THE FINAL PLUNGE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 10

THE FINAL PLUNGE

SCENE DESCRIBED VENTURA BLOWS FAREWELL (Received 23rd August, 2.30 p.m.) SUVA, This Day. Mr. John Menzics, passenger or the Ventura, states that tho Ventura, when 60 miles west of Pago Pago, was ordered to assist, the Tahiti. Averaging 17 knots, tho Ventura arrived at the Tahiti at 10 o'clock on the morning of Sunday. Tho weather was fine and the Ventura lay close in. It was found that tho Tahiti was low in the water at the stern and was throwing dense black smoke from her funnel. All the pumps were working hard, also forty gallon buckets. The winches were lifting water from No. 3 hold at the rate of two buckets a minute. When the Tahiti sighted the Ventura all the passengers and crew got on board the lifeboats ready to board the Ventura. There was no mishap except that a canary was dropped overboard by an. excited passenger. The cabin luggage was next transferred, and a portion of the mails. About 2.30 all were aboard the Ventura. Captain Toten was the last to leave the ship. Seeing that there was no chance of saving the vessel the captain took a boat's crew and smashed in all the ports of the Tahiti. Returning to the Ventura he drew the plugs from the lifeboats and turned them adrift. Half an hour after tho Tahiti showed signs of sinking. The stern was awash and she took a list to port, the water reaching the deckhouse. The stern was now well down and the bow was lifting in the air. There were loud noises of falling machinery and gear, and on the water reaching the boilers dense° volumes of black smoke and steam arose. Tho funnel crumpled to pieces and crashed into the sea, and the foremast cracked into several pieces. The air bottled up forward kept the vessel from sinking too rapidly, but now the boilers burst, and there was a big npflow of steam, smoke, and ashes. The Tahiti started her final plunge into the depths of the calm sea, and with hastening speed gracefully dropped out of sight, leaving behind a tremendous vortex caused by the suction, and the surface of the sea. was strewn with small heaps of burning cinders and other floating objects and in the midst of tho seething waters, a big patch of whitish-looking substance. Then there was a swirl, subsiding into calm sea again, and there was little visible mark of the spot -where the liner liad taken her final plunge. As the- bow disappeared the Ventura blew two whistles as a token of farewell. The crew and passengers cheered the farewells, and Captain Toten gazed regretfully at the end of the vessel he had commanded for some years. It was a sad sight to witness the loss of an ocean liner in a calm sea. The Ventura, which was lying only 500 yards off, then circled once close in round the spot of the Tahiti's grave and turned north on the 690 miles' run to Pago Pago. When the Tahiti's shaft broke in tlie early hours of Friday morning the passengers were mustered and kept in the saloon. The position becoming serious all hands were mustered many times and there were surprise calls to tho boats, which was a wise precaution on the part of Captain Toten, as in consequence there was no panic. The passengers saved only their personal and cabin luggage. They speak in glowing terms of tho efficiency of the officers and crew of the Tahiti, also of the comforts provided on board tho Ventura on the way to Pago Pago. There was no sign of panic as the wrecked people boarded the Ventura. At Pago Pago the passengers gave a complimentary dinner to Captain Toten and the officers and crew of the Tahiti.. Mr. Menzies gathered from what he heard that it was supposed that when the tail shaft broke it knocked holes in the shaft tunnel and in all probability carried away some plates. Tho door at the closed end of the shaft tunnel did not prevent the water getting through to the engine room and the men remained pluckiiy working in water up to their waists until finally they were forced to abandon their position. It was a fortunate circumstance that tho shaft broke in fine weather, otherwise great loss of life might have occurred. The pascngers show in their faces signs of strain after their strenuous period of anxiety.