BENALLA'S COLLISION

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 32, 6 August 1921, Page 15

BENALLA'S COLLISION

SUPERSTITIOUS SCOT'S STORY.

"It was due to the presence on board of thirteen representatives of thirteen religious denominations."

This was the explanation of a superstitious Scotsman who arrived in Sydney recently by the Mantua, of the collision between the P and O. finer Benalla and the oil-tanker Patella in the English Channel on 13th May. This Scot, who is a dental surgeon, attempted to dome to Australia by the Benalla, but, in his view of things, the thirteen representatives of thirteen religious denominations prevented him from completing his voyage in the ship in which he started out. And a Scot has' a greater antipathy to ohanging his ship at sea than he has to changing his mind. His superstitious mjnd caused him to see quite a lot of thirteens associated with the disaster to the Benalla "It was on the thirteenth second of the thirteenth minute of tHe thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day of the month that the Patella hit the Benalla," he averred. "And it was in 1921 —four figures which, stacked in a, pile, add up to 13. Eh, mon, keep your oyes on thirteens. If there had been but twelve representatives of twelve religious denominations ort board our ship all would have been well —though, of course, I would not have the Presbyterians omittud. They are entitled to be in everything, on their merits,—except the place presided over by a gentleman sometimes called Mephirtopheles," The superstitious Scot confessed that he wae awake alongside a bottle of "good old Scotch" (not the thirteenth) when the crash came.

"What upset me most," he went on, "was the loss of that bottle of Scotch. You see, when the crash came, over went bhe bottle, and, notwithstanding my efforts to save it, it smashed. That was the last drink on board that boat, and the last for some hours. It was dreadfully cold, and a wee nip in the morning would have been just nice. But I took the brightest view o' things, and thought I had better 'be going on deck to see how, matters were, *

"Well, there was some concern among the women and children, and they were much upset, but the men divided them into parties, and. started singing hymns and sonps. I ajn not much of a singer myself, but I joined in. There were sailors' Hornpipes, and someone played the piano; so, you see, we were a merry party. But, mon, it was cold. Looking round the throng, I saw that all had lifebelts on. I went in search of one, too. "While I was doing so a seaman tapped me on the shoulder—he was from Aberdeen —and said, 'Why, mon, what be ye lookin' for?' /

" 'A lifebelt,' says I. " 'Ah, ma Draw lad,' he said, smiling, and looking at my tremendous girth, 'yell no get a lifebelt on this boat to fit you.' I saw the joke, though time was short, and, even if ifc was against me, I laughed."

Miss Ethel Thomson,' a passenger on the Benalla, and whose uncle was also on board, was in her bunk just before the collision, nnd through the porthole she saw the tanker coming. So she jumped out of tbe bunk, and rushed upstairs, and the Patella Btruck right at the spot where her bunk was. If she had remained there she would certainly have been killed.

Many of the women nnd children were panic-stricken, but they soon calmed down when they saw the coolness of the men. nnd realised that there was no fear of danger. They were taken off in boats, and in 24 hours were snug on land.