SHIP SINKS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 257, 27 September 1935, Page 16

SHIP SINKS

DURING FIREWORKS DISPLAY. So enthusiastic was the reception committee at Ting-liai, a small Chinese port to the south of Shanghai, when the “new” coastal vessel Mei Lee No. 2, formerly well-known in the Australain coastal trade as the Eumeralla, arrived on her first voyage, that the steamer is now resting complacently on the bottom of Hangchow Bay, with water lapping around her bridge and funnel. 'This undignified pose is the result of' another incident in the adventures of the Eumeralla since she was bought by an Eastern firm early' this year, after having been idle in Port Phillip for six years, according to information received in Melbourne.

After being forced to return to Melbourne twice, first with engine trouble and then owing to a leak, the Eumeralla had an eventful voyage to China. Fuel and supplies ran short, and then the crew had a difficult task in making the coast of China. On her first voyage the Mei Lee No. 2 reached Ting-hai with 400 Oriental passengers. The population of the town turned out to welcomo the new ship, and a demonstrative crowd on the wharf insisted on the traditional custom of exploding hundreds of firecrackers.

The pyrotechnic display caused the 400 passengers to rush across to the side of the ship nearest the exciting scene. The small steamer immediately took a list, water began pouring in through the open cargo ports, and the vessel sank. The ceremonies then came to a hasty end. Now the inhabitants are wondering how the ship can be raised.