Dramatic Story of Athenia Disaster

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 280, 27 November 1939, Page 2

Dramatic Story of Athenia Disaster

AUCKLAND COUPLE Rescued from Separate Lifeboats

(By Telegraph—Press AssorW,:- ' AUCKLAND, Nov. 25. A dramatic account of the sinking of the liner Athenia was given by Mr C. E. Tomlinson, director of a motor firm in Auckland, and formerly of Dunedin, after he and his wife had been warmly greeted by relatives and friends on their arrival by the Monterey. “I was at dinner, and my wife was . tying down in her cabin,” said Mr Tomlinson. “Then came a crash. The lights went out. 1 ‘‘Next to me was an American .woman. I said: ‘We had better stay | quiet. This looks like the end.’ “The ship took a sickening lurch to jport. There was pandemonium in the j saloon. The American woman was icalm and brave.” { On reaching his cabin, Mr Tomlinson I found that his wife, who was in her ! nightdress, had left. When he had j given up hope of finding her, he saw jher in a lifeboat which had been | launched, and threw her a raincoat. » That was Sunday night, j His lifeboat was crowded, and every- { body v/as violently ill. He was taken '.aboard the Norwegian tramp Knut ! Nelson in a bosun’s chair at two o’clock jnext morning. | The following lifeboat fouled the propellers of the rescue ship, and only four of the passengers wore saved. They were landed at Galway, Ireland. Not until the following Thursday night did Mr Tomlinson learn that his wife had been picked up by a Swedish luxury yacht and waa on the way to .Halifax. Mr Tomlinson spoke warmly of the kindly care received on the rescuing vessels and in Ireland and Canada.