THE OKLAHOMA WRECK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 8 January 1914, Page 5

THE OKLAHOMA WRECK.

GALLANTRY OF OFFICERS. 3Y CABLE—PEESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. NEW YORK, Jan. 7. Thrilling tales are related by the survivors of the oil steamer Oklahoma, which sank off Sandy Hook. Of the crew of thirty-eight, eleven manned a boat and reached and boarded the steamer Gregory, which was en route to New York after a remarkable twothousand mile voyage up the Amazon river. Nineteen others manned a second boat, which disappeared and was never seen again. Eight stayed aboard the Oklahoma until the Bavaria rescued them. The Gregory sighted the boat with a sail hoisted. The shipwrecked men, however, were numbed and were unable to keep up the sail. The boat broached, filled, and upset. Three English chief officers aboard the Gregory; named Buck, Williams, and Roberts, thereupon plunged, half unclothed, into the boiling seas. One of the officers was tied to a line, but the others had no assistance. Each seized a struggling sailor, dragged him alongside the steamer, and returned through the waves for the others. The first survivor aboard died instantly. The others lived, through the devoted work of the doctors. When a man was seen swimming near the Gregory Captain Aspinall threw -him a lifeline. The drowning man grasped it, but a huge wage overwhelmed him and he disappeared. The capsized boat meantime righted itself and floated past the Gregory with a man, who was apparently dead, inside it. No further rescues were possible, the others having disappeared. First Officer Buck had previously gallantly rescued a man in the Bay of Biscay, for which he -was awarded a medal. All three officers have been recommended for promotion by the New York agents of the Booth Shipping Line. .