LOSS OF A PHŒNIX LINER.

North Otago Times, 6 September 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

LOSS OF A PHŒNIX LINER.

TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE CHEW. PERISH. GALLANT RESCUES ' AT SEA, The Lcyland liner liostonian Ims brought news to Hoslon of a disaster to the Phoenix liner British King The vessel foundered on March 11, There were !>G persons on board, of whom only 28 are known to have been saved. The British King went down about G o'clock in tho morning, in latitude 41.40, longitude 60.11. The disaster was due to barrels of oil and other wreckage being washed overboard in tho violent storm, and the furious waves throwing them back against the hull until an aperture was made, through which the water entered. The Bostoninn brought 17 survivors, and the German tank-ship Mannheim picked up 11 others, The survivors on the Bostonian say there is little doubt that the 28 missing persons perished, The Bostonian rescued the captain of tho British King, James O'Hagan, who subsequently died of his injuries; : the second olllcor, Flanagan ; Chief {Engineer Crawford, Fourth Engineer ! Beck, and the stoward, Curry. ! The crews of tho Bostonian and tlw I Mannheim

RISKED THEIR LIVES in the work of rescue. The first boat the liostonian lluinch'ed was crushed bv the sea,' and the crew were saved with difficulty, _ The second boat, after -placing thirteen persons on board the Bostonian, was smashed, but the crew were eventually got out of the water.

The experiences of the rescuers from the Mannheim were equally, thrilling and fraught with peril. Further rescues had to be postponed, owing to the darkness, until the rising of the moon. Meanwhile it was believed that the '2B men had gone down with the British King, which sank near Sable Island. A boat's crew subsequently rescued five of the crow, who were clinging to wreckage. The leak was' not discovered until it was too late to save the ship. The British King was a steel screw steamer, of 4,717 tons. She carried no passengers, but was laden with a general cargo, including 150 cattle.