THREE DAYS’ PERIL

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 25

THREE DAYS’ PERIL

TRAWLER IN DISTRESS. A NORTH SEA ADVENTURE. A dramatic story of a trawler crew's fight for life off Heligoland was told when the Lowestoft trawler Stratlilethan limped into the Humbfer, towed by the Newcastle collier, Greenbatt. Three men, badly injured, were taken to hospital. Two were lost at sea. The trawler her3elf was badly damaged. Her bridge and funnel were cut away by a giant wave, and the heavy iron supports and steel platings torn like so much cardboard. What happened cannot be precisely told because the only men who could have given an explanation of the mysterious and overwhelming accident were both drowned. They were two Lowestoft men, who leave wives and families. The disaster occurred off Heligoland early one Wednesday morning. The two men who were drowned were in the chart house, the rest of the crew below. Second Engineer Lee was on duty in the engine room when a tremendous crash shook the steamer from end to end, and threw her ON HER BEAAI ENDS. Air Lee was awaiting orders, for the engines were not running at the time. He was flung across the machinery, which, had it been in motion, would have mangled him to death. The cabin fire, torn from it 3 fittings, was tossed on to tbe hunks and immediately set alight the beddings and woodwork. When the men struggled to their feet and attempted to open the cabin door they found that it had jammed and that they were imprisoned in a small room which was binning swiftly. They made desperate efforts to burst the door, while the heat became intense. They were unable to move the door, but after two or three minutes it was forced from without by floods of water which the vessel had shipped, and which poured down the companion way. The men managed to fight their way through the water to the deck, where they found that the funnel had been torn from its position and was lying, across the side of the ship. The ventilators had also been wrenched away. CANVAS FUNNEL. The ship was without steam, and the steering gear was out of action. Her plight was extremely serious, .hut under the direction of Skipper Albert Braddick the crew set to .work to improvise a canvas funnel and gear by which the rudder could be worked. From Wednesday morning till Friday evening the crew worked for life. They were without food or rest during the whole of that time, for all provisions bad been washed away. It was not until Friday night that their' signals of distress ware seen by the Newcastle collier, which towed the Lowestoft boat 180 miles into tlie Humber.