WRECK OF THE BERLIN

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6176, 6 April 1907, Page 5

WRECK OF THE BERLIN

THE HOOK OF HOLLAND TKAGEUiT. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LuADOiN, iconiary 22. The wreck of liio Ureal Eastern steamer beriin ou t/ie Hook of Holland, with, the loss of all on board save one, is surely one oi the most tragic incidents in the annals of modern seatravel. Tho steamer had successfully 1.1 raved the fury of a wild wind and sea in the voyage across from Harwich, and was wimm hail of the haven. A few more yards would have carried her safely within tho sheltered entrance bo* iween fho breakwaters. Suddenly tho full force of the gale caught the luckhvs vessel and shook her like a toy in the hands of a maniac. In a trice she was driven past tho end of the breakwater and dashed upon the outer sandbank »vith such violence that her back was broken. An hour after the vessel struck she parted in two, and the fore-part sank with at least a hundred of those on board. The after portion remained embedded in. the sandbank all day, and one by one the wretched men, women and children clinging to the dock were ?nopt to their death by the waves which broke on board. Many died of exposure and exhaustion, but most were swept overboard and drowned. A handful of the more hardy lingered on till evening of the nest day, when tho last remnant of tho ill-fated .Berlin sank beneath tho waves and put an end to tho.long agony of hopeless struggle. Throughout the way fruitless efforts had been made by those on shore to send rescuing parties to pick up the people on tho wreck; but no small boat could live in such a sen, and every atempt to get a line on board was foiled. One hundred and forty-four men, women and children perished miserably.

The story of the wreck was told with dramatic brevity by the series of messages which were caoled across the North Sea by the Great Eastern Hallway agent at the Hook of Holland to the Marine Superintendent at Harwich. The first message was handed in at C. 35 yestcrdaj' morning at tho Hook, and received at Harwich fifty minutes later. It ran; "'■Uerliu stranded at North Tier. Very dangerous. Heavy gale. Tugs and lifeboats going out to assist.” At 8.2.1 came the second message, despatched at 7.3s;—"Hosition very dangerous. Heavy gale still blowing. Have Ivied to take passengers off with tugboat and lifeboat, but have not succeeded up ‘to present." The third cable was more serious. Despatch at 7.52, it reached Harwich at 8.40, and said: "Berlin broken. Very likely total loss. Grew still on hoard. Lifeboats and tugs trying to save passengers."

The fourth message came through tho London office, and told tho worst: "Eastern Hook wires at 8.10: ,‘Unable to roach Berlin to save passengers. Will do best we can. Boop of ship under water/ ”

From these telegrams, it will he scon that from the moment tho Berlin struck the North Fief her position rapidly became worse, and the officials at Harwich were therefore prepared for the next message, which arrived at about 10.38, occupying half an hour in transmission. It ran: “Berlin total loss, with crow and passengers. Nohody saved." Such in brief is the pitiful story o£ the disaster. Apparently it was one of those awful calamities against which human foresight cannot yet guard, and against which the knowledge of the most experienced mariner cannot yot avail. It is possible that the Berlin lost a propeller or had one damaged, and so failed to answer readily to hor helm; but tho

chances are that we shall never really know the actual cause of the catastrophe. THE SURVIVOR'S STORY. . Captain Parkinson, of Belfast, who appeal’s to be the sole survivor of the wreck of tho Berlin, lias described iiis terrible experience. In all his sea ex pcrience ho has never seem such weather, j So. ugly was it that ho remained all j night on dock, completely dressed. The [ Berlin was already near the light at the North Pier, and the passengers, many of whom had not gone below, had begun to breathe freely again after their terrible crossing, when the ship struck. A violent shock was felt, and suddenly (he vessel broke in two. ' Captain Parkinson, as un experienced seaman, hurried to tho bridge to offer the captain help*, but just us Uo put his foot on the ladder lie saw the captain nul tho pilot swept away by the sea and disappear. ’ Of what followed he can give uo clear account. When he recovered himself he war, in tho water, surrounded by floating timbers, lie seized one of thorn, and succeeded in keeping himself afloat until lie saw nic life-boat, iiis'ery for help was heard and he was picked up and brought ashore. He was taken to the Hook of Holland Station, and and thence to an hotel. Ho had been about an hour in the stormy and 'ey water. Almost in tears Captain Parkinson told what ho had seen before he was swept away by tho waves. Un tho fore deck at the moment of the disaster there wore about a hundred i>eople, who wore all hurled into tho sea. While in tho waler ho-hoard all round‘him the

! stifled cries of the drowning, and was 1 continually swept against floating Now that Ihe first shock of horror has ■ passed it is only right that a tribute should be paid to the splendid heroism of the boatmen at the Hook, who laboured all through the day to save any possible survivors of the catastrophe, -ts soon as the Berlin struck the lifeboats and tugs were got ready to assist in the work of rescue. A sea of appalling violence was running—a sea, in fact, so fierce that after eleven o'clock in the morning no vessel of any kind attempted to make tho entrance to tho Niewe Aaterwcg, ns the channel'leading from the Hook to Rotterdam is styled. The, north-west gale, too, had caused! an unusually high tide, the depth of water being about five feet greater than the normal. 1 . Tho lifeboat. President Van Neel, un-. der these conditions found it impossible io get alongside the wreck, but her crew gallantly decided to stand by, and to this fact the one survivor owes his life. An hour and a half after striking tho fore portion of the Berlin sank, end the helpless watchers witnessed heartrending scenes. A couple of hours later dead bodies, some of them terribly mangled, began to fioat fdiorewards; and one by one these were picked up and taken ashore. Tho lifeboats amt tugs made heroic efforts all day long in the face of mountainous seas to reach .tho wreck, but in vain. Once a lifeboat was within ten yards of the vessel, and the cries of the persons clinging to it could bo heard, but the boiling sea at the entrance to the Watcrweg channel made further approach impossible, and the lifeboat had to put back.-