THE TIDAL WAVE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 155, 14 April 1936, Page 5

THE TIDAL WAVE

THE NAIRANA’S EXPERIENCE. THE CAPTAIN’S REPORT. PASSENGER’S TRIBUTE TO CREW. (United Press Association— Copyright.) -MELBOURNE, This Day. Captain Mclntyre, interviewed regarding the tidal wave, stated that the Nairana left fr Melbourne on Saturday with 88 passengers, 64 of whom travelled second class. The voyage across Bass Strait was perfectly calm. Many people were having breakfast, and some were half-clothed, when the ship listed bodily in an alarming corklike manner. The steering wheel became unmanageable and spun through his hands. He lost his balance completely when the ship heeled violently to the starboard. A wall of water crashed down on the ship and submerged one side to a point 40 feet above the waterline. tid'd estimated the ship’s angle at 55 deg. from horizontal. Then another great -wave swept over the decks and the position looked really serious. He, however, was greatly comforted when the ship finally righted herself, and he saw things round him returning to normal. The visitation was all so terribly sudden that it took everybody unawares. He had never experienced anything like it before. The ship was completely out of contvol for two minutes. There were 100 tons of cement in the holds on the bottom of the ship, and had this shifted an inch, it is feared the Nairana would have gone down. The Nairana’s crew of 91 behaved .splendidly, declared a passenger, Mr Malcolm Wilson, of Australia. He saw a number of the injured and panicstricken women and childen who needed attention. These people had no idea of what had happened or what their fate was going to be. Some were hysterical and the stewards found difficulty in pacifying them. Nobody missed the Parsons family until about an hour later, when the vessel anchored off Queenscliff, when a roll call revealed their disappearance. Gillovv received shocking injuries, including a fractured spine and a fractured skull. The official theory is that some form of tidal wave struck the Nairana, having its origin in a submarine disturbance. THEORY AS TO CAUSE. MELBOURNE, April 13. Fisherman to-day searched for the bodies of the Parsons family, lost from the Nairana, without success. Two of the injured firemen are still on the danger list. Captain L. Sundercome (of the Commonwealth Marine Department) is of opinion that the recent southerly pressure had forced the water to bank up inside Port Phillip Heads, causing abnormally high tides. At the time the Nairana was entering the rip the southerly pressure eased, releasing with the strong ebb tide heaped waves of pyramid shape, which are not uncommon. It is a treacherous rip, where many larger ships have been in trouble.