AUSTRALIAN COAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23810, 11 November 1940, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN COAST

SUCCESSIVE LOSSES BRITISH AND AMERICAN EFFICIENT RESCUE WORK By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright 1 . (.Received November 10, 9.50 p.m.) SYDNEY. Nov. 10 Two overseas vessels—one British and one American-—have v been lost off the Australian coast in rapid succession as a result of striking enemy mines. The name of the British ship has not been announced, nor have any details been given of her position when she was lost. It appears, however, that she was off the southern Victorian coast. The American vessel was the City of Rayville, a freighter of 5883 tons, owned by the United States Maritime Commission. She was lost on Friday night, following an explosion when she was off Cape Otway at the western approaches to Melbourne. In neither case was there any serious loss of life. One man is missing from each ship. The first sinking was announced on Friday night by the Minister for the Navy, Mr. W. M. Hughes, who said that a British overseas ship had been sunk off the Australian coast as a result of an explosion due to the presence of an enemy mine. The whole ' crew of 58, except one, reached safety in the ship s lifeboats. The vessel carried no passengers. Following closely on this disaster, the American motor-ship City of Rayville blew up and sank on Friday night off Cape Otway. She is the first United States vessel lost as a result of the war. Naval and fishing craft assisted in rescuing the crew of 38, but one man is missing. The crew were landed early on Saturday at the holiday resort and fishing village of Apollo Bay. Motor-boats from the fishing fleet at Apollo Bay picked ' 3 up the survivors.

A dramatic story of the explosion which sent the ship to the bottom in less than three-quarters of an hour was told by the officers and crew, who were landed at a Victorian fishing village. They spent nine hours in open lifeboats, many of them clad only in pyjamas.' The explosion plunged the vessel into darkness and, because of the power failure, the wireless operator was unable to send out a message. However, the battery sets in the lifeboats enabled contact to be made with land. The American sailors insist that their, ship did not strike a mine, but was torpedoed. Soon after the explosion the decks were awash' and the ship was filled with, the stench of some kind of gas which made breathing difficult. Captain A. P. Cronin, who has been 20 years in this vessel and who is ,well known on the Australian coast, said his ship was Struck at about 7.40 p.m. on Friday, just as darkness had fallen. The men behaved magnificently, although some who were in pyjamas suffered severely from the cold and rain while they were in the ship's boats awaiting the rescue launches. The City- of Rayville disappeared in a few minutes. Minesweeping flotillas were immediately operating, and later Mr. Hughes announced that several mines had been located and destroyed in the area off the Australian coast where the two ships \vere sunk., ' ""There is now no reason to doubt, he said, that the sinkings were caused by mines. Any suggestion that the ships were sunk by internal explosions is entirely removed. » Mr. Hughes added that all possible steps were being taken to safeguard shipping.