SAROS WRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 2, 4 January 1938, Page 9

SAROS WRECK.

AUSTRALIAN DRAMA.

CREW SAVED BY LIFEBOATS. * LAST MAN NEARLY LOST. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 30. The steamer Saroo, wltn a complement of 39, was wrecked on Cape Everard, Victoria, in a heavy fog on Christmas night. As reported by cable, her crew was rescued in a rising sea by lifeboats from the steamer Burwah. The Saros, holed amidships, lay helpless on the rocks with 15ft of water in her engine room.

All day Sunday the Saros was pounded by a heavy swell, but at night the sea moderated, and there was indications that the steamer might not break up.

The Saros, a Howard Smith freighter, left Melbourne on Christmas Day for Sydney, with a 500-ton cargo of motor car bodies from Melbourne and Adelaide, and a general shipment from Geelong. At 10.30 p.m., in a thick fog, she hit the rocks off Cape Everard, on the east coast of Victoria, 80 miles south of Gabo Island. A gaping hole was torn in the hull amidships, and No. 4 hold was caved in. As the ship was battered by the heavy swell the engine room was flooded. In reply to an S.O.S. message from Captain J. Aitken, the steamer Burwah, of the same line, reached the spot just before dawn. Thrilling Rescues. The rescue drama was witnessed by Mr. J. Hardy, lighthouse keeper at Cape Everard.

"At dawn I could see the Saros hard on the rocks," he said.

"The crew had made a line fast from the ship to the rocks.

"It was steadying her, but the swell was gradually getting worse, and I could see she was in for a battering. "The Burwah by then had come up and was standing by*. "The shore is very rocky just there, and she could not get in very close. "The gale was freshening every minute, and the Burwah finally had to put well out to sea for safety. "A lifeboat was lowered, and in two trips took most of the men off the wreck.

"About noon the boat returned and took the last ten men to the Burwah."

Adrift in a gale on the last rescue boat from the wrecked Saros, Klaus Hamalaine, donkeyman, had a terrifying experience before being saved in dramatic circumstances.

The story of Hamalaine's experience was told when the Burwah arrived at Melbourne with the entire Saros complement of 39 and the ship's three kittens.

Hamalaine was swept far astern from the rescue ship Burwah by heavy seas when the painter from a rescue boat to the Burwah snapped. Displaying remarkable seamanship, Captain Cooper skilfully put the Burwah about among rock shoals, and Hamalaine was pulled aboard by life-line. "I am used to wrecks now, as I have been in four," said Hamalaine, a Finn, in broken English. Rescued Seaman's Story. A graphic story of the wreck and rescue operations was given by C. Blair, one of the rescued seamen. "I was in my bunk at 9.25 o'clock on Christmas night, when I was jolted out by a terrific 6hock forward," he said.

"The Saros shuddered, and the lookout shouted: 'She's ashore!'

"The order, 'All hands to the boats,' was given. The starboard boat was manned and lowered without panic, though the painter caught and had to be cut free.

"The boat was pulled around to the lee side of the Saros.

"Some of the crew were dressed in pyjamaa with their good hats on, others in their best clothes.

"The fog was so thick you could scarcely see the bridge, and the shore was blotted out, though only 30 yards away. We did not know where we were. "Rockets were fired, and .we saw Everard as the fog lifted. "At midnight the Burwah was sighted."