STEAMERS COLLIDE NEAR LIGHTHOUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 9

STEAMERS COLLIDE NEAR LIGHTHOUSE.

FIVE MEN MISSING. Union Freighter Holed and Sunk. EARLY MORNING TRAGEDY. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. Five men arc believed to have been drowned as the result of a collision between the Patrick Line steamer Caradale and the 'Union Line steamer Kakariki off the Gcllibrand Pile Light early this morning. The Kakariki was sunk and only about six feet of her funnel is now showing above water. Five members of the Union ship's crew arc missing as follows: —Charles Lynch, A.8., of Sydneyj Jack Rodgers, A.8., of Melbourne; Harry Goscombe, A.8., of Melbourne; Dan Lindcrman, assistant cook, address unknown; Athol Martin, fireman, of Sydney. The Caradale, a small inter-State freighter, met the Kakariki a few hundreds yards from the Gcllibrand Light but the officers of the lighthouse did not sed the collision. Sixteen members of the crew of tho Kakariki were picked up in the Caradalc's lifeboats and reached Melbourne at 2 o'clock this morning. All the men on the Caradale, which was holed in the bows above the waterline, are safe. Story of Disaster. It is now considered certain that the five men missing from the Kakariki are dead.' Lynch and Qoscombe were trapped in the forecastle and were heard by their mates calling: "For God's sake, open the door!" The forecastle was crushed like an eggshell and the steel door bent in such a fashion that it was Impossible to move it. \ Lindcrman, Rodgers and Martin were seen on deck a few seconds after the impact but have not been found. It is presumed they went down with the ship. Other reports suggest that Rodgers was killed when the bows of the Caradale era shed through the decking of the Kakariki, which sank within three minutes of the collision. Some men on the Kakariki were thrown into the hold, and despite being up to their waists , in water , they were able to regain the deck. . Three of the crew who were thrown into the water grabbed floating pieces of timber and were picked up by boats from the Cara- j dale. • Some of the Kakariki's crew! were in* pyjamas, others were lialfsliaven. . j A diver made an inspection of the' Caradale this morning .and found the vessel much more seriously damaged than was at first believed. The vessel was going down at the head and her cargo had to be hurriedly moved to the stern to bring her bows above the waterline.

The Kakariki (SS7 tons). was built in 1926 by Cochrane and Sons, Selby, York: shire, for the Union Steam Ship Co. of New Zealand. Her port of registry is Melbourne. In \ Lloyd's Register of Shipping her allotted number is //,//7. The Kakariki was commanded by Captain T. W. White and ran between Melbourne and west coast ports of Tasmania. The Geliibrand light is in Port Phillip Harbour, off Williamstown.