ALL HANDS LOST

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 23 April 1925, Page 5

ALL HANDS LOST

SHIPPING DISASTER. JAPANESE VESSEL SUNK. RACE WITH DEATH. BY CABLE —CRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. NEW YORK, April 21. The entire crew, comprising 38 men, were drowned when the Japanese cargo steamer Raifuku lVlaru-foundered in the North Atlantic, 180 miles south and west of Sable Island. j'ne s.o.s. called the American liner Homeric, which witnessed the vessel sinking from a 'distance, but it reached the spot too late to save the crew. Two rescue ships were unable to render any aid owing to the raging seas, any aid owing to the raging seas. An amazing race with death v> as followed by a dozen wireless stations while the Raifuku Alaru, which was en route from Philadelphia to Liverpool laden with grain, was struggling against terrific seas. Hie cargo shifted and the vessel listed thirty degrees. All the lifeboats were smashed in a terrible storm which swept the ship with blinding snow for two days. . “Now in great danger ■. come quickly,” called the Japanese wireless operator, describing their situation. Ihe hist signals had hardly ended befoie the liner Homeric, bound from New lork to Europe, reported herself seventy miles from the helpless vessel. For the next three hours the Japanese operator sent stirring messages describing how the waves were washing right over the sinking ship, which was expected to founder any minute. I hen he reported that the smoke of the Homeric had been sighted at noon, and he wirelessed: “We cannot hold up more than rive minutes. The decks are awash. The men are getting lifebelts and will cling to the wreckage when the ship sinks.” , , Excitement ran high on board the Homeric, the passengers lining the rails and watching the last throes of the Raifuku Maru through glasses. In the meantime other vessels were approaching. The master of the Homeric wirelessed at noon: “Sighted the steamer at 10.45. He were "within three miles when she disappeared. We searched the scene carefully, but there are heavy seas and a high wind. We regret we are unable to save any lives.” Another steamer wirelessed: . . , 11 Arrived in time to see her sink. All lives were lost. Rescue was impossible in the terrific seas.”