THE GALE IN TABLE BAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12077, 22 September 1902, Page 6

THE GALE IN TABLE BAY.

, ( AN AWFUL NIGHT. SHIPS WRECKED AND STRANDED. ENORMOUS LOSS OF LIFE. A THRILLING STORY. Capetown papers received by the mail on Saturday by the Athenic, which arrived at Wellington on Wednesday last, give full details of the fearful gale which raged in Table Bay oil the night of August 14, cable messages regarding which appeared in the Herald at the time. From the Cape Times of August 16 the following particulars are gleaned: — The night of August 14 will be long remembered by the residents of Capetown as one of the most disastrous in the records of Table Bay. One steamer and one sailing vessel were driven ashore during the tremendous gale which prevailed throughout the night, and another sailing vessel was carried into such violent collision with an anchored steamer that she sank immediately, all her crew, with the exception of four men, being drowned. The gale of Thursday night, curiously enough, did not appear to those on land to be of anything like so violent a character as that of Wednesday, but it seems that its direction had altered a point or two to the north. This slight alteration in the direction of the gale made all the difference to the shipping in the Bay. The breakwater yielded less protection, and the shipping was exposed to the frill fury of the storm. The gale that began, on Wednesday afternoon raged with tremendous force throughout that night, and up to mid-day on Thursday, when it dropped considerably. Up to eight o'clock at night on Thursday there seemed little probability of another storm arising, but about that time the wind, which was still fairly strong, freshened, and gradually increased in force, until, about midnight, it was blowing in a series of squalls of terrific violence.

First iu order of time, and also unfortunately in magnitude, comes the foundering of the barque The Highfields, resulting in the loss of at least 23 lives, including the captain, E. ,R. Dunham, She carried a crew of 27 men all told. Although the vessel was British owned, the great majority of her crew were Spaniards, Greeks, and Italians, 19 of whom were actually unable to speak a word of English. Mr. William Bourke was her chief officer, and Mr. E. R. White her second mate. There were two Britishers and two Americans among the crew. The story, as told by Mr. Bourke, the chief officer, was that Robben Island was sighted on Thursday morning, but it was impossible to come in during the day, because almost all The Highfields' sails had been earned away by the recent gales. At the same time the tremendous sea that was still running made any progress impossible. Towards evening, however, by great exertions, it was found possible to" bend a little sail, and Captain Dunham decided that he would make an attempt to come into the Bay and drop anchor. A COLLISION. It was half-past twelve when The Highfields was making progress for port under main and mizzen upper topsails. The night was clear and fine, but a strong wind was blowing from the north-west, and the sea was still running very high. " I was just clewing the fore upper topsail, and the mate was at the fo'c's'le head, when he suddenly called out to me that there was a steamer right under our bows. I called to the captain, and at the same time started running aft, but before I had gone more than a few paces, and just as I was by the captain's side, the vessel was struck." She seems to have been travelling at the time at a speed of between three and four knots, and struck the other vessel a glancing blow, which riped off all her steel plates just on tho water-line. The other steamer proved to be the German East African liner Kaiser, -which had been lying at anchor about a mile and a-half to the north-east of the end of the breakwater.

Mr. Bourke did not at the moment think that the collision had been very severe, but the next moment, as he got on" to tne poop, the decks of the ship were awash, and m less than two minutes The Highfields sank like a stone..

PAGING DEATH. The ship sank instantly, and its suction dragged tho officers and crew down with it. " I felt myself being drawn down and down," said Mr. Bourk", continuing his thrilling narrative, "hurled about in the swirling water, until at last I began to rise again to the surface. At that moment 1 knew that I was drowning, but as I rose again, clutching wildly in the Water as a drowning man will, my hand struck a piece of wood. The next instant I had got a firm hold of it, and was able to haul myself out of immediate danger." The spar proved to be a portion of the handrail of the poop, and consisted of four boards riveted together. " Just then," Mr. Bourke went on, " another head rose above the surface. It was Captain Dunham, and he too managed to get secure hold of the little raft. Then more and more men reappeared, until there were 12 or more did not think of counting them just then— clinging to the spar." Mr. Bourke went on to describe the horrors of- what followed. The spar was of such a formation that every wave that struck it turned it completely over, so that each time it capsized tho men had to struggle up once more to gain a safe position. This happened every few minutes, and one can better imagaine than describe the awful nature of the poor fellows' sufferings, as numbed by the bitter cold of the water, their exhaustion was momentarily increased by tho continual efforts thev had to make to keep their hold of the little raft. THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. Again and again the raft capsized. Again and again Bourke and his companions painfully clambered once more to safe hold. To increase the anxiety and difficulty the men had to .struggle with the frantic efforts of a splendid .black retriever dog, which had been their boon companion on the ship, and which now made piteous endeavours to gain safety. As the dozen or so men, their heads and shoulders just out of the water, clung round the spar, the poor animal kept desperately striving to clamber by their shoulders on to the hoarding, dragging several of the men from their hold in its frenzied attempts. Bourke had again and again to force it back, until at last it disappeared in the swirling sea. -And now the long exposure in the bitter water began to tell. Hour after hour the little ark had been tossed about in the angry seas. The men on the raft, most 01 whom were foreigners, were alternately praying and weeping, having given up all hope of their lives being saved. The Britishers alone remained calm and cheerful, young Ansell, who happily was one of those saved, giving warning every time a wave threatened, and gallantly striving to keep up his companions' spirits. But exhaustion was telling its tale at last. . After as gallant a light for life as has ever been recorded the seamen dropped away one by one. First went one of the foreigners, as a huge wave broke over the raft, and once again capsized it. As they gained their hold again the survivors saw their comrade's body hurried away into the blackness of the night. Then each said to himself, " It is my turn next." About three hours aftei the ship went down, poor Captain Dunham, "as line a man as you could wish to meet," said Mr. Bourke, with tears in hi* eyes, " let go his bold, avid disappeared.'' THE RESCUE. Still there remained eight men on the forlorn hope. Mr. Bourke, a man oi: splendid physique, was able to render them great, help, lor he was fortunate in that he had taken off his sea-boots before the ship went down. Crawling carefully on to the planks, he would stretch out a helping hand first to one and then to another; and then the little baud would wait bravely for the next wave, not knowing who would be the next to be washed away. That was one of the chief terrors of a dreadful night. At last the number of survivors had been reduced to four. It was now after six o'clock, and all were chilled to the bone, utterly exhausted by their constant struggles to keep afloat, and fast losing all hope of succour. And now at this extreme moment of distress hope, revived again as the Harbour Board tug Alert suddenly

came up out of the mist. The men were too exhausted almost to speak. Mr. Bourke himself firmly believes thai if help had. not come at that moment he must have been washed away by the next wave, so utterly worn out was he. A rope was thrown from the Alert, and Mr. Bourke managed to catch it. Steadily lie was pulled in, and at last, after nearly six hours in the water, after six hours' desperate struggling for life, he was drawn into safety. Unhappily the raft was lost sight of the next moment, and the Alert was unable to see her again, but the surviving three, including young Ansell, were a few minutes later rescued, two by the Raglan Castle and another by the steamer Surrey. The cattle transport City of Lincoln, which was at anchor in the bay in readiness to leave for the River Plate,' dragged her anchors and went ashore. The crew, numbering 42, and 52 cattlemen, were safely k.nded by means of a line thrown from the Castle rocket apparatus. The steel ('-hip Brutus also went ashore, and her crew were all rescued by the Harbour Board lifeboat.