LEGS COATED WITH ICE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 7

LEGS COATED WITH ICE

N.Z. Seaman And 30 Others Adrift In Bitter Cold

RESCUED AFTER SHIP SUNK

Special Correspondent.

LONDON, May 15. A graphic story Is told of the rescue with thick ice formed on his legs of Able-Seaman Thomas Henrv King, of Invercargill, when he and 30 sailors clung on to a Carley float for hours after their ship sank while in convoy. Ice prevented King swimming to the rescue ship. "I was on the mess deck preparing for tea when there was a terrific crash," King said. "All the lights went out and we rushed to the upper deck and were ordered to abandon ship. I helped to put the Carley float overboard, also a wounded seaman, but he died in the water which was covered with fuel-oil four inches thick.

"The water was bitterly cold, but I struggled to the float, kicking off everything except my trousers, and I kept a singlet on. Then we sat on the float, blue with cold and teeth chattering, trying to keep up our spirits until picked up. I was never colder in all my life. Two men eventually picked me up from the float, and removed the ice from my legs We were stripped and massaged and given a welcome tot of rum and provided with blankets.

I was all right after six hours and had not caught a chill; but I still feel a bit weak in the legs. It was so cold that ice formed thickly all over the ship, and we were obliged to do the rounds, playing a steam hose on every movable part, for instance, on the anti-aircraft guns and machinery, in order to keep them workable."