SUNK BY MINE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23928, 31 March 1941, Page 6

SUNK BY MINE

FATE OF TRAWLER SEVEN MEN MISSING SUEVIVOBS.' OJiDEAL CO AST OF A TSTT! ALT A SYDNEY, March 20 The trawler Milliintinnil. of 287 tons, was sunk by a mine off the const oi New South Wales on Wednesday evening. Seven of the crew of 12 are missing. Alter spending a night and a day in a lifeboat. the five survivors were picked up off Newcastle by the collier Mortlake Bank. They landed at Sydney Oarlv ye sterday morning. The' men told a -rim story of struggles to free themselves from wreckage as the vessel sank beneath them; of cries for help in the darkness; and of how, when the sun rose, they saw wreckage all round them, but no 'sign of their seven mates. They sailed the lifeboat all Thursday. When they were resetted, they had not eaten for 18 hours. Some were injured. The wreckage was first seen by aeroplanes, which reported it by wireless. Sank in a Minute The following officers and members of the crew have been reported missing:—Captain G. W. C. Rixom. master, married, with two children; Chief Kngineer R. Retail, married, with three children; First, Mate l'\ J. Gibson; Second Knginoi-r J. Detnsie, married, with two children; Wireless Operator H. Hordern, single; G. White, cook, married, with two children; A. Osteiburg. deck hand, no dependants. The Minister of the Navy, Mr. W. M. Hughes, said that according to the survivors the mine became fouled in the iHiniutnill's trawl and struck the ship almost abreast of the main rigging. The vessel sank in about a minute. "The naval authorities," he added, "consider that the mine was one ol the field laid some months ago. It is believed that it had escaped the attentions of the minesweepers that have been operating continuously along our shipping lanes, either because its sinker had fallen into a depression in the sea bed and thus had dragged the mine a long way below sea level, or else because it had become water-logged and had sunk to the bottom." The area in which the vessel was sunk had been swept. Struggle With Raft "Actually," said Mr. Hughes, "until the survivors have been interrogated, it will not be possible to gather whether it was a mine which was some weeks old or one which has just been laid. Surface and air craft are constantly vigilant over the area, and we are taking special measures." The mine could have been laid by a submarine, but it was unlikely that any enemy craft had been in the vicinity in the past week or two. The second officer of the Millimumul. Mr. John Lowe, said that when the explosion occurred he rushed aft to Captain Rixom and the two of them tried to launch the raft. "As we were getting it over the side of the ship, the sea dashed it back on the deck and us with it." lie said. "It jammed us against the casing near the wlieelhouse and at that instant the Miliinmmul sank, taking us with it. "While we were under water. I was still clinging to the raft, and suddenly I felt it loosen. It rose to the sin face, dragging me with it, but Captain Rixom remained jammed by the wlieelhouse. Calls In Darkness "Then I got on the raft and yelled at the top of my voice to find if there was anyone about. 1 heard a few calls from the darkness, and then passed close to Ogilvie, a fireman, who climbed aboard. Then Tommv Grundy, a deck hand called out. When we got close to liini, we found he was lying on the bottom of the upturned lifeboat. "Wo grabbed the lifeboat and dragged it along with us. Then we picked up Kcllv, a fireman, who was swimming about, and put him on the lifeboat, because there was more ro6m there. "A little later Grundy and \ got out of our raft, and, with the other two. turned the boat right side up. The four of us got. into the boat, and made the raft fast with a painter. Then we heard a call from Billy Hamilton, another fireman. The boat was full of water, but we got the oars out and rowed until we picked him up. He was in the cook's meat box. We thought he was leaning on it until he cried out with' [tain as we tried to drag him out. Uy this time all five of its were in the boat. Clothing As Torch "We waited until daylight to see if we could pick up any of the other seven. When the sun rose, we found that we were surrounded by wreckage, hut there was no sign of our mates. Wo therefore baled out, and set sail for land. All day we used the sail when there was any wind, and the oars when there was a lull. "At night we saw a collier. I took off mv jersey, soaked it in kem.eno from the boat's lamp, and set fire to it with one of the matches kept in a water-tight canister in the lifeboat. Then I waved the blazing jersey to attract the attention of tlie collier. "L learned afterward that the collier, flic Mortlake Rank, did not see the blaze, but it: attracted the attention of a shore station, which signalhd 1o the vessel to look for us. It, picked us up.at If p.m. The night was very cold. American Squadron's Care "After I had signalled with my blazing jcrsev, we kept yelling until the Mortlake Bank came alongside and picked us up. None of lis had eaten for 18 hours, and the meal provided by the crew of the collier was the best l! have ever eaten." The Milliinuniul, which was owned by! the Red Funnel Company, of Sydney, was built in Kngland m 1915, It served in the last war as the mystery ship Gunner, when it sank a U-boat. As a safeguard against, mines, the American warships left Brisbane to-day with paravanes out:. A naval authority said that American ships put out paravanes whenever they travelled elos'2 to the Australian coast.