A FROZEN SHIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 78, 1 April 1905, Page 13

A FROZEN SHIP.

The Atlantic Transport liner Mesaba arrived at New York last month with the rescued crew of the British ship Amanda, a three-masted schooner, which was bound with v cargo of dried fish from Newfoundland to Brazil. When the Mesaba caught sight: of the Amanda the latter looked almost like an iceberg. She was so heavily weighted by ice that she seemed in instant danger of sinking- The Amanda was showing signals of distress off the Grand Banks. Owing to the rough sea Captain Fitzgerald and seven men fciming the crew of the Amanda were rescued by the Mesaba'3 boats with the utmost difficulty. Capt. Fitzgerald told a thrilling tale of hardship and adventure. Soon after leaving St. John's a gale, started to blow, and the ship sprang a leak. The temperature was ten degrees below zero, and ice was forming everywhere. It was impossible for the Amanda ro return to port owing to the north-west winds, so the pomps were manned day and night, the cargo was jettisoned and ihe anchors and cables were thrown overboard. Still the water gained steadily, and the ice about the ship and rigging grew thicker. After live clays of ceaseless toil the men were almost frozen and quite exhausted by their labours to save the ship. On February Ist the Mesaba happily appealed and effected a rescue. Before leaving the ship, which lay in mid-track of the Atlantic liners. Captain Fitzgerald sprinkled the vessel with oil, started a blaze, and made a running jump for the Mesaba's boat. The burning scßooner at night offered a picturesque and weird spectacle on the horizon, and w„s reported by several ships which preceded the arrival of hefce „-.