STILL RAGING

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 292, 10 December 1929, Page 7

STILL RAGING

GREAT GALE AT HOME. 1 frail Of Desolation In South Of England. I COASTS WRECK STREWN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 11 a.m.) RUGBY, December 9. Ma -(reek-end weather exceeded in t vio lence any experienced in England 1 • I accurate wind speed records 1 gtSW The fifth day of Zstorm is now akmg place and I i wind reaches gale force m gusts. 1 heavy seas are still SSg round the coasts. (ws-Channel services were resumed morning despite the high wind and f Over 30 large steamers, most of £ With two anchors down have been ELe off Deal. As already reported casualties have occurred to shippingr, „ ni the older members of lne : JHew , Sough exhausted by their Tk have refused to consider the that volunteers, plenty of *ffZe available, should take their IS Ttlie lifeboats. They have been Sponsible for saving numerous lives. Du rin» the week-end the British Royal wSltoer Arlanza, bound for Brazd, 1 1! the crew of the 5000-ton Italian in tte Bay of Biscay, 3 the German steamship Hansa took off the Casmona's captain. The Arlanza lost a boat during the rescue operations but no casualties occurred. The Casmona was abandoned in a sinking condition. On land several people have been lrilled byTalling trees and chimneys. French reports state that several steamers are in imminent danger off the coast of Britanny. The White Star liner Homeric, 34,351 tons was. hove to for some hours. The promenade deck, which is 60ft above the TOterline, was swept and damaged. The dry dock Vulcan, of 11,000 tons, which tugs were towing from Hamburg to Eotterdam, was caught in the tempest, and broken asunder. . She sank and two of her crew perished. •■■;•. 111-Fated Radyr. The ill-fated Radyr, which was lost on the Devon coast, with her, crew of 21, was the only steamer to put put from Cardiff in the teeth of Friday night's gale. The wireless operator, Mr. Meredith, was sending out the S.O.S. call when the vessel foundered. His was the only body to be washed up. The liners bound for English ports Lave had- the most terrific voyages of recent years. The velocity of the wind was sometimes as much as 108 miles an hour. Many of the Channel lifeboats are out and the harbours are crowded with damaged craft. The Italian steamer .'■ Leonardo da Vinci, which is bringing the Italian art treasures for the London exhibition, reports by wireless that she is quite safe, and 'is holding her own in the Bay of Biscay against a severe gale. She expects to reach London on Thursday afternoon.The Channel coasts are strewn with wreckage. The seas were lashed mountains high, and the wind left a trail of desolation across southern England. Trees were uprooted, including 16 giants at Hampton Court, over 200 years old. Telephone wires were wrecked and walls levelled. The Cunarder Valacia, bound from Antwerp to New Zealand, has sent a wireless message saying the ship was unmanageable, and she has stopped until the gale moderates. Two seamen coming home on Christmas leave were washed off the destroyer Walpole between Portsmouth and Chatham and drowned.