NATIONAL TRIBUTES 



To deal only with the " armed trawler Elise," it 

 needs but little effort to see her bravely going up to 

 the Strongbow to help to save the crew. 



A trawler was a mere eggshell compared with 

 such vessels as these German cruisers were — she 

 had no protection whatever against gunfire, and in 

 such an affair the description " armed " was pathe- 

 tically ludicrous. But the skipper and crew of the 

 Elise kept up the traditions of the trawler service 

 just as gloriously as the two destroyers maintained 

 the honour of the Navy. 



It was not made clear whether the Elise was 

 manned b}- fishermen or regular naval ratings, but 

 she was at any rate a trawler, and as such her 

 courageous deed must be added to the credit of the 

 trawler service in the war. 



Full realisation of the peril of the Elise and of 

 her fine achievement was not complete without bear- 

 ing in mind details of German inhumanity which 

 the Admiralty, previous to the First Lord's speech, 

 had made public. " It is regretted," the official an- 

 nouncement stated, " that live Norwegian, one 

 Danish, and three Swedish vessels — all unarmed — 

 were sunk by gunfire without examination or warn- 

 ing of any kind, and regardless of the lives of their 

 crews and passengers. Lengthy comment upon the 

 action of the Germans is unnecessary, but it adds 

 another example to the long list of criminally in- 

 human deeds of the German Navy." 



It was stated that a small British patrol vessel 

 which arrived at the scene of action picked up 39 



177 



