DRAMA AT SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 9

DRAMA AT SEA

MOTOK-SHIP WRECKED

ALL ON BOARD RESCUED

TERRIFYING EXPERIENCES WOMAN PASSENGER'S ORDEAL [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY. July 2 The Norwegian motor-ship Stanford, 4803 tons, ran on the treacherous African Reef near Geraldton, Western Australia, and with heavy seas breaking over her cjuickly became a total wreck. The passengers and crew were in dire peril when they were taken off the doomed and rapidly disintegrating ship by the Western Australian coastal motor-vessel Koolinda.

Captain C. Bech said he was on the bridge of the Stanford with the fourth officer when she struck the reef. "All night," he said, "the visibility had been very poor and squalls made conditions worse. Suddenly we felt the ship bump, and then she started to labour in the heavy seas. After that but it was no use. Every now and then she stopped. We tried to put her astern, she would be lifted up and smashed down on the reef. All Hands on Deck

"All hands were called on deck, and lifeboats prepared. I sent out an S.O.S. We made contact by wireless with the Koolinda, and got a reply that she was coming at full speed. After four Lours of anxious waiting on the ship, which might have crumbled beneath us, we were given renewed hope when the Koolinda's lights were seen about 1 a.m. One boat was rowed off from the Stanford, and another sailed from the Koolinda."

Captain Bech was the last to leave. He took with him the ship's papers, the ship's cat, and three kittens, but everything else was lost. The chief officer of the Koolinda, Mr. F. Humble, who was in charge of the lifeboat which took the last party off the Stanford, said that when he reached the Stanford the foremast had gone through the bottom of the ship and the saloon was flooded. It was lucky that they were able to effect a rescue. Seas were breaking over the Stanford when they arrived, and the work of getting the men off occupied 45 minutes. Calmest Woman He : Ever Saw The Stanford's boat had a difficult passage, and for two hours the men rowed desperately in the rough sea, and at times made no headway. The Koolinda then moved to within a mile of the wreck. Those in the Stanford s boat included Sir. and Mrs. D. J. Jeans, the only passengers aboard. Mrs. Jeans was the calmest woman he had ever seen, said an officer. A graphic account of her terrifying experiences was told by Mrs. Jeans. She was reading when the ship struck. She and her husband rushed to the boat deck to find the lifeboat crews standing by, and at that moment she said she felt the thrill of fear. "All night we sat on the boat deck," she said. "It was raining heavily. The engineers stayed below to * keep the lights on and keep the pumps going. I was helped into a lifeboat. The long row beneath grey sky with gusts of rain and flying spray after a sleepless night seemed to me absolutely endless."

On the day that the Koolinda arrived at Fremantle with the rescued persons, the Prime Minister. Mr. Lyons, announced that the Commonwealth Government had decided to make an award in recognition ot the services rendered by certain officers and men of the Kooiinda, in rescuing 18 Asiatic pearlers, when a hurricane overwhelmed the Broome pearling fleet during March of last year and there was heavy loss of life. The Koolinda rescued the crews of two luggers which had been stricken in a tempestuous sea.