SHIP DOUBLES UP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHIP DOUBLES UP.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE IN 'BAY OF .... BISCAY. .

A thrilling story, of the sea was related by two of the crew of the Italian steamer Industrie, who reached London by the P. and O. steamer Britannia early in April, on which they embarked at Gibraltar. The Industria, a vessel 260 ft in length, and about 980 tons register, was bound from London to Buenos Ayres, where she was to have been employed in the coasting trade. She carried a mixed crew of eighteen hands, chiefly Italians and Norwegians, the only Britishers' on board being Captain Weightman and Messrs. Lindsey and Kealey. In the vessel's hold there was stowed a supply of coal sufficient for the voyage, whilst, in addition, a small quantity of cement was carried as cargo. Misfortune seems to have dogged the Industria almost from the very outset. She sailed from London early in March. Scon after leaving the Thames bad 'weather was encountered, and the Industria. which hailed from Genoa, had to put into Falmouth for shelter and repairs. There she ■ was strengthened by having some additional beams put into'her, and on March 13, the weather having moderated, she put to sea. On the following Saturday afternoon the pumps got choked with coal dust, and later in the day a heavy gale sprung up. Soon there was a tremendous sea running, and the Industria was early in difficulties. One huge wave which struck her caused her to quiver from stem to stern, and then, in the evening, when in the Bay of Biscay, it was found that she; had been badly strained, and that the seas were pouring into her through the bottom. The plight' of the crew was a terrible one, and with the hours of darkness before them their anxiety : can better be imagined than described.- •

THE STORM WAS AT ITS HEIGHT, huge seas were sweeping over the Industria from stem to stern, and although she was being driven for all she was worth in the direction of the nearest land, Cape Villano, it was only too > apparent that she was fast breaking up. . When daylight came it revealed to the sailors that the Industria could not float more than an hour or two, and they had the experience of seeing their vessel bending and straining in the strangest manner. ' Amidships she had come to some serious harm, and soon, with the decks torn and twisted in a. startling way, the two ma,sts of the Industria inclined towards one another, the steamer actually doubling upwards, the stem towards the stern. The vessel, in fact, was shutting up like a poc-ket-knife. Then the captain gave directions) for the boats-to be prepared, and one was safely launched and pulled clear of the fastsinking ship. The other was not so for- j tunate,. however, and was quickly hurled back against the side. of the steamer and capsized, the occupants being thrown into the water. Time after time the upturned boat .was dashed against the steamer's side, and all the while there were clinging to it seven or eight of the . crew. One by one four were overcome by exhaustion, or were rendered unconscious by being crushed between the- ship's side and the boat, and so lost their hold, with the result that they were drowned. Among those on the upturned boat was Able Seaman Kealey, who at last was so benumbed that he would have shared the fate of his shipmates but for the fact that Captain Weightman, who had dived from the steamer's deck at the last moment, -swam to- him and grasped him, holding him until assistance was forthcoming. It was then about nine o'clock on the > morning of St. Patrick's Day. The Moss line steamer Moeris; of Liverpool, outward bound, sighted the fast-sinking Industria and at once headed in her direction. As she approached the steamer swayed several times in the air, doubled right up, turned turtle, and went down at a distance of three hundred yards from the Moeris. The Industria actually broke in two amidships. Fourteen of the crew were rescued by the Moeris. Able Seaman.Kealey had been five hours in the water when he was picked up by his rescuers, and but for Captain Weightman must have been drowned. Mr. Lindsey was in the boat that was safely launched. He had been in the engine-room for. eighteen hours straight.off when lie was summoned on deck to abandon the ship, m In. descending to the boat the rope parted, and he was precipitated on to the boat's gunwale, alighting on his neck. -Half .unconscious,he was hauled on board, just in time to escape being clashed against the ship's side. The crew lost the whole of their effects. -