SHOCK AT SEA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 7 February 1931, Page 9

SHOCK AT SEA

“VESSEL APPEARED TO BE BLOWN UP”

SAILORS FORM RESCUE PARTY (By Telegraph—Special to “The Mail”) AUCKLAND, 6th February. How some order took the place of ut ler chaos and how the relief was organised is told by members of the rescue party winch went ashore at Napier from the motor ship Taranaki. The vessel arrived in Auckland last evening at 7.30 with the first of the refugees.

MEN THROWN OUT OF BUNKS

When the first shock smote the vessel everyone thought she had blown up. Men in the fo’csle were thrown out of their bunks on to the floor while the 'laranaki shook like a leaf from stem to hern. Nobody thought of earthciuake for a moment, until the gaze of all was drawn towards the shore. There was a haze of smoke rising up and through it distinctly could be seen the town falling to pieces. Then the fires started, but they could not see much. The stevedores who had landed on board a little time before made for tho boats. Their homes were ashore and they had wives and children. As soon us they had left the ship she began to nose her way out of the harbour. ‘ ‘Volunteers ashore, surgeons needed” was the cry from a launch which darted out from the shore and this was the bo ginning of the part the Taranaki played in the disaster. 'Some time later the captain called, for volunteers for a relief party. The difficulty was tc keep anyone on board to man the ship The first party were despatched and later the cry was raised for more men. The captain sent every available man to the shore. They went in their ordinary working clothes, just as they were on board. There were left three sailors, three greasers and a number of officers. GETTING IN TOUCH First the shore party reported to the Police Station for orders and then they tried to find the officer in charge of the party from the 11.M.5. Veronica. They could not discover him anywhere, so they commandeered a motor car and went to the vessel itself. Together with a party from the steamer Northumberland they put themselves under the commander of H.M.S. Veronica. A Lieutenant, a Second Lieutenant and a party of blue jackets formed the complement from the latter vessel. The party then divided into sections, one formed a food base at the Hastings Street School and another went to fight the fires and to relieve the central Fire Brigade. The lethargy, of the townfolk, the apathy of the locals, as members of tne rescue party termed the first townsfolk they met, struck the seamen most forcibly. Some were taking photographs of their own homes burning Some were just looking on and doing nothing. Ill® detachment sent from the food c.epot commandeered a motor lorry and said that as th,-v went along men calWl after them “It's no good, you can’t do anything.” , , ... Making allowances for shock and tne aftermath of shock, the men from the sea were surprised indeed at those who would not make a fight for their homes. For the "renter part of the town people they have the greatest admiration. Deeds of heroism were performed unnoticed every hour while the camaraderie was wonderful.

ROADS A TANGLE OF POWER LINES

“We got in the lorry,” sard one of the party describing the experiences of hw party, “and we ransacked the town in all directions for food, bedding an stores. Along streets feet deep in debn , round great piles of what had, a mere hour or two before been houses an shops, we picked our way. ihe mam roads were a tangle of power wires o all kinds. The lines for tram power were twisted round telegraph poles,.telephone lines had wound themselves iou everything. For miles round the load was a veritable wire entanglement, ihe tram lines were buckled and they ed like metal snakes twisting any • We came to one corner and to g round it we had a. tight squeeze between a motor car end up m a 8 l ‘ crack and a couple of bicycles. liam cars stood where they had been when the power failed, motor cars in all damage lined the streets, paits M g oUter machines peeped from unde ereat heaps. God knows what then freight was. We did not have time to inauire, not at least until aftei I ien.cn eave We stopped at intervals when able and took supplies of eieiythin„ we thought might be needed. Mo. t ole relying on us for food it was no time for wmds We brushed him aside and took what we wanted.

A SURPRISE They went- to one hotel kept by an Fmrlish woman. The teller was ashamed to state it. They asked for bedding 01 the injured and they met with he mi S wer “Oh, no, you cannot take it. The house is standing. I°: m 0 ■ shall open business. I could no | P bly spare any bedding. 1 e °pk infure P d and lying outside and here too they wasted no time. , j, All day long backwards and foiwauls from the. camp into the town t 'l uyw ® ll with lorry loads which meant life to tl SU !oon S they had fires going in the school grounds, fires which mem warmth and cooked food. All n S Zng the sailors served up steaming tews and steaks. Haphazard lines o stragglers wandered down Hastings street all hours during the night comino- from anywhere just as they had left thf ruins of their homes. They came m the only clothes they possessed in the world. That, spot meant comfort foi them, the one place where it was possible that they might see those whom they had lost in the cataclysm. HORROR ON HORROR These were men. These men in the thick of it all described the scene as they saw it. and they saw many sides. Firstly came the quake, they said, when they were on board the vessel. And after that, horror on horror, came the flames. They tried to fight the flames. They and the members of the Central Fire Brigade. Many of the latter body were volunteers' and for 36 hours they did not stop the battle. When they were relieved bv the Taranaki detachment they changed their clothes and were back. the relief party speak of them simply as “men.” , . , From Lhe start the fight was hopeless but that did not deter them. From the ship itself everything was taken that it was thought a need might be found for. All the stores of every kind the captain could spare from butter to medicine found its wav ashore. The vessel was denuded of lanterns. But for the fitful glare of the flames there was a pall of darkness ashore. Pome of the men had torches. Them also went. Electricians were among the

party and officers to direct. They landed on the smashed and tilted quay at midday oil Tuesday and went back at C o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. It was a haggard party. The beacon lighthouse fell. They watched it quiver to tlie shock and then it gradually subsided into ruins like a great chimney. That was all they knew. STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON BED OF OCEAN Strange tilings happened in the bed of the ocean. The bed rose and there appeared above the surface the weedcovered shapeless hull of an old wreck. As they were getting the refugees aboard the water grew very choppy ami transportation was difficult. The water and the land were in travail and the sailors were glad to get away. One old lady they tried vainly to get up the ship’s' side hut the ship’s boat rocked too much. Slip wanted to come mid she tried again. They had to take her hack to the horror on the shore. They left the scene and these sailors speak in awed tones of coming “from deatti into life.”