Seaman Describes Rescue Of Baby

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 28

Seaman Describes Rescue Of Baby

fNew Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 10. A seaman from the Wahine jumped into the sea from the sinking ship on April 10 clutching a baby no-one else was interested in taking.

George Andrew Brabander, an A.B. and garageman on the Wahine, told the Marine Court of Inquiry into the ship’s loss today that the baby was given to him by its mother.

The baby, between 12 and 18 months old, had an orange lifejacket hooked over an arm.

“I helped the mother over the side and just as I turned around the wind whipped the child’s jacket away. “I tried to give the child to someone else as I was still helping people off the ship but no-one was interested so I took it with me," Mr Brabander said. Mr Brabander said he floated on his back in the water with the baby sitting on his lifejacket One of the Wahine’s lifeboats closed with him and he handed the child aboard. Mr Brabander said there were seven or eight people in the raft “I asked them to help me aboard but they were huddled in the middle and didn’t show much interest.”

He said he got himself into the raft and was later taken into the lifeboat which landed at Seatoun. Mr Brabander carried a child ashore at Seatoun but not the one he had leapt into the sea with. However, an Air Force man had carried ashore another child which was wearing a blue and white coat Mr Brabander said the child he' was given on the ship also wore a blue and white coat Processing Films Another crewman, Frank Thomas Robinson, a steward, told the court that when the abandon ship order was given be was in his cabin processing films. He had taken photographs when he was on B deck with passengers for about six hours in the morning when there was little to do. When the abandon ship order was given Mr Robinson said he realised the films “had taken on a new importance so I decided to finish them.” It took only five or six minutes. Mr Robinson told the court that two films which had been in the developing tank were lost Another two he carried ashore safely. The Court, under the chairmanship of a Wellington Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr Raymond D. Jamieson, was set up after the Wahine foundered in Wellington Harbour on April 10 with the loss of 51 fives. Thirty-three witnesses have now been I heard.

Earlier today, the Wahine’s purser, Brian Anthony Clare, said lifejackets carried on the ferry were not particularly suitable for children.

He said the ferry carried 15 children between the ages of one and four and 31 be-

tween four and 14 on her final voyage. Three drowned. Mr Clare agreed that generally the small children aboard the ship on April 10 wore the orange Board of Trade lifejackets (designed for persons over 701 b). In some cases the jackets came down to the children’s knees. Under examination by Mr D. P. Neazor for the Minister of Marine, Mr Clare said he knew the ship carried small “Salvus” type lifejackets. They were not distributed on April 10. Mr Clare said: “It was something that slipped my mind at the time.” Mr Neazor: The chief officer has accepted responsibility for the Salvus jackets. You know that, don’t you?— Yes, I know that. But I feel I am just as responsible as the chief officer. I knew they were there as well as he did.

Do you normally make these jackets available?—Any one of us could have done it Mr F. D. O’Flynn, for survivors, asked Mr Clare: Wouldn’t it have been simple to sort out the mothers or those accompanying children under four years of age?—l think you must appreciate people were very cramped up and it was very hard to see mothers with children. Young Children Do you think those with children under four years of age could have been asked to go to the lounge or to part of the lounge?—Yes, it could have been done. Earlier, the day’s first witness, Raymond Clement Gifford, chief steward, testified he did not know the Salvus jackets were stowed in boxes on the ship’s A and B decks. Mr Gifford said that at the time erf the disaster the ship carried a full complement of stewards and stewardesses. They were capable of dealing with any emergency. Mr A. F. Macalister (for the Merchant Service Guild): Are you satisfied all the members of your staff were familiar with their duties in an emergency?—They were very familiar with these duties. Is the duty of the stewards to assemble passengers at muster point?—The stewards work under the direction of the chief steward and the second steward in getting passengers to the muster stations.

The stewards take into account particular instruction from the bridge in assembling passengers?—lnstructions from the bridge come through the chief steward.

On this occasion the instruction was to abandon ship from the starboard side. Was this instruction clear to you and your stewards?—l heard the announcement over the public address system and my staff were clear on what had to be done.

Are you familiar with the duties of stewards after the passengers have been assembled at muster stations? —My stewards knew that they had to see that the passengers had their life-jackets properly done up and were suitably dressed.

You were certain that each of the passengers had a lifejacket?—My staff checked this throughout the morning and everyone had jackets. One or two people attempted to take their jackets off to rest on but we cautioned them against this. Did you receive any reports of ill-fitting life-jackets? —No, none at all. Were checks made to see that all staircases and doorways were kept clear? —This was done and conduct around these points was in all cases exemplary. Mr Macalister asked if Mr Gifford could explain why some passengers went to the port side instead of starboard when the order was given to abandon ship. Mr Gifford: The only suggestion I can make, and 1 formed this opinion at the time, was that people naturally tended to make for the highest part of the ship. You had stewards on all doors and passageways directing passengers to the starboard side?—Yes, that is right. And yet a fairly substantial number of people still managed to go to the port side?— I do not think it was a substantial number. You had been on this ship ever since she was built?— Yes, sir; with two short breaks. Life-jackets Stowed Did you know there tare boxes of life-jackets stowed in boxes outside on B deck and on A deck?—l did not. You never saw any lifejackets spread out on the deck drying, as I believe was the practice?—No, I had not. Did you know of any place, apart from cabins, where lifejackets were stored?—There were some stowed forward in the general lounge and more outside the soda bar between the cafeteria and the smoke room. You knew of none stowed on the open deck of the ship? —I did not Mr C. H. Arndt (for the cooks and stewards) asked Mr Gifford if there had been drills aboard the Wahine involving the lowering of liferafts to the water. “I don’t recollect one on this vessel,” said Mr Gifford. Mr R. C. Savage (for the Minister of Marine): At one stage I think you said the abandonment was really remarkably quick in the circumstances.

Mr Gifford: I think it was amazingly quick. Mr Gifford said during lifeboat drill the boats were put into the water. This was done once a month. During the other three weeks fire and collision drill and lifeboat musters were held, he said. Practice Drills Mr Jamieson: I do not mean this question to be in any way disrespectful to you or your staff, but, on this run, how seriously do you think your staff members would take these practice drills? Mr Gifford: Like a good soldier there is the usual amount of grumbling, but the master required 100 per cent attendance. Captain W. J. Keane, an assessor, asked Mr Gifford if he thought if he and his staff could have been told quietly that the position of the ship was very, very serious, it might have been of some help?

Mr Gifford: I felt the master considered the ship to be safe and under the circumstances I did not expect any other information other than that which was given to the passengers in announcements. Captain Keane asked Mr Gifford if he and his staff had known the ship was in a precarious position would it have made any difference to the final abandonment of the ship. Mr Gifford said it would not. The bosun of the Wahine, George Harry Hampson, said he and the chief dropped the anchors after the ship hit Barrett’s Reef. They took off both the compressor and the devil’s claws holding the cable. “Then I got the instructions to start the starboard anchor and once it had started I couldn’t stop it. The more I put the brake on the more it ran out. It was burning blue smoke.” He said the same had happened with the port anchor.