HOW THE TUG NYORA SANK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3152, 2 August 1917, Page 5

HOW THE TUG NYORA SANK

SURVIVORS' DREADFUL ORDEAL. , Captain M'Bain and Seaman Lansley were the,only survivors of the wrecked tug Nyoru. They were rescued at Capo Jult'a by the lhrhthousekeeper. Lansley says that after leaving Port Pirie for Molbourne, towing the schooner Astoria,.the tug encountered mountainous seas, swept over her, broke the .wooden door of the engine-room, and flooded the room. The pumps were unable, to cope with the inrush. The men begged the captain to let go the towline holding tho schooner in order to give the tug a-chance to right itself. The schooner -was seen to set 6ail when the tug sank. Captain irßaJn and Lansley (who was at the wheel) were thrown into the 6ea. Lansley, on rising to the surface, saw a lot of soot and vreckage floating about, and found himself near one of the lifeboats, which was uipside' down, with the engineer on top. He climbed up and 6aw the skipper a hundred yards away, swimming towards them. The three righted the boat, and picked up a fireman, who, like the captaiD, had a. lifebelt. They were tossed about, and tho boat capsized several times. They had no means of rowing or steering. Two hours later the fireman died from exposure, and two hours later still the engineer also died. The two survivors struggled on, and, though as often out of the boat as in it, by 7 o'olock they saw the Juffa lighthouse. All night long the struggle for existence continued, and by 8.30 a.m. they-were signalled by Lighthousekeepers Jamieson and Clark, who went to their rescue in a dinghy. The captain had to be lifted in, and fell into tho bottom,, where he lay till the lighthouso was reached. Captain M'Bain stated that tho statemerit given by Seaman Lansley was correct He added: "I ordered everything to be cut away so that the-lifeboat would float out. I was.thrown over the side, grabbing a lifebuoy, and while in the water saw the tug go down, leaving the crew struggling in the water. I; think the fact of most of the men being on the high sido would account for so fewbeing seen on the surface after the tug sank. The stem had been pulled out of the boat which we got into, mid we could onlv sit in her helpless. We saw the mate (Mr. Parker) some distance away to windward, but were unable to reach him Presently we saw him disappear from the boat he had been clinging to. About midday a steamer passed at a distance of about a mile and a half. "When wo reached the breakers we tried to pick a passage through, but were unable to assist tho boat in ni-y way. Then we were sighted by the lighthouse-, keepers. They watched us through the outer breakers, were were rolled over and over. They were warning ns to keep clear of tho. lino of breakers, but this was impossible. When wo were able to stand up we waved them to launch their boat, and they came through the breakers at the risk of their own lives. They dragged us from our boat into theirs just when we woto nt the point of exhaustion and in danger of boing hurled and crushed on the reef immediately under our lee. With great difficulty they got back to the landing-stage, where we arrived without enough strength to assist ourselves on to the landing. io those two men. Jamieson and Clark, wo owo our lives."