PERILOUS VOYAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26352, 6 January 1947, Page 6

PERILOUS VOYAGE

ESCAPE IN OPEN BOAT SUPPLY TRIP TO GREECE Dally Times Special ; Service . ! AUCKLAND, Jan. 4. A story of escape from a sinking ship in the Mediterranean by open boat to the island of Kythera, south of Greece, is told by Staff Sergeant _L. W. Salter, of Oakura, who arrived home with a recent draft. The events took place when a 180-ton Egyptian caique carrying New Zealand patriotic supplies and U.N.R.RA. goods from Alexandria to Greece foundered last October before she reached Crete and the supplies were lost. Aboard her was Staff Sergeant Salter, who was attached to the National/Patriotic Fund Board’s staff at MaadL Heavy Gales Encountered None to seaworthy 'and manned by a Greek skipper and Egyptian crew, the craft left Alexandria on September 18, said Staff- Sergeant Salter. Also aboard was Staff Sergeant E. Dick, of Rotorua. On September 22 Crete was sighted, but heavy seas were running and the vessel was leaking badly The situation looked grim on September 26, when turning north around Crete, the ship encountered gales. For about 36 hours the ship could make no headway. It was decided to run with the wind. Buffeted by the heavy gale and pounded by mountainous seas, the ship began opening up more and more, and then the engines failed. The typically Egyptian crew resigned themselves to their fate, but the two New Zealanders pumped and tried to keep the vessel afloat. . A ship was sighted on the horizon, and they waved flags and made signals, but they were not observed. On October 2 the small vessel was still running before the storm, her decks were awash and the position looked desperate. “ We. jettisoned most of the cargo to lighten the ship, but we hung on to the New Zealand patriotic supplies to the last,” Staff Sergeant Salter explained. “ They did not weigh much. That night we knew the ship was doomed, so we took to the boats. The caique was listing badly. We tied her wheel and set her sail, attached ourselves by rope, and were towed along. Next morning we cast, off from her and 30 minutes later she sank.” The only food was a quantity of sundried hard bread and some rusty water. A five-day trip had been expected and provisions carried for 10 days, but it was 17 days since they had left Alexandria. • Land was visible in the distance, however, and although it was not known then, they were off the island of Kythera, south of Greece. Land Reached In Darkness -It took us 12 hours to reach the island,” said Staff Sergeant Salter. *• Sometimes we wondered if we would ever make it. In the last hour the wind freshened and the sea became choppy, and we were troubled by the prospect of the wind carrying us off our course. It was dark when we ainved off the coast, and the cliffs wore rather precipitous. “In the morning people, on shore directed us to an ancnofage, where we iveie able to berth. It took us another six hours to get there. At Kythera a passage was obtained for Staff Sergeant Dick and myself on a Greek interisland steamer the following day.”