STORM TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 69, 23 March 1937, Page 7

STORM TRAGEDY.

HELPLESS RESCUERS.

LIFEBOAT NOT SUMMONED.

STROHG FEEUX6 AKOITSED-

(From Our Own Correspondent)

SYDNEY, March 10.

Many people in New Zealand must have been shocked last week to read the harrowing particulars of the wreck of the launch Voyager at Sydney Heads and the terrible loss of life that resulted. During the past few days the question has been much asked why the lifeboat which lies ready for immediate action at Watson's Bay was not towed to the spot by the pilot ship and utilised for the purpose for which it .was intended. The answer given by the harbourmaster, Captain Hill, and by Captain Schroder, master of the pilot steamer, was that the lifeboat would most certainly have been dashed to pieces on the rocks and the 12 men on board, as well as the nine men on the Voyager, would have been lost. To those who hold the traditional belief that a lifeboat can do anything that it is called upon to do in a storm, this seemed rather a bold assertion. As there is no prospect of a Marine Department inquiry—for the Voyager was not plying for hire —the only chance of an investigation will be at the coroner's inquest, which will probably be held over the death of the victims, and it is largely in view of -:■» contingency that our newspapers .. raising the question of the lifeboat again. Unused for 30 Tears. The lifeboat, which has suddenly assumed such dramatic importance in this tragic story, lies in a shed at Watson's Bay inside the South Head, some 20 minutes' distance by sea from the scene of the wreck. The Alice Rawson --she bears the name of the daughter of that jovial knight, Sir Harry Rawson, who was Governor of New South Wales some 30 years ago—has been lying on the skids in her shed "for a quarter of a century, with never once a chance to demonstrate her usefulness. But she has been described as a splendid example of lifeboat architecture, fit to take any risk that lifeboat men ever faced at sea. Patterned on the approved rMndel of the Royal lifeboat Society of England, the Alice Rawson may be said j to be the last word in boat craftsmanship.

Unsinkable. self-bailing, adequately provisioned for work within measurable distance of her little haven, she was, and is, regarded by her crew as mistress of the seas, a borne in a hurricane, safe as the Queen Mary in an Atlantic blizzard. In these somewhat rhetorical phrases, "Mata" succetds at least in conveying the impression that his lifeboat was well fitted for the task that she misht have been called upon to perform on that fateful Sunday, while the Captain Cook stood by helpless for nearly five hours, with nine men facing death before her captain's eyes. But, in the opinion of Captain Schroder, it would have been impossible for the Alice Rawson to live in sncb a sea on a lee shore, and so. on the one occasion in the quarter of a century of her existence on which she could | have been put to practical use, "she was I deemed bv those in authority to be a mere log."

J Coatiac of a Reseae Effort. • I It has been suggested that as the • chance of saving the voyager, was so i limited, it would have been waste of ; public money to send the lifeboat out to almost certain destruction. According to "Truth," "the accepted rate of rescue pay is £2 10/ per man,** so that it would have cost £35, covering all expenses, to dispatch the Alice Eiwson on this errand of merey. Surely a trifling sum to weigh.against the chance of saving nine lives. But this financial argument, absurd as it is, can be turned in 1 quite a different way. i Each of the 12 members of the crew . receives £1 per month, and it thus costs —including upkeep—about £300 a year to maintain the lifeboat ready for instant service. During the years of its existence not less than £15,000 (including cost) has been spent upon the Alice Bawson. and for this outlay the. taxpayers surely have the right to demand that the boat shall be put to use when needed, and that no absurd protest about expense or waste shall obstruct its employment when required. Surr'.y the refusal to call out the lifeboat means that it never will be utilised. But there is another aspect of this, question. Most of the crew of the Alice Bawson are fishermen living at and near Watson's Bay—men hardened to peril who hare spent much of their lives , battling against wave and storm around j the Heads. Several of the crew, on I being interrogated, said frankly that in ! their opinion the Alice Rawson could have "done the job." Had Faced Worse Stonna. The Captain Cook's dinghy could not be expected to reach the Voyager, though it started out boldly enough, and Harry Davies, the gallant sailor who plunged into the surf to aid the drowning men, actually got to the launch carrying a line in his teeth. The crew of the Alice Bawson had no illusions about the weather, but some of them had been "' out in their own boats in storms which ' they thought worse than anything they would have had to face that Sunday. j It may well amaze anyone to learn, ! after this, that the Captain Cook I actually sent a request to the fishermen II at Watson's Bay—a body of men ! j recognised here as sesfarers of 1 1 undaunted courage and exceptional skill t —to assist in the work of lescues. Though Captain Schroder had refused I suggestions made eveu liy members of ; the Alice Bawson s crew that the lifel boat might be takeu out, he actually j sent an S.O.S. to some of these same I fishermen to face irt their power boats , a storm which he thought dangerous I for the lifeboat, and to supplement' his j own attempts at saving the Voyager ! and its crew. j These things are certainly hard to , understand. Surely, if it was

enough for the harbour ;vitborities to sound the seamen of the fishing fleet in the hope of securing volunteers for the great adventure, it was an occasion for baptising the i-raft that had slept on its slips for 2.5 loll? aimless, useless years. One can only ho]»e tbat the coroner will have something to say when the inquest is eventually heW.