OPERATION PERFORMED AT SEA

Hokitika Guardian, 1 May 1931, Page 8

OPERATION PERFORMED AT SEA

DEVON’S SURGEON RENDERS ASSISTANCE. V lien the Federal liner Devon, which arrived at Lyttelton on Tuesday |>oiu Glasgow, was in the Atlantic, near ng Colon, she picked up a radio message at- 11 o'clock on tlm night of March 30 from the Italian steamer Yi»c"«. asking for medical aid for a wound'd seaman. Thy Devon’s course was immediately altered and she came up with the Vincas at 10 a. ill. the following day. There wa- s a fairly rough fea running at the time, and rare had to be taken in launching the lifeboat to convey the ship’s surgeon. Dr 4. D. Earle in the Vincas. The boat was manned by giglit of the Devon’s cadets and the seeon ( | officer, .Mr .1. Marks.

Boarding the veMsel, |)r Earle found that a Spanish scama-n bad been stablied and disembowelled in a quarrel '.with another member of the crew. 'File wounded man was placed on a

• 1 •f 1 r a■ d remov’d to the Devon, where Dr Earle, assisted by the chin olljcbr. Air F. G. Tether, performed mi operation. The Spaniard had a cut in tlie stomach seven inches long. The ship was slowed down for an hour and a half while tlie operation was in progress. 'Flic wounded man made a good recovery and was landed at Balboa on \pril •">. He was profuse in his thanks to Dr Earle and the officers of the Devon and expressed regret at having to leave the ship and tlie care and attention of those on hoard. Dr Earle is making bis first trio a s ship’s surgeon. He is a native of Liverpool. An officer of the ship spoke 1 very highly of the work performed by the doctor, who at the time was suffering from a. badly chafed hand, sustained while descending a rope into the lifeboat.