FATE OF THE TATHRA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1912, Page 3

FATE OF THE TATHRA.

VESSEL SINKS IN THE DARK TWENTY-FOUK LIVES LOST. It was a sad home-coming for thesurvivors of the wrecked steamer | Tathra and for the relatives of some of the crew lost in the disaster (says Sydney Sun of the 20th instant). j Only five of the ship's company of 70 all told returned to Sydney by the Burns Philp liner Malaita, bub they were a mere handfuJ of survivors. The Tathra foundered in the New Hebrides Islands in the darkness of the night of 4th January, and 24 of those aboard i were lost. They included eight Europeans and 16 island natives. . As soon as the Malaita berthed a. sad scene occurred. The relatives of some of the miseing rushed Captain Halliday for authenic news as to the fate of their dear ones. They could hardly believe that the Malaita had not brought all hands safely, back to Sydney, and they had only to appeal to the old captain again and again in vain. Captain Hal- j liday was visibly affected, and not a few of the visitors to the steamer saw all j the grief attending the loss of so many \ souls at sea. One mother with her little children clinging to her was heart-broken as the captain 6f the Tathra boldly told the truth that hoping against hope was useless. He felt the situation keenly, but he told the story plainly and truly j to the bereaved ones of the missing. His was a hard task indeed. IT HAEPENED IN THE DARK. I Ifc all happened in the dark. The Tathra, a Sydney-owned steamer, and well known in the South Coast trade, set | out from Sydney come time' ago on an Island cruise, and after braying many a storm on the coaa<t was destined to come I to grief in the ~ lslands. I But hepe is Captain Halliday's own j story. "We eet out on a short journey of only 60 or 70 miles from the island. j of Ambryn to Epi, after a trading cruise which up io t_en had veen very successful. Messrs. Kerr Bros, had chartered the steamer from the Hlawarra Steamship Company. We had not much j cargo in at the time, but the steamer was in good seagoing trim. j "We struck a> south-east gale before going very far, and ac the indications were that the weather was getting woree, and as the glass, then low, was falling rapidly, we decided to" run back to Ambryn. As we turned about it was blowing a hard gale, and this had lashed up a big sea, while squalls of great violence frequently 'swept over the ship. Running before the seaway the going was very bad, and occasionally some of. the heaviest seas crashed aboard alt and filled the well-deck. "Although the ship took a bad list I had every faith in her, and never thought of anything happening to us. It was 2.50 o'clock in the morning when the worst overtook us, and it was pitch dark. We did our best to rid the vessel of the great quantity of water in the well-deck, but it was useless. I then brought her round to the wind again, and hove her to in the hope of squaring things up, but the manoeuvre was fruitless. She was then almost on her beam ends to port, and all hands were ordered on deck. I tried to get her away before the gale again, but she would not answer her helm, and began go further over. ' "In twenty minutes to half an hour the Tathra was below the waves. The weather-side boats could not be got out, and the seas simply washed the portside boats out of the chocks. These wjere. two in number, and into these we scrambled with all 'haste, but not soon enough, as the steamer was then practically under water. I took charge of one boat while the chief mat ■■ looked after the other. I succeeded in getting thirty-six of the passengers and crew intQ'my boat, but the ship went down before the mate's boat could get clear with the remainder of the vessel's company. The h'ghts went out a quarter of an hour before the steamer sank, and we were left to save so many people the inky blackness. Many of the missing went down with the ship. They never left the deck. They could ,not move hardly, with the steamer on , her Beam ends and the sdas crashing aboard. We saw her go before we got far away. She was right on her beam ends — capsized — when she took her final plunge. I had been on the bridge myself for a long time before she came to grief." PICTURE NEVER TO FADE FROM MEMORY. Mr. G. L. S. Kerr, one of the firm of charterers, was aboard with his wife and daughter, a little sixteen-months-old child, as passengers. The natives stuck to him -to the end. He stood on the deck with his little child in his arms waiting for the inevitable. It was a picture never to fade from one's memory. When the Tathra went down he was left with all the others in the boihut, sea. ■ He rose, and the natives, half a dozen of them, Vhurried as best they I could to him and grasped the dear little, baby from his arms in an endeavour to save both of them. He never saw the tiny one again. He and a native wero wdshed up about five miles from I'oTfc Sandwich, Malekula, after drifting about the sea clinging to a plank for twelve hours. Mrs. Kerr and Mies Kerr were both saved. The chief mate's t boat got clear of the ship, but only nine hands succeeded in getting into her. Some of the others we saw struggling in the water after thb ship went d6wn, but we could not help them. Our- boat was full, and the big seas soon carried us away from thb scone. At 8 o'clock the same evening we reached Port Sandwich, where the Malaita vras at anchor, and, we got straight aboard. The natives, of course, remained* 1 in ' the Islands. Every soul •f the saved lost everything. Most of them w«e fast asleep in their cabins when they wore ordered to hurry on deck, and left everything behind. The Europeans lost were: — . Mr. J. W. Russell, chief engineer. Mr. J. W. Wilcox, chief steward. Mr. St. Martins, patsenger. < ' Mrs. St. Martins, passenger. And child, passenger. Mr. lxer, passenger. ' Baby Kerr, passenger. French Sister of Mercy, passenger. CHIEF MATE'S STORY. Mr. Guffog, the chief mate, stated that he managed to get his boat clear of the sinking vessel just in time. He found that there were nine souk in her, and as the ship wae gone e«. - en then the other twenty-four had ' to be left *to their fate. The boat was provisioned, and they finally reached the island of Malekula, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It appeared a desolate spot, but the castaways tramped about all the rest of the day and' that night looking for a settler's station, until they became exhausted. Then two of the. natives set out by themselves, and found a trader's house some distance away. They were then conveyed to Port Sandwich, where they joined the Malaita. - A GREAT- STRUGGLE. Mr. J. W. Rußsell, chief engineer, met his. death in a most sensational manner (saya the Herald). After the ship heeled over he was seen swimming in the water, and Mi. Kerr sang out to him to try and keep going and get aboard the plank which he (Kerr) was on. Russell made a. great effort to reach the plank, but the mast of the Tathra was bobbing up and down on the rough .watery .andf just as tie was swimming

under it the mast crashed down^ strik- 1 ing the unfortunate engineer, either killing him outright or stunning him. Whatever it did, Russell sank, and Kerr and the native were left on their little plank alone. On this they drifted for over twelve hours. One native was swept off, and sank. Mr. Kerr managed to swim ashore.