TERRIBLE STORY Of THE SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15234, 22 February 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

TERRIBLE STORY Of THE SEA.

,' 22 MEN DIE IN THE" RIGGING, ' Details of/.'the disaster to /the' Furaess ; liner Florence on the coast of ; bund- : land during a : north-Westerly hurricane, i whoa the captain and 21 of the crew were ; lost, have been received, The liner was on a voyage from Halifax to Liverpool with a general cargo, when she struck on . a reef in St. Mary's, Bay, near Gape Race; Captain Barr, seeing that his vessel was being pounded to pieces by enormous seas, decided to abandon her, and after: much difficulty the entire crew, of; 2? effected a landing on ; a ledge of rock n near J'%, Hyacinth. The rising sea, backed by 'the gale, swept: over the hapless men, and as escape up th© face of. the steep ; cliff- was impossible, all hands were again / obliged to get into the: boats. The captain and 21 men determined to return, to the "steamer, in the hope that the would moderate, and succeeded ,in boarding her, but Second Officer Hedley,/with 'four men in a small boat, said they would try another landing-place. - With /the gale increasing in force, the Florence was thrown over with a heavy list, and commenced to break up. The cabins, i ehgineroom/:; and holds fast filled with /v water, and ■ huge waves swept constantly across the hull driving all handa to seek shelter in the rigging. Meanwhile; Second Officer Hedlev and his four companions,; after a: terrible experience, '■ effected a. landing among the breakers/ higher up the coast.:v Thev were almost frozen to death by the icy spray to which they were exposed for hours, but .with difficulty /they.'. managed to crawl up to a pjaco of safety on the cliff. From there they -caw", their hapless'comrades lashed to the rigging, with tho seas sweeping over them,' until- darkness shut them out from view.: At daylight ho trace of the steamer was to be seen. 3 Suffering terribly from exposure and want 'food the five men found shelter from the storm for a tiiiic in. .*■ fisherman's deserted; hut : and / subsequently _ reached /; an : isclated settlement some miles distant, (where two of the survivors had to remain, / being unable to proceed any farther. Second Officer Hedley pushed .on to ,/Trespassey and reported the disaster. '■-,■ - ; .. . Captain Barr had his home in i London , ..where his wife and two children, xeaid«. '