YACHTS IN GALE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 82, 31 December 1929, Page 9

YACHTS IN GALE

GRUELLING STRUGGLE IN OCEAN RACE

ALL VESSELS REACH PORT (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Launceston, December 30. After a gruelling struggle of. fortytwo hours, mostly spent in a howling gale, the Victorian yacht Oimara won the ocean race across the Bass Strait. She was followed five hours later by the Shamrock.\Up to a late hour last night there was no news of the Wanderer and Phyllis, two other contestants. The Maisie, another starter, had to return to Western Port shortly after the start. When the boats left Queenscliffe, the sea worked up with a wind of nearly cyclonic force. The yacht Wanderer was last seen under bare poles off the Hummocks by the navigator of the Shamrock. The Phyllis was not seen after 7.30 on Friday night. The Wanderer had a crew of six. The Maisie was totally disabled forty miles off the heads in Port Philip Bay, and was blown by the gale into Western Port. The vessel was stripped practically to the deck-line. The crew were utterly exhausted after a thirty-six hours’ battle with the elements. (Rec. December 30, 7.50 p.m.) Melbourne, December 30. The yacht Wanderer reached Port Philip at noon to-day. The Phyllis arrived at Low Head, Tasmania, in the forenoon. STORM IN BRITAIN EXTENSIVE DAMAGE London, December 29. Renewed coastwise gales extending inland were responsible for considerable damage, tearing off roofs and uprooting large trees. A house collapsed in Manchester, burying a mother and daughter beneath the debris and injuring four Children. The German steamer Hermione was overwhelmed in the Channel. A spectacular rescue, after a stern struggle, of the captain, his wife, child, and crew, was accomplished by the Margate lifeboat. The waterlogged steamer drifted before the gale, a menace to navigation, but was subsequently located and anchored. A message from Paris states that the gale also swept the whole of Northern France, causing great havoc among trees and houses. Telegraph wires were blown over. ’ A miniature tidal wave at Havre swept over the quays, flooded part of the city, and sank a tug. Two people were drowned. Many trans-Channel services and all the air lines were suspended. LIVES SAVED BY OLD CAR BATTERY USED FOR RADIO Havana, December 29. An ancient generator and battery on an old Ford car saved the lives of eight passengers and twenty-six of the crew of the steamer Santa Anna, which finally reached port towed behind the Athol Chief, after a hair-raising struggle with the waves, which opened the seams and sent seawater above the engine-room floor. The pumps were started on December 17, and after three days’ battering, all steam available was turned into pumping, but the water gradually gained as the ship wallowed through the sea. The radio generator refused to work, and the ship’s company iyas faced with foundering. Someone then thought of an old flivver stored below. The car was stripped of the battery and spark coil, and within half an hour their S.O.S. was answered by the steamer Athol Chief, which towed them into port. TORRENTIAL RAINS IN AUSTRALIA Melbourne, December 30. Further reports of the rains in Central Australia show washaways at in-, tervals extending over 450 miles of the North-South railway have made services impossible. All connection with the settlements is severed. The torrential rains caused floods unparalleled in the history of the railway. At Marree the foundation of the line was washed away for several miles, and many bridges were destroyed.