Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, MAY 30. 1914. MARITIME DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13394, 30 May 1914, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, MAY 30. 1914. MARITIME DISASTER.

jQnce again the, world stands aghast at the magnitude of a huge ; maritime dis- ; aster; One of the/ finest 'steamera ot the British xn'ercantdie .marino- has been isunk with the -loss of over thousand lives, , the disaster having- (.^occurred in the tdieltered; but nevertheless fog beclouded waters of the' Gulf of St. Lawrence. JMaavkind.lifld-^sqarcely, ceased to'be dazed by the sinking, of the greatest vessel of its time, tho Titamc, a little more than two .years ago, and by such a dreadful calamity as the burning of the Volturno in mid- Atlantic ' not many months siiicc ', when tin s fresh disaster ;, comes jto;, bring • grief- ; to countless ; homes * and .. ; to ; remind those that . go down/' to the sea in great ships that' there are still perils of the deep which the, ingenuity of man has not yet overcome. The* Empress steamers have always been regarded as "safe" boats 1 . T/liey have achieved .a remarkable reputation for' freedom v from, accident, though some little time ago- the sister ship, the Empress of Britain, did come into collision; with an iceberg, fortunately without lotis .of life. Still ' they are express; mail steamers bound to a schedule of' time, .and their, service necessitates , them making pace through fogs that are . met . withi at certain seasons off , the Banks of ,NewfoundlaJid. Navigation, under these conditions is not without its hazards, despite the remarkable precautions in the way of submarine signalling,: wireleps ' telephones, and other .devices * that are used to secure immunity from accident.' - Iu the present instance it would' appear ;.that the Empress of Irelaiid 'was 'being navir gated with : the utmost -caution, the.vessel being .hove-W: in a fog, but, another vessel, a. Norwegian collier, the- Storgtad, proceeding with -less caution, ran into' her, cutting her down amidships, and causing : an. immediate sinking, with appalling loss of life. Immediate interest is given to the shipwreck- by the fact that many New Zealanders and Aus.tralians are said to.ha.vo been on ..boards and it is not yet known among them have been saved. Many happy holiday-makers from this Domin-

ion may have connected with this Atlantic liner, and there is is strong possibility that some have unluckily gone down with her. The story of the collision has so far reached us only in bare outline; when the full details come to hand it doubtless will be found that the sad calamity has been illuminated by acts of valor and self-sacrifice equalling those whicE relieved the tragedy of the Titanic and made us feel that on £uch occasions humanity could rise to noble ideals and face the terrors

of a. watery grave n« victoi's, not as vanquished. Meantime the heart of the world will mourn deeply the hundreds of men and women who have been cut off in the fullness of life, and will throb with 'sympatfiy for their numerous friends and relatives in all parts of the world who have been so suddenly bereaved. - ' ; ■