SHIPPING DISASTERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 22

SHIPPING DISASTERS.

COLLISION IN THE SCHELDT. ANTWERP, January 21. The British-India steamer Australia collided in the Scheldt with the London steamer Nautilus. The latter sank immediately. Eighteen men were thrown into the water, but 14 were saved. Four are missing. [The Australia is a steel steamer of 7485 tons gross register, and wag built at Flensburg in 1912 for a German firm. She was interned during the war, and was purchased by the British-Tndia Steam Navigation Company after tile armistice. The vessel lias been employed in the trade between the United Kingdom and Australia for the past two or three years. She loaded at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Port Pirie. and sailed from Sydney on November Iff last for Dunkirk, Hull, Antwerp, and Hamburg. There are nine vessels bearing the name Nautilus in Lloyd’s Register. The one mentioned in the cable message will probably he the Nautilus which is registered in London. She is an iron steamer of 718 tons gross register, and is owned bv the General Steam Ship Navigation Company (Ltd.)] THREE LIVES LOST. LONDON, January 22. A curious shipping accident occurred on the Mersey, causing the loss of four lives. A sudden gust overbalanced a coal elevator into the Canada dock, and a man was drowned. A little later a passing tug struck the submerged elevator. The bows of the tug rose in the air, and ehe slipped backwards, filled, and sank, three out of seven men aboard being drowned.