CREW STAND TO

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 42, 18 August 1930, Page 10

CREW STAND TO

! H«E MARVEi: OF, WIRELESS §'■' RAGE -SGMNST TIME % Sa mo WbrS was given of the transfer of the crew of the Tahiti it was thought when these messages were reteeived that the vessel was holding out .much better than was previously indi«kted in messages from the ship's captain. Certainly the «rew would have ibeen transferred at the same time had there been any immediate danger of the vessel going down. j Once again the marvel of wireless is! Semonstrated. But for the SOS calls and the notification of the exact position the exciting story of a Tace of rescuing vessels against time and inrushing water would after a dreadful, doubtful wait have been turned to « story of certain tragedy. The full story of the roaring race of the Norwegian sugar tramp Penybryn, arriving by the Tahiti at dusk last aight with her coal bunkers.practically empty, and of the longer, faster race «f the Matson liner Ventura, will form still another thrilling story of the sea, Jinked essentially with the story of wireless. But the Tahiti, after long vpars of steady service on the San 3£raneisco run, and more heetie service during the war years, ia a lost ship.

i ' SCANTY NEWS. Radio messages have been very Scanty, and as a consequence rumour las had full sway. There were tales tsiat the ship had already gone down on Saturday, that the passengers <wera transferred, that they were not, that first one boat and then another y?a,s standing by—a general riot of sensational stories, from which nothing satisfactory could be gained until a message was received from the G.P.O. that.the Barotonga radio station had lent out at 11 a.m. (9.15 a.m. New Zeai%ni time) the advice that all the .Tahiti's passengers had been safely transferred to the Ventura. THE EARLY MESSAGES. The first radio message was receivj&d by the Union Company in Wellington shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday, (Stating that the vessel had lost her Starboard propeller, and was making !&&ter. There followed a long wait, until 3.15 J».m., before further ' news came through, and it was bad news when it came, to the effect that the water |Waa gaining so rapidly on the ship's pumps that it had become necessary to consider abandoning the vessel during the night. It was not until then that it was Realised how serious the position was. The Tahiti left Wellington at 3 p.m. last Tuesday, and when the propeller ,was lost she was over 1300 milea away wad still 460 miles from her first port j *>£ call, Earotonga. Furthermore, a | Checking of the positions of other Paciic vessels showed, that none was apparently near at hand, certainly not sufficiently near to give assistance should an abandonment have ■ become essential on Saturday night. The Tofua was. at first thought nearest, sailing between Suva and Nukualofa, and the American mail steamer Ventura, running from Sydney, via Suva, to Honolulu and San Francisco. Both were ffX to the north-west, two days' steaming away.

THE LUCKY THIRD. To the east, and very much nearer, however, was the Norwegian tramp steamer Penybryn, laden with raw sugar from Cuba for Auckland. She lad left Cuba on 11th July, and had iaiade a fairly regular nine knots, with & call at Papeete for coal. She was $jw at Auckland about Thursday next. Jj4e master immediately altered his feoniße on picking up the Tahiti's S.O.S. (fed position, and by reason of the SsWter steaming distance, notwithstanding lesser speed, hoped to arrive qn the scene almost a day earlier than t%O mail steamer. Saturday, evening's messages from IKe Tahiti reported conditions unaltered, and the weather still fair, that passengers and maiS were remaining on ■board, but. that arrangements were feeing made to transfer the passengers tit the Penybryn, expected at 2.30 p.m. top. Sunday.