LOSS OF THE BEGA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 176, 20 April 1908, Page 10

LOSS OF THE BEGA.

A THRILLING STORY. . THE WOMEN PASSENGERS'' EXPERIENCES: : • .!./ (FROII OUB SrECIAI, COKRBSPONDKNT.) x Sydney, April 11. i. Tho extraordinnry mishap which' befell the coastal steamer Bega, when she took an uh'ab; countable list to starboard, and foundered, shortly after, slie had left Tathra, on Sunday night, bound,for Sydney! is,an episode which ha 3 naturally excited chief public attention this week. The passengers by the steamer have had an extremely fortunate escape from, a terrible fate, for if the weather had boon stormy it is probable- that very fow ,of them would have reached land jn safety.. : Tlie Bega, which belbngc'd to tho Illawarra and South. Coast .Company—-one of tlie three, companies concerhe'd; in-the., strike —was on; ,'jier Weekly trip,-'and left. Tatlira about'.'l o'clock on Sunday evening. Soon; afterward it was observed that the vessol had taken a list, and as this list increased until it became alarming, the. master, Captain Bishop, resolved to turn tho steamer's head and put her on a southward course again so as to go back to Tatlira, where, it was presumed, the cargo might be trimmed. The belief was that tho cargo ,had shifted. Captain Bishop, it is; stated, left .tho bridge and went to sound the wells, but when he. returned he reported that water was not coming into tho ship. ;lii tho effort to'right the .steamer,' the railings on the top deck were removed arid a number of pitrs carried thero,-were, allowed fo ; : d" into the sea. This, however, had no effect; Very soon the steamer "got over to such an angle that the water came up to the 'tween dccks and was pouring in through tho ports. It was plain that the Bega was sinking. , The captain gave .orders, promptly that the" boats should be put out, and instructed that the women-and children'should be removed ill the first one. Two boats were lannched, as well as two rafts lashed together. Into these boats and on the two rafts the passengers embarked. .' ' . . , A PASSENGER COLLAPSES. One passenger, Mr. David Clarke, an elderly man, resident of Candelego for many years, collapsed when he was told that the ship was sinking, and died from heart- failure on tho Bega's deck in a few minutes. The dead body was tied on one of the rafts, rather than that it should go down with, the steamer; but when the passengers crowded on the rafts, eleven on each, the space was so limited that one or two had to sit upon t-lio corpse, and in this way the hapless castaways, for the rafts drifted a long distance southward, sat. until about 10 ■ o'clock next morning, when they reached tho shore at Wallagoot Beach, about seven miles from Tatlira. The two boats- kept together. Tho first one,.containing the majority of tho. women ; and children, had to be taken in tow by the other one, as it was leaking badly- It has been stated that the plug was missing from the boat, and that this accounted for tlie fact that tho water camo in fast. On tho - other hand, Captain Davisi - who was in charge of this boat, emphatically denies this statement, and also the allegation that the boat was sent off from the ship without rowlocks. The boat, he declares, was supplied not only with rowlocks and oars, but with sails, tomahawks, and everything required by the Board of Trade regulations. Iler leaky condition was accounted for, not by the absence of the plus;, but by tho fact that when she was lowered there was a jobble on, and she got a couplo of knocks which'started some of the planking. There was a bailor on this boat, but it was 'accidentally dropped overboard by one of the' passengers. ' The two boats gained, tho shore, after 12 hours' pulling by members of the crow, next morning at Cuttagee Beach, whore-tlio.v were hospitably treated by a settlor, Mr. Thornton." All the passengers unite "in their praise- of tho behaviour of the women and children,i who went over tho side into .the boats as calmly as possible, and absolutely without panic. Amongst the children was a baby -14 months old, tho child of Mrs. Parkcs, cf Orango, who was leaving Bega to settle in Oiongo, and had also another -child of three years with her. Tho children had not' had anything to eat from G o'clock on the Sunday night until 11 o'clock on tho following morning. Tho children, in tho words of their mother, wcro as good as could have been wished for, and they and their mother wcro in the boat that was being towed. Captain Davis took off his vest and wrapped it round . the baby, and a passenger, Miss Richardson, gave her coat to covcr tho other little one. "A HORRID DREAM." .. The bravest of all the passengers,. it is said, was Miss Lily Petterson, a bright young girl, who k»pt admirably cool, and cheerful, so that her example had a marked olfect in reassuring the other womon and the children. Miss Petterson was in the boat that was being towed, and she speaks of tho experiences : of the long and dreary night as boing "like some horrid dream." There was some-alarm i when it was seen that the water was coming into the boat very fast, but tho women i set to and bailed with whatever they' could 1

• lay hands on. Miss Petterson used lior skirt to mop- lip the water, while Miss Pritchard, Hiss Richardson, and others used their boots '■ as bailers, and Miss Petterson lent her cap ; to someone else for the same purpose. ; "1 am a good sailor," said Miss Potterson, asked about her experiences, "and I was not once ill. Nervous? No, I did not feel really afraid, even when the boat heeled suddenly to starboard, when it seemed that we were going to fall into the water."' There w.i" a rather pathetic little scene, she added, when the boat reached shore safely. "Some of the women wept, and a hymn of thanksgiving was sung. The words came right from our hearts. Then we went up to Mr. Thornton's, where we were treated with the utmost kindness." The last passenger to leave the Bcga appears to have been Sir. James Glissan (an inspector for the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia), who states that by some means or other he was left on board, and knowing how serious was the position of the steamer lie jumped into the sea and swam for the nearest boat, that in charge of Sir. Dunn, who saw him, and had him lifted on board. "The lifeboat, with the women and children oil board," said Mr. Glissan, "seemed to be in difficulties, and in case of accident we stood by ready to render any assistance in our power. But their progress was slow. They carried a heavy load, and there were only a few oil board capable of rowing effectively, although all were willing. Again, the boat was leaking pretty badly, and there was nothing on board the craft with which bailing could be carried out. In the circumstances. the 'women lent the best of assistance. Throughout they had showiradmirable pluck and determination. They assisted the officers and tha men in. every possible way, both by obeying all orders implicitly and helping in any minqr duties'that were required. They again came to the rescue of this boat • by an admirable display of resourcefulness. Taking off their skirts they used them as mops, and wrung the water overboard. This helped the boat's company more than might bo imagined. But seeing their distress Mr. Dunn had the No. 2 boat rowed over to their assistance. A tow-lino was made fast, and we took them in charge." The only touch of. shame.in the story of the Bcga, with its inspiring record of the braver}' of timid women and children, comes with the disgraceful suggestion made by come men in the loading boat that the tow-line should be cut, and the second boat, containing the women and children, thus left to its fate. A knife; was. actually passed along in til 3 darkness, with a request that the rope should bo severed. When the knife readied the stroke oar, Mr. Dunn, a mining engineer from Melbourne, who was ill command, took possession of the knife and put his-foot, oil .it. He argued with the men, and entreated them to show more manliness, instead of . suggesting in this cowardly way that the women should be turned adrift;' ' Another passenger, Mr. G. Havard, of Eden, spoke to them in the same, fashion, and. Mr. Dunn handed the knjfe back to the owner, one of the crew. After that there was'no further proposal of this kind. One man made it known unmistakcably. that. he would throw anyone overboard who attempted to cut tho painter. Mr. Glissan states that ■ a strar.d of the rope was actually out, ancl another passenger agrees that it is quite, possible this was -dono with a penknife.,': '~ CAUSE OF -THE FOUNDERING. There is much.-speculation, of course, as to the cause of the Bega's foundering. It is loaded, but this'is denied by the company's ' officials,' who state thai heavier- loads have often ;been carried by the Bega than that with -, which .she left Tathra for Sydney- on this •;trip. Others contend that the sides of. the. steamer were not sound, and that the plates parted. This suggestion, is, scouted by Captain Bishop and tlieVcompanyV authorities. However, these theories—for at:-present tliey appear to be nothing more —will assuredly be ventilated fully, at the inquiry which must be held.: The Bega was lately overhauled at considerable expense in Mort's Dock, and the. late chief engineer, who is now out-on strike against the Ulawarra Company,, declares that there was not a tighter or bet-ter-conditioned steamer than this steamer after this overhaul. ~ - There was one humorous l side'to tho drift /of'the castaways. They were able to puff away at)valuable cigars—surely a novel experience in the ocean drift of tho shipwrecked. Mr Levy, a passenger, handed round these cigars, which- he happened to have, in his possession when he . left > the steamer. Amongst the Bega's passengers was a nowlymarried couple—Mr, C. Rayner, a sawmille'r, living at Bcrmagui, and his wife (nee Miss Maud Robertson, of. Wyndham). They were married last week'at-Pambula, and'went toEden to catch the Wakatipu, but caught the Bega instead, so that their wedding trip has been distinctly eventful. : '. The ship has gone down about four miles off the shore, in 30 or 40, fathoms of. water, so that she will probably remain theft;. 'Tho cargo included large consignments of butter and cheese-from the dairying' districts on the South Coast, and there was also £2000 worth of gold on board. ■ The, passengers . lost, everything.' Twenty .minutes after they pushed off from the ship's sido the Bega plunged head foremost to the bottom. Captain Bishop, was the last to leave the steamer. Indeed,'lie had almost to bo pulled off the bridge on to the raft by ono of his officers, so reluctant was he to quit his post. ' ,: •. . ."■* ■: