WRECK OF THE ISIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22574, 12 November 1936, Page 13

WRECK OF THE ISIS

SOLE SURVIVOR'S STORY THRILLING EXPERIENCE LONDON, Nov. 10 Fritz Roethke, the 17-year-old cabin boy, who was tho sole survivor of the crew of tho German motor-ship Isis, which foundered off Land's Find, lay in the bottom of a water-log red lifeboat for 12 hours until he was rescued by the German steamer Westernland in the sick bay of which ho was interviewed at Southampton. Roethke said the boat in which he and a few shipmates left the Isis capsized, but ho scrambled back into it with the chief steward as a wave righted it. His companion was drowned, however, when the boat again capsized. A third wave righted it again. The youth told how the commander of tlio Isis, in a tearing gale, mustered the crew on tho boat deck on Sunday evening after seas had broken the hatch and filled the forehold, and said that if the bulkhead between the forehold and tho next hold lasted the ship might float until morning. Two hours later, however, seas broke the bulkhead, tho vessel listed heavily and later plunged to the bottom.