OPERATION AT SEA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 100, 8 April 1936, Page 11

OPERATION AT SEA

Aid Sought by Wireless MID-OCEAN RENDEZVOUS Two British merchant ships hove-to in mid-ocean recently, while their surgeons performed a major operation in a fruitless attempt to save a man’s life. Officers of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion line motor ship Karamea told the story when the vessel arrived in Melbourne. One morning on her last voyage from Australia, the Karamea received an S.O.S. message from the P. and 0. steamer Peshawur, which had passed the previous day. The chief officer of the Peshawur was critically ill, and the surgeon had decided that he had no hope of recovery unless a major operation was performed. The surgeon needed skilled assistance to perform the operation. The Karamea was put about, and when the ships met they were hove-to, and the surgeon of the Karamea, Dr. R. B. Davis, of St. Kilda, was transferred to the Peshawur by life-boat. The operation was performed, and the ships parted The officers of the Karamea have since learned that the chief officer of the Peshawur was so weak when the operation was performed that he died three days later, and was buried at> sea.