GRAPHIC STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1940, Page 15

GRAPHIC STORIES.

SURVIVORS , LOSSES. ————— * EARLIER EXPERIENCES. AITMARK HERO OH BOARD. ' Several of the eurvivors of the Niagara disaster have had other experiences of the toll of war, but they remain un- ' daunted, and, members of the crew particularly, will go to sea again to-morrow if ships are available. All the passengers tell graphic stories of tlie Niagara's end, and of the calm manner in which they were nruetered and allotted to the boats. Gunner James Daley, gunner on the Niagara, has been in two ships which have been sunk in the present war, and j k now known among his mates as Jonah. | An Australian, he was on the Tairoa I when that ehip vas sunk by the Ger- I man pocket-battleship Graf Spee in the i South Atlantic, and subsequently was a prisoner on the "hell ship" Altmark. Following his releaee by the British Navy from the Altmark he returned to Australia and joined the Niagara. "And they told me when I came back from imprisonment in the Altmark that they would give me a nice peaceful job," was hie comment on his arrival safely at Auckland. Also to have had her second experience since the .outbreak of war is Miss J. R. Charlton, of Auckland. She was a passenger on the Nieuw Holland, which figured in a rescue near Singapore earlier j in the war. Miss Charlton was escorting , a small boy to Suva, and he escaped in > his pyjamas and overcoat. The boy j appeared to thoroughly enjoy his I experiences yesterday, and his only con- j cern seemed to be to discover why the Niagara had left the survivors. Wedding Presents Lost. Mrs. V. Zuick, an Australian by birth, who was going to her home on Van- j couver Island, as ehe wrote in her diary, hae "lost everything except hope." She wae taking bark from Australia valua'ble wedding presents, and these went down with the Niagara. Two Escapes. Seventy-five years of age and a native of Glasgow, Mr. Charles McLean, engineer-storekeeper of the Niagara, has been twice' hi a ehip that hae sunk, on each occasion losing everything that he possessed. He .was one of the . crew of the steamer Tasman, which wae torpedoed about 300 miles off the coast of Ireland on September Iβ, 1918. On that occasion the "crew •pent nThours in li&boats. Before the , -.-.Great '., .War 'Mr.'

McLean Mitel with the iNiagai* on her maiden voyage, and he has been 120 trips wUk her since. TO. go away tomorrow if there ie a ship available," he ! ■aid. '..-■;?'■• ■■:-; ■- -:.■■. " Tcr 'The foes of the Niagai* w** also the eeccmd experience for J. Hutt, chief atdward of the vessel, who-" wm* , second steward of the Tahiti, which sank in the Pacific in 1930. JEWTjrDOIIy '' "Everything* in my cabin wee hurled about when the explosion occurred, and there was a jolt like the Ijimi'ted ! express rounding one of the sharpest I bends," Mid Mr. George Brangier, of | Honolulu, who had hie wrist cut with a broken tumbler. He said that on hurrying from his cabin he found the passengers gathering in the lounge,' and be was assisted into a lifebelt. Everybody was calm, and he had time : to go back to hie cabin and gather a I few belongings. After the' boats were launched a large vessel came in sight, bat the* veered *wiy. The Niagara sank bdw first, with a cracking noise, as if her-portholes -were cracking under the pressure. When Mr. .. Brangier returned to Auckland , , lie was met by the same taxi-driver who had carried his luggage to the Niagara, and he felt that landing again was the end of a very trying day. Children's Experience. There were a number of young children on the ship, and every effort was made to secure their comfort. In one of the boate there was a baby. Someone produced a tin of condensed milk, a man warmed it to eorae extent by placing it inside his singlet and a spoonful or two was mixed with water to feed the baby.' Ttue first action of the mother of another baby was to All * thermos flask with , hot water and gather ail her baby elothes before going en deck. . A boy of nine or ten years appeared fatty dressed, even to hie tie. He stated in a matter of fact way that . when he was told the boat was going ! to sink he thought he had better put j on all his clothes. A vivid memory of one of the passengers was seeing a ship's officer leading a pale-faeed bell boy by the hand in a fatherly manner and putting him into a teat. The children did not take long to make themselves at home on the rescue ship. Piantet Describes Bzntoeion. Results of the terrific explosion that preceded the sinking of the vessel were described by Mr. Denie Mongan, a pianist who bad been in the Niagara's orchestra for two years. He said he was hurlet, from his "bunk on the lowest deck, closp to the hold where the full effects of the explosion were felt. He saw the sea pouring into the baggage room, and lie reached the forward stairway as 'witter was rising in the passageway he had just left.

! The baggage room was a heap o*j shattered wreckage and door* were' blown off several cabins in the vicinity. Two heavy porcelain baths in the bathrooms were reduced to powder. Mr. r organ said he had been previously allotted to help close some of the water- i , tight doors—a job which took several minutes. "The lights were ont in several sections of the ship," he added, "and the alarm system was out of action, because the wheelhouse and control room were wrecked. The roar of the water enter- ' ing the ship was deafening." He added that he had been doubly fortunate. Wearing one euit on top of another, he rescued a change of clothing, and he also saved a small case, in which he carried papers and a camera. Bridal Trousseaux Lost. Three brides-to-be were unfortunate in that they lost their bridal trousseaux. j One of them was an Australian girl on • her way to be married in San Francisco, j She also lost a substantial roll of bank [ notes. The other bride-to-be was a young woman from Dunedin who was I travelling to England for her wedding. L There was also an Auckland girl travelj ling with her father to Suva to be ! married. Valuable family plate and furniture, in addition to all her other belongings, were lost by Mrs. Major, widow of the late Mr. C. T. Major, founder and former headmaster of King's College, lire. Major had come to New Zealand in connection with the estate of her late husband, and was returning to reside in Canada. .

Belgian Patriots , Bad Luck. Three officers of the Belgian Army Reserve hastening to France to obey the call to arms made by their Government in (k>fiance of King Leopold's capitulation to Germany had their patriotic miesion interrupted. They were Messrs. J. A. Beaurang, Robert Degrave and J. V. Q. Leveaux, and they have been engaged for some years as wool buyers in Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Leveaux said, last night that they had lost everything except what they stood in. They did not know their immediate plana, but they hoped to continue to Europe later.