LOSS OF MATAKANA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24430, 16 October 1940, Page 6

LOSS OF MATAKANA

WRECKED IN THE BAHAMAS AMERICAN LINER’S RESCUE THREE MEN INJURED Information about the wreck of the Shaw Savill and Albion steamer Matakana (8048 tons) on the eastern island of the Plana Cays, in the Bahamas, is contained in a letter which Mr J. Meehan, formerly of Wellington, and engineers’ steward on the ship, has sent to his mother, who lives at Kirbirme, Wellington. The ship struck the reef at 1.30 a.rn. on Wednesday, May 1, and started pounding badly. "We knew we could not stay afloat," Mr Wiliam Thowless, the second officer, told an American press representative. “We got our boats away about 10 minutes before she settled." In abandoning the vessel, three men were in jured. Geoffrey Mulford. assistant steward, fractured a hip; William Balchin, a coal trimmer, fractured an ankle jumping into a boat; and another trimmer. Harry Alsop. was injured when he jumped, but missed the boat. The boats drifted nine miles and ahalf in heavy seas before the survivors landed on the westward of the two islands which comprise the Plana Cays. The Panama Railroad Company’s steamer Panama steamed at high speed to a position given in an S.O.S. from the Malakana. but found no signs of a wreck. The Panama then received a message from the American freighter Endicott, stating that she had sighted the Matakana aground on Plana Cays. 20 miles away. Captain Eric J. Eriksen, commanding the Panama, took his ship towards the spot indicated and found the wreck, but the boats had gone.. As the Panama neared the western island a large fire was sighted, and a native sloop approached, on which stood a man waving a flag. He was subsequently found to be Captain Evan Davis, of the Matakana. and he was accompanied by nis chief officer, Mr E. T. Baker. Seventy-eight men were then taken aboard the Panama, but Captain Davis, Mr Baker, and Mr Harry Webb, chief engineer, remained behind to investigate the possibility of salvage. The other survivors landed in New York three days later, the passengers and crew of the Panama having clothed and raised 70 dollars for them.