FOURTH WRECK.

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

FOURTH WRECK.

PATROLMAN'S STORY.

EXPERIENCES IN SAIL 'TWO SHARP REPORTS' HEARD. ' For Mr. T. W. Banks, of Sidney, 56-year-old patrolman, the einking of the' Niagara is just another wreck, and by no means his worst experience in a long sea career. In an interview this morning he recalled'three other dramas of the sea in which he has been involved, and some of the hardships which befell him and his shipmates in sailing vessels which' were wrecked.

To hear Mr. Banks' story one gains the impression that he "started off on tile wrong tack," for.on his first voyage he was wrecked. 'That was in ISD9 when the City of Florence,"a".sailiri" ship bound from Callao to San Francisco, ran on to Jlontara Reef, south of San Francisco, during a gale. The vessel was a total .loss, and the crew suffered considerable hardship before being rescued three days after. she had struck by tugs sent" out from San Francisco. Throughout the three days the crew were storm-tossed in their life•boats, and for most of the time all they could do was to keep them head-on to the seas. A Fire at Sea. 3lr. Banks, undeterred by hie first experience, went to sea again and, nine months after the loss of the City of Florence, was a member of the crew of the Allegiance, another sailer, trading from Glasgow to New South Wales. She carried general cargo and 50 tons of gunpowder. Friction .in ..the holds is believed to have caused fire to break out, and finally the Allegiance blew up in the South Atlantic, 900 miles frorii land. "We could not jettison the gunpowder, so we jettisoned, ourselves," said 3lr. Banks, "and were rescued five days later by the German ship Louise Bremen. During the time between abandoning ship and being rescued we had nothing to eat or drink, and when rescued we were dying from thirst. That was my worst experience." A lapse of 18 months and once more Sir. Banks was '.playing his part in another sea drama, this time in another latitude.' He was still in sail on the Beeehbank, which ran onto a sandspit at Cuxhaveh, on the Elbe. This time, however, only a few hours went by before the crew were rescued by vessels from Cuxhayen. : "Trembled ana Listed.' , So far as the Niagara disaster is concerned, 3lr. Banks was well in the picture, as he was patrolling the ship when the explosion which sent the vessel to the-bottom occurred. And here is llr. Banks' story: "At approximately 3.35 a.m. I was going from the promenade deck to the boat deck when I heard two sharp reports from the forepart of the vessel," he said. "The ship trembled and listed, and I then went to my boat station on the bridge and reported. By that time the .emergency signal had sounded on the whistle- The ship was listing very rapidly to port, and orders were promptly given by the chief officer to' put the lifeboats over the side. Everything-went smoothly and we, got the boats out in very little time—in fact, it seemed to me that we did this better than.at boat- drill. We got safely away from the Niagara and the passengers in the- lifeboats behaved themselves exceedingly well: I have only to express my highest admiration for them, for. they did everything asked of them, j and. assisted in the, work of 'bailing out."