BURNING SHIP SALVAGED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23232, 20 January 1941, Page 10

BURNING SHIP SALVAGED

STORY OF AMAZING FEAT SAVING OF VALUABLE CARGO (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received January 18, 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, January 17. One of the most amazing salvage feats of the war was recalled in the Admiralty Court when a claim was made by 15 men for remuneration for the salvage of the burning San Demetrio after the master had ordered her abandonment. * Mr Justice Langton awarded a total of £14,700 among the claimants, who had, he said, the good wishes of the owners of the ship. The claim was made by the second officer, Mr A. G. Hawkins, and 14 members of the crew. . The San Demetrio was in the convoy which was escorted by the Jervis Bciy Hawkins gave evidence that his lifeboat passed two perilous nights before he found the San Demetrio, which was in flames. They boarded her to salvage her in a continuous gale. , Mr Justice Langton mentioned that the San Demetrio was worth more than £ 25Q,000- and also carried cargo worth £60,000. She was brought home with 10,000 tons of oil. The salvors had no sextant, but held an easterly course by the aid of the Pole Star with a check. by the moon and sun. They covered 700 miles without charts on a burning ship. The San Demetrio was badly hit by the pocket battleship which attacked the convoy, and the order was given to abandon ship. , , A The boats dropped astern, and 10 minutes later they saw the vessel start to blaze. In one boat were 16 officers and men, among them an American seaman and a seaman from the Shetland Islands, whose knowledge of boat work in the heavy weather which lay ahead did much to save the San Demetrio herself as well as this boat’s crew. . , , The weather had been fine, but by midnight a full gale wps blowing. By dawn great seas were running. At midday, however, the men sighted a tanker to leeward, and at 5 p.m. they got alongside. It was their own ship. She was still burning, and gasoline lay on the water all round her. so they decided not to board that night. But when dawn broke she was not in sight. Fortunately, the weather had moderated, and it was possible to get a sail up. By one of those extraordinary chances which occur at sea, they fell in with the San Demetrio again. This time they got aboard. White Hot Amidships

The vessel was white hot amidships and her bridge and accommodation were gutted. There was a fierce fire still burning aft, and she was down by the bows. Down below the engineers set about getting on the pumps in an engine-room flooded to the floorplates. On the’ deck the remaining hands fought the fire with buckets and fire extinguishers, chipping the burning cork insulation off. There was gasoline washing over the decks, and every time the ship pitched more gasoline gushed up through the shell splinter holes. By 5.30 p.m. the chief engineer had 801b steam pressure, and the hoses could be used instead of buckets. By daybreak next day all the fires were out and most of the rents in the decks and upper works were plugged, a job which the American particularly delighted in, being up to his neck in the sea most of the time.

Eight days after the raider’s attack the San Demetrio made landfall. She had no signalling flags. They had all been burnt. The only flag she had left was her Red Ensign, and that had been flying throughout her adventurous voyage—symbol of the merchant navy’s courage and determination.