A MARINE DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 14

A MARINE DISASTER.

A despatch from Boston on March 14 says :— Suffering, rrental and physical, and numeious actg qi heroism in davipe life

rarely equalled in the records of tragedies of the sea attended the loss of the Phoenix line "steamer British King, which on Suirday last; in a raging Atlantic "" storm, foundered about 150 miles south of Sable Island, and carried to death 27 members of the crew. Thirteen were rescued from | the sinlcian: vessel by the Leyiand liner Bostonian, bound fiom Manchester to Boston, a.nd 11 by the tank steamer Mannheim, from Rotterdam to New York. Five others, who had been drawn into the vortex where the British King sank, were picked up by the Bostonian from a frail bit of wreckage they had grasped after a desperate struggle in -the whirlpool. Captain James O'Hagon, of the British King", died aboard the Boatonian from injuries sustained in trying to sa% p c the ship. The rescued broug-ht here include James Flannegaii, second officer ; J. D. Crawford, chiefengineer; "Adolphus Bre-w, fourth engineer;; and William J. Curry, steward. The others were coal-passers and sailors, mostly; Belgians, and one stowaway from ' New York. Two lifeboats of the Bostonian were crushed, and the volunteer crews were thrown into the high-running seas while engaged in the worßc of- rescue, ■ but alt safely reached the steamer again.' They were rescued by fines thrown frym their own steamer.' A second boatload of rescuers was thrown into the sea. and only rescued; after an licut's worfc by" comrades. The British King sailed from New York for- Antwerp on March 7, with a miscellaneous oargo and 150 cattle. Previous to the appearance of the rescuing steamer', every small boat of the British King had! been demolished, and there was no way of escape. The versel was owned by tho Briti&h Shipowners' Conipanv. of Liverpool.