MISSING SHIP.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 27 May 1938, Page 7

MISSING SHIP.

SEARCH IMPOSSIBLE. LONDON, May 26. Despite the appeals of the South Shields municipality, the Admiralty and the" Air Ministry announced that a search for the erew of the missing steamer Anglo-Australian is impossible owing to the vast area to be searched and the limited range of aircraft. The Board of Trade announces that an inquiry will he held into tlie_ disappearance of the Anglo-Australian.

Without even a wireless. call for help, the British tramp steamer Anglo Australian (5456 tons) disappeared while on her way from the United Kingdom to Vancouver to load a cargo 'of lumber for Sydney or Melbourne. The of the 38 men who comprised the crew were later informed that all hope for the vessel had been abandoned. It. is presumed that she sank in mid-Atlantic so suddenly that the wireless operator did not have time to send out' an S.O.S. call. One theory is that she struck a floating .mine anil foundered immediately. Otherwise it would be difficult to explain her silence, ur.lesß the wireless equipment ' was out of action when disaster overtook her. Since she was reported overdue many wireless messages have been sent to her, but none of them produced a reply. The Anglo Australian was owned by the Nitrate Producers* Steamship Company, of London, whose vessels - are distinguished by the prefix Anglo in their names. Most of the company’s ships have been engaged in the Australian trade in recent years. The Anglo Australian was built' in 1927 by Short Brothers, of Sunderland, and was a well-found vessel. A Chinese vessel, the Hai Da, vanished on a voyage from Pacific Coast ports, of the United States to China late last, yeai No S.O.S. was heard, but some time after the vessel was reported overdue a lifebelt carrying her name was found near the middle of the Pacific Ocean; So far this ia the only trace of the missing vessel.