NINE DROWNED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 35, 20 November 1937, Page 7

NINE DROWNED.

HERRING DRIFTER STRUCK. STEAMER, HURUNUI IN A FOG. (United Press Association—Copyright, j (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, November 19. . The steamer Hurunui, en route to Newcastle from Australia and New Zealand, collided with the herring drifter Reclaim • off the coast of Suffolk in a thick fog. '* Nine of the crew of the drifter are believed to have been drowned. One survivor was picked up. It is not known whether the Hurunui was damaged. •

CREW WERE BELOW DECKS. THE SOLE SURVIVOR’S STOR Y. (Received This Day, 2.15 p.m.) LONDON,. November 19. Abed amid hot water bottles in the Lowestoft Hospital, Samuel Mortishire, the sole survivoy of the herring drifter, Reclaim, told, m whispers ;how the Hurunui, 200 times her size* cut her in two and sank her- immediately. . ;• .. . ' The Hurunui towered out 6f a ' rainsquall when the-drifter’s skipper and the mate were in the wheelhouse and -the crew below decks. They died within sight of- home, namely Kessingland. Mortishire was the only hand on deck. He dropped a bucket and yelled, unthinkingly, “Come up and see the fun,” which was customary when anything unusual was happening. Then, realising the situation, Ire took a deep breath and dived over the port side as the steamer shore, knifelike, through the drifter. - He clung to a piece of wreckage and .wa's unconscious when he was picked up by the drifter, Sustain, whose skipper said the swift lowering of a boat from the Hurunui' was the* finest piece of seamanship he* had ’ever seen.