OCEAN ORDEAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 170, 21 July 1941, Page 7

OCEAN ORDEAL

82 IN LIFEBOAT 35 Survive Perils Of 1500 Miles British Official Wireless. Rec. 2.30 p.m. RUGBY, July 20. An R.N.V.R. officer, describing a voyage of 1500 miles in an open boat, in a broadcast talk, said his f, P> a British liner, was sunk last March by an armed merchant cruiser in the South Atlantic, and he was in command of a lifeboat, with 82 persons, which finally reached Brazil 23 days later. He was travelling as a passenger when the ship was attacked by the enemy merchant cruiser. "We found we had about 16 gallons of water, 48 tons of condensed milk and two tins of biscuits. We worked out that we could only have a third of a dipper of water a day, that is a little less than an eggcupful, two tins of milk divided and one biscuit each. After about ten days we had several storms and were able to catch some rain-water, which permitted an increase in the water ration to about a full eggcupful. and later still it was possible to double the water ration as more water was caught and the number in the boat decreased. We were soon covered with salt water sores, which were greatly aggravated by the crowded conditions and the constant rolling of the boat, which threw us against each other.

It was also impossible to sit or lie, or even stand in comfort owing to over-crowding. After about ten days the hardship and privation began to tell, and each day three or four persons died. We had no charts and our only aid to navigation was a compass. We sighted land when we expected 10. Of the 82 persons who were originally in the lifeboat 13 Europeans and 25 natives survived.