HOURS IN OPEN LIFE-BOATS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1940, Page 8

HOURS IN OPEN LIFE-BOATS

Almost Fiat,. Calm Made Rescue Possible SURVIVORS , VIVID STORIES How tragically different the story of the sinking of the Canadian-Australasian liner Niagara might have been had the passengers and crew been compelled to take to the ship's boats in boisterous weather after the Royal Mail steamer struck a mine off the New Zealand coast early yesterday morning, was the keynote of statements made by the rescued in Auckland to-day. "It was not exactly a flat calm, as the boats were lowered," said one of the'passengers to-day. "There was a slight jobble, with a gentle breeze, with conditions just sufficiently uncomfortable to make many people seasick. At the same time it must be recognised that passengers and crew owe their lives to the calm conditions—conditions which were, as miraculous in the usually turbulent North Auckland waters as the miracle of calm in the English Channel which saved the B.E.F. in the Dunkirk evacuation." ■It wa s not until passengers and' crew, rescued from the lifeboats of the Niagara, landed in Auckland from a large liner last evening, that a connected account of the sinking could be obtained. Shortly before the dinner adjournment of the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister, the Hon. Peter Fraser, announced at 3.15 that the Niagara had sunk after striking a mine. This announcement shocked the public mind," since New Zealand waters were thought to be free from the menace of mines. To-day passengers told stories of the well-ordered work of Captain W. .Martin and his officers and crew in getting everyone into the lifeboats, without loss or injury, although the Niagara went down in;less than two hours after striking the mine. The ship's* cat was the only casualty!