ALARMING AFFAIR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 112, 13 April 1936, Page 7

ALARMING AFFAIR.

TIDAL WAVE HITS SHIP. TRAGEDY AT PORT PHILLIP. MELBOURNE, April 12. Struck by a huge t dal wave while about to entev Port Phillip Head this morning, the Tasmanian steamer Nairana (3000 tons), carrying 91 hands and .88 passengers, narrowly escaped disaster. Four persons lost their lives and many were injured. The Nairana wan approaching the heads in a ca.lm sea when suddenly a huge wave reared up astern and towered over the ship, throwing her on to her beanie ends with water up to the boat deck. Thinking the ship was foundering screaming passengers crowded the passage-ways, struggling to get upstairs. Furniture was thrown about in the confusion in the saloons. In the engine-room the firemen and engineers were tossed about by the movement of the ship, and some were injured against hot plates. The helmsman was wrenched away fiopi the wheel, . but Captain Mclntyre managed to seize it and hold it until the ship righted herself. When the wave passed the Nairana gradually resumed a.n even keel. When the passengers and crew were mustered it was found that Mr and Mrs F. Parsons and their daughter, Miss Jean Parsons, of Burnie, Tasmania, had been swept overboard and drowned, while Robert William Gnlow, a miner, Tasmania, had ben crushed to death bv the weight of water. Many others were injured and were taken to hospital on arrival at Melbourne. Captain Mclntyre can give no explanation of the wave. He said. Never in all my career have 1 experienced anything similar. . Captain Mclntyre, interviewed, stated that the Nairana left for Melbourne on Saturday with 88 passengers, 64 of whom were second-class 'J be yoyage across Bass Strait liaa been perfectly calm. Many of the people were breakfasting and some were half-clothed when the ship was lifted bodily, alarmingly and like a cork, the steering wheel became unmanageable and spun through the helmsman s hands. He lost his balance completely and when the ship heeled violently to starboard, a wail of water clashed down. The ship was submerged on one side to a point 40. feet above the waterline and he estimated the ship s angle at 55 degrees from the horizontal. Then another great wave swept over the decks and the position looked really serious. He, however, was greatly comforted when the ship finally righted herself .and he saw things round him returning to normal. The visitation was all so terribly sudden and took everybody unawares. He had never experienced anything like it before. The ship was completely out of control for two minutes. There were hundreds of tons of cement in the bottom of the ship and had this shifted an inch he feared the Nairana would have gone down. * The Nairana’s crew of 91 behaved splendidlv, declared a passenger, Mr Malcolm "'Wilson, of Ascotvale. He saw a number of injured and panicstricken women and children who needed attention. These people had no idea of what .happened nor what their fate was going to be. Some became hysterical and the stewards found difficulty in pacifying them. Nobody missed the Parsoj- family until about .an hour after, when the vessel anchored off Queenscliff. When the roll was called it revealed their disappearance. Gillow received shocking injuries, including a fractured spine and skull. The official, theory is that some form. of tidal wave struck the Nairana, its origin being in a submarine disturbance.