OUR LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 152, 27 June 1914, Page 13

OUR LONDON LETTER.

TOPICS OF THE DAY. j (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 15. A SEA TRAGEDY. The passing week has witnessed a marine tragedy which apparently 'has no parallel in the annals of the sea, and which led to the untimely death of five people, including two of those invaluable servants of our merchant navy, the pilots. On Tuesday night the steam cutter W. W. Jones was waiting off Nash Point, in the Bristol Channel, ■with a number of these experienced navigators on board, when she received a signal to proceed alongside the steamer Star of New Zealand, in order to land the pilot, who had 'brought the ship down from Cardiff, The water was apparently fairly calm and the atmosphere clear. The two vessels were manoeuvring to get alongside one another, when the bigger ship collided with the small, tfrail craft, which was approaching her, so it is resorted, under a full head of steam. Instantly the cutter, her side stove in, began to settle down. There was no possibility of getting out the -boats; there was no time even for thought; all was confusion. The collision injured grievously several members of the crew, as well as some of the pilots on board. In a moment the men less seriously hurt were, in desperation, seeking safety. i Some were rescued by a tug which hapI pened to be near by: others clung to I the steamer's anchors and chains; while ! yet others were thrown into the sea. I TVe are told that one of the last mci

dents was the call of the master, still on board his craft, to the crew of the Star of New Zealand: "Give mc a rope, boys," but, the narrator adds, "we could not help him." As the two vessels drifted apart, the W. W. Jones-.turned turtle and sank. Into the space of three minutes was thus compressed a poignant tragedy of the sea. Five sailors were missing when the roll was checked, the master of the cutter anC his 'second mate, two pilots, and a pilot apprentice. The real cause of the accident is obscured for the present. We have the bare fact that in Cardiff there are four widows—one after less than a year of married life—left to mourn their dead These men had gone forth not many hours before to give assurance of safety to others in navigating dangerous waters, and they themselves were lost. When the Star of New Zealand struck the pilot boat all on board the latter, with the exception of Ernest Foulkes, the second mate, who at the time was m bis -bunk, reached either the chains or anchor stock of the steamer. They would all have been saved, but unhappily the sinking pilot boat listed heavily, and her masts and spars swept the side of the Star of New Zealand, up which the crew of the cutter were swarming. Four of the men were struck and hurled into the sea. The Star of New Zealand cruised about till daylight with the object of rescuing any who might be still alive, and Alexander Foulkes was picked up clinging to some cork fenders. Graphic stories are told by -the survivors of the disaster. Nicholas Hixson, second engineer, who was in charge in the engine room at the time of the accident, said that they heard the pilot call from the Star of' Now Zealand, and be got the order "Full steam ahead." After running for about five minutes he heard a cry ".All hands on deck," and a moment later a call of "Stand by the boats." "Suddenly," said Hixson. "the side of the ship bulged in. I made a spring for

the ladder, but slipped and came down I matie a second rush and reached the top, but slipped and fell on the deck. „Captain England caught hold of mc and gave mc a hand up, exclaiming, 'Come quick over the bridge; that's the way, the others are all going up to the chains and anchors.' When I reached the bridge I saw that the chains were covered with our men, and so I made a spring for the anchor stock. As I did so I saw Captain England grasping the chains with both his arms and heard him shout, 'Give mc a Tope.' In the rush I lost sight of him, and 1 don't think he was seen again. 1 was pulled on to the deck of the Star of New Zealand." Thomas Preston, steward of the W. WAflones, was in his 'bunk when he heard the crash. He rushed to the door of his cabin but found it jammed, but presently the pressure of the water from outside burst the door in, and he floated or struggled to the deck. He was the last to leave the sinking boat. During his struggle in the water his clothes were torn off his back and he was badly bruised. One of the rescued men sustained severe injuries to the face, and another had a leg broken. The body of a pilot named Wilson was picked up by a boat from the Star of New Zealand. Jut the others have' not been recovered. Those who lost their lives were: — Richard H. England, Cardiff, master of the pilot boat (leaves a widow and nine children). George H. Evans, Cardiff pilot (widow and four children). William B. Wilson, Penarth, pilot (widow and five children). E. Foulkes, Cardiff, second mate (widow and two children). C. White, Cardiff, apprentice. The W. W. Jones was an ill-fated craft. Early this year she was sunk in Penarth Roads, but was raised and repaired, the work only being completed a few days before she met with disaster off Nash Point.

BERSEABDT'S HAMLET. "I have seen English tragedians impersonating Hamlet. Their make-up may give them the appearance of romantic heroes, but their square shoulders and solid limbs are utterly out of keeping with the anguish expressed on their faces." Thus Madame Sarah Bernhardt, who apparently desires to add to the actor's already severe task the additional strain of "banting," or fattening himself up, as the case may be, in order to fit a certain role physically. No doubt it is desirable that an actor shall "look the part," but to look the Hamlet of the Divine Sarah's conception would entail fearful privations upon some of our most celebrated actors. Sir Forbes Robertson might pass muster without living upon tea and toast and Turkish baths, and Mr. H. B. Irving might manage to pass Madame Bernhardt's Hamlet scale by declaring a- few pounds overweight. But think of the course of training the BeenbohmTree of to-day would require before he could hope to obtain the fragility of appearance Sarah deems requisite for a perfect presentation of the Prince. And what would Oscar Asche's physical condition be by the time he had achieved passing resemblance to Madame's conception of the melancholy Dane? But it is impossible to imagine Oscar as an ethereal Hamlet,"with slim waist and sloping shoulders. He, at any rate, must, if he desires to personate the Prince, shelter himself from Madame's criticism behind Shakespeare's own declaration that his hero was fat, and others, though more favourably placed for adapting their physical proportions to Sarah's ideal, will, no doubt, do likewise, for it is much easier and pleasanter to build up to Shakespeare's Hamlet than to fine down to the Prince of Bernhardt's fancy. So Madame's criticism is like to fall on deaf ears, and, after all, is it even generally true that the melancholy mind belongs peculiarly to those whose bones are sparsely covered, or that the possession of a "comfortable figure" necessarily involves the possession of a happy disposition,-or freedom, - -from mental , cares?