TRAWLER ON A REEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 9

TRAWLER ON A REEF.

WRECK OF THE BROLGA. CREW'S LUCKY ESCAPE. THRILLING ADVENTURES. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SYDNEY, Aug. 20. The Australian coast claimed its thifd shipping disaster within six weeks when the trawler Brolga, owned by the Coastal Trawling Company of New South 'Wales, went ashoro on Beware Reef", near Cape Evarard, on the north-eastern coast of Victoria, early last Friday morning and became a total wreck. On July 7 the Cooma was wrecked off the Queensland coast and a week later an explosion caused the petrol-laden Kooringa to be burned to the water's edge in Bass Strait. None of the disasters has been attended by loss of life. The Brolga had taken a catch of fish to the Melbourne market and was returning to its headquarters at Sydney when it was wrecked. The chief officer was on the bridge at the time, a heavy southwesterly gale was blowing and despite the strict watch kept, blinding rain and a thick hazo prevented danger being seen. It was two o'clock in the morning when the Brolga struck the reef. Subsequent happenings are best told in the words of the master, Captain Benton. "I ordered all hands to take life-belts and man the boats," said Captain Renton. "A big sea hit the ship and washed three men overboard. Two were thrown to the vessel's rail by the backwash, and they scrambled aboard again. The thifd man, McPherson, the second officer, had to swim desperately to regain the vessel, and did so only by seizing the end of a trawl net which had been washed overboard. There was no confusion, but owing to the heavy sea great difficulty was experienced in launching the lifeboat. It would not' have been accomplished had not the dynamo kept the lights going. There was great feai* that the boiler would burst while, the chief officer was down in the wireless room vainly trying to get enough power to send out an S.O.S. It is fortunate that the vessel struck the edge of Beware Reef end-on and slid off into deep water, otherwise she would have been smashed to pieces and all lives lost. ,r Captain Renton and the crew stood by and watched the Brolga disappear within, three minutes from the time the boat was launched. The boat's head was! then turned eastward and the journey made along the inhospitable, densely wooded, and uninhabited coastline to the first habitation, and Cape Evarard lighthouse. That perilous journey, in a lifeboat with the bottom partly-stove in, was made in eight hours, and it was 10 o'clock when the party landed safely at the lighthouse. The three men stationed at the lighthouse cared for, the shipwrecked men, and one of them rode on horseback through . dense forests; along a rough bridle track .to, Cann River, the nearest telegraph station, 25 miles away. That arduous trip was not completed until the middle of the afternoon. Immediately messages were flashed to the navigation authorities in Melbourne. The crow rested at Cape Evarard for two days and on Monday left for Carin River. Then they travelled by motor-lorry to Bombala (New. South Wales) and thence to their homes at Sydney. The Brolga was formerly owned by the New South Wales Government, when it was engaged in the traveling industry, and was built for that . purpose by a Middlesborough (England), shipyard. When the Government decided to abandon , its : trawling project in X 923. the Broltffi was sold to Ssmford, Limited, of Auckland, together with the Otinnnndaal, and the two were purchased by the Coastal Trawling Company last year. The Brolga was returning from the first ! -ip by which the company hoped to establish its catches on the Melbourne market.