48 LIVES LOST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22314, 26 April 1947, Page 5

48 LIVES LOST

WRECKED TANKER LIFEBOAT CREW PULVERISED BY SEAS SPECTATORS’ HORROR (10 a.m.) LONDON, April 24. Forty-eight lives were lost when the oil tanker Samtampa was driven by a gale on the rocks near Portcawl, Wales, and broke in three. The entire crew of 40 of the Samtampa are presumed lost and eight members of the Mumbles lifeboat which went to the Samtampa’s aid are also believed lost. ■ „ , ~ A number of bodies both from the tanker and lifeboat have been washed ashore. Seas Foil Rescue Efforts In mountainous seas .and an 80-mile-an-hour gale, the Samtampa, of 7219 tons, managed by the Houlder Line for the Ministry of Transport, went ashore on the east side of Swansea Bay. _ The force of the impact broke the ship in two. The gale-whipped seas foiled an attempt by the crew to launch one pf the lifeboats. One-half of the ship then split again. Furniture and thousands of tons of crude oil went into the sea. , „ The high winds and seas at first prevented rescue efforts. Attempts to get safety lines aboard the stricken ship failed. The Mumbles lifeboat put out at 6 p.m.’ yesterday and, at dawn to-day. it was found turned up alongside the Samtampa. Early to-day, when the tide had receded, rescue parties went out to the vessel’ on foot. They had to wade up to their knees in oil which washed over the beaches. Bodies Covered by Oil The rescuers were not able to search far because the vessel amidships was completely staved in and the stern jutted up at a dangerous angle. The morning revealed masses of wreckage, covered with fuel oil, strewn along the beach. The bodies of 20 men were recovered. They were also covered in black oil which rendered them unrecognisable. Mr. H Neane Sherwell, whose wife lives at Tirangi road, Wellington, New Zealand, was captain of the Samtampa. Mrs. Sherwell is on her way to England from New Zealand and is unaware of the disaster. ~ ~ An eye-witness said that 300 stood on the shore 300 yards from the Samtampa unable to go to the crew’s aid. They watched huge waves shatter the vessel and the crew clinging to the superstructure disappeared one by one. There were no survivors. No Response to Signals Police officers went out to the hulk and banged on the sides of the vessel with pieces of rock, but there was no response. . The Mumbles lifeboat tried to get to the wreck from the west side of Swansea Bay, 20 miles away, hut had to return. . . The lifeboat went out again after heceiving further directions about the Samtampa’s position. The coxswain of the lifeboat William Gannan won the Gold Medal in 1944 for the rescue of 42 men from a Canadian frigate in similar weather. , „ . Coast guard stations round Britain reported gales throughout the night, reaching over 80 miles an hour. The fishing vessel Benghazi struck a reef in a gale last night. The crew abandoned the ship. One died of exposure.