OCEANA WRECK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 119, 4 May 1912, Page 3

OCEANA WRECK.

FINDING OF THE NAUTICAL COURT. OCEANA ALONE BLAMEWORTHY. £ PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. 1 (Received 4, 8.5 a.m.) London, May <3. The Court found the Oceana alone was blameworthy for the collision with the Pisagua. DETAILS OF COLLISION. A BOAT SWAMPED. CAPTAIN KNOX DROWNED. Graphic accounts of the loss of the P. and O. Company’s steamer Oceana as the result of a collision with the sailing vessel Pisagua off Beachy Head was received by the last English mail. Seven passengers, including Captain E. V. Knox, formerly of Sydney, three European members of the crew, and several lascars, lost their lives. The Oceana was bound for Bombay and Karachi, and left the lilbury Docks with 40 passengers on the afternoon of Friday, March 15. At 4 o’clock on the following morning, when four miles off BeachyHead, she collided with the fourmaster steel barque Pisagua, bound from Maxillones to Hamburg with nitrate, and six hours later she sank with all the effects of the passengers and £750,000 in specie. The vessels came together with a terrific crash, and the grinding friction of thousands of tons of deadweaight mefal caused tongues of flame to leap from the friction surfaces of the two ships. The barque’s bowsprit swept along the side of the lines, smashing through everything in its line, and making a great rent, through which the water poured in a great mass. The vessels gradually drifted apart, and the Pisagua in a disabled condition, with all her headgear smashed and carred away and her foretopmast down, drove helplessly away before the wind.

Aroused and alarmed by the collision, the Oceana passengers rushed on deck, some of them wading through water as they made their way from their cabins. The night was still dark, but flares were being burnt on board, and guns were being fired from the ship. Along the coast could be seen the lights of Eastbourne, and bearing away the large four-masted sailing boat.

The passengers came up on deck mostly in night attire, or with the addition only of overcoats, dressing gowns, or rugs, and nearly all of them were afraid to go below again to fetch their clothes or anything belonging to them, as they could see and hear the water rushing into the ship’s side, and did not know how long she would float. However, nothing approaching a panic occurred

BOAT SWAMPED

The Women were assembled in the music-room, and as soon as a boat was ready a number of the women were lowered into it until all had been got away. The boat was safely lowered, and had just got clear' of the Oceana’s side. Apparently the vessel had not quite come to a standstill as the boat left, and the way qf the vessel and the choppy sea around her created a situation of grave danger. A sudden swell swamped the boat, and all on board were thrown into the water. Through the darkness the passengers could be seen struggling on the surface of the water, and lifebuoys were at once thrown to them. At the same time the second boat, then ready, was lowered. Several were picked up, and eventually taken safely ashore. One lady was able to cling to the keel of the upturned boat until taken off.

Meanwhile the distress signals of the Oceana had attracted attention ashore and afloat. The v;essel was by this time beginning rapidly to fill with water and sinking steadily by’ the head. The cross-Channel steamer Sussex, of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company’s Newhaven-Dieppe service, crossing from the French coast was the first to render assistance. Working steadily and making several journeys to and from the steamer, the passengers and 187 of the crew were conveyed safely on to the deck of the Sussex, whilst the remainder of the crew, with all the officers, stayed on the sinking Oceana.

Efforts to pick up the passengers in the overturned boat had meanwhile proceeded, though now with little expectation of success. Whilst any’ hope remained boats were pulled round the scene in the hope of picking up the unfortunate people alive. The Eastbourne lifeboat had joined the other craft standing by. The tug Alert took the fast-sinking liner in tow with the intention of endeavouring to take her safely into' Dover Harbour, and all possible speed was made.

THE SINKING OF THE OCEANA A distance of only a mile or two had been covered when the vessel took a list, and her condition rapidly became so serious that the captain and pilot, the officers, and the members of the crew, who had remained on board, were forced to leave and take to the tug. Soon after the cables had to be cut, and at a point almost directly’ south of Eastbourne, within two miles of the Royal Sovereign lighthouse, the Oceana sank. Apparently the bottom was fo.und at no great depth, as the masts of the ship remained visible above water, and even the tops of the funnels could be seen. The Pisague, waterlogged, was drifting helplessly across the channel. Two fast tugs from Dover were able to take the vessel in tow and bring her safely into Dover Harbour. N-> injury’ was sustained by r any one on board the Pisagua. Examination later showed that her bow was driven right in, but the bulkhead remained intact.

THE LATE CAPTAIN KNOX. The late Captain E. V. Knox was a native of Sydney, being a sou ol the late Mr. George Knox, an-1 grandson of the late Sir Kdwa\ Knox. Captain Knox, who l-.-lt Australia when a boy, belonged t-. the Royal Dublin Fisiliers. and waon his way to join the Ist battali.m stationed at Ahmednager. He joined the Fusiliers as second lieu tenant in 1901, and was promoted lieutenant in 1906, and captain :: October of last year. He served in the South Afrcan War, and took part in operations on the Zululand frontier of Natal aud in the Transvaal. He had the Queen’s medal with three clams On the Monday following the day of the wreck a body believed to be that of Captain Knox was rec af r ed at Hastings. The clothing bon the initials “E.V.K.”