D/S Røyksund

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The Captain appeared and brought with him a written statement of the incident and a full list of the crew and stated as follows:-

I have nothing to add to what is written in my statement except that included in the number of seventeen hands were four British gunners, of which to were from the D.E.M.S. Cardiff (Army Gunners) and joined the ship at Cardiff on the 14th or 15th of May. The other two joined the ship at Cowes on the 22nd May and had been sent from the D.E.M.S. Portsmouth (Naval Ratings). One of these gunners came ashore at Barry (Army Gunner). The remaining two jumped into the sea with the rest of the crew and it is hoped that they may have been picked up by other ships. The gunners in question were not placed on the crew list because they were only temporarily on board and I therefore regret I cannot give their names.

I regret three members of the crew were killed, they were Second Engineer Karl Larsen from Larvik, Norway, A. B. Arild Lossius and Donkeman Harry Langshaw of Southampton. Harry Holm, fireman, of Trondheim is missing but may have been saved by other ships.

A full statement of the incident was taken by the Admiralty Authorities in Swansea.

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Thereupon appeared as first witness: Johan Emil Hilmar Gilberg, Chief Engineeer ... and stated:

I was asleep in my cabin when I was awakened by a terrific explosion. I tried to find my life saving vest when I saw my cabin door was blocked. I did not find my vest and another explosion occurred which opened my door. Water was already filling the cabin by the time I got out and after being in the water for about half an hour I was picked up by another ship.

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The second witness was: Gudmund Landraak (1st Officer) ... who stated:

I have read the Captain's report and have nothing further to add. I was asleep when the explosion occurred. I found my lifebelt and jumped into the sea. I was picked up by one of the escorting trawlers. On this trawler I saw the body of the deceased Arild Lossius who evidently was killed by the explosion as I saw one of his feet was torn off.

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Next appeared Karl Kristian Duedahl, Second Mate ... who stated: I was on watch on the night of the 27th. of May when I, at about 11 o'clock, p.m. saw a plane at a very low height coming straight for us on the starboard side. Firing was immediately opened but about half a minute after we had observed the plane a bomb hit the ship just aft of amidship. Two explosions followed and the ship sank immediately. The plane all the time fired at us with machine guns and I saw one of the gunners being hit and collapse. I jumped into the sea and was picked up by a lifeboat from which I was transferred to a trawler and brought into Swansea.

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As last witness appeared: Bjarne Johan Mjaanes, Steward ... who stated:

I was asleep and suddenly awakened by the firing of our guns and heard a plane above, followed almost immediately by a terrific explosion. I jumped out and on may way heard a second explosion. On deck I saw all our boarts on the starboard side had been blown away so I jumped into the sea, and after swimming about for about a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, I was picked up by a lifeboat and later transferred to a trawler which brought me with the others to Swansea.

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