STRUGGLE IN. SURF

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 13 June 1928, Page 11

STRUGGLE IN. SURF

CREW’S BATTLE FOR LIFE. CLIMBING A CLIFF. WRECK OF A TEAWOLEE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND-, June 13. Henry Double, one of the crew of the trawler 'Thomas Bryon, -which was wrecked at Bauporoa Heads, says that he -was at the helm at 11.30 o’clock on Sunday night when the vessel ran on the rocks. 'The Norwegian seamen on the look-out saw the rocks a second or two earlier. Just as he shouted out a warning Double saw the great hulk of the cliffs looming ahead and put the helm hard over, hut the trawler struck. The propeller went first and then the life boat. It was a filthy night with n howling wind, and rain pelting down in torrents. The few first minutes on the rocks were terrible. “We were at the mercy of the mountainous seas, which burst over us with a roar,” he said. The ship trembled and shuddered under the weight of the merciless impacts. Captain Holt was splendid. He had all the hands mustered and equipped with lifebelts. Tt looked pretty hopeless, but there was no panic. The deck Tvas awash and we 'clung to tlic rails for hours. The sea seemed to increase in violence as we became more and more exhaustedj 3y -the captain s orders rockets were fired into the inky sky, but only we chaps on the trawler saw them. The Whistle was blown but the sound was lost in the storm. _ “I staggered to the after cabin to o-et at mv belongings, but the place was full of water. We lost everything. Then I tried to get into the engineroom, but it was half full of water. I put in some time with two others- in the forecastle, but we had to Ibave it after a while, drenched to the skm and so miserable that one or two or the chans felt like releasing their grip and ending it all. FIGHT FOR life.

“We hung on till low water, when we saw a black ledge of rock show up every now and again. The vskipper gave the word, and l we went for it, one' at a time, running the gauntlet of the surf. A rope was lowered over the trawler’s -side, and each man liad to wait till a wave receded and then dash- shoreward s. It meant a fight for life in the surf, hut all 10 of us survived it. Huddled on the ledge below the frowning cliffs, with the sea heating remorselessly op the base, our plight was seemingly hopeless. .We were wet to the skin and chilled 1 , too, in the bleak, spray-drenched' \Vind 4 ‘Then tvc started to climb- the* cuff, about 1500 to 2000 feet high. It seemed that dawn would never break. I went tip the face of tli© cliff from ledge to- ledge, and' I thought I would' never reach the top. I was exhausted and threw myself down on the grass when I did get there. Down below I saw the trawler with the deckhouse in flames.” Mr. Double proceeded to describe in loss granhic terms the trip with' other survivors to Port Charles Post Office.