TERRIFYING ORDEAL

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 194, 18 August 1936, Page 4

TERRIFYING ORDEAL

INER PASSENGERS IN COLLISION.

Passengers off the Cunard-Whita Star linfer Doric, crippled in a collision with the French steamer Formigny, had a graphic story to unfold of the sudden c.ash which startled them from sleep in the darkness of the night, of sirens and hoarse voices sounding through the mist, of the.coolness of men and women, who hurried up to decks already aslant in a tell-tale list. .

Everyone expressed admiration for the behaviour of the officers and crew, who quietly and jestingly carried out their jobs and calmed even the most nervous passengers by their coolness. "My most vivid impression is of the behaviour of six blind men of St. Dunstan.s,” Miss Doris Edwards, of Harrow, told the Sunday Chronicle. "They were magnificent. Quietly they moved round among the other passengers, giving a helping hand here, giving some little piece of advice somewhere else. "One of them helped the sailors in our lifeboat in their row to the Orion, our rescue ship. "It seemed impossible to realise that these men were sightless.” The most anxious time for passengers was spent in an open boat, blindly groping their way through the mist towards the Orion. "For nearly two hours we felt our way through the fog,” said Mises E. Burslem, of Bellingham Hoad, Catford. "It was impossible to see more than a few yards, and the open boat felt strangely unsafe after the hugeness of the liner. "We were all thoroughly thankful when we climbed up the Orion’s side.” Other passengers were told by the ship’s officers that they might return to their cabins to collect their clothes. Many went below to find the passages and cabin floors awash and their clothes floating about in the water. Miss Lilian Lesser, of London, told me a dramatic story. She said: "I was awakened by two terrific crashes and almost flung out of my bunk, and before I had time to collect myself the alarm for boat stations went. “I grabbed my life-jacket and dashed on to the deck, where I found some of the crew lowering a boat. "I was thrust into this with many other men and women, and we cast off. For one and a half hours we cruised round the Doric in a thick fog. "We could see nothing at all, and only faintly heard the sounds on board the liner. "The boatswain in charge of the boat had a terrible job to keep direction. We in the boat were not too happy, as we were in our night clothes and it was cold. "I ntually, we saw the lights of the Doric shining mistily through the darkness and got back alongside. The Dori had a terrible list, but we were ordered to go back on board again. v "The crew were simply wonderful In their handling of the passengers They quelled any attempt at panic with a laugh and a joke and sot about r.aking us as comfortable as they could.

" Viio crew were simply wonderful In their handling of the passengers They quelled any attempt at panic with a laugh and a joke and set about r.aking us as comfortable as they could. "The ship’s orchestra, in their pyjamas, searched round for instruments and played ragtime in the smoke room, while the officers instructed us to go down to our cabins and put together a few articles of clothing.” Mr E. W. Stephenson, of Bath said: "I woke up with a start as the collision took place, and, thinking that soraetl ’ng had happened, gave my cabin partner, Mr E. G. Edwards, of Ealing, a dig in the ribs and said: “Hi, get up there, we are shipwrecked!’ "He sleepily replied that he did not want any practical jokes at that time of the morning. However, I convinced him and we went on deck. Everything was very orderly; the crew had taken complete charge. d was no sign of panic. Many of the cabins were badly damaged, and y e one next door to uA was badly splintered. "I am in rather a peculiar position now. I have got to walk about London for the day in pyjamas with just a pair of flannel trousers, a shirt, and ja ':et over them. The rest of my .stuff had to be left oh the Doric.”