TRAWLER SUNK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 76, 31 March 1941, Page 6

TRAWLER SUNK.

BY ENEMY MINE. N.S.W. TRAGEDY. SEVEN MEN BELIEVED LOST. SYDNEY, March JSi. Seven members of the crew i.f the trawler Millimumul, of 287 tons, which was sunk by an enemy mine off the Xew South Wales mart on Wednesday evening, arc missing and believed lost. Five survivor.", rescued by a passing ship after they had made a perilous 30-hottr voyage in a water-lodged open boat, reached Sydney yesterday. According to the t-urvi\ or-, the ship war. sunk by the explosion of a mine which became fouled in their trawl and struck the »tarl>oard *klc almost abreast of the main rigging. The Millimumul .-ank in about one minute. The men had grim stories to tell of their experiences since the mine exploded. One of the survivors said he saw shark*, attracted by the trawler's rt.-h cargo, take four of his comrades. The following officers ami member- of the crew are reported miseiiig:-—Captain G. W. C. Kixon. master, married, with two children; Chief Engineer 11. Kepan, married, with three childrenj Mate. !•'. J. (iibson; Second Engineer J. I)em.-ie, laarried, with two children; Wireless Operator H. Hordern; <;. White, conk, married, with two children; A. Oster-

Mine Laid Months Ago. I "The naval authorities consider that the mine which caused the disaster »a? one of a Held laid some norths 15 >," said Mr. W. M. Hughes, Minister for the Navy, in the course of a statement on tlie disaster. "It is believed that it had escaped the attentions of the minesweepers that have been operating continuously along our shipping lanes, either because its sinker had fallen into a depression in the sea bed and thus had dragged the mine well below t-ca level, or el>e, because it had become water-logged and had sunk to the bottom." Mr. Hughes added that rapid progress had been made, and was being made, in developing anti-mine devices for ships and in minesweeping works to deal with the mine menace in Australian waters. The Minister said later that the area in which the vessel was sunk had been swept. "Actually, until the survivors have been interrogated, it would be impossible to gather whether it was a mine which was some weeks old or one which has just been laid," he said. "Surface and air craft are constantly vigilant over the ana, and we are taking special measures.'' The mine could have been laid by a submarine, he added, but it was unI likely that any enemy craft had been ■ in the vicinity in the last week or two.

Deck Hand's Story. Thomas (Jrtindy. deck hand, said last night: "I was standing for'ard early on Wednesday evening when we were on a trawl. I saw the fore door (a heavy weight towed along the sea bed to keep the net open) come up. " There was a turn of a mooring wire around it. Suddenly, as it pulled tight, the mine came to the surface. The chief mate shouted to the bridge, 'There's a mine.' "Captain Kixon ran™ astcn on the engine, and th _>«e for'ard immediately ran aft. The master jumped from the bridge to the deck, and with the second mate, the mate. Osterbcrg. Ogilvie and myself, crouched under the lee of the galley on the port side. "A terrific explosion occurred within half a minute of the warning. The j mine hit the ship about a third of the way for'ard. The vessel »a» still going ahead, as the engines had not had time , to pull her up, iincl the way had tightened the mine's mooring line and pulled it against the hull. "There was a bit of a panic a? we tried to knock the cleats off the lifeboat following the terrific concussion. The ship's head dropped immediately and the fore deck went straight under the water. 1 was thrown into the sea as the trawler lurched. Lifeboat Righted. "Ak I broke the water 1 sans out, and Lowe, who was on a raft, shouted to me to come over. The trawler had disappeared, but the lifeboat was floating bottom up 200 yards awav. "On the way over i heard a call from Kelly. I swam him to the lifeboat. He was in a bad way, and 1 held him on for a quarter of an hour until he got his strength back. Ogilvie and Lowe then swam over (o n s . and the four of us righted the lifeboat.

•We got in the waterlogged boat practically exhausted, and soon after picked up Hamilton on the cook's meat box. \V C nC vcr saw or heard anvone else.

He had water, but no food, and just drifted aimlessly until davlight Later we put up a sail and set a "course for where we thought land lav. sailin" from i a.m. Thursday until IO.SO that night. Lowe made a flare out of hi* jersey and waved it on a sweep, and shortly afterwards the Mortlakc Bank, a collier, picked us up. 'Several of us had no clothing. T had only a flannel and a pullover on. Three of us were without trousers. We had had nothing to eat for :}« hours and" were weak from lack of food." Sharks Take Four Men. William Hamilton, a fireman, had a tragic story to tell. "I was on watch below at the engines when the skipper rang -hard astern*" he said -I had just j;iven her full astern when a terrific explosion occurred, the boat jumped feet out of the water Ihe lights went out. The boilers were still intact, so I knew it must be a mine. 'I came out of the depths to see mv mates around me. I saw an icebox floating nearby and filled it about a third full of water to keep it on an even keel and then clambered in. "Scores of sharks were circling around, attracted by the tons of fi~h scattered about. I heard my mates crying for help, but could do nothing. "I heard Jack Dempsey. flic second engineer, scream. 'He's got' me." and then silence. I saw four of mj tn*tcs taken by the sharks in no time. "[ sat on the box with sharks swimming round me and after what seemed hours in the water, the lifeboat drifted towards me and they took me into the boat." The second mate. William ],owc. had an amazing escape. Ho wa<- trapped bydeck gear with Captain Kixon while trying to free the ship"* raft. He and Captain Kixou were dragged underwater as the ship went down. The raft, however, broke free under the water and shot to the surface. Lowe, who had lost consciousness, recovered to find himself caught in the raft and floating with his head out of water.