STRANGE DEATH AT SEA

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 17, 14 October 1933, Page 18

STRANGE DEATH AT SEA

Woman Jammed in Porthole

How she found her fellow passenger on board a liner hanging through a porthole dying, in the early morning, was described by a woman witness at an inquest at Liverpool. The victim of the tragedy, which occurred on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of AthoU, between Belfast and Liverpool, was Mrs. Julia Forbes, 32, of Victoria, British Columbia, who died in the ship’s hospital.

Mrs. Forbes was on her way to see her brother, Dr. Brian McDermott, of Walton-on-Thames, who told the coroner that she was a schoolmistress and the widow of a chartered accountant.

He had not seen her for 25 years. Becently he received a letter from her stating that she was coming to him for treatment as she was anaemic and "dreadfully tired." She added that her memory had been failing her, and that she was terrified of breaking down. She also said she wished to get better for the sake of her 15-year-old daughter.

Miss Minnie Cook, of Woodley, Stockport, who shared a cabin with Mrs. Forbes, stated her fellow-pas-senger was reserved and appeared to

be depressed. She complained that she was not able to sleep. Miss Cook added that at half-past one in the morning she awoke and found the porthole open and a brown mackintosh stuck in front of it. This she discovered was hanging over the head and arms of Mrs. Forbes, who was stuck in the porthole with her legs dangling out on the other side.

Other evidence showed that when released with great difficulty Mrs. Forbes was unconscious and was found to be wearing a mackintosh over her night-dress. The ship’s surgeon, Dr. Miller, stated the woman was in the final stage of Bright’s disease. Professor J. E. W. Mac Fall. who performed a post-mortem examination, pronounced that death was due to shock, fractured ribs, and exposure. He thought the ribs had been broken by the weight of the port • window, coupled with force necessarily used to pull the woman back into the cabin. She was in such a condition of health that her mind might have been affected, causing a nightmare in which she thought the ship was going down. A verdict of “death by misadventure” was returned.