STORY OF THE SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11056, 6 May 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

STORY OF THE SEA.

STEAMER FOUNDERS IN A FEARFUL GALE. Tub steam trawler Kirton landed at Boston 13 of the crew of the steamship Rcccpta, belonging to the Gordon Steam Shipping Company (Limited), of London. The Reoepta, 607 tons net 'register, loft the Tyne, hound for Pillan, ill Prussia, with a cargo of coal. She encountered a heavy gale from the north, and heavy seas broke on board) smashing the forward bulwarks oil the starboard tide .and doing o-tlieV damage. The cargo shifted and the steamer made a lot of water. Tlio gale continued unabated, and as she made more and more water, and the lives of those 011 board were imperilled, it was decided to abandon her. This the crew did in two boats, afterwards standing by the steamer as well as they could till she foundered two hours after. Tho crew numbered 17 hands, including Captain Welsh, of Shields. Thirteen went in one boat and four in the second. Nothing has since been seen of the last boat or its occupants, who are believed to have perished. On the next morning the Boston steam trawler hove in sight and succeeded in taking them off and getting them safely 011 board. Captain Welsh, in an interview, said: — A huge sea came aboard the steamer, sweeping the starboard bulwarks clear away by the deck, and ripping the whole waterway out of the ship. At the same time the vessel took a tremendous list to starboard, and in a short time the hold was filled with water. Thirteen of us got away on the starboard lifeboat, which several times filled to tho thwarts, and only floated 011 her tanks. In order to bale her out we knocked in the head of a water breaker, using that as a bailor. We were half drowned and perished with cold. The steward was washed out of the boat, but was recovered." Questioned respecting the missing men. Captain Welsh said one of them, named Parsons, belonged to Plymouth, and the second ordinary seaman, Br jy, was from Jersey. One of the firemen was a German, and the other, John lidd, of Shields. Tidd was an Irishman and was the causo of the disaster to the small boat. He went first in the lifeboat but jumped from it into the jolly-boat, saving there were too many in the lifeboat. He than cast off tho small boat and pulled away contrary to the captain's orders, and ignored a line thrown after the jollyboat. The small boat was not got out for life-saving at all, but for use in case of emergency. Nothing mora afterwards was seen of it.