"UNFORGETTABLE."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 276, 22 November 1927, Page 7

"UNFORGETTABLE."

Gallant Seaman Refers To

Disaster.

"WATER AWFULLY COLD."

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WANGANUI, this day.

Mr. Fred Corby, who is a seaman on the steamer Tahiti, and whose gallantry in the ferry disaster was publicly recognised by the Tahiti's passengers, makes reference, in a letter to a Wanganui resident, to his nerve-racking experience. Mr. Corby says he never wants to witness such a terrible occurrence again. When he got to the wreckage he pulled off his clothes, except his pants, and when he stood up, drowning people in all directions cried out to him to help them. It was dreadful to find that he was only able to help one at a time, and to have to leave the others until later, that is, if they had not gone down in the meantime.

He adds that he does not want to go to Sydney again on any account. He wants to try to forget the whole affair, bue he is afraid he never will. It was awfully cold in the water, and he was obliged to have medical treatment for some days afterwards. With characteristic modesty, he says, "It was good of the Tahiti passengers to give me £28 10/. I don't deserve all the credit the papers have given me."