BAY OF BISCAY DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20901, 17 June 1931, Page 9

BAY OF BISCAY DISASTER.

HUGE SEA SINKS -VESSEL.

480 LIVES FEARED LOST. STORIES OF SURVIVORS. PEOPLE CAUGHT BELOW. SAI) SCENES ON QUAY. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON. June 15. A pilot boat, from St. Nazaire lias landed seven nearly demented passengers who were rescued, from the sunk ship Saint Philibert. Her valiant crew again and again manned Ihe ship's boats, but each was promptly engulfed in the. seas.

Until a check is made of those who disembarked at Noirmontiers, it is impossible accurately to estimate the death roll, but the ship's owners fear it is more than 400. and the latest estimate is 480 out of a total complement of 500. The master, Captain Ollive, was drowped, but 44 passengers who have returned from Noirmontiers assert that between 80 and 100 persons landed there, which would reduce the fatalities proportionately. As a result of a search by many vessels, I lie bodies of 12 men and 57 women have been recovered and laid in rows under thfquavside shed, while weeping relatives pass along essaying the almost impossible task of identification. Bodies Washed Ashore. Tlio bodies of 60 persons, mostly women and children, have been washed up on the beach. A preliminary official inquiry into the disaster shows that it was duo to a wave 40ft. high which hit the steamer broadside oil, when she had listed through tho frantic passengers rushing to the lee side. At least 100 persons were trapped in the saloon.

Tho slii|i's owners stale the Saint Philibert was quite seaworthy. She was commanded l)v an ablo and experienced captain, and would have weathered the storm if the. passengers had not become panic stricken. The roughness of (hp sea. is shown by tho fact that the naked body of a girl of 18, still warm, was washed up. Attempts at resuscitation failed. The weather is still not calm, but lifeboats arc searching. Awful Scenes of Horror. One survivor, M. Bertliv, says ho floes not know how he come to the surface. The scene was terrible and unforgettably hideous. Men, women and children were screaming and flinging their arms about, struggling to keep afloat. Another survivor, M. Duvenger, said he dived as the ship turned turtle. When lie reached tho surface ho saw people clinging to tho hull, which was bottom uppermost. Then tho vessel disappeared, drowning numbers who were below tho deck, lie and others scrambled into one of the ship's unsinkablo lifeboats, and they were rescued. When M. Berthy was asked whether ho desired that his family should bo notified, he replied: "It is useless. My family is at the bottom of tho sea." " Tho President of M. Doumcr, and tho Prime Minister, M. Laval, have issued messages of condolence to the relatives. Tho Minister of Mercantile Marine, M. Eollin, has ordered an inquiry to bo held.