RESCUED IN MID-OCEAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

RESCUED IN MID-OCEAN.

PARING FEATS OF BRITISH SAILORS. .. :. ,; A fine story of British pluck is provided by the rescue *in " mid-ocean by the' ighields steamer, Intrepid (appropriate name!), of the crew of .the German steamer Agnes, during the storm. ' •;// ■ ■ Thirty miles out, from {.lie Tyne the In-trepid—-with her own boats smashed, cabins flooded, and all the deck fittings wrecked— righted the German flying signals of distress, and drifting helplessly. in the gale. Her engine fires had been flooded by the heavy seas and her machinery rendered useless. ' Though it was a most hazardous undertaking, Captain Dyer and the crew of the Intrepid essayed to " save the crew of the rapidly■:sinking; steamer. With some difficulty :: the. Intrepid was brought up ! closei to } windward of the vessel in distress, \ and lifebuoys were floated out towards her attached to linesOne by one the men on the Agnes jumped overboard j and swam to the floating," lifebuoys. 'It was a desperate venture, and two men were drowned in the attempt. The cook also was washed overboard, and disappeared before any help could be rendered, ; but the others were saved."' For six hours Captain. Dyer! and his officers ami men laboured, being all the time almost up to their waists in water. / " ■Captain Rosalski, of the Agnes, who, with'; the others, was landed at Shields, on November 14, speaks in enthusiastic admiration of the courage and determination dis-. played by the Englishmen. ; , //„>:.■/ / / It now transpires that the Dover lifeboat made a most perilous voyago when she had : rescued; the wrecked crew : of the steamer Stelvio. ■'■:'■ Besides her own gallant crew of fifteen men she had on beard those rescued, so that she was heavily weighted. ■ '/'.".., After leaving the side of the wrecked ship; huge seas broke over her. ' First, away went r her rudder lines,; and then her rudder, so that she rode at the mercy of the waves. It fell to someone to do a' gallant deed; and Cole, the coxswain, did it. ; He crawled out upon the bulkhead, and sitting astride \ it endeavoured to steer the drifting craft \ with an oar. ■;■■ He was succesful partially, but only, par- \ tially, for heavy seas were continually breaking over him. • The boat drifted off : Walmer, where the': Dover men burned flares for assistance. The lights brought the Warmer lifeboat out to their assistance, and, being '.supplied with a fresh rudder, they were eventually, enabled to fetch Ramsgate in safety. Hard weather was still. being experienced: that day at Hartlepool, where in the morn-; ing a Dutch galliot ran on the rocks off West, Hartlepool. : The lifeboat rescued four men, who, it is believed, composed the whole crew.