FIERCE GALES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19813, 28 December 1929, Page 13

FIERCE GALES.

STEAMERS LN DISTRESS. THIRTY-TWO DEATHS RECORDED. (CTTIIED FXE33 ASSOCIATION —ST ELECTBIO TZI3SEU.PH —COPrSIGHT.j (Received December 27th, 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 26. Fierce gales on the British coast and in South and Eastern Europe have wrought havoc to shipping. Thus far, 32 _ deaths have been recorded, the majority i>eing caused through the loss of the steamer Asland. There have been many gallant rescues from distressed vessels at various points on the British coast. WRECK OF STEAMER. RESCUE PREVENTED BY ROCKS. CREW OF TWENTY-FIVE LOST. MADRID, December 26. The Norwegian steamer Asland, codladen from Ireland, was lost off Bayona (on the north coast of Spain). Rescue attempts were unsuccessful, the crew of 25 being dashed to death on the rocks. Eockets from the steamer apprised the gendarmes at Bayona that the vessel was out of control and was drifting towards the shore. Three boats put out, but the rocks prevented them from approaching the ship. The cries from the seamen in the darkness indicated that the vessel had struck, and subsequently corpses, which were much battered on the rocks, were washed ashore. BATTLE WITH GALE. LIFEBOAT RESCUES SIX MEN. LONDON, December 26. The Fleetwood lifeboat on Christmas Day rescued six men, the skeleton crew of the French steamer Tchad, trading from Bordeaux to Morecambe. The Tchad had dragged her anchor and drifted on Piling Sands. Eockets were unavailing, so the crew soaked mattresses with paraffin and burned them, attracting the lifeboat crew, who launched the craft in the teeth of a gale, battled for hours, and threw a rope to the vessel, rescuing the crew. FIRE ON A LINER. SINGAPORE, December 26. Fifty passengers were roused from sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning and ordered ashore, following an outbreak of fire on the liner President Van Bur en, which is making a round-the-world trip. The vessel was alongside the wharf at the time. The fixe originated in the boiler-room, and spread to a hold, and destroyed £9OOO worth of rubber, another £6OOO worth being damaged by water. The President Van Buren leaves for New York to-morrow.