FISHERMAN’S ORDEAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 293, 24 September 1935, Page 8

FISHERMAN’S ORDEAL

OPERATION BY SHIP’S COOK. A grim story of an accident at sea and a rough-and-ready operation by the ship’s cook was told by Antonio Francesco Quentrao, a Portuguese fisherman, as lie lay in bed in Southampton Hospital recently. Ho had been taken aboard the Cunard-White Star liner Berengaria in mid-Atlantic after eight days of suffering. The man was brought on board the Berengaria, two days out from New York, from the schooner Normandie, which had been fishing off Newfoundland. On arrival at Southampton lie was taken to Southampton Hospital, where a doctor said that it might be necessary to amputate liis right hand. Quentrao said that ho was guiding a hawser over the drum of a winch when his hand got caught in the machine. “The winch was stopped,” lie said, “but I could not pull out my hand until the machinery was reversed. One of my fingers was hanging by shreds of skin, and my hand was" smashed. “Our cock gave one- look at it, went down into his galley, got a knife, cut off the finger and threw it into the sea.” More than a week passed before the flag signals of the Normandie, which has no wireless, were seen. At last the Berengaria sighted the schooner. Mr N. Kingscote, third officer of the Berengaria, said: “The liner was stopped, and help was immediately offered. A boat then put off from the schooner with the injured seaman. We could see that the man was badly injured, and we decided that it would be better that lie should not climb the ship’s ladder. We therefore lowered one of our boats, which we made into a sort of cot.-

“The injured man was helped into cur boat, which was then hauled up, and lie was taken to the ship’s hospital, where (Dr. C. P. O’Brien attended to him.” The chief officer, Mr C. E. Barton, said that the injured man must have suffered great pain, but he was verv brave all through.