NIGHT OF PERIL

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 96, 24 April 1928, Page 9

NIGHT OF PERIL

SAVING OF THE GALE.

"HARDLY A KICK LEFT."

FINE WORK BY THE TUG

(B7 Telegraph.—Special to "Star.")

WANGANUI, this day.

A member of the crew of the steamer Gale, when interviewed, stated that he and iiis mates were mighty glad to see the lights of the tug Kahanui coming 1 out of Wanganui entrance on Friday night. They could see the lights of only 1 one steamer, and knew it was a liner in 1 the roadstead. The Terawhiti by this time had drifted away. , "Although," said the seaman, "we j knew that if the anchor cables i did not hold through the night j there was nothing for it but to be piled , up on the beach, still £he knowledge 4 that the Kahanui waer standing by helped to tune up our courage. We had been having a hard time of J it right from early morning, and. as the vessel was in light trim, she rolled tremendously. All hands were drenched. We were also tired out for want of .sleep, and some of us hardly had a kick 'left in us. We did not say too much 1 to each other, although some of us won'dered whether we would see our wives i and families again. We knew we would . drift on to a sandy beach if anything happened, but, as the sea was so rough, ' one never knows what may eventuate." ' A seafaring man paid a compliment sto Captain Mclntyre, of the Kahanui, > for his excellent seamanship.. "The tug," ' he added, "bobbed albout like a cork, but ' the skipper was game, and stuck to his ' task until be had us hooked on. The t pext thing, we wondered was whether i the line would hold, but, like the skip- _ per and the tug, it was a bit of good * stuff, and once we got clear of those - (makers we knew we were all right."