SUBMARINE ’QUAKE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 December 1934, Page 4

SUBMARINE ’QUAKE

N.Z. LINER SHAKEN. [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, December 19. A. submarine disturbance, which is thought to be connected with an earthquake in South America, violently shook the New Zealand Shipping Company’s motor liner, Rangitata, the day after she cleared the Panama Canal, en route from London to Auckland. The liner arrived at Auckland to-day, and the passengers described their uncanny experience. The ship, they 'said, quivered from stem to stern for about 15 or 30 seconds, in a manner that made it seem that she was being shaken from different directions at ‘the same time. Then she ploughed on steadily through calm and untroubled seas. The disturbance occurred about seven o’clock in the evening, when most of the passengers were preparing for dinner. One man said that he was in the smokeroom having a cocktail before dinner, and the sudden violent trembling of the ship “would have spilled his drink if he had not hastily swallowed it.”

Captain .Hunter, commander of the Rangitata. said the liner was travelling at her normal speed. The weather was fine, and the sea calm. Suddenly, and without warning, and with nothing to disturb appreciably the surface of the ocean, the ship, shook convulsively. There was deep water in the vicinity, and there was nothing in the peculiar motion to suggest that the ship had struck a whale or any submerged obstacle. Later, reports were received by wireless stating that a severe earthquake had been experienced at San Salvador and Guatemala. It was thought that the disturbance experienced by the liner was almost certainly connected with this earthquake.