UNCANNY EXPERIENCE.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12851, 15 January 1935, Page 3

UNCANNY EXPERIENCE.

EARTHQUAKE FELT AT SEA. MOTOR LINER SHAKEN. A submarine disturbance thought to be connected with ail earthquake in South America violently shook the New Zealand Shipping Company s motor liner Rangitata the da\ after site cleared the Panama Canal en route from London to Auckland. Ihe liner arrived at Auckland recently and the passengers described the uncanny experience. Ihe ship, they said, quivered from stem to stern for about 15 to 30 seconds in a manner that made it seem she was being shaken i rom different directions at the same time. Then she ploughed on steadily through the calm and untroubled seas. The disturbance occurred about seven o’clock in the evening, when most of the passengers were preparing for dinner. One man said he was in the smoke-room havin<* a cocktail before dinner, and the sudden violent trembling of the ship “would have spilled his drink if ho had not hastily swallowed it.” Captain Hunter, commander of tho Rangitata, said the liner was travelling at her normal speed. The weather was fine and the sea calm. Suddenly, without# any warning, and with nothing tQ disturb appreciably the surface of the ocean, the ship shook convulsively. There was deep water in the vicinity and there was nothing in tho peculiar motion to suggest lie ship had struck a whale or any submerged obstacle. Later reports were received bv wireless stating a severe earthquake had been expriencel at San Salvador and Guatemala. It was thought the disturbance experienced h\* the finer was aim \st certainly connected with this earthquake.