvdan Koht, Norwegian Foreign Minister, in a speech at Trondhjem today. "Norway has maintained a policy of neutrality, even in the case of Finland, Norway has deep sympathy with Finland, but our defence has been built up in such a way that we might hope to defend our country. No-one, however, can expect any aid from us," he added.
News of the seizure of the German steamer Altmark by British destroyers, off the Norwegian coast, was splashed on the front pages of afternoon newspapers here yesterday.
The Labour Party organ, "Arbeiderblader," stated: "This violation of our neutrality is so serious as to have the character of an act of protocation, It is a clear example of the dangers threatening neutrals from the Western Powers."
The Norwegian Admiralty last night issued an account of the Alt-mark incident.
"A Norwegian torpedo-boat, which was escorting the Altmark, placed itself between the Altmark and the British destroyer Intrepid when, with another destroyer, she intercepted the Altmark," says the statement.
"The Altmark proceeded towards the shore, followed by two Norwegian torpedo-boats, whose commander had protested against the British violation of Norwegian neutrality. The British commander declared there were 400 British prisoners aboard the Altmark, while the Altmark's captain said there were only 133 men aboard.
"After a conference with the German captain, the Norwegian commander requested the British warships to leave Norwegian territorial waters. The British complied, adding they would await the Altmark outside territorial waters. At 9.10 a.m. the destroyer Cossack returned and informed the Norwegian commander she had been instructed by the British Government to free 400 British prisoners, with or without the permission of the Norwegian Government.
"A Norwegian officer boarded the Cossack, but declined an invitation to accompany the British boarding party aboard the Altmark. When the fight started aboard the Altmark, the Norwegian officer returned {o his own ship, stating he had' not visited the Cossack for witnessing a fight.
"When the boarding party left with British prisoners, numbering 400, the Norwegian commander boarded the Altmark. The German captain declared five Germans had been killed and five wounded. He claimed the Germans had fired no shots. Later it was announced the German captain had made sly preparations to blow up the vessel, but this was denied by the German Legation at Oslo. About 100 prisoners still remain aboard the Altmark."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.