PERILOUS NIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 20

PERILOUS NIGHT

WRECK ON A REEF

ONE MAN LOSES LIFE

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, June 17,

One man was drowned and eight others narrowly escaped death when the 75-ton steam launch Atlantic, a former minesweeper, was swept by heavy seas on to Flinders Reef, eight miles north-west of Cape Moreton, near Brisbane. The crew fired the wheelhouse and kept the fire going with their clothing to attract other boats in the vicinity. The drowned man was William Robert Lee, who was hurled overboard when'the vessel struck the reef. An attempt made to rescue him failed because of the darkness and heavy seas. At dawn another fishing boat, Bristol Girl, noticed the Atlantic, and rescued the remaining eight members of the crew. With several friends of the crew on board, the Atlantic left Brisbane on a fishing trip. As the boat neared Flinders Reef the propeller apparently stripped. The anchor was dropped, I but heavy seas broke the chain, and1 the vessel was dumped on the reef. "It looked as though we had not a chance in the world of getting away with our lives," said the master, Al-I bert Williams. "Everyone put on a lifebelt and, as things got worse, we ail shook hands and said 'Good-bye. Each man was game, and you. could not wish for a pluckier lot. The deck was at such an angle that the men had to tie themselves to rails so they wouldn't be swept over. When Lee was hurled overboard we tried to save him, but' in the darkness it was impossible to do much. We were among jagged rocks and breakers, and nothing could be seen of him. I think he struck his head on the keel as we were trying to get him on board and he lost consciousness." "Our only chance appeared to be to attract attention quickly, and we set alight to the wheelhouse as a signal. To keep the fire going, men added j timber torn from decking and cabins, j and even used their own clothing as fueL When ttie supply of fuel was almost exhausted at dawn, we saw the Bristol Girl, close by. At great risk her crew brought her close. We had difficulty in launching our lifeboat, and we dragged it in barefeet for a quarter of a mile across jagged rocks until we could get into calmer water to pull to the Bristol Girl.' The Atlantic was built for the Victorian Government at a cost^ of £16,000, and was used as a minesweeper and for towing naval targets, but later it became a whalechaser with a harpoon gun in the bows. About two years ago it was brought from Melbourne to Sydney and last November it was taken to Brisbane. It was fitted with a 120 h.p. engine.