THE VIKING DISASTERI

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 233, 30 September 1907, Page 5

THE VIKING DISASTERI

CAPTAIN PETTERSEN'S FATE. DIVES AFTER WIFE IN WIISTE.Y SEA. . THE CREW SAVED. (From Onr Special Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20. His barque cut down in a gale on a pitch, dark midwinter night off Cape Horn, Captain Hans C. Pettersen, of the Viking, saw his wife swept away as he was trying to lift,her to the bows of the barque, which had struck his vessel. Hβ dived into the sea after her, and neither was seen again. His crew scrambled aboard the other barque, the Atla.s, of the Standard Oil Company's fleet; Word of the drowning of the captain and his wife and of the loss of the Viking, Which was of Norwegian registry, was received by Philip Ruprecht, marine superintended, of the Standard Oil Company, in a letter from Captain Dart, of the Atlas. The Atlas is now at Rio Janeiro. Captain Dart -writes that on June 5 the Atlas, deep with 5000 tons of coal for the use of the navy at San Francisco, struck and sank the Viking on her way here from Auckland, New Zealand, with kauri gum, off Cape Horn. It was a bitterly cold night of the Antarctic winter, with a gale blowing. The Atlas, a steel vessel, was the stronger, and cut a terrible gash in the Viking. Seeing there was no chance to save his vessel, Captain Pettersen called to his men to save themselves, which they did by climbing over the bow-s of the Atlas as the two barques were locked together. The captain stayed to help his wife, but just as she was clambering over the wreckage, a sea swept her overboard. In an instant he jumped after her. So badly was tne Atlas damaged that Captain Dart returned to Rio Janeiro to make repairs. The survivors of the Viking were shipped to tlieir homes in. Norway on a liner. This marks the second disaster to the only two American vessels chartered to carry coal to th° Pacific co?st for the navy. The Shenandoaii, which left Baltimore on Itfarch 2S, was badly damaged by gales, and has put into Melbourne, Australia, for repairs.