ABANDONED TRAWLER

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 219, 12 June 1933, Page 10

ABANDONED TRAWLER

Captain’s Vivid Story of Escape from Serfib “IT WAS TOUCH AND GO” Dominion Special Service. Auckland. June 10. “It was touch and go,” was the terse comment of Captain Flett, who was in command of the trawler Serfib when she had to be abandoned near Tokomaru Bay. He arrived in Auckland this afternoon. “If was literally a matter of minutes. It was the last straw when wo knocked the lifeboat on the deck in trying to launch it, and found that it leaked almost as badly as the Sertib herself.” Captain Flett said he was on watch at 3 o’clock on Thursday afternoon when he received a message from the engine-room that water was gaining rapidly. The vessel was then five miles north-east of Tokoraaru Bay, and about seven miles from the land. “I made all haste to the engineroom,” said Captain Flett, “and so serious did I judge the position to be that I ordered an immediate change of course direct to the nearest point of land. Three pumps were set' going, but still the water gained. Thought He Was Joking. “I could see things were going to, be serious for us. I watched the position for five minutes, and then came on deck to rouse the crew. The men, however, refused to believe me. They thought I was joking, and when I told them there were many feet of water in the engine-room they laughed at me. However. I convinced them all right, and ordered every man to don bis lifebelt. “By this time it was evident that the Serfib would not last much longer. She was sinking rapidly by the stern. I ordered the lifeboat to be swung out, and that was where the trouble began. There was a broken roll coming in from the south, and when we hoisted the boat by the derrick and tried to swing it out, it crashed in against the trawler, and we had to lower it to the deck again—to a deck that was all the while sinking to the level of the darkening sea. “I saw it was useless to use the derrick again, because it was impossible to swing the boat out over the side. The only thing remaining was brute force. You can imagine that when I gave orders for the lifeboat to be put over the stern there was no delay in carrying out instructions. The men heaved and strained, and it was in those few minifies that I knew it would be touch and go. It seemed a long time before the nose of the lifeboat kissed the sea. and then to our horror we discovered she was leaking almost as badly as the vessel we were abandoning. ’Tween Devil and Deep. “It was almost literally a case of being between the devil and the deep blue sea. The knock against the Serfib had loosened the planking, and water began to gain in the dinghy. I could say much more about our feelings at that time, but suffice it to say that we abandoned the boat and set out only 20 minutes after I first discovered she was leaking. The chief engineer went below to stop the dynamo, and came back with the news that there was 8 feet of water in the engiae-room. “With two men bailing and five rowing we finally left the ship’s side and later were picked up by a launch.” The Serfib was built in 1910, and. was purchased in England in 1922 by an Auckland resident for fishing in the Hauraki Gulf. She arrived at Auckland early in 1923, and two years later was bought by Sandfords, Ltd., for trawling out of Auckland. At the close of last year she was withdrawn from service and laid up. She was later overhauled and was recommissioned only seven weeks ago. The Serfib was built by Cochrane and Sons, Ltd., at Selby, . her construction occupying ten months. She was a steel vessel of 82 tons net and 207 tons gross, and her principal dimensions were:— Length, 112.3 ft.; beam. 21.5 ft.; depth, 11.5 ft.. She was insured with Lloyds for £OOOO. The trawler’s name was the result of a patriotic gesture. The first letters of six allies—England, France. Rumania. Italy. Servin and Belgium—were juggled by the vessel’s owners and the combination Serfib was decided upon.