RACE TO RESCUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 9

RACE TO RESCUE.

MAURETANIA ANSWERS SO S

SWEDISH GREW SAVED. After a desperate race against time in mid-Atlantic, in response to a'n S.O.S. call, the Mauretania reached the side of the. Swedish steamship Ovidia (3114 tons) as. she was slowly sinking; 400 miles south by south-east of Cape Race. The Mauretania effected the rescue with perfect seamanship and without any mishap, in spite of the mountainous seas which were running at the time. ■ The great Cunarder edged up little. by little to the sinking Swedish vessel and took aboard all the crew, who had just abandoned ship in two lifeboats. • The Mauretania reached the freighter* twelve hours after the 5.0.5.: "Am in ,distress and sinking. Cannot seem to make a'nyone answer," followed by another, "Taking water hold number 2, heavy list; trying to keep afloat, but pumps unreliable." The freighter carried, it is understood, a crew of 29, and a passenger, the wife of the. captain. The Ovidia was listing badly when the' crew were Rescued, the barometer was falling and the weather freezing. The qrew, who were picked up in their own boats, had held a council on board the sinking vessel during the morning, and finally at 12.15, it was decided to take to the boats.. They were rescued threeqiiarters of an hour later by the Mauretania. 1 Other ships which went to the aid of the Ovidia included the liner America,, whose commander, Captain Fried, when captain of the President Roosevelt, the passengers and crew of the British steamer' Antinoe in midAtlantic in 1626.