EPIC OF THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 81, 3 October 1927, Page 11

EPIC OF THE SEA

AMY l TURNER WRECK OVERWHELMED IN HURRICANE SUBVIVOK'S NARRATIVE , (Four years ago the .world was thrilled by the /story of the survivors from tho steamer Trevessa, who, after the foundering of their ship, made a voyage of 1700 miles In two lifeboats, taking 22 days. Somo two months earlier a small barqiientine, tho Amy Turner, bound from Newcastle to Manila, foundered in a-storm off Guaml The four survivors of her •cbmpahy-oMo:found themselves in a small ..-boat with-scanty provisions.. After a voyage of,23,days, extending. 1 over 1800 miles, in which :th e y suffered terrible hardships, they •-reached-"land. - The full: story of that fateful ;*oyage: and of the survivors' experiences has now. been written by one of them, the man .who.navigated the boat. He is now resident in . Auckland. Following is the first instalment.) '■;'" (By Charles West.) Early in' May, 1923, the sub-eclitor o£ the.Melbourne"Herald," with a serious and puzzled look on his face, ht.nd«d a cable to Hamilton, the shipping reporter. ,It did'not bear the imprint'of any of the regular news agencies, and read as follows:—"Four only survivor^ of Amy Turner, after 1600 miles' open boat-voyage, landed,at Hinataan, Mindanao, Philippines. Terrible privations. .(Signed) West." .--,- : do you make of it, Hamil- , ton?" asked the sub. "I've got it!" said : Hamilton, bounding from liia chair.; "The Amy Turner is the barquentine that Captain Charlie West ioolc passage on for Manila." ' The following issue of the Melbourne "Herald" gave to the world the first news of this terrible tragedy oil the sea, and; the relatives of the crew (all •' Melbourne residents), anxious at ths long voyage the Amy Turner was making, had their worst fears realised. The Amy Turner was a wooden barquentine of 900 tons register, built in •Uoston, United States of America, in 1877.- She had, like many of her sisters' been seized for debt in Melbourne and .put up for sale. Captain Schutt, a '■ former Melbourne pilot, purchased her, had her dry-docked, repaired, resurveyed, and thoroughly overhauled. She . wag dispatched early in January, 1923, , for. Newcastle,.a charter having.been arranged to take a consignment of 1400 . v tpnß.of coal to Madrigal Co., at Man^ ila, in the Philippine Islands.. : AIT INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING. The vessel was evidently "hoodooed" from the start. Great difficulty was experienced in obtaining a suitable crew/and when finally she did got away, her first mishap took the form of grounding in the West .Channel, and inueh difficulty was experienced in getting her off.: The passage to Newcastle was particularly • "unpleasant, head ■ 'winds and hard gales being experienced. A' complete suit of sails was blown away, and one of her crew was knocked off the upper topsail yard, the man not being seen again. Eventually Newcastle was reached, more repairs effected; new sails obtained, and a loading berth allotted. The coal having been loaded according- : to regulations and shifting boards surveyed, the Amy Turner was towed to the farewell buoy, awaiting favourable conditions to put to sea. The writer met the captain at the house of soma mutual friends, and he was persuaded to take passage to Manila in the Amy Turner, instead of awaiting for the . Eastern and Australasian steamer, .which wa^ his original intention. [The captain was taking his young brido ..Tratji;.;jiini-\ L r The■.mates were friends of /the. writer, ;and' the; remainder of the crew .were all Melbourne men of the better. type;/ Therefore, the writer had no Compunction in making the trip ' a^d eagerly looked forward to feeling .the leave of:a real ship's' keel under Mm once more". ; FULL SAIL TO THE NOBTH. • On the morning of 28th January the tog Commodore passed her hawser, on board and towed us to sea, the weather being particularly fine, with bright sunBltine and fresh south-westerly wind, ■ auguring well for a good slant clear off the land. Sail was .made quite easily by means of our powerful steam donkey, the tug cast off about two miles clear of the Nobbies, and with the usual dipping *of the ensign, and a toot on the Commodore's steam whistle, we said goodfbye and commenced our passage in earnest. We headed North, and all went well. We ate, we slept, and we struck tho bell. And I slve you toe Gospel truth when I state. The crowd didn't find any fault with the mate. By the time we had all sail set, up to the royal, we discovered that, given good sailing conditions, the Amy Turner, was no sluggard, and with a smother „ of creamy-foam under her bows, she ; was soon, reeling off a good ten knots with everything drawing. Everybody was,in good spirits" when all hands, went to dinner, and conversation turned generally on the length of time the passage would take. By 4 o'clock everything was secured about the decks, anchors inboard and lashed, "cables below, watches set, a glass of - giog was served to-a.ll hands by the .wife, and we settled down, as sailors- do/,into _sea routine. COMPANY. .Captain NeiTsen, who commanded the vessel; was a man in the prime of life. Of Danish extraction, he came of a long race of/hardy mariners, was a capable nayjgatorf and a first-rate seaman. Accompanying :him was his wife, a young Australian lady, whto became very popular with all on board, and, by many, little acts of courtesy and kindness, endeared herself to everybody. Both mates were experienced in this typ^; of. wooden vessel, and had seen naval service during the Great War. The boatswain, Clifton Cornish (who will figure later as one of the heroes of . this story), was one of the finest seamen I have ever been privileged to ; sail .with. He served his time in the famous Port Jackson, and had been second mate on big American ships previous to making this voyage.'. He '. also had fought with distinction with the Australian forces, and intended to sit foi Kis certificate on the return of the vesiiel to Australia. A comparatively young man, huge of build, an amateur ■ boxer of repute, long distance swimmer and general all-round athlete, one could not. help but admire him, and the effi- " cient manner in which he carried out his duties. To see him gathering up the bunt of a sail; the muscles of his great arms straining like whipcord, and : theVlook of fierce determination on his •face, was a sight to be remembered, and big."wire splices" were a thing ot ■beauty to behold. A VERY HAPPY SHIP. Two other members of the crew who stand out in this story were Cornelius ■ Tracy, a typical bird of passage who had sailed under every flag in existence and fought in nearly every revolution in South American Bepublics. He nevei slept in the forecastle, preferring a . hammock made by himself, which he • slung, underneath the forecastle head, and occupied every spare moment oi his time. Frank Lindholm was the other man of whom you will hear more anon; a splendid seaman and genial companion, who came from a very good Russian-Finn family. He had been on a voyage or two in the OHvebank, and had finally decide! to ''sign out of ■'Melbourne." A big man in every way —big of heart and big of, body—whose weight was much appreciated on brace or halliards, and Frank was not afraid to nse it. . "W» were a very happy ship and once the coal dust was removed and every-

thing ship-shape and Bristol fashion, on deck, work consisted chiefly of sailmaking and getting things into proper trim aloft. New lanyferds were rovo off fore and aft, all running gear thoroughly overhauled where necessary, and, in all respects, everything that a capable master could think of was done to • put the vessel in good sound condition 1 as to her gear. For a wooden ship, the Amy Turner did not make a great deal of water, and j what she did was easily got rid of each dog-watch, by means of a gasoline engine on the poop with & messenger to the pump wheel outside the life rail of the main mast. .Exceedingly fine weather conditions prevailed, enabling us to wear the minimum of clothing, and the monotony (if any) was broken by sighting from time to time various groups of islands that lay on our track. It had been decided, if we rufide Nauru in daylight, to put in to replenish our supply of benzine. That appealed to us as a welcome break; there was also the probability of fresh provisions and some fruit. 'However, in this we were doomed to disappointment, as it was night time when we passed close to the settlement, and the captain did not deem it advisable to waste the time, so we carried on. THE STOBM BREAKS. Nothing' untoward happened to mar the even tenor of the passage, which had been an exceptionally fine one, until the fiftieth day out. Wo were then about 300: miles to the southward and eastward of Guam Island, in latitude 13.26 N., longitude 144.39 B. Weather, conditions now changed rapidly, the wind freshened and the sea began to rise, while the sky clouded and dark ominous cloud banks formed all round. Frequent heavy rain... squalls broke at intervals and sail was shortened accordingly. By midnight conditious^had become very much worse and the wind was unsteady, chopping' about in the squalls from south-east to south-west. The ship was labouring heavily and taking a large quantity of water on board which made things very uncomfortable, particularly after such ,a long spell of fine weather. .->,,■ By this time we were under reefed mainsail, lower topsail, foresail, ana foretopmast staysail. Later the mainsail was lowered owing to constant gybing and a main topmast staysail set. At daylight the wind had attained hurricane force, and considerable damage had been done by the heavy seas breaking aboard. .One, which seemed to curl up from nowhere, broke right across the long poop, carrying away the rails, gasoline engine for the... pumps, harness casks, water tanks, hencoops, etc., smashing in -the cabin skylights, and flooding out cabin and messroom. PUMPS CONSTANTLY MANNED. The'loss cif the engine was serioua, as pumping had now to be carried out by hand, our efforts to get steam on the donkey boiler' being frustrated by the heavy seas breaking across the house. But on the well being sounded, it was found that either a considerable quantity of water had found its way below, or else the old ship had opened up a seam, due to the labouring experienced, so pumping was maintained continuously, watch and watch; throughout the 24 hours-. On the morning, of 21st March, there being no signs of the weather abating, . and every indication of a cyclonic storm approaching, it was decided to try to make Guam; The ship was now in- a very pitiable condition, bulwarks gone, spare spars adrift on deck, galley washed away, forward house untenable, and .the crew exhausted by their long anfl arduous labours at the pumps. No warm food was obtainable, and it was impossible to get at the water tank in the between decks, owing to the cou- - ditions- prevailing. Tinned meat, biscuit,: and an. occasional glass of rum kept us going, and it speaks well for the undaunted spirit of the crew that we sang chanties as we toiled at the pumps. I can visualise that scene now. The. dark, lowering sky, with great banks of cloud rolling over and over, travelling at a tremendous pace; torrential rain, which sounded like ma-chine-gun bulletß, and hurt as it struck one; a seething cauldron of foaming water all round, wita great white-crest-ed billows towering up out of it, racing on from all directions to overwhelm us, then smashing on board, taking; everything before! and. licking their chops;, as it were, in anticipation of the time when they would engulf us in their capacious maw. Through all this blackness and turmoil, the old ship staggered under a lower topsail, quivering, shuddering; and groaning at every fresh, blow. Xashed to the "fife rail, up to their necks in water, a.forlorn little group of men;and boys, cut, -bruised, and bleeding, hove wearily round on the pumps, their voices at times raised in song—their stout hearts still undaunted, doing all that men could do to defeat the elements which eyery moment threatened to destroy. WOMAN'S TERRIBLE ORDEAL. Below,'in what was once her cabin, ! a still braver little woman.awaited iv solitude whatever the fates had in store : for her, confident in the ability of her husband (who had.not been off the poop: for 48 hours;) to win through, and no , doubt looking forward, as we all were, , to being safely anchored within a few hours in Port Apra. What that poor soul went through during those trying hours, none will . ever know. Her i courage wan supreme. . At daylight on 22nd March, through .■, the raurto and gloom of the depressing ■ dawn, land was sighted ahead, and a . cheer went up as with renewed energy . we redoubled our efforts at the pumps, i On approaching the island we discov- , ered to our dismay that it was the I northern end of Guam, and as wo . passed the wireless station on the sum- ■ mit. of Point Bitidan, wo signalled our i plight. It was plain to all on board that we were no better off unless assist- > ance was sent us from Port Apra. : I have never been able to discover • from the authorities whether our *ig--1 nals were seen or not; they were cer- • tainly never answered, and it was parL ticularly heart-breaking to be within i reach of safety and in sight of land, I and be .able to do nothing to reach ■ either. . • The coast here was particularly for- ■ bidding—great high cliffs, sheer to the ' water's edge, while all along the base : and some distance from it great ugly • black pinnacles oi! rock with seas breakl ing over them and the spray being ■ thrown hundreds of feet up the face. t No boat could have been launched > and no boat would have lived in the i sea that was running. ' 1 IN THE CENTRE OF THE STORM. I As no help was forthcoming, it was » decided to heave to and obtain what little shelter we could under the lee of Guam. The squalls here were terrific, and it was quite evident that the > contro of the cyclone was passing i across Guam. Never in all my thirty > years' experience have I known it to > bloy so hard or so violently, and from i sc many directions. By superhuman f exertions we managed' to set the i spanker. It immediately blew to libss bons; Therefore, we got a sail up :Erom f below and let it blow up to tho mizzea f rigging, the boatswain and myselJ: go--3 ing aloft and cutting the fore topsail 3 adrift. 1 The old packet came slowly to, re- [ ceiving a frightful buffeting as she i did so, and on© boat was washed away, [ leaving only the lifeboat on the house, f which fortunately was not damaged, r and a 20ft dory-built boat in the chocks . on the other side. By this time it > was pretty evident that things wera [ very serious and unless "the wind and sea abated tho ship could not last much » longer. ' ... ■ • (To be Continued.)