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BELIEVE BOMBING OF LINER VANCOUVER DUE TO SABOTAGE OAKLAND Calif Nov 4 With prelim ¬ inary information indicating a sabotage bombing six investigations were under way today Into the mysterious detonation which blasted a hole in the side of the Hamburg American passenger and freight liner Van ¬ couver in Oakland Estuary Four crew members of the German ship were slightly hurt by the explosion shortly after the 447 foot vessel left Alameda and headed across the bay for San Francisco It was scheduled to sail for the Panama Canal last night The blast tore a hole five feet square in the hull about ten feet below the water line Force of the explosion swung the ship into a mud bank where it stuck fast The stern swiftly settled to the bottom Aboard the ship were eight passengers none of whom were hurt and a crew of fiftyfour The four men hurt were in the engine room One was knocked unconscious and revived in time to escape as water rushed in All were slashed by flying splinters The fact that Capt E W Moessenger dropped both anchors as the blast occurred was credited with preventing a major disaster The anchors helped swing the vessels prow into the mudbank Other ¬ wise the ship almost certainly would have foundered in deep water
