Crew Of 15 Rescued After N.Z. Ship Sinks

Press, Volume C, Issue 29467, 20 March 1961, Page 15

Crew Of 15 Rescued After N.Z. Ship Sinks

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) BRISBANE, March 19. Fifteen exhausted men were rescued from a small lifeboat, 190 miles east of Brisbane, last night after drifting in heavy seas for 16 hours. The men, survivors of the freighter Verao (469 tons) which sank early yesterday, were rescued by another freighter Iron Flinders.

A radio message from the Iron Flinders received in Sydney soon after the rescue said none of the Verao’s crew was missing. One of the men was injured. The master. Captain D. K. Matheson, of Auckland, who had been feared missing, was rescued with his crew. Another Aucklander, Chief Officer J. M. Drummond, of Milford, was alsq, among those rescued. Rescue operations were hindered by the darkness and rolling seas. The Iron Flinders, a 19,000ton ore carrier, was guided to the tiny battered lifeboat by radar bearings from a Royal Australian Air Force Neptune bomber. Squadron-Leader Vivien Shearn, R.A.A.F., last night gave a graphic description of the last plunge of the Verao in mountainous seas, 200 miles east of Brisbane. “She was rolling on her starboard side. Then we saw the underside and then she sank very swiftly, stern first,” he said. Squadron-Leader Shearn and the six members of his crew located the stricken ship and its crew in their lifeboat with less than 30 minutes to spare. Difficulty The lifeboat had difficulty in keeping its prow to the wind, which was blowing at about 30 knots. Waves 15ft high battered her, and she frequently disappeared momentarily from the sight of the Neptune’s crew. Squadron-Leader Shearn and his crew were in the air for 14 hours, including eight hours and a half above the lifeboat. Two other Neptune bombers, also from the R.A.A.F. base at Richmond, were in the air tor more than 20 hours to keep the lifeboat under observation. Squadron Leader Shearn said: “We sighted the Verao at 7.55 a.m., Saturday. "She was listing to starboard at about 75 to 80 degrees when we flew over at about 200 feet. When we saw she had just about had it we turned again to take a picture.

“Within seconds she plunged to the bottom, and we did not photograph the last plunge. We saw the lifeboat about 300 yards from the Verao and were able to count 15 heads. “The lifeboat was about 20 feet long and the crew seemed to be having difficulty in keeping her into the wind. “We saw a second lifeboat, with the bow crushed, drifting nearby. All around where the ship sank was wreckage, including suitcases, hatch covers, ladders, and boxes. “The men in the lifeboat seemed to be well clothed. In between waving to us, they kept rowing to keep the craft into the wind. They had two sea anchors out and four oarsmen had to keep working all the time. “We were overhead eight and a half hours, and «n that time the lifeboat drifted about 25 miles towards the coast. We got close enough to see some of the faces in the boat and they seemed quite happy —apparently especially happy to know that we were watching over them. “We kept dropping smoke lights so that we could keep track of the lifeboat as she kept disappearing for short periods in the heavy seas.” Second Neptune Squadron-Leader Shearn’s bomber left the scene shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday, when a second Neptune took over Crew members said there was “a hell of a swell” and the high wind whipped up giant white caps. The second Neptune dropped survival packs to the lifeboat. The packs included inflatable dinghies, food, water, and a radio set. In a radio-telephone call to the radio officer of the Iron Flinders last night, a reporter was told that the entire crew of the Verao was safe. When pulled on to the deck of the Iron Flinders last night the men were cold and hungry but unhurt. In spite of sleep and food aboard the Iron Flinders the Verao survivors were tired and dishevelled when they reached Brisbane today. Captain Matheson, aged 66. was wearing a borrowed

white jumper and flannels. Like the others he had lost everything. The survivors straggled on to the pier at Brisbane in a jumble of odd garments belonging to the men of the Iron Flinders. The Verao is the second ship Captain Matheson has lost. About six years ago he was master of the freighter Nacoola when it sank in the Tasman Sea. The captain praised the rescue work of the R.A.AF. as “magnificent." “If the Neptune had arrived half an hour later we would still be out there. They would never have found us.” he said. Morale Good He said morale had been very good during the nervewracking 16 hours the crew shared in the lifeboat. “There was little room to spare,” he said. “We ate a few biscuits, but no-one drank any water. What I missed most was my cups of tea.” The third engineer. M. Spowart, aged 40. told a dramatic story of the last-ditch attempt to save the Verao He said: "We pumped out molasses to try and stop the listing, and just before she went the two other engineers and I were in the engine room, trying to keep the pumps going. “When the time came for the rest of us to go we tried to make the captain, because he's an old man. get into the boat first. “At that stage the edge of the main deck aft was under water, the ship was leaning so much, but the captain made us all go first. “We were about 400 yards from the ship when she went, and the captain stood up and watched it without saying a word.” The Verao, owned by the Southern Cross Shipping Company. New Zealand, was manned by white officers and a crew of Fijians.

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