U.K. LINER AGROUND

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29067, 2 December 1959, Page 17

U.K. LINER AGROUND

Tugs Stand By In Gale

. GIBRALTAR, December 1. Gale-force winds and heavy rain prevented two dockyard tugs from giving assistance this morning to the British Union Castle liner, Braemar Castle (17,029 tons), which went aground near Gibraltar last night. The liner, London-bound with 300 passengers from African ports, was driven on to the Spanish coast between Gibraltar and Algeciras. The tugs radioed that they were standing by at a distance. In London, a radio message from the master, Captain L. H. Farrow, said an “exceptionally strong gale” was raging, but there was no immediate danger. The liner had called at Gibraltar and was due to disembark her passengers in London on Friday morning. During the night, radio messages were picked up in Holland, Portugal and Italy telling of ships in trouble off Spain and Portugal and in the Mediterranean. This was the story they told:

The Portuguese ship Nereida (317 tons) radioed that she was sinking off the coast between Gibraltar airport and Spain. A lifeboat went to her assistance.

The British ship Clan Maclean (6017 tons) and other vessels; are racing to the assistance of the Liberian steamer Transcarib (5949 tons), in distress eight miles west of Leixos, Portugal. The Italian steamer Valgardene (1554 tons) radioed that the 20man crew were in peril after the ship’s engines broke down in heavy seas in the straits of Otranto. A salvage tug went to her aid.

The 7244-ton Greek steamer Stylianos N. Vlassopulous appealed for help off Syracuse, Sicily, because of engine trouble.