MID-OCEAN RESCUE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 February 1926, Page 5

MID-OCEAN RESCUE.

SEAMEN’S STORM ORDEALS.

THRILLING NARRATIVES.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (By Cablet-Press Assn.—Copyright.)

LONDON, February 1. Rarely equalled outside the pages oi the late Joseph Conrad’s novels is the tale told by Captain Tose (captain ol the Antinoe), wiiose account is a long series of almost superhuman efforts to Keep the disabled,, engineless, rudderless ship afloat during an apparently unending hurricane of unprecedented violence. There are: maiiy poignant passages, like the signal to the President Roosevelt, namely: “Wish abandon, but have’no means.’’ The Ahtinoe’s cargo was wheat, in bulk, which virtually became liquefied •on the morning of January 23, causing a heavy list. The crew attempted the impossible task of standing on the sloping deck to replace the hatch tarpaulins. which were washed away. The crew were cheered on the night of Jan. 24, on the arrival of the President Roosevelt, which pumped on oil and lessened the pounding of the seas, but despondency set in when the successive efforts'by the President Roosevelt to establish contact failed. Boat after boat was launched, but upset. Their crews were marvellously rescued. The heavy snowstorm obscu'ted the view of the President Roosevelt, which disappeared for twenty hours. She was resighted on January 26. The gale was still too fierce to operate. The whole interior was then flooded. Tire crew were foodless and waterless, and they clung to the inclined decks. The President Roosevelt blinked : “Doing everything we can, but it is impossible to send boat in this sea.’’ Captain Tose replied: “Yes, we know. We are grateful to you.” Capatin Tose then Morsed: “Listing more heavily. Shipping more water.” Thereupon the President Roosevelt manoeuvred unsuccessfully. A trailing boat line was occasionally fired over the stern. It broke finally on January 27. The- Antinoe was in imminent danger of sinking, when a boat was secured with difficulty. , She took off a dozen married .men. The f weather theyi moderated, and the remainder left a few hours later. .

Seanian Richardson,'who was aboard the Antinoe, states that he has been 36 years at sea, and has never seen such a storm. The whole ship was awash, and the water in the cabins was up to the bunks.

“The only dry corner was the forecastle,” said Mr. Richardson. “We iived for four days on cracker biscuits and potatoes, when we could get a fire going, which was not often. The rest of the stores were spoilt by the water, and were were all more or less frozen the whole time. When we got warm with the gallery stove, we got cramp so badly that we could scarcely move. Our.great work was to keep the holds from flooding by means of tarpaulin covers. The water got into the holds, causing the wheat cargo to swell, which started the plates of the ship, and made the leaking worse. The engineers tried to keep the pumps going, but they did not get the water away fast enough.

“VERY WELL DONE.”

LONDON, February 1

To tenders flying signals in the International code “Very well done Roosevelt!” the liner, President Roosevelt, replied, as she steamed into Plymouth “Tljkmk You!” In acknowledging the thanks of the jwners of the Antinoe, Captain Fried, master of the liner, said: “It is too oad that you lost your ship, but she >vas gone. It was terrific out there. She was too little to fight against it.” When the President Roosevelt moved off to continue her journey to Bremen; the Antinoe’s crew lined up on the deck of a tender and rousingly cheered the liner.

Their graphic stories reveal that the firemen were tied to their posts by ropes, in an effort to maintain steam. One of the seamen was swept off the deck by a huge wave, but he was“returned to the deck on the crest of another wave-

OTHER SHIPS IMPERILLED.

(Reuter.)

NEW YORK, January 31.

The passenger steamer Westphalia is standing by the Dutch freighter, Allid, which is another victim of the midAtlantic storm, in answer to a request I'or help.

OTTAWA, January 31.

A telegram from Halifax, Nova Scotia, states that the Norwegian steamer Johannes Djbwaid, bound from England to Boston, has wirelessed that she is badly smashed and in need oi a ship to stand by. The steamer Inship is hastening to her assistance.

GERMAN BRAVERY.

(Reuter.)

LONDON, February 1.

Another thrilling sea story was told jy Captain Wurpts of the North German Lloyd liner Bremen, on arrival at Queenstown, where he was civically welcomed for heroic attempts to rescue the crew of the British freighter Caristan, which foundered in midAtlantic on January 27, in the same storm as that encountered by the Antinoe.

The Bremen stood by the twentyfour hours in blinding hail and snowstorms. Unable to lower boats, she hrew lines, one of which the Laristan’s crew succeeded in fastening to a boat, which was dragged, to the- Bremen. One of seven occupants was drowned. The Bremen stood by throughout the night, but at dawn the Laristan was invisible, and the sea yas strewn with wreckage. Twentyjour men were drowned.

FRENCHMEN SAVED

NEW YORK, February 1

The liner Westphalia on Monday rescued the crew, numbering twenty, •)!' the French freighter Alkaid, disabled a thousand miles east of Newfoundland.