STEAMER SINKS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18673, 23 April 1926, Page 9

STEAMER SINKS.

TWENTY-TWO LIVES LOST SURVIVORS' GRIM STRUGGLE. (tsoh otm own coakisKsmurr^ SYDNEY, April 9. The foundering of the coastal freight steamer Dorrigo, of 715 tons, seventy miles north of Brisbane while on a voyage from Sydney to Thursday Island, adds another to the long list of maritime disasters that have occurred off the coast of Queensland. Tho Dorrigo ran into rough weather, took a list to port, and battered by heavy seas, wator by some means penetrated into tho stokehold. Tho list increased, and the Dorrigo finally went down by the stern. A lifeboat was launched, but after most of the crew had scrambled into it, tho boat oapsised. Tho men, numbering twentytwo, managed to cling to tho overturned craft and wreckage, and that was the last the captain and his son, who had taken refuge on a piece of decking, saw of them. The captain and his sou were resoued 34 hours later by the steamer Moruya, but dospite a vigilaut search by two other steamers the remainder of tho crow were never seen, although the overturned lifeboat was sighted. Scramble for Life. The disaster occurred at 6 o'clock on Good Friday morning. The first tidings or the wreck came late the next afternoon, when tho Moruya signalled a shore station. A graphic story of the wreck was told by young Gray, son of tho master, after his arrival at Brisbane. The cry of "She's going over," uttered by one of the firemen, woke twelve sleeping men in the fore-castle-head. Then ensued a scramble for life. Young Gray hastily pulled a pair of trousers over his pyjamas, and hitched a belt rouud himself. Grabbing a lifebelt, ue ran on deck. Captain Gray, clad in his pyjamas, appeared on the bridge, and swiftly siamg up the predicament, ordered the port boat to be lowered, The Dorrigo was slowly heaviug over as the crew tried to launch the lifeboat. By this time the vessel's list was becoming more and more hopeless. Cases or benzine rattled off the dock of the shi 0 into the sea, to be followed by cases of fruit and beans. As- the Dorrigo took another dangerous lurch the crew jumped overboard. Gray, who dived over tho stern, was the second last to leave. Captain Gray remained with his ship. He walked along the sideboard side, and hung to the anchor as the vessel sank stern first. Meanwhile, young Gray had swum clear of the propeller, which was still churning and threatening to suck him under. One of the firemen was struggling desperately in the " Water. "Sling me a plank," he called oat, and Gray pushed a spar towards hint through the water. Floating Wreckage. The Pacifio Ocean had closed over the Dorrigo, and from the spot where she sank logs shot out of the water like corks out of champagne bottles. Soon the sea was strewn with flotsam and jetsam, cases of apples and vegetables, and pieces of wreckage. Three engineers, an able seaman* and the second officer clung to some logs, which were lashed together and floated nearby. Eight others were on the overturned boat audi several of the crew maintained a precarious hold, on wood and spars. A stroke of luck saved the life of Captain Gray. As the Dorrigo went down, portion of the after sun deck planking, covered with canvas, about 30ft by 10ft, rose to the surface underneath him. Only fifty yards separated him from the lifeboat, and young Gray, with a rope, net out to reach the sun deck, on which his father sat, but the rope was too short,' and the attempt to tie. the boat to the sun deck had to be abandoned. Beans and apples were floating and young Gray swam about, gathering up as many as he could. Be returned to the boat with them, and then dived in again, and collected more, which he brought to tho bus deck. Captain Gray ordered his son to desist from the dangerous task, and toe young man then remained with Ms father. A buoy and a floating log were hitched to the sun deck, and the apples and beans were placed in a bag. As the afternoon wore on> the three parties of survivors drifted further and further apart. Towards the end of the afternoon the men on the logs could be Been waving. That was the last seen of them. As night closed in, a school of sharks hovered round the sun deck. Bain pelted down on the piece of canvas. Squalls broke over them once or twice, but cleared away as the moon shone out. The circling sharks could be seen a few yards away. ' Waiting Sharks. To the south a lighthouse gave an assurance that land was not far away. The log, which had been the mainstay of the sun deck, broke away, and the planking began to break Up. Daylight came on the rolling surface of the ocean, on which not a sign of smoko or sail could be seen. The sun beat down on the canvas, which afforded scant shelter for Captain Gray in his torn pyjamas, and the effects of the heat and expos•ure soon began to tell on him. They breakfasted, but the bag containing tho beans and apples had broken, and the two men soon consumed what remained. Most of tho sharks left, only throe huge monsters remaining. One of them settled down. to wait under the sun deck, his head showing at one end, and his tail at the other. The raft slowly drifted towards shore, and the two men held up tho canvas as a sail. A thin, crayon-like streak in the sky announc- ' od the coming of the Moruya early in the afternoon. The castaways waved wildly with the canvas, and soon the Moruya was alongside. With difficulty, Captain Gray, assisted by two seamen, gained tho deck of the rescuing steamer, The Moruya searched vainly for the remainder of the crew, and then headed south for Brisbane. One man at least was lucky. He was Mr A. S. Dixon, chief steward of the Dorrigo, who, wishing to gain a billet which did not take him away from his home in Sydney for such long periods, signed off the ship on Thursday morning/ the day the Dorrigo sailed. He return-, ed to Sydney by rail during the weekend, and woke up on Monday, to read in the morning newspapers the tidings of the disaster. MARINE COURT ENQUIRY (BS CABLE—PRESS AB9OCUTIO!f—OOPTBIdfiT.) (AUSTRALIAN AND K.Z, CASLX AStOCIATtOIt.) BRISBANE, April 22. The Marine Court continued its enquiry into the leas' of the steamer Dorrigo. Captain Gray, master of the vessel, said that he was awakened at 5.60 in the morning by a seaman. There was a moderate easterly wind and sea. Tho Dorrigo had a heavy list to port. He Saw water flush with the bulwarks, and ordered some seamen to throw benzine cases overboard. He told the chief officer to get the port boat ready. The men did their best to get the boat out, but the ship was heeling over too rapidly. She got on her beam ends, the funnel being almostj parallel with the ■

water, sad aaamed to. hang'there ;» while. Thou the rteimet MHled tlowh by the stern. Witness counted everyone in. sbe , water except one fireman. He admitted that Mis son told hint that ft Arenaa had «aid that there were'two feet? of water in the stokehold. IF true, probably there would ba in the engine-room. That might have caused the vessel to'torn ovar, S« expressed the opinion that if he had been called earlier {hey might have saved the ship or at leaii . got the boats away. He w*e called "at tike usual hour. DECK CARGO ON BOABD. < Uvmituw m *.s. casta aesocuntf.) (Received April 22nd, 11186 p.m.) 1 BMSBANIS, April S3. Captain dray, oofttJnning hia «rtdence in the porrigo enquiry, laid th«« waß a perfectly safe quantity of deck oargo on th« rtr«sMl, and added that the canse of the accident was not isi» sea. He could form no opinion about it. [The coastal steamer Dorrigo, of 715 tons, bound from Sydney to Thursday I Island, foundered 14 miles south-east of Double Island Point Captain Gray and his son were picked tip, but Were the only survivors of the disaster.]