TRAGEDY OF DORRIG0.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17008, 15 April 1926, Page 11

TRAGEDY OF DORRIGO.

TWENTY-TWO LIVES LOST. SURVIVORS’ GRIM STRUGGLE. SURROUNDED by sharks. TERRIBLE NIGHT ON A RAFT. SYDNEY, April* 0. The foundering of the coastal freight steamer Dorrigo, of 715 tons, 70 miles north of Brisbane while on a voyage from Sydney to,Thursday Island adds another to the long list of maritimedisasters that have ocfured off the coast of Queensland. The Dorrigo ran into rough weather, look a list to port and. hatiered by heavy seas, water by some means penetrated into (lie stokehold. The list increased and the Dorrigo finally weiit down by the stern. A lifeboat was launched, but nil or most of the crew had scramlding' into it. (he boat capsized. The men, numbering. 22.. managed to cling to the overturned craft and wreckage, and that was the last the captain and his-son, who had taken refuge on a piece' of decking, saw them. .The captain and his son were rescued 34 hours later by t lie steamer Moruya, but despite a viligaufc search by two others steamers the remainder of the crew were never seen, although the overturned, lifeboat was sighted. The disaster occurred al six o’clock on Good Friday morning. The first tidings of the wreck came late the next afternoon, when the Moruya signalled a shore station. A graphic story of the wreck was told by young Gray, son of the master, after his arrival in Brisbane. The cry of “She’s going over,” uttered by one of the firemen, woke twelve sleeping men in the forecastle head. Then ensued a scramble for life. Young Gray hastily pulled a pair of trousers over his pyjamas and hitched a belt round himself. Grabbing a lifebelt ho ran on deck. Caplain Gray, clad in his pyjamas, appeared on the bridge, and swiftly sizing up the predicament ordered tho port, boat to lie lowered. CREW JUMP OVERBOARD. The Dorrigo was slowly heaving over ns tbo crew tried to launch the lifeboat. By this time the vessel’s list was becoming moro and more hopeless. Cases of benzine rattled off lhr deck of the ship into, the sea,, to bo followed by cases of fruit arid beans. As the Dorrigo tooJi another dangerous lurch the crow jumped overboard. . Young Cray, who dived over,the stern, was the second last to leave. Captain Gray remained with his ship; . He walked along the starboard side and hung to the anchor as the vessel sank stern first. ■ Meanwhile, young Gray, bad swum clear of the• propeller, which was still churning and threatening to suck him under. One .of the firemen was struggling desperately in. the water, “Sling me a plank,” he called out, and Cray pushed a spar towards him through the water. The Pacific Ocean had closed over the Dorrigo, arid froth tho spot where she sank logs shot out, of the water like corks out of champagne bottles. Soon the sea was strewn with flotsam and jetsam, cases of apples and vegetables, and pieces of wreckage., Three engineers, an able seaman arid the second officer clung to some logs, which were lashed together and floated nearby. Eight others were on the overturned boat and several of the crow maintained a precarious hold on wood and spars. A stroke of luck saved t lie life of Captain Gray. As tho Dorrigo went down portion of the ...after sun deck planking, covered with .hapvns, about 30ft by 10ft. rose to the surface underneath him. Only 50 yards separated him from the lifeboat, and young Cray, with a ropq, set out to reaeir tho sun deck, on which his father sat, but .the rope was too short and the attempt to tie tho boat to the sun deck had to- be abondoned. Beans and apples were floating, and young Gray swam about gathering up as many as.he could. fie- returned to the boat with them and then ho dived in again and collected more, which lie brought to the sun deck.,, , 1,. . • ■ \ SURVIVORS DRIFT APART.

Captain Gray ordered -his son to desist from the dangerous task and the young man then remained with his father. A buoy and a floating log were hitched to the sun deck, and the apples and beans were placed in a bag. As the afternoon jvore on, the three parties of survivors, 'drifted further and further apart. .To-' ward the end of the afternoon the men on the logs could be seen waving. That was the last seen of .them. As night, closed in.a school of sharks hovered round the sun deck. Rain pelted down on the piece of canvas. Squalls broke over them once or twice, 'but- cleared away as the moon shone out. The circling sharks could he seen a few yards away. To the south a lighthouse gave an assurance that land was not far away. Tho log, which had been the mainstay of the sun deck, broke away and the planking began to break up.. Daylight came on the rolling surface.of the ocean, oh which not a sign of smoke or sail could he seen. The sun beat down on-the canvas, which afforded scant shelter for Captain Gray in his torn pyjamas, and the effects of the heat and exposure soon began lo tell on him. They breakfasted" but the bag containing tho beans and apples had broken, and the two men soon consumed what remained .j THREE MONSTER SHARKS.

Most of the sharks left, only three huge monsters remaining. One of them settled down to wait under the sun deck, his head showing at- one end and his tail at the.other. Tho raft slowly drifted toward shore, andj the two men held up the canvas as a sail. % A thin, crayon-like streak in the sky announced the coming of the Moruya early in the afternoon. The castaways waved wildly with the canvas and soon the MoriVya was alongside. With difficulty; Captain Gray, assisted by two seamen, gained the dock of (lie rescuing steamer. The Mprhyn- searched vainly for tho remainder of the crow and then headed south for Brisbane. Ono man at least was lucky. lie was Mr. A. S. Dixon, -chief steward of the Dorrigo . who wishing to gain a billet which did mot take, him away from his home in Sydney for such long periods, signed off from the ship on Thursday morning, the day the Dorrigo sailed. He returned to Sydney by rail during the week-end and woke up on Monday to read in the morning newspapers the tidings of tile disaster. :