NIGHTMARE TIME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23840, 16 December 1940, Page 9

NIGHTMARE TIME

20 HOURS IN BOAT AUSTRALIAN'S EXPERIENCE SAW 24 CHILDREN DIE Heart-rending experiences in a waterlogged lifeboat filled with children rescued from the City of Benares, which was torpedoed without warning in the Atlantic on September 17, and the recollection of haiing to watch 21 of the children die and cast them into the raging sea, were related yesterday by .Mr. Arthur K. Dowling, of Melbourne, who is on his way hack to Australia. It was .Mr. Dowling who rescued a British Broadcasting Corporation commentator, Mr. Davis, and hauled him on board the lifeboat as he was about to sink. Mr. Davis had been commissioned to accompany the children to the United Slates and give a radio commentary upon their arrival at New York. When he reached England he mentioned Mr. Dowling and the part he had played in the 20 hours' wait before the lifeboat was picked up by a British destroyer. Mr. Dowling was reluctant to revive memories of his experience. He was playing whist on board the City of Benares when at about 10 p.m. there was an explosion. "We went overside in a lifeboat," he said. "There were 28 in ours, mostly children whom i had herded in. "The heavy seas all but filled the boat. I held as many of the shivering children as J could. We were poorly clothed for such weather and seas continually washed over us. The children died before our eyes. For the sake of the others I had to take life-preservers off those who died, say a prayer over them, and cast them overside. It was horrible. "At the end of a nightmare stretch of 20 hours in that boat, when all hope seemed lost and there were only four of us left, a destroyer found us. We were so weak we had to be hoisted by ropes on to the destroyer."