TRAPPED BY ICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18974, 26 March 1936, Page 14

TRAPPED BY ICE

EIGHT BRITISH SHIPS CHINA PORTS BLOCKED SHANGHAI, Feb. 6. * Eight British steamers and many smaller Chinese ships are trapped in an. iceHeld extending 50 miles seaward from Tientsin. They are unable to break the blockade, as the ice is as high as the deck. A wireless message from one steamer says the use of the engines is merely a waste of coal, and steam is being kept up only for four hours daily. Other ports of North China are also blocked by the Arctic conditions, which have become worse in the last fortnightThey have caused the worst disorganisation of coastal shipping yet known. It is reported that the Chinese authorities at Tientsin have accepted the offer of Japanese aeroplanes to explore the icebound area outside the port to-morrow to locate the stricken vessels and drop food on their decks.

While -the British ships are amply provisioned, scores of small Chinese vessels are seeking help, as their provisions and coal are exhausted and they are unable to continue. The ice is piling up higher around them every day. A special effort is to be made to aid Jshree of the trapped British ships off the Taku Bar, near Tientsin. The British steamer Shengking (3000 tons, owned by the China Navigation Company), which is leaving Shanghai to-day, is expected to load coal at and make an effort to deliver it to tnem.

The North German Lloyd steamer Ruhr (5855 tons), which arrived at Shanghai to-day, reported that she had had a hard and continual struggle against ice. Cbolies discharging the Knur's cargo are using sledges and passengers are walking across ice to board the steamer.