VIOLENT GALE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 7, 19 October 1949, Page 5

VIOLENT GALE

BRITISH CARRIER IN TROUBLE COLLISION WITH COLLIER (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 18. With water pouring in through a 15 -foot gash in its hull, the new British aircraft-carrier H.M.S. Albion is to-night fighting a violent south-westerly gale that is lashing most of the British Isles

The Albion, holed in a collision with the collier Maystone early to-day, isbeing towed by two tugs, with the British destroyer St. James standing by. A signal, flashed to the Admiralty to-night, reported that the Albion was broadside on to the wind and drifting north, and dragging the tugs with it. A later message from the destroyer St. James said the sea was still pouring into the Albion, which already had about five feet of water in its engine-room. The signal added, however, that the Albion was not in any immediate danger, and 20 of the carrier’s crew were still aboard. ) A naval spokesman in Edinburgh said to-night that the Albion was in “tremendous difficulties.” Its position is 10 miles off St. Abbs Head, near the Firth of Forth. Meanwhile hope is being abandoned for 20 men missing from the Maystone, which sank just after the collision, with its radio pleading for help;

No Trace of Missing Men

A lifeboat from Holy Island and a plane scoured the area of the collision for hours but found no trace of the missing men. The lifeboat crew reported: “We did not see even as much as a cork.”

Four of the Maystone’s crew were picked up by the Albion, which, at the time of the CQllision, was being towed, by three tugs to the naval base at Rosytli, Scotland. The Albion, one is Britain’s newest aircraft-carriers, is still uncompleted. The gale that is tearing at the Albion is giving most of the British Isles the worst weather for six months. In • Southampton the new 34,000-ton luxury liner Caronia, which was crunched against a quay wall while being berthed, dented two plates and injured three passengers. Nearby, in the Solent, a British Overseas Airways flying-boat going to South Africa with 33 passengers aboard wrenched a float off while taxiing in choppy waters. Torrential rains flooded railway lines in West Scotland.

In Wales, a main highway is three feet under water. The Orkney Islands are isolated. 4

SHIPS BATTERED IN ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONE ENCOUNTERED (Rec. 11.15 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 15. A tropical cyclone battered ships in mid-Atlantic to-day, disabling a freighter and delaying the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth and other liners up to 24 hours. The disabled freighter was the 7200ton French vessel Caen. It hit floating debris, broke its propeller and its engines became disabled when it attempted to continue through heavy seas. It is reported to be wallowing helplessly 180 miles east of Cape May, New Jersey, with a coastguard cutter and tug standing by. The storm’s fury prevented rescue effort®.

Commodore C. M. Ford, the Queen Elizabeth’s master, radioed that the vet-sel had been, battered for 30 hours by tremendous seas and forced to reduce speed to 12 knots during the worst of the storm.