ORDEAL AT SEA

Evening Star, Issue 24047, 20 November 1941, Page 4

ORDEAL AT SEA

13 DAYS IN OPEN BOAT AID FROM VICHY SHIPMASTER SAVED BRITONS FROM INTERNMENT (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Nov. 10. In l.'J dliys in an open boat, 4-1 men from a torpedoed British ship sailed liO<i miles down the Atlantic coast of Africa to Bathurst, Gambia, with the loss of only one man. Their fully-laden 10,000-ton steamer was sunk by a U-boat about 400 miles north-west of Dakar on March 11, but under the guidance of an ingenious Tynemouth first officer and with the assistance of a pro-British captain of a Vichy steamer they reached safety. Renewing his acquaintance with the" J!ev. H. K. Vickery, chaplain of the Plying Angel Mission to Seamen at. Auckland, the first officer, who made the voyage to save his men from death or internment, and is now in command of his own ship, told his story from his log. lie had not mot -Mr Vickery since the days when he served as a junior apprentice under sail, but remembered him well.

SUNK BY TORPEDO. “ Vo were on our way Home via the Capo of Good Hope from Port Pirie, Western Australia, with a heavy bulk cargo, mostly of zinc concentrates,” said the stocky, energetic mariner. “ We had left Freetown. Sierra Leone, and were abreast of Cape Blanco when wo were struck dec)) by a torpedo. That was at 2.15 p.m., and by 2..‘10 p.m. there was no sign of our ship, which sank by the stern so perpendicularly that we could seo down the funnel. “ Two boats were successfully launched on the lee side, but two boats launched on the weather side were washed across the after welldeck and were smashed. The air compartments kept them afloat and we were transferred to the other two boats.” said the narrator. “ Three Chinese and a European were trapped in the forecastle. The submarine, a new type, with a chariot-shaped conning tower, came to the surface and the commander, in fluent .-English, pointed out, tho two Chinese in the water.” FORTY-FOUR MEN IN BOAT. The captain had 22 men in a small boat and the first officer, in a larger boat, 44 men, who included 13 Chinese. The provisions from the smashed boats were transferred, and after waiting together for 40 hours for a Spanish vessel which was believed to have picked up an SOS, the captain sot out in his faster and smaller, boat and eventually made Dakar, where he and his crew were interned 11 days later.

“ Our boat was manually propelled on the ‘ mangle ’ system, and with sail set for the north-east trade wind we headed for the coast, which was sighted in nine days,” said the first officer. “ I rigged up an awning to protect us from spray by using the boat cover and timber and nails from a condensed milk box. The men worked one hour and then had one hour off, 10 men at a time. I navigated with Norrie’s logarithm tables,, a meteorological chart, a manicure file, and a stub Of pencil. One European died of exhaustion on the ninth day.” WATER AND RATIONS LOW. Each man had an egg cup of water in the morning and evening. There was hard biscuit apd 21b of corned beef divided daily between the 44 men, and a tin of milk for every seven men. After seven days the men had insufficient saliva to want to eat, and they sucked the buttons on their shirts to moisten their mouths. It was then that tho iron rations were doubled to bolster the weakening morale of the men. It was hot during the day and cold and damp at night. Flying fish was oaten raw. Senegalese met them in a canoe on March 21, and offered to pilot them into St. Louis, but the bar was too rough. On March 22 there was one beaker of water loft. “ I wanted to go on to Bathurst and miss Dakar, but with a low water supply and two sick men tho crow wanted to go into Dakar,” said the officer. “ Wo sighted Dakar’s lights at dusk on March 23, and were two miles off when a Vichy ship came alongside. FRIENDLY CREW OF VICHY SHIP. “I tottered aboard,” the officer added. “ The captain and crew were obviously pro-British, and gave us water, wine, food, cigarettes, beef, pineapples, and a chart to get to Bathurst. “ ‘ There are no Germans and no Italians in Dakar, but what hope have you got of getting out again P ’ tho Freach captain asked the British officer. Ho then took two sick men on hoard and took them into Dakar. “ Wc cheered and shouted, ‘ Vive la Franco,’ ” continued the officer. “At daylight on March 24 we sighted Bathurst, and were towed in by the harbour master’s, launch. The 71 Europeans there gave ns a great welcome. The following day, Lady Southern, wife of Sir Thomas Southern, Governor of Gambia, gave us a garden party.”