ON THE ROCKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22403, 27 April 1936, Page 11

ON THE ROCKS

FAMOUS BARQUE DEVON COAST MISHAP EIGHT STILL ON BOARD SEAS PREVENT RESCUE / STEAMER IN COLLISION •Br Telegraph—Pxeus Association—Copyright (Received April 26. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 25 Two well-known ships are in trouble. The barque Herzogin Cecilie is on the rocks off Devon and the steamer Orama collided with an unknown vessel in the Channel. The Herzogin Cecilie is in danger of becoming a total wreck. Holds one and two are believed to be water-logged and seas are washing over the bows, which are pointed toward the sea. The boatswain, Holgeld, says he experienced compass trouble in the later part of the voyage. The steersman in the dead of night off Hamston Bock reported that the compass was swinging strangely. The next minute the barque went aground in a thick fog. The master sent up flares and rockets at 3 a.m. The Salcombe lifeboat was immediately launched and landed 23 of the crew at Salcombe, where they were billeted in hotels. Everyone behaved splendidly. Another attempt to reach the vessel in the lifeboat was made this afternoon, but the seas were too rough. Tugs have not been able to move her from her present position. As Captain Eriksson and his wife and six members of the crew could not. leave thd barque a rocket apparatus shot a life-line from the cliffs enabling a breeches buov to be fitted up in the event of renewed danger. The Orama was proceeding to Tilbury with a skeleton crew from Barrow, where she had been refitted. She collided in a slight fog near the East Goodwin lightship. The captain wirelessed that he did not need assistance. Nothing 'is known of the vessel with which the Orama collided, but she is believed not to have been damaged.

The Herzogin Cecilie is a steel fourmasted sailing barque of 3111 tons, and was built at Bremerhaven in 1902. She is the fastest windjammer afloat, and has won the Australia to England wheat race on several occasions. The Herzogin Cecilie is the only surviving windjammer that has ever improved the Cutty Sark's record log of 353 miles in a day. This feat was performed in 1931 when the vessel reached a speed of 17 knots and travelled 365 miles in 23J hours. The Herzogin Cecilie left Port Lincoln, Southern Australia, for Britain on January/27. She sailed under the Finnish flag.

Ships of the Erikson Line, including the Herzogin Cecilie, are not insured by the owner, Captain Gustaf Erikson, as the freights earned by sailing vessels do not allow a sufficient margin of profit over running expenses to meet premiums.

The Orama, one of the passenger liners owned by the Orient Navigation Company, Limited, is a twin-screw oilburning steamer of 19,777 tons. She was built in 1924 by Vickers, Limited, at Barrow-in-Furness.