MAHENO’S FATE

Evening Star, Issue 22085, 19 July 1935, Page 4

MAHENO’S FATE

HELPLESS 111 CYCLONE CREW'S CLOSE CALL •‘ONE CHANGE IN A HUNDRED" Waterlogged and heeling over, with a large hole in her side and deeply embedded in the sand, the steamer Maheno lies with her back broken at Fraser Island, off the Queensland coast. Bought a few months ago by Japanese shipbreakers for £11,750, an amount which would be increased to about £17,000 when subsequent expenses were added, the Maheno was being towed to Japan by the steamer Oonah when both were caught in a cyclone. They were quickly in difficulties when the tow rope broke, and the Maheno, with her propellers removed, began ’to drift helplessly, and finally became stranded on the* sand at Fraser Island. , Particulars now received by mail reveal that the story of the Maheno 1 s last trip at sea was attended by grim irony which will have impressed itself upon the crew of eight Japanese who, after a thrilling and perilous experience, took their only one and desperate chance and-reached the shore. The steamer Oonah left Sydney on Wednesday, July 3, with the Maheno in tow, bound for Osaka direct, a tow of approximately 4,600 miles. On the Oonah were seven Japanese officers and 30 Japanese stokers and seamen, and on the Maheno a skeleton crew of eight Japanese. The tow proceeded .without interruption till the vessels were off the Queensland coast on Monday of last week, when they met cyclonic seas, and then began a grim battle between . the sea and the steamers. In the fight the tow line broke, and the Maheno began to drift helplessly. With her propellers removed, the Maheno was little better than a derelict. SIGHTED FROM ’PLANE. The first news that anything untoward had happened was a message picked up by the Pinkemba radio station from the Oonah, and subsequent messages were also picked up. No time was lost in sending the tugboat Carlock in search of the Oonah and Maheno, and on Tuesday the plane City of Grafton, which had been specially sent out by the ‘Sun’ and Brisbane ‘ Courier-Mail,’ sighted the Maheno. Approaching Fraser Island the weather cleared, and chief pilot Keith Virtue, who maintained an average height of I,oooft throughout, hugged the shore at 100 miles per hour. Suddenly, he pointed ahead with his left hand, and through the haze what appeared to be a steamer ashore could just be discerned many miles away. “ That’s the Maheno,” . he exclaimed, swooping lower. As the big monoplane raced above the surf the liner’s distress signals could be plainly seen fluttering on the bridge deck. Then two Japanese were discerned, waving frantically to express their delight at their deliverance. A quick survey showed that there was no suitable landing ground for miles around, and it was impossible to gel the plane down to earth. The Maheno was hard and fastaground on a sandy beach on the east coast of Fraser Island, about 20 miles south of Indian Head and 168 miles north of Brisbane. The vessel was standing upright, broadside on to the sea. Surf was breaking against her.

CREW REACHES SHORE. After a fight with the seas since 2 o’clock on the afternoon of Monday, July 8, the eight Japanese seamen com prising the crew of, the Maheno reached shore all alive on Wednesday afternoon. They slept on firm ground for the first time since leaving Sydney a. week previously. They had abandoned the ship, taking with them bedding and tarpaulins that they might make a camp on the beach-. The liner was driven broadside, on to a sandy beach on Fraser Island, and never was a wreck more welcome to a crew. With rocks all round them and a tempestuous sea raging, the Japanese had concluded that their end had come. For fully 24 hours they had stuck to the ship before attempting the dangerous landing, scanning the shores of the island in vain for signs of habitation. With the gale .unabated and the Maheno listing heavily, they decided to stake everything oh a scheme to get ashore. It succeeded, but every yard of the raging surf meant a fight for life. , , CAMPED NEAR BEACH. The men managed to bring to land with them some of their belongings and also canvas tarpaulins. They took care to place them well beyond the waves which they had escaped by so narrow a margin. They erected a rough and ready camp, unaware that within seven miles of the beach was the Happy .Valley tourist resort. .When found by a newspaper a at . lying dog tired around their camp, they welcomed the surprise visitors with a wonderful clatter of Japanese, pidgin English, and cries of “ Banzai I’’ One called out “Australian! Australian!” It was all the English he knew. Through an interpreter they retailed, in broken and jerky sentences, snatches of their nightmare experience, drifting blind at the mercy of the Pacific cyclone. They told of how the towrope snapped like cord while the Oonah and Maheno were plunging in the mountainous seas. It was impossible for the Oonah' to render assistance, but with her standing by they .were not so worried. During the night, however, they at times lost sight of the Oonah’s lights in blinding rain squalls. • They were almost struck dumb with terror when, as morning dawned, they looked in vain for their guardian ship. They saw only a vast and vacant expanse of spouting and tumbling sea. They heard only the whistle and howl of the gale. " HANG ON.” Each man knew at once that he was face to face .with the most terrifying menace of his seafaring career. He was adrift on the Pacific in its maddest mood, on a ship without propellers, and a radio that no one on board could operate. There was nothing to do hut hang on and go with the ship as she twisted and strained and lunged at the wild will of towering waters. Hour after hour they combed the horizon with their eyes for the Oonah or some rescue ship, till On Tuesday morning they picked up Fraser Island, low down in the west. Then came a race between the inexorable drift to the coast, and the hope of smoke on the horizon. Their terror of. disaster on the rocky coast was slightly minimised when they saw that the spot on which they were likely to strike was a sandy beach. This was the one chance in a hundred that they had not dared to hope for. They took that chance and saved their lives.