LOST KANOWNA.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 43, 20 February 1929, Page 7

LOST KANOWNA.

CAPTAIN'S STORY. Impossible To See Light On Wilson's Promontory. CREW'S EXPEDITIOUS WORK. (Australian and X.Z. Press Association.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. Captain Xewberry, master of the Kanowna, states that from eight o'clock onward on Sunday evening the weather "was so thick that it wa.s impossible to see the light on Wilson's Promontory. Hβ understood that some passengers claimed to have seen a light, but this was probably on the steamer Mackarra, which had just been passed. After the Kanowna struck, she floated again almost but it was found that water was entering the engine room. The ship's gear was in good order and was handled efficiently and in a seamanlike manner. The port boats could not be lowered because the ship was listing heavily. The crew were quiet and expeditious in the performance of their tasks and this reassured the passengers, preventing anything like a panic. The fact that the passengers were safely, transferred to the Mackarra within an hour is proof of this. The captain and some of the stayed aboard the Kanowna till it was evident she was settling down. They then took to the boats and boarded the Dumosa, which had arrived.

Later he went aboard the Kanowna and again examined her. Some preparations were made on the Dumosa to tow the stricken ship, but it became apparent that the case was hopejess. He and the skeleton crew returned to the collier and the Kanowna sank shortly afterward.

IN SEVENTY FATHOMS.

Calm Sea Favours Rescue Of Passengers. BRIDE'S LOST "GLORY BOX." MELBOURNE, February 19. When the steamer Kanowna slipped off the rocks yesterday morning after going ashore on Cleft Island, South Victoria, on Sunday, she sank in 70 fathoms of "water.

Further details of the scenes at the wreck were obtained to-day from rescued passengers. It transpires that when the Kanowna struck, the sea in the vicinity was comparatively calm and that fact made the rescue efforts of the crew of the Makarra fairly simple. All the passengers on the doomed vessel climbed down slippery rope ladders to the lifeboats. Two "men fell into the water. One, a heavy man, was rescued by Alex Nikitin, ship's apprentice, of Christchurch, New Zealand. The Makarra stood off at a distance of 250 yards. It was just possible for the Kanowna"s passengers to see her through the fog. Many women were in a state of great fear. A prospective bride Ibst £400 worth of articles in her "glory box.' .