THE KATTEGAT DISASTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21216, 23 December 1930, Page 9

THE KATTEGAT DISASTER

; APPALLING SUDDENNESS. ‘ COLLISION IN DENSE FOG. OBERON’S SIDE RIPPED OFF. ■ (United Preaa Association.) (By Electric Telegraph— Copyright.) . COPENHAGEN, December 21. Survivors of the collision between the Oberon and the Arcturns say that the Arcturns loomed with appalling suddenness from the fog, and drove straight towards .the .Oberon amid shrieks of terror, accompanied by Captain Hjelt’s shout to get the lifeboats clear. The crew rushed' to- their stations, but the deck was-plunged in darkness as the Arcturus’s bows crashed a yard deep into the. Oberon’s starboard amidships, putting out every light aboard, and ripping off the entire side as far as the rudder, hurling those, on deck into the ice-cold water. . Lhe Oberon was port, side uppermost in 30sec, and the disaster was complete in five minutes. Many of the victims must have been burnt to death in the'blazing oil, and others were helplessly sucked, down. Immediately the Afcturus berthed at Copenhagen a sailor called; “Is Mr Wil--1 liams here?” Mr Williams came for-' ward, and a sailor who had been in Mrs Williams’s company for a few seconds between .the collision .and the epgulfment delivered her last .message: Tell ,my husband that'he was in my thoughts to the end.” The majority of the missing are probably women, because Finnish vessels carry many, stewardesses and female cooks. Much wreckage and .three lifeboats, twp covered with tarpaulins and one apparently lately occupied, have been- ♦ found stranded on the west coast of Sweden. JUST BEFORE THE CRA§H. CAPTAINS EXCHANGE, GREETINGS, COPENHAGEN, December 12. An . officer of the Arcturns states that the brother captains knew that the Oberon and the Arcturus were going to meet, and exchanged Christmas greetings by wireless only 10 minutes before the collision. They were unaware that the vessels were so near each other owing to the extraordinary density of the fog. If the collision Lad occurred a minute later-the Oberon, which is the strongest icebreaker in Europe, i would have rammed the Arcturns. A British passenger named-Vickers on the Oberon dived , over in . an attempt to save Mrs .Williams. Both were drowned. . . ; . SURVIVORS’EXPERIENCES. BRAVERY OF ENGLISH PURSER. COPENHAGEN, December 21.: . Miss Tipping, ■■ one of the - passengers on. the Oberon, swam to an empty boat and clung to it till it sank. She found a lifebelt, held up an acetylene flare ■in one hand, and supported a stewardess with the other hand until rescued. She said; “ I saw pe captain boldine* » child and; clinging to a lifebelt with others. Someone who was talking English was hanging bn his .back, but he must havhdropped off and perished.” A passenger named Martin, who was v interviewed, said t “ Mrs Williams, afraid ?that; the blaring, of the .fog^sirens as the Oberon lay stationary.i wouldwaken , . t bgr-.paby,. retired, to her cabin, leaving’ -■ v ns in. the smoking room.;.Some of us ' went, on deck just in time to witness the Arcturns ramming the Oberon, I did.not,see Vickers- again after he cried : ‘My God, Mrs Williams is down there,’ and rushed to- save her, though Miss .....Tipping had a glimpse of her standing' at .the cabin door with the ( baby in her arms.; " 1 .. - “The English purser, Bamford,. went to certain death when he went to the rescue of the stewardesses from the; mess room after saving two people. He and Vickers were on one arm and the captain’s baby in the other, struggled up the sloping deck • and climbed the rails on to the: side of the ship, which was almost under water. . The captain took the child, and a wave sucked my wife and myself down, and tore us apart. She was lost in the awful darkness. 1 caught a lifeboat a ( quarter of an hour later, and I did not remember any more until I was taken from among the" dead aboard the Arcturns. -Half my clothing was cut off during the resuscitation operations, but hearing that my wife wad aboard I ran half-naked along the deck, only to discover that it was a terrible mistake.” FORTY-TWO LIVES LOST. LONDON, December 21. (Received Dec. 22, at 8.30 p.m.) The Arcturns was severely gashed In tiie bow. Eric Hjelt, the captain of the Oberon, took his family to celebrate Christmas on board, and they were on the bridge'with him, but his wife jumped off on the opposite side to the others. The captain, , after being rescued, vainly worked for hours to resuscitate his daughter. '•Jilrs Ozzi Hjelt, the other captain’s wife, also accompanied her husband. Vickers had. safely reached the Arcturns, and plunged into the sea again in an attempt to rescue Mrs Williams and her child, who were struggling in the water, and. ail were drowned. Williams had accompanied his family from Helsingfors, but broke the journey at Copenhagen, intending to follow them later. There were 22 passengers and 60 of a crew on the Oberon, and of these 18 passengers and 24 of ■ the- crew were drowned. Nine British passengers, including two children, were among' those drowned. The Arcturns picked up four passengers—Martin, Miss Tipping, and two Scandinavian women—and 30 of the crew. She also brought in five of the dead. A British steamship picked up four sailors.