TRAGIC STORY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 258, 14 October 1932, Page 10

TRAGIC STORY

SURVIVORS OF WRECK Vancouver, Oct. 6. The horror of watching their 35 companions perish is evident in the tragic story told by the three survivors of the American cargo steamer Nevada, which was pounded to pieces on the rocks of Amatigmak, one of the Aleutian Islands, off the southern coast of Alaska. The disaster occurred at night during, a blinding snowstorm, and the survivors, their clothing crusted with ice, spent two days of misery before being rescued by the Dollar liner President Madison. “We were steaming at full speed,’’ said James Thorsen, seaman, who told the thrilling story, “and we struck the rocks so hard that I went spinning along the deck. Amid the thrash of the waves, which broke over the ship and swept through the howling surf, we tried to launch the boats. “It was an impossible business from the start, but most of our men followed the boats over the side, trying to hang on until the seas would sweep them ashore. The ship cracked under our feet “The last time I saw the officers they were standing by the rail. They must have leaped over, too. I was luckier than the rest, being carried ashore. We crawled up the beach, our clothes turning to ice, and the 4S hours we stayed there seemed a lifetime. “Finally, we could hear the rescue ship’s sirens, but the fog came down, and it took them hours to find three of us. Bill Robertson, the radio man, locked himself in the cabin. His S.O.S. was repeated many times, and he must have been drowned there.” The Nevada was bound from Portland to Japan.