VICTIM OF MINE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20142, 11 January 1940, Page 7

VICTIM OF MINE

BRITISH LINER VIOLENT EXPLOSION 48 PASSENGERS SAFE CAPTAIN LOSES LIFE ! TWO OTHERS KILLED (F.lec. Tel. Copyright—-Uniteil Press Assn.) (Reed. Jan. 11, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 10. The Union Castle liner Dunbar Castle, of 10,000 tons, which struck a mine and sank off the south-east coast yesterday afternoon, was bound for South Africa. She carried about 48 passengers, including nine children, and also a crew of about 150. The Dunbar Castle had been less than a day at sea when she was mined amidships and broke in two. She sank within 15 minutes. Most of the passengers lost all their belongings. The passengers say that the Dunbar Castle was in an outwarci-bound convoy when she was mined. Only three of the 48 passengers and 150 of the crew are known to have lost their lives, these including the captain. The passengers paid a tribute to the skill, courage, and discipline of the crew, who saw all the passengers safely to the boats before entering themselves. There was no panic, despite the difficulty of getting the boats away owing to water rushing into the holds. The last boat got away just in time. Captain FI. A. Causton, of Southampton. was killed. He was on the bridge, which collapsed. Badly hurt, he apparently tried to reach his cabin and was found dead outside the door. The chief wireless operator, who was among the last to leave, was forced to swim to a boat. The kitchen staff suffered most as the explosion threw oil and fat over them.

Rescue of Passengers i

All the passengers were rescued

One, interviewed,. said: “We were just finishing luncheon when a violent explosion rocked the ship from stem to stern, extinguishing all the lights.. The ship’s galley blew up and the cook and a mate were injured. Tile second officer had his leg broken.”

Another passenger said that a stewardess rushed from the galley with her clothes in flames. The r\ext time he saw her she was helping to row a lifeboat. She was a real heroine.

The ship listed badly after the explosion, the deck buckling up in several places. The lifeboats were already swung out and were speedily but quietly filled with people. They drifted for some time and eventually were picked up by a coastal motor ship.

A member of the crew said that the explosion blew the foremast practically out of the ship. It fell on the well-deck. The chief officer, Mr. Robertson, was the last to leave the ship, carrying the captain's body. ,

Landing of Survivors

Ninety survivors were landed from six boats at a south-east port and the others were landed elsewhere, including the bodies of the storekeeper and an able seaman.

The passengers were at a loss to find words to crescribe the heroisni of the crew. They told of the bravery' of the second omcer, Mr. Saunders, who set his own broken leg while the lifeboat was in a choppy sea. Though suffering great pain he never complained. but went grimly along with setting the leg and simultaneously directing the crew. Among those rescued was a young family, including a 10-weeks-old baby. The family had sold up their home in Nottingham and were going to Africa to make a new home. The family lost everything.

The. passengers paid a special tribute to the heroism of the stewardess, who took an oar in a lifeboat and later attended to those injured. She refused to give her name.