TYPOON TERRORS

Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1934, Page 6

TYPOON TERRORS

HUGE TIDAL WAVE

OR APEIC NARRATIVES

Captain M. B. Skinner, commander l of the steamer Nankin, which arrived,tit /Brisbane recently, g'aee a. vivid ’ description of the scenes in Kobe Harbour during the recent typhoon, j The confusion along the w-aterhont was beyond description, Captain Skininer.said. Ocean-going .liners berthed | alongside Kobe piers suffered severe 1 damage, though they were sheltered by tli breakwaters from the mountainous seas which were running outside the harbour. The America Naru, on the adjacent pier to the Nankin, although ■ stoutly lashed to the wliarf and with two anchors down, broke away and collided with the Takusan A aru, which i was astern of the Nankin. ! The Blue Funnel freighter Phemius, 1 after breaking her moorings, drifted helplessly across the hows of the Harbin I Maru, both ships being damaged above | the waterline. Many similar vessels were i wrecked, lighters were ' lifted on to ! wharves, and cargo was strewn about the docks.

Most of the damage to shipping in Kobe Harbour was caused by a huge tidal wave, which swamped the wharves. Damage to merchandise in the pier sheds in' Kobe Harbour was estimated at £1,000,000.

| 'Thrilling stories of the typhoon were , also told by passengers of the Nankin. 1 Miss Lynette Young, of Toorak, Melbourne, who was aboard the Nankin in Kobe Harbour when the typhoon struck ! Japan, said that through the porthole of her cabin she watched ships plunging and- straining at their moorings, and j saw some breaking away. Snapping steel cables is if they were cotton, the ships drifted like hobhriig ‘ corks, acriss the intervening water and | crashed into other vessels moored oppo- | site them. A tidal wave swept suddenly over the harbour, and wharves disap- , peared. Men could be sctni struggling | along the wharves through water up to four feet deep. ! The Chicibu Mam, a vessel of 20,000 ' tons, and the pride of the Nippon Yuseri Kaisha Line, was wrenched from her moorings and crashed into a wharf opposite, sustaining serious damage. , Nine bodies were recovered after this j accident. Several other ships broke loose ! and drifted helplessly about the hari hour, bumping into/ other craft and I causing much damage to plates and superstructure.

j When on her way from Hongkong to j Manila the Nankin experienced another j typhoon, which was terrifying to the - passengers. Receiving word of the apj proachirig typhoon, tire Nankin deviated from her course, and ran with the wind i on the quarter all night, going 200 miles out of her course.