WRECK OF PROGRESS

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 May 1931, Page 7

WRECK OF PROGRESS

CREW’S ARDUOUS ORDEAL

FOUR MEN DROWNED

[PER press association.]

WELLINGTON May 1. The revised list of those drowned in the wreck of the Progress is as follows: — W. Winton, aged 48, fireman, of Dunedin. W. Finch,, aged 40, single, cobk, of Wellington. ‘ F. Lawton, aged 45, married, Chief Officer, of Fairview Terrace, Kelburn, Wellington. T. Simpson, aged 46, married, chief engineer, of Dunedin. The survivors are: Captain A. Copland, aged 45, married, master, of Opawa, Christchurch. Kustaa Kanerwa, aged 33, single, second mate, of Wellington. Fritz Degerholm, aged 26, married, able seaman, of Wellington. John Metcalf,' aged 43, married, fireman, of Wellington. Felix Kruisik, aged 27, single,* able seaman, of Wellington. Jack Horgan, aged 25, single, able seaman, of Wellington. William Evans, aged 25, single, able seaman, of Wellington. J. A. Collins, aged 17, single, ordinary seaman No. 38, Palliser Rd., Wellington. . All of the survivors are m hospital, save Captain Copland, who is at a friend’s home. , The survivors are all suffering from shock and exposure. Some have abrasions and broken ribs. DETAILS OF DISASTER. ! The Progress broke the tail shaft on Thursday evening in Cook Strait during fine weather and she anchored. When the southerly gale blew up, however, the conditions became so bad that the tugs sent were unable to assist her. For two hours this morning the vessel was under her trysails, trying to get away from the shore, but she was forced upon the rocks half a mile south of Happy Valley. ' The Harbour Board’s tug Toia set out to her assistance at 11 p.m., but, although it is understood that she succeeded in getting a light line aboard, it was impossible to connect the two vessels with a hawser. The Toia returned to port at 8 a.m. Daylight revealed that the vessel’s position had not altered very much during the night. Her anchor was standing up to the terrific strain im-’ posed by the heavy confused sea. She was then something less than a mile off the Red Rocks and was plunging heavily without intermission. Developments were anxiously watched from the shore by a party of Harbour Board officials, and men from the “Diomede,” under Captain P. S. "Peterson, ActingDeputy Harbourmaster, who had rocket apparatus ready for immediate use, if necessary. The hours dragged on, but there was no material improvement in the vessel’s plight. Men could be seen running round her decks, and at 10.55 a.m., the fore trysail was hoisted* on the main mast, and then, the cable either having slipped or carried away, the vessel began to drift along the coast. Soon she was clear of dangerous rocks off Red Rocks, and for a time, there appeared to be a faint chance that she would weather the jagged reefs running out from the vicinity of “The Run Around.” Meantime the tug Toia had been approaching her, pnd about half way between Red Rocks and the “Run Around,” the tug appeared to be within a short distance of the Progress. The latter vessel, however, was then dangerously close in, and any attempt at a rescue was attended by the utmost danger for the rescuers. Those on board the Progress were making a gallant fight against terrible odds, but when the Toia failed' to achieve her object a disaster became inevitable. At 12 o’clock, a series of short whistles from the Progress announced that she had struck, but the end was still a little way off. Rising and plunging heavily, the vessel made her way another 100 yards along the coast before the end came when a huge sea caught her broadside on, and she struck WITH TERRIFIC FORCE. Within a few minutes, the after part of the ship broke off, and it swept round on to the forepart. At about that time, the sea increased, and at times the wreck was almost completely obscured from sight. The men could be seen clinging to various parts- of the deck and rigging, but the heavy seas were too much for them. Soon the broiling waters were dotted with the heads of men taking a forlorn chance to reach safety.

Words fail to describe the uncanny impression created when the whistle sounded as the Progress struck. A cry “She’s gone!” went up from the horrified onlookers. Then, as sea after sea swept over the vessel, it became only too evident that the Progress had lost her struggle. A graphic evidence of the might of the seas was afforded by the rapidity with which the vessel broke up. It was actually only a few minutes before she broke in two. Two men remained huddled on the sloping forepart of the vessel. Two others managed to reach comparative safety on some rocks that were only a few yards from the wreck. Here they were exposed to considerable risk. At times they were completely submerged by bigwaves. The two who had remained on the wreck finally jumped into the water, just as the rocket apparatus was being prepared for action. Thev were ultimately picked up, both of them bleeding, and one unconscious. The rocket apparatus failed to reach the two men who were clinging to the rocks about 150 yards from the shore. In a small boat, three men battled gallantly for over an hour in an endeavour to rescue these men, whose position with the tide coming in fast, was becoming more hazardous every minute. Heavy seas were continually breaking over them. Another man ' TOOK A BIG RISK in attempting to swim out with a line. He did not get very far, and his safety was also imperilled. A longer boat, managed by Italian fishermen then attempted to reach th© two men,

amidst cheers from the crowd. They nicked up the man who had endeavoured to swim out. with the line, and also picked up one of the seamen on the rocks. The other seaman, however, when the boat was half way between the shore and the rocks, decided to strike out for the shore. H~ was quickly swept round towards the bav, beyond the reach of the men in the boat, but he was rescued by a Uteline from his plight. o The men who were brought ashoie presented a pitiable sight. They were bleeding copiously. Their clothes in some cases were almost completely torn off from them, and they were blue with the cold. They were assisted into nearby houses, where restoratives were available. Wreckage began to come a shot coon after thb vessel broke up. it must have been from the dn£ | l ®® spars and other parts of the vessel as much as from the rocks that almost without exception, received their injufies. While a rescue boat, in charge o Constable F. Baker, of Island Bay, was returning to the shore after hav g picked up a member of the crew of the Progress, a large wave ca P sl^ dll - It was with great diculty that Baker was rescued. He was sent home in an exhausted condition. Constable Hammond, of Taranaki Street Station, tried to reach some of the crew with a life line, but the heavy sea forced him back on to the rocks, where he was rescued by some fishermen, who went around to the scene in a lorry, carrying a dinghy with them. Hammond, also in an exhausted condition, was taken home.' TUGS UNABLE TO HELP.

At 5 o’clock this morning the assistance of the Union Steam Ship Company’s tug Terawhiti was sought. She left the wharf at 6.45. Captain Wilson, the master, told a reporter that he went no further than just outside the Heads, where he received a report from the Toia that the conditions were too bad for .anything to be done. Captain Wilson could see for himself that it was hopeless to proceed, and he returned. The Progress had two anchors down. They were holding fast. When he found that he could not'do anything, Captain Wilson communicated with Island Bay, and asked if it would be possible to get *a line out to the Progress by means of a launch, but a launch, could not be sent out.

Captain Wilson then received word that the Toia was going to have another try. After taking on board a long length of rope, the Toia left the Queen’s Wharf at 9.15 a.m. with the Harbourmaster, ■ Captain J. Spence, and Captain Holm, of the Holm Shipping Company, on board, in addition to Captain Campbell. 'As the morning wore on, the chances of the weather moderating did not improve, and the 90 fathoms of cable attached to the anchors was severely strained.

When the Toia arrived it was seen that the Progress had drifted too far inshore for the tug to be of any assistance, even had the weather permitted. The Toia returned to port at 1.20 p.m. Captain Holm gave his personal opinion as to what had happened just before the vessel went on the rocks. About noon, he surmised, Captain Copland, when hp found his ship drifting ashore, decided to let go his anchors and to endeavour to beach the ship under sail. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the ship finished up on the rocks about 300 yards off the shore. THE CAPTAIN’S STORY. TRIBUTES TO CREW. WELLINGTON, May 1. True to the traditions of the sea, Captain Copland’s chief concern is the loss of his four men, and the welfare of the surviving members of the crew. When interviewed by “The Dominion,” although suffering from the harrowing ordeal through which he and his fellow mariners had passed, he was glad to tell how every man had stood by him. Any action taken was the unanimous decision of every member of the crew, and in the consultations on board all from the highest to the lowest had a say. The effort that was made to sail the vessel past the rocky point on which she struck, into the sheltered cove of Ohiro Bay, and the 1 pre-arranged plans that were made in the event of the worst happening, were related by Captain Copland. “We were trying to sail her past the rocks and get her in the little bay,” he said. “Lawton was at the wheel, for he knew that part of the coast much better than I, having been along there a good deal in his early days. We just missed the little bay by less than a boat’s length. When I saw w’e would not make the bay I rushed forward and cut the halyards to let the sails drop, for I was afraid that they might cover the men trying to get ashore.

“Everything was cut and dried,” the captain continued. “If it came to the worst, it had been arranged that everyone should rush to the forecastle head, for it, was expected that would float the longest. So it, did. After the ship hit, anyone still on the poop HAD NO CHANCE to get off, and I don’t think the mate and chief engineei* were left there. She first hit on the rock just in front of the poop. After that first hit she stuck theie a moment, and a second sea which also hit her in front of the poop but to the left, put her right in. I got as far ahead as I could, and caught ti derrick and hung on till the foremast went. When the foremast broke I was drifting, but I managed J° get Hold of a rope and get on a simnhw 116 ° f J he A - B?S ’ Deg erholm, shouted t 0 me to set right in the bow.” The rottenest part of the whole business is that four men have gone land that I am left,” he said. “I don’t konw how I am going to face the world again. Human beings could have done no more than they. After

we lost our propeller, not a man in the ship went below except perhaps for five minutes for a bit of food. I never realised I had such a crowd. No men, even if they were old shellbacks, could have done better. All the time I had the co-operation of Xy “an on board. Not a thing was decided upon without the co-operation Captain Copland went on to say that while he and Degerholm were hnddUd UP m the bow they decided among themselves to wait till most of the wreckage and cargo had drifted ashore. “It was Degerholm s idea, that we should wait till the wreckage and cases floated out of the way, he said. “When they were clear, we jumped into the water. Degerholm went first, then I after him. I struck out. for the shore and seemed a good way in when the back-wash caught me and dragged me back again. After that I can recollect little. I think I can remember being pulled on to some rocks. My next clear recollection is of people rubbing me down on the beach.” SECOND MATE’S NARRATIVE, Kustaa Kanerva, the second mate of the steamer, who was seen at the Hospital, said that the Progress’s propeller dropped off at 7 o’clock last night, and then a course was shaped for the Wellington Heads, the sail being used during the night, as the vessel was starting to set in towards the shore. The wind then increased and the anchor, which had been put out, began to drag. At daylight the ship was about a mile from land. The tug Toia arrived somewhere shortly after midnight, but they could not get a rope from the tug or one to the tug for a considerable time.

“At last, the tug picked up a light line from the Progress,” said the second mate, “but it broke, and the Progress gradually drifted towards the shore-. Repeated efforts were made later to get a line from the tug, but without success. Before the Progress struck the rocks, we all gathered on the poop. Heavy waves were now breaking over the ship. We were all washed off, one after another. I managed to scramble on to a rock, but I was washed off, and the next I knew was that a man from the shore was assisting me to land.”