TRAWLER WRECKED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20432, 12 June 1928, Page 10

TRAWLER WRECKED.

HARD AND FAST ON ROCKS. CREW’S TRYING EXPERIENCE. (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, June 11. ‘ In thick, black, dirty weather the Sandford Company’s trawler Thomas Bryan, with Captain James Holt and ,s crew of 11 all told, went ashore at ii.3o o’clock last night on the rocky coast outside of Coromandel Peninsula, halfway between Port Charles and Waikawau Bay. She lies on her beam ends with her holds full of water and is high and dry at low tide. . The crew are all safe at Port Charles. They had a trying experience when the vessel went ashore. They improvised a rope ladder, and fortunately were all able to scramble to safety. Then men were unable to scale the high cliffs in the dark of the night, but as soon as first streaks of dawn were visible they commenced an arduous climb and made their way to Port Charles, reaching the post office at 10 a.m. There they received food and shelter, and are now awaiting the company’s trawler Baroona, which was despatched at mid-day from Auckland with Mr R. E. Smallbone, the company’s superintending engineer, on board to survey the wreck and to bring them back to the city. When the vessel struck a rope from the rigging was made fast to a rock on the reef, and down this the crew of 10 scrambled to safety, attired in whatever clothes they were wearing at the time. The spot where they landed is at the foot of some high cliffs, some five or six miles from Port Charles, in an uninhabitated part of the country. In parts the cliffs are 400 ft high, and in the darkness, wet and exhausted, the inen had no alternative but to spend the rough and stormy night on the cliffs until daylight, when they set off to seek shelter. The first sign of habitation was not seen until they were within a mile or so from Port Charles, when they came across a house. Tired and wet through, and almost exhausted with cold, the men were disappointed to find that it was empty. They continued on to Port Charles, where they were hospitably cared for. Mr Gilbert Sandford stated that he was able to get in touch with the captain of the ill-fated vessel, which, he states, lies on her beam-end on the rocks. The weather had been exceptionally bad from the east, and he was inclined to think from the information he had received that the vessel would prove to be a total wreck. When the Baroona returned with a report as to condition of the ship the company, said Mr Sanford, would be in a position to know whether anything could be done to salvage the Thomas Bryan. The trawler Serfib was due at Auckland to-morrow morning, and, as she was a more powerful boat than the other vessels of the fleet, she would immediately be despatched to the peninsula to ascertain if any thing could be done in this direction. The following telegram was received by the owners from Captain Holt this morning:—“Thomas Bryan ashore near Rauporoa. Hard and fast on beam-end. Crew safe at post office at Port Charles.” The Thomas Bryan has been engaged trawling in the Bay of Plenty, and was on her way to Auckland with a load of fish. She was due here at 6 o’clock morning. The vessel was purchased in England by Messrs Sanford, Ltd., and was the latest addition to its trawling fleet. It arrived in Auckland waters in August last. She was built at Aberdeen in 1917, being one

of the Strath class of North Sea trawlers, a number of which were used as mine-sweepers during the war. Her tonnage is 216 tons gross. This trawler was similar in design and construction to the company’s Thomas Currell. The Thomas Bryan is insured with the Now Zealand and Alliance coxnpauies to the extent oi £6OOO.