Californian Disaster

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 229, 12 September 1923, Page 5

Californian Disaster

Cuba’s Company Saved BULLION SALVED. LINER A TOTAL LOSS. THE DESTROYERS' CASUALTIES. [By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.] (Received 12, 8.40 a.m.) New York, September 11. The passengers and crew of the liner Cuba have all been saved, and a bullion cargo worth two and a half million dollars was salvaged. The liner is breaking up, and is a total loss, as is also the ordinary cargo, worth 300,U00 dollars. The casualties from the wrecked destroyers stand at 29 dead, three adriit on one, and thirteen severely injured. —(A. and N.Z.) AN AMAZING ACCIDENT. DESTROYERS’ PROCESSION TO DESTRUCTION. UNCHARTED CURRENT BLAMED. New York, September 10. An inquiry has been ordered into the loss of destroyers, which is regarded as the most amazing accident in American naval history. Heavy seas continued to-day, crash iug the hulks to pieces. The destroyers were running at. 20 knots per hour, following the Delphi, all piling up like sheep following the leader, each steering by a light on the boat ahead. They believed themselves eight miles oh shore and the officers assert that they werethe victims of a new and treacherous uncharted current. There are 2’2 dead still aboard the Young, who were caught in their bunks when the ship capsized. After the Delphi struck it was only an instant until the Young rammed behind her. The Delphi’s propeller was still racing, and caught the Young in the bow, and aided by the big swell, kicked her over. The Chauncey, the next in the line, had a slight warning, and ordered full speed astern, but it was too late. The S oung’s propeller ripped her side open. Four others repeated the performance. The rapid disappearance of the lights warned eleven destroyers behind. and they stood off shore. Th© seas were too high to launch lifeboats, and everybody remained aboard till Sunday morning, when Seaman Carter, the hero of the occasion, piloted a raft eighteen times between the ships and the shore through a raging surf. Boatswain Peterson swam 40 xfcrds through the rocks from the Young to the Chauncey, carrying a lifeline, over which seventy comrades clambered hand over hand.—(Sydney “Sun” cable.) AN OFFICIAL THEORY. REACTION'OF JAPANESE TIDAL WAVE. Washington, September 10. The theory of high naval officials is that a tidal wave or other seismic disturbance reacting from the Japanese earthquake caused the disaster to the destroyer division on th© Californian coast.—(A. and N.Z.)